Miss World 1970

Miss World 1970
Miss World 1970 Titlecard
Date	November 20, 1970
Presenters	Michael Aspel, Keith Fordyce, & Bob Hope
Venue	Royal Albert Hall, London, England, United Kingdom
Broadcaster	BBC
Entrants	58
Debuts	Africa South, Grenada, and Mauritius
Withdraws	Chile, Costa Rica, Czechoslovakia, and Paraguay
Returns	Ceylon, Hong Kong, Italy, Malaysia, Puerto Rico, Spain, and Thailand
Winner	Jennifer Hosten Grenada

Countries and territories which sent delegates and results.

Miss World 1970, the 20th annual Miss World contest, was held on November 20, 1970 at Royal Albert Hall, London, United Kingdom. 58 contestants competed for the Miss World. Jennifer Hosten from Grenada won the crown of Miss World 1970. However the event was marked by controversy in the days beforehand, during the contest itself and afterwards.

Results

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

Contestants

Africa South - Pearl Gladys Jansen  Argentina - Patricia Maria 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 - Fatima Shecker  Ecuador - Sofia Virginia Monteverde Nimbriotis  Finland - Hannele Hamara  France - Micheline Beaurain  Gambia - Margaret Davies  Germany - Dagmar Eva Ruthenberg  Gibraltar - Carmen Gomez  Greece - Julie Vardi  Grenada - Jennifer Josephine Hosten  Guyana - Jennifer Diana Evan Wong  Holland - Patricia Hollman  Hong Kong - Ann Lay  Iceland - Anna Hansdottir  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 Lopez 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 Perez  Seychelles - Nicole Barallon  South Africa - Jillian Elizabeth Jessup  Spain - Josefina Román Gutiérrez  Sweden - Marjorie Christel Johansson  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 (Tomasita) de las Casas  Yugoslavia - Teresa Djelmis

Debuts

• Africa South, Grenada, and Mauritius competed in Miss World for the first time.

Returning countries

• Hong Kong and Puerto Rico last competed in 1959.
• Spain last competed in 1964.
• Malaysia last competed in 1966.
• Ceylon, Italy, and Thailand last competed in 1968.

Historical significance

• Philippines last placed in 1968.
• Ceylon places for the third time, last placed in 1963.

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. 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.

Even greater controversy then followed after the result was announced. Jennifer Hosten won 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. (In 1979 Eric Gairy was overthrown as Prime Minister of Grenada because of corruption, favouritism and abuses of human rights.)

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 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

• 1970 Miss World Part 1
• 1970 Miss World Part 2