Miss World 1983

By Julio Rodríguez Matute. PAYPAL.ME/RODRIGUEZMATUTE2

RELEVANT EVENTS OF THIS YEAR.-

                In 1983, the US invasion of Grenada occurred, ending communism and the Cuban military occupation on that island. Scientists officially discover the virus that causes AIDS, the Soviet Union shoots down a South Korean passenger plane that mistakenly flew over its territory and a bomb destroys the US Embassy in Beirut. The civil war begins in Sri Lanka that lasts until 2009. Earthquakes in Popayán (Colombia), Erzurum (Turkey), Luzón (Philippines) and in the northern part of Guinea, while a tsunami affects northern Japan. Hurricane Alicia causes serious damage in Galveston and Houston (Texas). Polish leader Lech Wałęsa wins the Nobel Peace Prize and the Zapatista Army of National Liberation is founded in Mexico. In Venezuela, the Pan American Games are held, the Caracas Metro and the Teresa Carreño theater are inaugurated and the “Black Friday” occurs in which the Bolívar is devalued by 75% (stable since 1964); the currency continues to devalue continuously until reaching 237% in the middle of the year and the government creates the Differential Exchange Regime (RECADI). Saint Kitts and Nevis and the Turkish part of Cyprus become independent. Several Latin American writers died when an Avianca 747 jumbo jet crashed in Madrid. The first flight of NASA’s space shuttle Challenger is made, IBM launches the first personal computer (PC XT), Microsoft announces the first version of Windows and Nintendo launches the video game “Mario Bros”. Lorraine Downes from New Zealand achieves the Miss Universe title in Saint Louis, Missouri while Costa Rican Gidget Sandoval wins the second Miss International crown for that country in Japan and Vanessa Williams becomes the first African American to win Miss America. The song “Si la vie est cadeau” by Corinne Hermès from Luxembourg wins the Eurovision Song Contest in Germany and “Estrela de Papel” by Brazilian Jesse wins the OTI in Washington DC. “The return of the Jedi”, “Octopussy” (from the James Bond series), “Terms of Endearment”, “Scarface”, “Flashdance” and “Superman III” are released in theaters. The Disney Channel, the rock bands Red Hot Chili Peppers and Bon Jovi are created in the US and the end of the M * A * S * H ​​series is broadcast, setting a record of 125 million viewers. The radio plays the song “Karma Chameleon” by Culture Club and Guillermo Dávila reaches fame with his song “Solo pienso en ti”. This year the Australian Miss Universe Jennifer Hawkins, the beauty queen Eva Ekvall, the actress Lupita Nyong’o, the singer Amy Winehouse and the Venezuelan politician Juan Guaidó were born. While Peruvian singer-songwriter Chabuca Granda, actresses Dolores del Río and Gloria Swanson, filmmaker Luis Buñuel, Prime Minister of Grenada Maurice Bishop, Filipino opponent Benigno Aquino (both politicians murdered) and singer Karen of The Carpenters (by anorexia) died.

PREVIOUS MONTHS TO MISS WORLD.-

                On January 18, it is announced that a computer would facilitate the counting of votes in the Miss World contest for the first time by signing an agreement between the Morleys and the computer firm Epson UK Ltd. “It will receive the votes of the judges at the Royal Albert Hall London and will produce a quick result of the complicated voting procedure”, said Miss World President Eric Morley. On the other hand, on February 7, it was announced to the media that Morley would sell shares of the contest in the stock market after buying the shares owned by the beer company Belhaven in an attempt to guarantee the future of the contest in Great Britain. The Belhaven Brewery Company continued to shrink as the president of Miss World changed tactics after years of disastrous diversification. The latest deal was the sale at a loss not only of the Miss World shares but also of several hotels, vacation campings and night clubs. Morley said he had decided to put up to 48% of Miss World shares up for sale on the stock exchange.

