The Miss World pageant is the oldest surviving major international beauty pageant. It was created in the United Kingdom by Eric Morley in 1951.Since his death in 2000, Morley's wife, Julia Morley, co-chairs the pageant.
Alongside its rival Miss Universe and Miss Earth, this pageant is one of the most publicised beauty contests in the world.
The winner spends a year travelling to represent the Miss World Organization and its various causes.
Traditionally, Miss World lives in London during her reign. The current Miss World is Ivian Sarcos of Venezuela.
History
Miss World started as the Festival Bikini Contest, in honour of the recently introduced swim wear of the time, but was called "Miss World" by the media. It was originally planned as a one-off event. Upon learning about the upcoming Miss Universe pageant, Morley decided to make the pageant an annual event.
Opposition to the wearing of bikinis led to their replacement with more modest swim wear after the first contest. In 1959, the BBC started broadcasting the competition. The pageant's popularity grew with the advent of television. During the 1960s and 1970s, Miss World would normally be the highest rated programme of the year on British television, usually pulling in around 30 million viewers.
In the 1980s, the pageant repositioned itself with the slogan Beauty With a Purpose, with added tests of intelligence and personality. However, the competition has been seen as old-fashioned and rather politically incorrect in its native Britain. It was during the 80s that the company was owned by Transworld Communications, albeit for a short time. Despite the global appeal, the show was not broadcast on any major terrestrial British TV network for several years, until Channel 5 aired it in 1998.
Miss World Organization
The Miss World Organization owns and manages the annual Miss World Finals, a competition that has grown into one of the world’s biggest.Since its launch in 1951, the Miss World Organization has raised more than £250 million for children’s charities.[18] Miss World is franchised in more than 100 countries.Miss World, Limited is a privately held firm, and thus figures for its earnings, expenses and charitable contributions are not publicly available.
Aside from raising millions of pounds for charities around the globe under the banner of its 'Beauty with a Purpose' program, Miss World is also credited with directly influencing a dramatic increase in tourism in Sanya, China, host city of the Miss World finals in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, and 2010.
The pageant
In the year preceding the global finals, each delegate must win her national title or a specially designated Miss World national preliminary. Miss World's national preliminaries are conducted by their licence-holders, who hold the franchise to use the "Miss World" name in their country. The annual final is typically a month long event, with several preliminary galas, dinners, balls and activities, culminating in a globally telecast final show in which the field is narrowed to between 15–20 delegates.
Winners gallery
Miss World 1967
Madeline Hartog-Bel, Peru
Miss World 1977
Mary Stävin, Sweden
Miss World 1978
Silvana Suárez, Argentina
Miss World 1982
Mariasela Álvarez, Dominican Republic
Miss World 1994
Aishwarya Rai, India
Miss World 1997
Diana Hayden, India
Miss World 1998
Linor Abargil, Israel
Miss World 1999
Yukta Mookhey, India
Miss World 2000
Priyanka Chopra, India
Miss World 2001
Agbani Darego,Nigeria
Miss World 2002
Azra Akin, Turkey
Miss World 2003
Rosanna Davison, Ireland
Miss World 2004
Maria Julia Mantilla, Peru
Miss World 2005
Unnur Birna Vilhjálmsdóttir,Iceland
Miss World 2007
Zi Lin Zhang, China
Miss World 2008
Ksenia Sukhinova, Russia
Miss World 2009
Kaiane Aldorino, Gibraltar
Miss World 2011
Ivian Sarcos, Venezuela
