Miss World 1970

Miss World 1970
Miss World 1970 Titlecard
Date	20 November 1970
Presenters	Michael Aspel, Keith Fordyce, Bob Hope[1][2]
Venue	Royal Albert Hall, London, UK
Broadcaster	BBC
Entrants	58
Debuts	Africa South, Grenada, Mauritius
Withdrawals	Chile, Costa Rica, Czechoslovakia, Paraguay
Returns	Ceylon, Hong Kong, Italy, Malaysia, Puerto Rico, Spain, Thailand
Winner	Jennifer Hosten [3][4]  Grenada

Miss World 1970, the 20th edition of the Miss World pageant, was held on 20 November 1970 at the Royal Albert Hall in London, UK.^[5] 58 contestants competed for the Miss World title. Jennifer Hosten from Grenada won the crown of Miss World 1970.^[3][4] She was crowned by Miss World 1969, Eva Rueber-Staier of Austria. The event was marked by controversy in the days beforehand, during the contest itself and afterwards.

Results

Countries and territories which sent delegates and results for Miss World 1970^{[2][3][6][7][8]}

Final results	Contestant
Miss World 1970	Grenada – Jennifer Hosten [3][4]
1st runner-up	Africa South – Pearl Jansen [2]
2nd runner-up	Israel – Irith Lavi [2]
3rd runner-up	Sweden – Marjorie Christel Johansson [2][9]
4th runner-up	South Africa – Jillian Jessup
5th runner-up	Brazil – Sônia Yara Guerra
6th runner-up	United Kingdom – Yvonne Anne Ormes
Semi-finalists	Australia – Valli Kemp  Ceylon – Yolanda Shahzadi Ahlip  Ecuador – Sofía Monteverde Nimbriotis  Guyana – Jennifer Diana Evan Wong  India – Heather Corinne Faville  Philippines – Minerva Manalo Cagatao  United States – Sandra Anne Wolsfeld  Yugoslavia – Tereza Đelmiš

Contestants

Africa South [7] – Pearl Gladys Jansen  Argentina – Patricia María Charré Salazar  Australia – Valli Kemp  Austria – Rosemarie Resch  Bahamas – June Justina Brown  Belgium – Francine Martin  Brazil – Sonia Yara Guerra  Canada – Norma Joyce Hickey  Ceylon – Yolanda Shahzali Ahlip  Colombia – Carmelina Bayona Vera  Cyprus – Louiza Anastadiades  Denmark – Winnie Hollman  Dominican Republic – Fátima Shecker  Ecuador – Sofía Virginia Monteverde Nimbriotis  Finland – Hannele Hamara  France – Micheline Beaurain  Gambia – Margaret Davies  Germany – Dagmar Eva Ruthenberg  Gibraltar – Carmen Gomez  Greece – Julie Vardi  Grenada – Jennifer Hosten [3][4]  Guyana – Jennifer Diana Evan Wong  Holland – Patricia Hollman  Hong Kong – Ann Lay  Iceland – Anna Hansdóttir  India – Heather Corinne Faville  Ireland – Mary Elizabeth McKinley  Israel – Irith Lavi  Italy – Marika de Poi

Jamaica – Elizabeth Ann Lindo  Japan – Hisayo Nakamura  Korea – Lee Jung-hee  Lebanon – Georgina Rizk  Liberia – Mainusa Wiles  Luxembourg – Rita Massard  Malaysia – Mary Ann Wong  Malta – Tessa Marthese Galea  Mauritius – Florence Muller  Mexico – Libia Zulema López Montemayor  New Zealand – Glenys Elizabeth Treweek  Nicaragua – Evangelina Lacayo  Nigeria – Stella Owivri  Norway – Aud Fosse  Philippines – Minerva Manalo Cagatao  Portugal – Ana Maria Diozo Lucas  Puerto Rico – Alma Doris Pérez  Seychelles – Nicole Barallon  South Africa – Jillian Elizabeth Jessup  Spain – Josefina Román Gutiérrez  Sweden – Marjorie Christel Johansson [9]   Switzerland – Sylvia Christina Weisser  Thailand – Tuanjai Amnakamart  Tunisia – Kaltoum Khouildi  Turkey – Afet Tugbay  United Kingdom – Yvonne Anne Ormes  United States – Sandra Anne Wolsfeld  Venezuela – Tomasa Nina de las Casas Mata  Yugoslavia – Tereza Đelmiš

