Despite a much smaller population, there is one global competition where the county of Dorset has matched the USA. In the now somewhat outdated Miss World Contest, Dorset has produced three winners. They are Ann Sidney, Lesley Langley and Sarah-Jane Hutt. The USA has provided Marjorie Wallace (1973), Gina Tolleson (1990) and Alexandria Mills (2010).
Ann Sidney was a hairdresser from Poole, on a 30 shillings (£1.50) weekly wage, who won in 1964. She became an actress, married five times and for a short period was a girlfriend of Bruce Forsyth. The contest had an incredible 27.5 million television audience in the UK alone. When Ann returned to Poole she received a reception usually reserved for royalty. Her win led to British born, American comedian Bob Hope inviting her to entertain US troops in Korea, the Philippines and Vietnam. Her autobiography is entitled, ‘Surviving Miss World.’
Next year in 1965, Dorset achieved back to back victories when 21 year old Lesley Langley from Weymouth secured the Crown. Lesley was an actress and model and had secured a small part as a flying circus pilot in the James Bond movie Goldfinger. She also made television appearances in Dr Who and in Comedy Playhouse. Later, Lesley worked as a Dental Surgery Assistant.
Dorset’s third winner was model Sarah-Jane Hutt from Poole. Also Miss Wimborne, she secured the Miss World title in 1983. She beat 71 other contestants including Miss USA who was one of the finalists. Modestly, Sarah-Jane did not think that she was the most beautiful girl in the world and surprisingly her father agreed with her.
The competition originated in 1951 as something to publicise the Festival of Britain and became the Miss World Competition the following year.
Yes Lesley was a Dental Receptionist in the Dental Practice i have been going to in Weymouth for over 30 years, she only finished there fairly recently
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