Miss World is the oldest running international beauty pageant. It was created in the United Kingdom by Eric Morley in 1951.Since his death in 2000, Morley's widow, Julia Morley, has co-chaired the pageant.Alongside with its rivals, the Miss Universe and Miss Earth contests, Miss World pageant is one of the three most publicised beauty contests in the world; together with Miss International, the group is known as Big Four international beauty pageants
20th century
In 1951, Eric Morley organised a bikini contest as part of the Festival of Britain celebrations that he called the Festival Bikini Contest. The event was popular with the press, and was dubbed Miss World by the media. The swimsuit competition was intended as a promotion for the bikini
which had only recently been introduced onto the market, and which was
still widely regarded as immodest. When the 1951 Miss World pageant
winner, Kerstin "Kiki" Hakansson from Sweden, was crowned in a bikini, it added to the controversy.
More Red
/GettyImages-665475861-5812dca35f9b58564c867575.jpg)