Judges

A panel of nine judges evaluated the performance of the contestants in Miss World 1970.^[2][10][11] Some of the judges included Joan Collins, Eric Gairy, the first Prime Minister of Grenada, Glen Campbell and Nina.^[2][10][12]

Notes

Debuts

•  Africa South
•  Grenada
•  Mauritius

Returns

Last competed in 1959:  Hong Kong  Puerto Rico

Last competed in 1964:  Spain Last competed in 1966:  Malaysia

Last competed in 1968:  Ceylon  Italy  Thailand

Protests and controversy

There was controversy before the contest began because the organisers had allowed two entries from South Africa, one black, one white. On the evening of the contest, a bomb exploded under a BBC outside broadcast van in an unsuccessful attempt by the Angry Brigade to prevent the contest being televised. There were no injuries. The audience then had to enter the hall past noisy demonstrators who were penned behind barricades.

During the evening there were protests by Women's Liberation activists.^[8] They held up placards, shouted, blew whistles, and threw smoke bombs, stink bombs, ink bombs and leaflets onto the stage. The comedian, Bob Hope, was also heckled during the proceedings.^[2]

Even greater controversy then followed after the result was announced. Jennifer Hosten won becoming the first Black woman to win Miss World and the black contestant from South Africa was placed second. The BBC and newspapers received numerous protests about the result and accusations of racism were made by all sides. Four of the nine judges had given first-place votes to Miss Sweden, while Miss Grenada received only two firsts, yet the Swedish entrant finished fourth. Furthermore, the Prime Minister of Grenada, Sir Eric Gairy, was on the judging panel. Inevitably there were many accusations that the contest had been rigged. Some of the audience gathered in the street outside Royal Albert Hall after the contest and chanted "Swe-den, Swe-den". Four days later the organising director, Julia Morley, resigned because of the intense pressure from the newspapers. Years later Miss Sweden, Maj Christel Johansson, was reported as saying that she had been cheated out of the title. (Eric Gairy was overthrown as Prime Minister of Grenada on 13 March 1979 while he was at the UN by the New Jewel Movement led by Maurice Bishop, whose father had been murdered by Gairy's men.^[13]

Julia Morley's husband, Eric Morley, was the chairman of the company (Mecca) that owned the Miss World franchise. To disprove the accusations, Eric Morley put the judging panel's ballot cards on view^[6] and described the complex "majority vote system". These cards showed that Jennifer Hosten had more place markings in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th positions over Miss Sweden and the other five finalists. Julia Morley then resumed her job. However many still felt Sir Eric Gairy on the judging panel had influenced the other judges to give Jennifer token placings.

References

1. Pelling, Rowan (July 13, 2015). "What's so wrong about being a beauty queen?". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved January 23, 2016.
2. "The Owosso Argus-Press". Retrieved 27 January 2016.
3. "Miss World Competition Through the Years". E!. December 12, 2014. Retrieved January 23, 2016.
4. Shin, H. (2006). Beauty for the World: A Spiritual Odyssey. AuthorHouse. p. pt60. ISBN 978-0-595-40022-5.
5. Chaudhuri, S. (2006). Feminist Film Theorists: Laura Mulvey, Kaja Silverman, Teresa de Lauretis, Barbara Creed. Routledge Critical Thinkers. Taylor & Francis. p. pt48. ISBN 978-1-134-34667-7.
6. "Misses World on stamps". The Philippine Star. November 11, 2015. Retrieved January 23, 2016.
7. Drum: A Magazine of Africa for Africa. African Drum Publications. 1971.
8. "Daytona Beach Sunday News-Journal". Retrieved 27 January 2016.
9. Times Daily
10. Daytona Beach Sunday News-Journal
11. The Glasgow Herald
12. Ottawa Citizen - Google News Archive Search
13. O'Shaughnessy, Hugh (25 August 1997). "Obituary". The Independent.

External links

• Pageantopolis – Miss World 1970
• 1970 Miss World Part 1
• 1970 Miss World Part 2