Cosmopolitan UK - 04.2020

WORDS EMILY GULLA. PHOTOGRAPHS GETTY IMAGES/ALAMY

The true story of

HUMBLE

BEGINNINGS

Created in 1951 by

British entrepreneur

and TV host Eric

Morley (Rhys Ifans),

the Miss World beauty

pageant started life

as Miss World Festival

Bikini Girl at the

Festival Of Britain

summer fair.

PLANS FOR PROTEST

Feminist activists the Women’s

Liberation Movement decided to

protest at 1970’s Miss World at London’s

Royal Albert Hall, using the slogan “We’re

not beautiful, we’re not ugly – we’re angry”.

H TORY IS MADE

H

Mbatha-Ra

first black

crowned M

Hosten (r

said that

offered h

opportu

travel, s

work th

otherw

had a

BRAINS

& BEAUTY

The controversial

pageant still

exists (Priyanka

Chopra, right,

won in 2000), but

contestants are

now judged on their

charitable work too,

not just their looks.

w a w s a c p b d w F

VIEWING PLEASURE

The BBC first broadcast Miss World

in 1959. The show secured funding

from big businesses and became an annual

viewing event throughout the ’60s, reaching

a peak of 24 million viewers in 1970

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2

6

5 4

7 8

THE END OF AN ERA

The BBC stopped broadcasting

orld in 1980, and when

ent,

th

e, to

etition.

Starring Keira Knightley and

Gugu Mbatha-Raw, the film

tells two stories: that of feminist

activist Sally Alexander, who

protested against the 1970 Miss

World competition, and of

Jennifer Hosten, the first-ever

black woman to win the crown.

Here’s how all the events really

played out...

The infamous 1970 Miss World competition gets the big-screen trea

this month in Misbehaviour. No idea what happened? Let us fill you

play film

COSMOPOLITAN ·^13

HIS

nadian Je

Hosten (Gugu

aw) became the

woman to be

Miss World.

right) later

the contest

her more

unities to

study and

han she may

wise have

ccess to.

Eric Morley died

in 2000,

(Keeley Hawes),

took over as

CEO. Julia

(right) added a

charity e

Beauty W

A Purpos

the compe

tment

in

FLOUR

POWER

Protestors,

including Sally Alexander

(Keira Knightley) and

Jo Robinson (Jessie

Buckley), pelted

Miss World host

Bob Hope (Greg

Kinnear) with flour,

smoke and stink

bombs and rotting

fruit, calling the pageant

a “cattle market”.

FEMINIST

FURY

As contestants

were judged on their

appearance while

wearing gowns and

wimwear, the pageant

attracted a lot of

controversy, and was

publicly opposed

by feminists for

demeaning

women.

air.

peak of 24 million viewersin 1970.

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