Miss World pageant commenced in the year 1951, and since then 66 editions of the pageant have been held until the conclusion of Miss World 2016 when Stephanie Del Valle from Puerto Rico won the title. Miss World is the oldest surviving international pageant, started by Eric Morley in United Kingdom. Angelopedia presents some of interesting facts and trivia about currently the most popular international pageant in the world.
Background
Miss World started the Festival Bikini Contest in honour of the recently introduced swimwear of the time, even the first winner was crowned wearing a bikini. It was originally planned as a one-off event, however upon learning about the upcoming Miss Universe pageant, Eric Morley decided to make the pageant an annual event, and it has been held annually since then.
Since 2015 the organizers eliminated bikini round from the competition.
An interesting fact about Miss World is that eleven (11) Miss World finalists have been Bond Girls. To assist James Bond, casting directors across the world have looked at the Miss World alumni!
'Firsts' at Miss World
The first-ever winner of Miss World was from Sweden - Kicki Håkansson - who was crowned Miss World 1951 on 29th July 1951 bringing the first title for Europe. The second edition of the Miss World pageant was also won by Sweden. And Sweden got its third Miss World title in 1977, and thereafter it has never won the title to date. Other first time winners from each continent are -
Africa - Antigone Costanda (Egypt) Miss World 1954
South America -Susana Duijm (Venezuela) Miss World 1955
North America - Carole Joan Crawford (Jamaica) Miss World 1963
Asia - Reita Faria (India) Miss World 1966
Oceania - Penelope Plummer (Australia) Miss World 1968
Longest & Shortest Reign
As Miss World event does not take place on the same date every year, not all the winners get the exact same time of reign. We have not considered the cases of resignation/ dethronement but only complete reigns.
The longest reign by a winner in the pageant’s history has been by Sweden’s Kicki Håkansson, who was crowned Miss World 1951 on 29th July 1951 and crowned her successor on 14th November 1952. Her reign was for 474 days. This was followed by the second longest reign of Megan Young of Philippines as Miss World 2013 for 442 days.
The shortest reign so far by a winner has been by Venezuela’s Ivian Sarcos who was crowned Miss World 2011 on 6th November 2011 and crowned her successor on 18th August 2012. Her reign was for only 286 days!
Longest and Shortest Gap
The longest gap between two wins by a country is recorded as 41 years. In 1975, Wilnelia Merced of Puerto Rico was crowned the winner, and after a gap of 41 years, in 2016 i.e., last year, Stephanie Del Valle of Puerto Rico won the glory for her country.
The record for the shortest gap is shared by –
Sweden – Kerstin Håkansson and May-Louise Flodin in 1951 and 1952 respectively
United Kingdom – Ann Sidney and Lesley Langley in 1964 and 1965 respectively
India – Yukta Mukhey and Priyanka Chopra in 1999 and 2000 respectively
Youngest and Oldest Winners
The 'oldest' winner to be crowned as Miss World was Aneta Kreglicka of Poland in 1989. She was 24 years and 244 days old at the time of her win. And the youngest winner has been Wilnelia Merced of Puerto Rico, who won the title in the year 1975 when she was 18 years 39 days at the time of her win.
Most Wins by a Country
Until the year 2014, Venezuela holds the record for a maximum number of title wins (Six), followed by India (Five) and United Kingdom (Four).
Resigned/ Dethroned
Throughout its history, it remains the only major international pageants with two winners resigned or dethroned.
First was in 1974 when Helen Morgan (UK) was crowned Miss World 1974 but resigned four days later on a discovery that she had a child. The next one came in 1980 when Gabriella Brum (Germany) was crowned as Miss World 1980, but resigned after 18 hours of her reign, initially claiming her boyfriend’s disapproval, and later stating media pressures regarding nude pictures of her as the reasons.
Also, Marjorie Wallace, the Miss World 1973 became the first titleholder not to complete her reign, when in March 1974, she was fired for "failing to fulfil the basic requirements of the job."
Home Country Wins
Only two countries have won the crown of Miss World when the pageant was held at their home country.
United Kingdom’s all 5 wins (1961, 1964, 1965, 1974, and 1983) are when the pageant was held in UK.
China’s 2 wins (2007 and 2012) in Miss World happened when the pageant also took in China.
Feel free to add in comments below for any more interesting fact you know about Miss World pageant. There are much more for sure...