               On Thursday, April 14, a total of 810,000 shares of the contest went on sale on the London stock exchange, which Morley attended accompanied by ex-Miss World Mary Stavin and Pilin León since Mariasela Álvarez was modeling in Paris. The sale was a success as Morley doubled his money as shares originally trading at 60 pence rose to 135 within a few hours. Swedish Mary Stavin took advantage and bought a thousand of the shares, becoming the first Miss World to be a business partner of Morley. Other buyers included institutions and most of the permanent staff of the Miss World organization, as well as businessman Michael Ashcroft of the Hawley group, who acquired 14.99% of the shares, becoming the third largest shareholder in Miss World behind Eric and Julia. “It’s not just about selling good looks, it’s about selling good business”, Morley said. At the peak of trading that morning, Morley’s 26 per cent stake more than doubled to £ 671,375, and the company’s valued price was approximately £ 2.7m. His wife, Mrs. Julia Morley, who made £ 25,000 a year as managing director, saw her 25 percent shareholding jump from £ 292,500 to £ 638,625. Later, the share price stabilized at 129 pence. Morley promised to steer the company towards maximum profitability. He said his contract provided for a small salary, then a profit percentage above the expected level of £ 300,000. Undeterred at the prospect of growing feminism that could hurt business, investors launched into buying shares of the contest on the London Stock Exchange. There was loud laughter as a stockbroker in a yellow dress with a plunging neckline and a battered silver crown parodied Miss World and appeared in the trading room when the shares launched on the unlisted stock market. His sash read: “Miss Spent Youth”.

THE TRIAL TO THE DRUG DEALER CONTESTANT.-

                Heather Ross, Miss Bermuda from the previous year, told the Crown Court in London on Tuesday, September 20, that she sniffed cocaine with three men at a hotel in the British capital the night she competed in the 1982 Miss World pageant. Ross, 22, said the drug party was held a few days before she was discovered trying to smuggle 2.2 pounds of cocaine from the Netherlands. The former beauty queen was serving a three-year prison term for smuggling. She was a key witness in the trial of Bermuda nightclub owner Bobbie Greene, 50, accused of running a heroin and cocaine smuggling ring from Rotterdam to Bermuda through London. Greene had denied the charges, which they alleged used Ross and another beauty queen as couriers. But on October 12, Robert Greene was cleared of being involved in the drug trafficking ring with beauty queens. A jury at Reading Crown Court found that Greene was not guilty. During the trial, Heather Ross alleged that Greene had offered her $ 20,000 to act as a courier. Ross was jailed for three years in January after admitting smuggling cocaine. Judge John Murchie ordered Robert Greene to be deported at the earliest opportunity.

SEARCHING FOR ENTRANTS.-

                After a long time, two countries in the eastern bloc of Europe held beauty pageants again: Poland and Hungary, and both were expected to send their representatives to Miss World. This would represent the debut of both nations that year along with the representation of a new country for the continent of Oceania: The Kingdom of Tonga. The Caribbean island of Barbados returned after a seven-year absence, but just as some returned, others left. Unfortunately, on the island of Jersey, in the English Channel, they stopped selecting representatives for Miss World and the directors in Papua New Guinea ruled out the franchise due to the cost of the trip to London, remaining only with Miss Universe and Miss Asia. Meanwhile, beauty reigns had been discontinued in Suriname. After the Falklands War, Mrs. Nelly Raymond released the English contest franchise for Argentina; That country was in no mood to send again a candidate to the empire that had won them the war the previous year. Another headache for the organizers of Miss World was getting the participation of African candidates. The Morleys had done their utmost to attract new nations from that continent to the contest, fearing not having the participation of any African girl that year, since South Africa was banned, beauty pageants have been canceled in Lesotho, Kenya, Madagascar, Seychelles, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia, they no longer had a director in Mauritius and Botswana kept crowning their Miss but the organizers were not interested nor did they have the financial means to send her to London. On the other hand, Miss Nigeria was not celebrated in 1983 and Zimbabwe had given up on continuing to send Misses to the contest due to the claims of the candidate from the previous year. However, Eric and Julia sighed with relief as they managed to get three African countries (Gambia, Liberia and Swaziland) to return to the contest after several years of absence.

