Profile Facts: Miss World

Miss World,

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 contests, 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 Kaiane Aldorino of Gibraltar.

History

Miss World 2009, Kaiane Aldorino

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.

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.

21st Century

Ksenia Sukhinova, Miss World 2008

Eric Morley died as the pageant entered the new century. His wife, Julia, succeeded as chairwoman of the Miss World Organization.

The century saw its first black African winner, Agbani Darego, in 2001. As part of its marketing strategy, Miss World came up with a "You Decide" television special during that edition, featuring the delegates behind the scenes and on the beach, and allowing viewers to either phone in or vote online for their favorites. It also sells its Talent, Beach Beauty and Sports events as television specials to broadcasters.

In 2002 the pageant was slated for choosing Abuja, the capital city of Nigeria to host its final. This choice was controversial, as a northern Nigerian woman, Amina Lawal, was awaiting death by stoning for adultery under Sharia law there, but Miss World chose to use the publicity surrounding its presence to bring greater global awareness and action to Amina's plight (see Controversies section).

During the first decade of the new century, Mexico has the best record for any country: as of 2009 it has consecutive placements from 2004-2009, two Top Model winners (2004 and 2009), one Beach Beauty winner (2008), two 1st runner-ups (2005 and 2009), one 2nd runner-up (2007), and three Continental Queens of Beauty (2005, 2007, 2009).

[edit]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. 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 of the Miss World finals from 2003-05.

The Pageant

Zhang Zilin, Miss World 2007

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.

[edit]Awards

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Thursday, May 6

Miss World

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