The Miss World pageant (not to be confused with Miss Universe) is an international beauty pageant founded in the United Kingdom by Eric Morley in 1951.

It started as the Festival Censored page Contest, in honor of the swimwear getting notoriety at the time, but was called Miss World by the press. It was originally meant as a one-time event.

Opposition to the wearing of bikinis led to their replacement with more modest swimwear after the first contest. In 1959, the BBC started broadcasting the competition. The pageant's popularity grew as the popularity of television grew.

Contents

1 Controversy 2 21st century 3 Further notes 4 Title holders 5 See also 6 External links and references

Controversy

In the 1960s and 1970s, the pageant was marred by scandals. The 1960s included tabloid coverage of nude photographs and the alcoholic excesses of the winners. The rise in feminism led to further controversy. The first winner from the United States, 1973's Marjorie Wallace , was forced to resign because of her high-profile serial dating. The 1974 winner resigned four days later after it was discovered she was a single mother. In 1977, a United Nations boycott was organized because of the pageant permitting the participation of South Africa, a participation which ended the next year. The 1980 winner Gabriela Brum of Germany resigned one day after winning initially claiming that her boyfriend disapproved. A few days later it emerged that she had been forced to resign after it was discovered that she posed naked for a magazine.

In the 1980s, the pageant repositioned itself with the slogan Beauty With a Purpose. The contest added tests of intelligence and personality. By the 1990s, the pageant was reaching two billion viewers from almost every country in the world. The competition has been seen as old-fashioned and rather un-PC in its native Britain. Despite the global appeal, the show has not been broadcast on any major terrestrial British TV network for several years, although SkyTravel provided coverage in 2004.

21st century

Eric Morley passed away as the pageant entered the new century. The century saw its first black winner, Agbani Darego, in 2001. In 2002 the competition was slated for Nigeria. This choice was controversial, as a woman, Amina Lawal, was awaiting death by stoning for adultery there. A newspaper editorial suggesting that Muhammad, the prophet of Islam, would not have objected to the immodesty of the pageant resulted in riots that started on November 22 in which over 200 people were killed. Because of these riots, the 2002 pageant was moved to London. A fatwa urging the beheading of the woman who wrote the offending words, Isioma Daniel, has been issued. The eventual winner of the pageant was Azra Akin of Turkey, the first predominantly Muslim country to hold the title since Egypt in 1954. She was followed by Ireland's Rosanna Davison, daughter of the "Lady in Red" singer Chris de Burgh. In 2004 the crown was decided for the first time by a global vote, resuling in the victory of Peru's Maria Julia Mantilla and the return of the title to Latin America after nine years.

Further notes

The only international pageant to have over 100 countries participate, Miss World is considered less "predictable" than many of its international rivals. The representatives of India, among them international actress Aishwarya Rai, were the success stories of the 1990s, capturing the crown four times, once back-to-back. Although China has been doing extremely well since entering and hosting the pageant (a top five placement from 2001 to 2003) the pageant has yet to crown an East Asian winner.

Title holders

Year	Miss World	Country	Event location
1951	Kiki Haakonson	Sweden	Lyceum Ballroom London, U.K.
1952	May Louise Flodin	Sweden
1953	Denise Perrier	France
1954	Antigone Costanda	Egypt
1955	Carmen Duijm Zubillaga	Venezuela
1956	Petra Schürmann	West Germany
1957	Marita Lindahl	Finland
1958	Penelope Anne Coelen	South Africa
1959	Corine Rottschafer	Netherlands
1960	Norma Gladys Cappagli	Argentina
1961	Rosemarie Frankland	United Kingdom
1962	Catharina Lodders	Netherlands
1963	Carole Joan Crawford	Jamaica
1964	Ann Sydney	United Kingdom
1965	Lesley Langley	United Kingdom
1966	Reita Faria	India
1967	Madeleine Hartog Bell	Peru
1968	Penelope Plummer	Australia
1969	Eva Rueber-Staier	Austria
1970	Jennifer Hosten	Grenada
1971	Lucia Tavares Petterle	Brazil
1972	Belinda Green	Australia
1973	Marjorie Wallace	United States
1974	Anneline Kriel 1	South Africa
1975	Wilnelia Merced	Puerto Rico
1976	Cindy Breakspeare	Jamaica
1977	Mary Stavin	Sweden
1978	Silvana Suarez	Argentina
1979	Gina Swainson	Bermuda
1980	Kimberley Santos 2	Guam
1981	Pilin Leon	Venezuela
1982	Mariasela Alvarez	Dominican Republic
1983	Sarah-Jane Hutt	United Kingdom
1984	Astrid Herrera	Venezuela
1985	Hofi Karlsdottir	Iceland
1986	Giselle LaRonde	Trinidad and Tobago
1987	Ulla Weigerstorfer	Austria
1988	Linda Petursdottir	Iceland
1989	Aneta Kreglicka	Poland
1990	Gina Marie Tolleson	United States
1991	Ninibeth Jiminez	Venezuela
1992	Julia Kourotchkina	Russia	Sun City, South Africa
1993	Lisa Hanna	Jamaica	Sun City, South Africa
1994	Aishwarya Rai	India	Sun City, South Africa
1995	Jacqueline Aguilera Marcano	Venezuela	Sun City, South Africa
1996	Irene Skliva	Greece
1997	Diana Hayden	India
1998	Linor Abargil	Israel
1999	Yukta Mookhey	India
2000	Priyanka Chopra	India
2001	Agbani Darego	Nigeria	Sun City, South Africa
2002	Azra Akin	Turkey	Alexandra Palace, London
2003	Rosanna Davison	Ireland	Sanya , People's Republic of China
2004	Maju Mantilla	Peru	Sanya , People's Republic of China
1 Crowned after Helen Morgan of the United Kingdom resigned.
2 Crowned after Gabriela Brum of West Germany resigned

See also

• Miss Earth
• Miss Universe

External links and references

• Miss World website http://www.missworld.org/
• The Kingdom of Miss World http://www.geocities.com/kingdomofmissworld/index.html
• Guardian story http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,846816,00.html on Nigeria