A WRONG BEAUTY QUEEN.-

               And precisely in Swaziland, the contest was held on Friday, August 19 in Mbabane after two years without a beauty competition, the first for economic reasons and the second for a mourning after the death of King Sobhuza II and during which, all the young women had to shave their hair in mourning. During the final of the Miss Swaziland 1983, the presenter was wrong and read the results “in reverse order”, so they mistakenly crowned the fourth runner-up, Dora Dlamini and had named the real winner as the fourth runner-up. After the protests and complaints, the organizers realized the error and had to make a special coronation on Tuesday, August 23, where Dora Dlamini had to return the crown to its true owner, the young Gladys Rudd.

NATIONAL COMPETITIONS.-

                Two contests were held in Bolivia this year, Miss Bolivia for Miss Universe and Miss Bolivia for Miss World. Ana Taboada Arnold, representative of Tarija, was crowned to go to London. In Canada the rights to the pageant had passed from the previous year to IMG (company that currently runs Miss Universe) in association with the Toronto Sun Publishing Corporation after Miss World 1970, Jennifer Hosten of Grenada had chosen to release the franchise to fully engage in politics. But the national team struggled and was held late in 1982 just in time to send the winner to London. The problems continued and in 1983 Miss World Canada was not held, therefore they sent the first runner-up of 1982, Miss Katharine Durish. In Switzerland, the contest was not held that year either, because thanks to the success achieved by Lolita Morena, the sponsors wanted to continue working with her, so the organizers decided to send to London the first runner-up of the previous year, the platinum blonde Patrizia Lang. Three other European countries also had to send the second place holders in their respective national competitions to Miss World: in Finland, the winner Nina Marjaana Rekola, who had been Top 12 in Miss Universe, did not attend Miss World for unknown reasons, being replaced by her 1st runner-up, Marita Pekkala. In Spain, the contest was delayed and was held on October 30, so there was not much time for the trip of the new Miss Spain, Garbiñe Abasolo to Miss World and the directors chose to send the 1982 Miss National, Milagros Pérez Castro to London. Meanwhile, in Germany, the titleholder Loana Katharina Radecki, who had achieved the sixth position in Miss Universe and who also participated unsuccessfully in Miss International, was not sent to Miss World because she had posed for some photos showing her breasts in a well-known German magazine in October, then being replaced in London by the first runner-up, Claudia Zielinski. Among the remaining 68 countries that chose their beauty queens for Miss World we have the following:

* MISS COLOMBIA.- Cartagena celebrated a party on November 13, 1982 for the election of the new sovereign of Colombian beauty. Bogota’s Julie Pauline Sáenz was crowned as the new Miss Colombia and went to Miss Universe, as the cosmetics firm Jolie De Vogue took the franchise and negotiated with the National Beauty Contest to send the queen back to the universal pageant that in 1958 Luz Marina Zuluaga had won. The Vice-Queen, the representative of Magdalena, Rocío Luna Florez, obtained the right to go to Miss World that would be held a year later. The Princesses were the queens of Santander, Martha Ruíz Orduz (to Miss International); Atlántico, Viviana Char Navas and San Andrés y Providencia, Rosabell Castell Britton. Sixteen candidates participated.

* MISS FRANCE.- The local candidate, Isabelle Turpault was crowned on December 29 at the PLM Saint-Jacques hotel in Paris as the new “Miss France 1983”. Miss Turpault was dethroned 40 days later upon discovery that she had posed nude for magazine photos. She was succeeded as Miss France by the first runner-up, Frédérique Leroy, Miss Bordeaux, who went to the Miss Universe and Miss World contests. The remaining finalists were Miss Brittany, Valerie Guenver and Miss Cote D´Azur, Patricia Allegri, while Miss Tahiti, Teura Tuhiti, took the Miss France Overseas title.

