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Miss Yorkshire: A history of the region's beauty contests PHOTO GALLERY
With the finals of this year's Miss World contest due to take place this weekend in China, Neil Hudson looked back at the history of the beauty contest and all its peculiarities...
* Click here to view the YEP picture galleries of Leeds nostalgia.
1936:
One of the earliest pictures dates from 1936 – it was Yorkshire's first beauty contest and it had a touch of Hollywood sparkle about it.
It was won by Miss Doris Smith, of Huddersfield Road, Dewsbury, who recalled the occasion on its 50th anniversary in June 1986: "There was an elegance and romance to the contests then, we were never seen in skimpy swimming costumes, we wore evening dresses. There are some pretty girls in the contests today but I do not like to see them parading in tiny costumes. Good grief, we would never have dreamt of wearing anything like that."
Doris, who worked at the Pioneer Cinema, Dewsbury won 100 (at a time when the average weekly wage for a man was 4) and was presented with her sash at Leeds Town Hall by Leeds taylor Montague Burton and Britain's leading actress of the day, the late Margaret Lockwood, who
was already a big name but went on to appear in dozens of Hollywood films, the most famous of which was the controversial The Wicked Lady (1945), in which she played a nobleman's wife turned highway robber.
Doris also won a trip in a de Havilland aeroplane from Yeadon Airport and toured the UK for a year, visiting fetes and galas. She came third in Miss England later that year.
1945:
One of the first ever national beauty queens hailed from Yorkshire and was the first pin-up to grace the back page of the British Army magazine, Soldier.
Cherry Richards, 20, from Doncaster, helped boost morale during the Second World War when her picture appeared on August 18, 1945 as one of the original 'forces sweethearts'.
1950s?:
This picture was sent in to us on December 30, 1994 but never published. It looks like it could be from the 1950s and shows beauty queens from around Leeds. Parading along the line is singer Marion Ryan, known at the time as 'Britain's answer to Marilyn Monroe', mother to Leeds-born 1960s pop act Paul and Barry Ryan, who sang Don't Bring Me Your Heartaches. Ryan began her career in Leeds's music halls before being spotted by band leader Ray Ellington and catapulted to fame both here and in the US. It seems she never forgot her roots.
1969:
Maureen Lidgard Brown, 24, married the man who proposed to her five minutes after they met. Miss Brown, of Cliffe Avenue, Lightcliffe, Halifax met Brian Pedrick, 25, a London motor dealer, when he asked her to dance at the opening of the Wakefield Theatre Club. Miss Brown was runner up in Miss Great Britain and Miss UK contests and was Queen of Queens at Roundhay Park, Leeds, in September 1969.
1973:
In January 1973, Miss Gay Spink, of Halifax, was crowned Miss Yorkshire Rose by Jimmy Savile at the Queen's Hotel, Leeds.
She got more than she bargained for too, as having only just been crowned and pictured, she was told by twin sister Zoe that her fiance, Paul Leary, of Beechwood Road, Illingworth, had been rushed to Halifax General Infirmary with appendicitis. Miss Spink, 20, said: "I couldn't believe it."
She won a two-week holiday in the French Riviera and 100 to spend on clothes. Pictured with her are runners up Leeds student nurse June Wilkinson, 23, representing Dearne Valley, and Farnley sales promoter Joanne Ireland, 20, representing Miss Harrogate, who came second.
1987:
Among the judges of the Miss Leeds contest in February 1987 was the late snooker player Alex Higgins, pictured with winner Yvette Livesey, 18, of Whalley in the Ribble Valley, Wendy Sherman, 22, of Leeds (3rd) and Rachel Wyatt, 21, of Barnsley.
The competition was held at Mr Craig's on New Briggate, Leeds and all three girls went on to compete in the Miss West Yorkshire contest in March, the winner of that going forward to Miss England.
1993:
By the 1990s beauty contests were going out of fashion, but Catherine Hey, of Garforth, Leeds, was chosen Miss Yorkshire Rugby League Queen in 1993, and was pictured with her sash seated next to some daffodils.
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Thursday 24 May 2012
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