Back in time on the North East catwalk
Nostalgia Editor IN worldly-wise 2018, the notion of a Miss World or a Miss Newcastle or, indeed, a Miss Sunday Sun might seem politically incorrect and oldfashioned to some.
But try telling that to the girls on these pages, or the millions who tuned into the annual televised Miss World contests in the 1960s and 70s.
The event, which spawned a host of imitators over the following decades, was launched by Eric Morley in 1951 as part of that year’s Festival of Britain celebrations.
It first appeared on BBC TV in 1959 and struck a chord, as the popularity of the beauty contest surged over the next 20 years.
No self-respecting town, holiday resort, caravan park - or indeed newspaper -was complete without its own “Miss.”
And maybe surprisingly, the beauty contest had roots in our region.
When the 1973 Miss World, Marjorie Wallace, visited the Sunday Sun offices for a photo shoot 45 years ago, little did she know Newcastle had history in that department.
It was here in 1905 that an event called the Blonde and Brunette Beauty Show - open to girls over 16 - was held at the city’s Olympia Theatre.
If the Miss Butlins and Miss Pontins competitions of the 1960s had been light-hearted affairs, later contests would be more professional and competitive.
For winners, there was the prospect of money and careers in fashion and glamour.
In 1980, the Evening Chronicle reported on the Newcastle heat of the Miss England contest at the city’s trendy Madison’s nightclub.
One of the contestants, 21-year-old Vicky Stamp, of Whitley Bay, North Tyneside, a veteran of six contests, said: “There are so many pretty girls in the North East. The standard is very high.”
But the cracks had already begun to show as the 1980s saw contests disrupted by women’s liberation protesters.
The Miss World TV show was shunted from BBC to Channel 5 in the 1990s - and then on to little-known satellite channels.
There were attempts to show the contestants in a more educated light, with tests for intelligence and personality, but changing tastes and fashions mean today’s Miss World contest, and its like, are a shadow of what they were.
But the catwalks haven’t all been consigned to history. Applicants are now invited for Miss Newcastle 2018. The final will be held in June. Meanwhile, last year’s winner was 17-year-old Alisha Cowie from Spennymoor, Co Durham, who beat 19 other girls to take the title at Newcastle Civic Centre.
Enjoy our photos from the Sunday Sun archive. Heat winners in the Miss Clubman beauty contest at the Sunday Sun’s Jack O’Clubs Roadshow, St Mary’s Hospital Social Club, Stannington, Northumberland, August 1975 Jennifer Hosten, Miss World 1970, visits Newcastle, January 1970
Above, Miss Tyneside, Vivien Stamp, launches the new BMW 3 series of cars at the Priory dealership in North Shields; left, Miss Shephards of Gateshead contest, 1971