* MISS VENEZUELA.- The Macuto Sheraton Hotel in Caraballeda saw Miss Portuguesa, Paola Ruggeri to be crowned as Miss Venezuela on Thursday, May 5, with the right to represent the country in Miss Universe in St. Louis, Missouri. To Miss World, they chose Miss Apure, Carolina Ceruti, daughter of Miss World 1955, Susana Duijm. The remaining finalists were Miss Miranda, Donna Bottone (to Miss International), Miss Amazonas, Isabel Yépez (to Miss Young International), Miss Federal District, Helen Chemaly (to Miss Intercontinental), Miss Monagas, Marina Rueda (to Maja International), Miss Lara, Dalia Di Filippo Linares (to the Bolivarian Reign of Beauty) and Miss Barinas, Laura García. 22 candidates participated.

* MISS USA.- On Thursday, May 12, Julie Hayek from California was crowned “Miss USA 1983” in Knoxville, Tennessee on her way to the Miss Universe pageant. The first runner-up was again Miss Texas, Lisa Allred, who was sent to Miss World. Rounding up the Top 5 were Miss South Carolina, Allison Grisso, Miss Louisiana, Pamela Jo Forrest and Miss North Dakota, Elizabeth Jaeger.

* MISS ARUBA.- Nine participants opted for the Miss Aruba title on Saturday, May 14 at the TeleAruba studios. The winner, Milva Evertz, 24, went to Miss Universe, while Audrey Brugez, 17, was second, chosen for Miss World and also chosen as Miss Bikini, (she appeared as Audrey Van Putten in London) and in the third, Jackie Harms for the Pan American Reign. Miss Tourism was also elected, a title that went to Maureen Ras.

* MISS DOMINICAN REPUBLIC.- The Dominican National Beauty Contest was held on Saturday May 14 at the Palacio de Bellas Artes with 18 participants. This year two queens were crowned, one for Miss Universe (María Alexandra Astwood) and one for Miss World (Yonoris Estrella). The finalists were Mariana Mejía and Deisi Rodríguez. Although the attendance of the also Dominican Mariasela Álvarez and reigning Miss World had been announced, she did not attend the contest …

* FEGURÐARDROTTNING ÍSLANDS.- The Icelandic Beauty Reign, as the pageant was called, was held on Friday, May 20, with Unnur Steinsson as the winner, who was crowned by the outgoing queen, Gudrun Moller and by Miss United Kingdom 1982, Della Dolan. The finalists were Kristín Ingvadóttir, Steinunn Bergmann, Katrín Hall and Anna María Pétursdóttir. Unnur attended Miss Universe and then Miss World, where she competed pregnant…

* MISS MEXICO.- On Sunday, May 22, at the Acapulco Convention Center, Mónica Rosas from the state of Durango was crowned the new “Señorita Mexico 1983”, a contest that was renamed as such after two years. Monica participated in Miss Universe. In second place was the representative of Oaxaca, Mayra Rojas, who went to Miss World. The remaining finalists were Erika McBeath from the State of Mexico, Roxana Chávez Carretero from Puebla and Luz María Arias Ochoa from Mexico City.

* MISS HONDURAS.- Ollie Thompson, Miss Bay Islands, was chosen Miss Honduras for Miss Universe 1983 on Saturday May 28 at Campo Agas of San Pedro Sula, the last year that the contest had girls from wealthy families. One of them, Miss Puerto Cortés, Carmencita Morales, was the first runner-up and was sent to Miss World. The remaining finalists were Miss Tegucigalpa, Ileana Maritza López Turcios, Miss Siguatepeque, Perla Ritenhouse and Miss Santa Rita, Harriet Waldina Paz.

