19-04-2012, 21:13
(19-04-2012 13:29 )skully Wrote: [ -> ]1951 - The first Miss World Contest was won by Kiki Haakonson, a 21 year old from Sweden.
The competition was originally staged as part of the Festival of Britain, and called the Festival Bikini Contest after organiser Eric Morley decided that contestants should be judged while wearing the new beachwear sensation.
It was the British press which dubbed it "Miss World" and it was originally planned as a one-time event. But after its inaugural run, Morley turned Miss World into an annual extravaganza. The contest became one of Britain's most successful exports.
Miss World was marked by controversy from the beginning. In the early 1950s, few contestants from non-European countries participated. Morley struggled to recruit foreign delegates. After Ireland and Spain threatened to withdraw from the competition because of their opposition to women being judged in bikinis, Morley banned the two-piece from the event. Kiki Haakanson would be the first and last woman to don a bikini. For the next two decades, Miss World winners wore one-piece bathing suits for the crowning ritual.
In 1959, the BBC broadcast the Miss World competition for the first time, and the contest subsequently became the most-watched event in Britain. At the competition's broadcast peak in the early 70s, the number of viewers was comparable with the audience of a royal wedding but its popularity waned in the 1990s as the format looked dated and it was plagued by accusations of being politically incorrect. For five years it wasn't shown in the UK at all until the fledgling channel 5 picked up the rights in 1998.
Over the years the show has had its share of problems. The 1974 winner, Miss UK Helen Morgan from Barry was forced to resign after just four days when it was revealed that she was an unmarried mother (despite not having broken any competition rules) and in 2002 the contest was held in Nigeria as a northern Nigerian woman, Amina Lawal, was awaiting death by stoning for adultery under Sharia law there, but Miss World claimed they were using the publicity surrounding its presence to bring greater global awareness and action to Lawal's plight (her conviction was eventually quashed on appeal).
When Eric Morley died in 2000 his wife took over the running of the show. The 60th anniversary contest in 2011 held in London was won by Ivian Sarcos of Venezuela but the event was picketed by protesters.
1951 winner Kiki Haakonson and current 2011 holder Ivian Sarcos