* MISS HOLLAND.- Nancy Lalleman-Heijnis won the crown on June 14 in Amsterdam and was sent to Miss Universe, Miss Young International and Miss World 1983, in addition to Miss Europe 1984. The finalists were Brigitte Bergman (to Miss International and Miss Intercontinental), Marion van de Stolpe, Nicole Bennink and Carina Serrarens.

* MISS ECUADOR.- After several years of designations, the Ecuadorian beauty contest was held again. This time it was held on June 14 at the Teatro 9 de Octubre in Guayaquil with 18 candidates. Four national queens were crowned at the event: To Miss Universe, Mariela García; to Miss World, Martha Lascano; to Maja International, Jane Puyol and to Miss Latin America, Giselle Nader. The finalists were Virginia Zenck, Gabriela Ponce, Angela Castillo and Lorena Cedeño.

* MISS COMMONWEALTH BAHAMAS.- It was held on Sunday, July 31 at the Polaris Hall of the Holiday Inn hotel on Paradise Island. It was won by Lucille Bullen, and the finalists were Cindy Marie Adderly, Lacerne Edgecombe and Angela Suzette Miller. Only 7 beauties participated.

* MISS UNITED KINGDOM.- Forty-four girls competed in the contest held on Wednesday August 24 at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London, winning Sarah-Jane Hutt, Miss Winbourne, who the previous year had competed as Miss Bournemouth and had been a semifinalist in the same event. In second place was Miss England, Karen Moore and in third, Miss Portsmouth, Nicola Stanley.

* MISS JAMAICA.- Catherine Levy was crowned “Miss Jamaica 1983” on Saturday, September 3 at the Kingston National Arena. The finalists were Diana Kay Nash and Dianne Williams.

* MISS POLAND.- A Miss Poland was chosen for the first time since 1958 at the Warsaw Palace of Culture on Wednesday, September 7 in a contest that lasted three nights and was attended by the reigning Miss World, Mariasela Álvarez and the director of the contest Julia Morley. Lidia Wasiak, a 21-year-old physical therapist from Szczecin, was chosen to represent Poland in Miss World. Julia Morley criticized the contest for a heavy emphasis on minimal bikinis and a conga-line dancing with too little chance for the women to display their talents. But she said Miss Poland would be welcomed to London that fall with the hope that the Miss Poland contest could be organized with more dignity in 1984. There was no talent competition, but the contestants were interviewed on stage: Monday they were asked to name their favorite flower, Tuesday their favorite car and Wednesday their favorite man’s name. The 20 young women named as finalists danced to ‘In the Mood’ and ‘Chattanooga Choo-Choo’ before the judges’ choices were revealed. “Maybe next year we won’t have so much of this”, Miss World director Julia Morley told an audience of eager Miss Poland fans as the finalists were being judged, “but a little more of the real Polish woman”. After watching two days of semifinal competition with scantily clad young women romping across the stage, Miss Morley said she protested to contest organizers. “They changed the format in time for the finals”, she said with relief. Mrs. Morley later said in the backstage, that she thought the one-piece swimsuits would have been more dignified and in keeping with the image of Miss World. “We disapproved of the way the girls are presented in bikinis and made to wiggle around”, said Julia Morley, who threatened to withdraw the Miss World franchise from the Estrada organization, which organized the contest in Poland. The director, Stanislaw Cejrowski, rejected the criticism and said that if the winner did not go to London “it would not be a national tragedy.” The dispute was resolved when Cejrowski later apologized “for the mistakes we made this year.” Miss Wasiak, who won over 342 other candidates and was clearly the crowd’s favorite in the contest, won a new Polski Fiat car and other gifts along with her trip to London. The 25-year hiatus in Polish beauty pageants was rumored to be caused by the latest winner’s decision to stay abroad after she was granted a passport. Another explanation blamed prudish Communist guardians for official morality in that decade. However, Miss Wasiak said she felt the country was ready to relive the contest and promised to return home from London after her trip.

* MISS HUNGARY.- An 18-year-old piano student was crowned Hungary’s first post-war beauty queen at the second national beauty pageant held in Eastern Europe that year. Some 5,000 spectators applauded on Monday, September 12 in Budapest when a panel of 21-member judges named Csilla Szentpeteri the winner. The young woman received as a prize a trip for two to Paris and a $ 25,000 insurance policy. Miss Hungary was chosen from 20 finalists by a panel of actors, actresses, advertisers and journalists in Hungary’s first national beauty pageant since the late 1930s. The pageant was organized by a travel agency and the Hunyadi Sports Club of Budapest. The new Hungarian beauty queen said she would be delighted to represent her country in the Miss World pageant, but it was unclear if the country’s authorities would allow it.

* MISS PERU WORLD.- The exclusive Rosa Náutica Restaurant on the Costa Verde in Lima was the venue for the “Miss Peru World 1983” contest held on Saturday September 24 with 13 candidates, all from Lima, organized by Gustavo Rubio (who had the franchise since the previous year) and broadcast on Pan American Television four days later. The winner was 18-year-old Lizbeth Aurora Alcazar Salomón, a student of decoration and 5 feet 5 inches tall. The finalists were Milagros Gonzáles, Patricia Babrofd, Ingrid Fernández and Milena Brandariz. To read more details of the contest visit the page https://www.decoronasyreinas.com/1983-1

* MISS MALAYSIA WORLD.- It was held at the Ipoh City Hall in Perak on Saturday, October 1, with Michelle Yeoh Choo Kheng winning. The finalists were Dotty Kamaluddin Yusof and Jennifer Yong. The contest was attended by the reigning Miss World, Mariasela Álvarez and Julia Morley.

* MISS SINGAPORE WORLD.- Sharon Denise Wells, a 22-year-old flight attendant, was chosen “Miss Singapore World 1983” on Friday October 7 at the Neptune Theatre Restaurant, an event that was attended by Mariasela Álvarez, Miss World 1982 and Julia Morley. By the way, as an anecdote, Mariasela lost her toiletry bag when she inadvertently left it on her luggage cart at Singapore’s Changi airport, but it was recovered and returned to the beauty queen the next day at the Mandarin hotel, where she was staying. The finalists were Loh Wai Kiew and Goo Yeh Ling.

* MISS WORLD BRAZIL.- In 1983 Silvio Santos and the SBT channel obtained the Miss World license in Brazil. SBT had already been promoting Miss Brazil to Miss Universe since 1981, with astonishing television ratings. For Miss World Brazil, a different formula was applied: 10 candidates, two from each of the 5 Brazilian geopolitical regions, were shortlisted. They were featured during Silvio Santos’ popular Sunday show. When the final night came on October 23, the 10 girls performed on stage in bathing suits. Three finalists were selected and then the judges voted. Cátia Pedrosa, from Rio de Janeiro, obtained 3 votes and became Miss World Brazil 1983. Miss World Pará, Simone de Fátima Candreiro do Nascimento and Miss World Rio Grande do Sul, Elaine Escobar Lopes, tied for second place, with 1 vote each.

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DANCES AND EXAMS ON ARRIVAL IN LONDON.-

                The thirty-third edition of Miss World was held from 7 to 18 November, as every year, in London. But, as always, some candidates began arriving days earlier in the British capital. In fact, some were asked if they could arrive before the official date to rehearse a musical performance that they would do for Queen Elizabeth of England during the Royal Variety Performance. This would be the first time in history that the candidates would participate in this annual event in honor of the Queen. Among the first to arrive was Miss Holland, who was invited on Friday November 4 to a London park to promote Dutch dairy products and who posed for photographers wearing huge wooden shoes. During the weekend of November 5 and 6 most of the competitors arrived and that Sunday the girls enjoyed a walk through London’s Hyde Park. Again, the Grosvenor House was the hotel that hosted the contestants and where the welcome dinner was held. The first activity was that of the Royal Variety Performance, which took place on Monday, November 7 at the Royal Theater on Drury Lane, and where some thirty contestants performed a “Ziegfeld Follies” choreography in front of Queen Elizabeth. That day Miss Venezuela arrived accompanied by her mother, the charming Miss World 1955, Susana Duijm. On Tuesday morning the 8th, these same contestants recorded the same musical number in the Trafalgar square for the opening of the contest, accompanied by the Ken Warwick dancers, dancing to the song “Singing in the rain” which at the time was popularized by Gene Kelly, taking advantage of the frequent London autumn rain. In the afternoon, the candidates made the traditional tour of the most emblematic places in the city, such as the Cathedral of Saint Paul and the Tower of London, among others. Some girls complained that they were being slave-driven even though many were still exhausted from the trip and suffering from jet-lag.

                The last attempt at the Miss World contest to curb feminist criticism was completed on Wednesday, November 9, when the beauties visited the facilities of Epson UK, one of the official sponsors of this year’s contest and where they did a computerized personality test during a hour. The results would be totally unexpected and would be shown to the judges before the finals. The questions were devised by a team of psychologists and tested “verbal and clerical skills, logical reasoning, and reaction speed”. “It is all part of a beauty, the form of interference with their existing queen’s make-up”, said Miss Shirley Hanley, whose computer company that organized the exam, was also sponsoring Miss World 1981, the Venezuelan Pilin León, with a computer course at the university. Suspicions that thigh still counts more than brain were not allayed by Miss World officials before the exam. The nervous examinees were promised that “failing the test would not eliminate their chances”. Some girls despaired of the questions, which were divided into written and computer sections. The girls had been advised to study household appliances to improve their knowledge of mechanics and to read the newspapers to master the use of English. “They seemed a little nervous and long-faced as they entered the room,” said Miss Hanley. Some of the girls complained about not having enough time to respond. Miss Australia took her toy Koala as inspiration, while Miss United Kingdom was armed with two O-levels, which was the lower of the two main levels of standardized tests in secondary schools in Great Britain. She said she was not worried, but that the whole experience was a bit like being back at school. How much and how the test scores would count was not yet known, but there were two other concessions: the girls were told “If you wear glasses or a special hearing aid, be sure to take them to the test”. Furthermore, they were advised to improve mathematics.

OTHER ACTIVITIES.-  

                Thursday, November 10, was the arrival deadline. By that day 72 of the 73 expected contestants had arrived. Days before the representatives of HUNGARY (Csilla Szentpeteri) and TAHITÍ (Rosa Lanteires) had announced that they would not arrive for the contest. Miss SRI LANKA (Fiona Wickremesinghe), who was confirmed, did not arrive on time and was out of the competition. That day the girls visited Windsor Castle and, in the afternoon, they recorded the swimsuit presentation at the ITV studios. That day the reigning Miss World, the Dominican Mariasela Álvarez, also arrived in London. On Friday the 11th, the customary lunch courtesy of the Variety Club of Great Britain was held at the Hilton hotel and where traditionally the participants attended wearing their national costumes, also carrying the gifts that would be auctioned to benefit the charity works of “Beauty with a purpose”. Miss United States carried two pistols as she paraded in a cowboy-style sequin-hugging dress but while waving her weapons over her head, aiming for the lights and photographers, she was admonished by Miss World officials who asked her to put away the weapons. In the evening, beauties from around the world attended a musical in a West End theater.

                On Saturday the 12th, the participants went shopping in the morning and in the afternoon they went to the King’s College Hospital for a Christmas party with the children confined there and also visited the little ones who, due to health reasons, could not attend the party, bringing gifts for the happiness of the infants. In the evening they went to see the ballet at the Opera House. The following day the Press Presentation was held, this time at the Top Shop store on Fleet Street, which this year was once again sponsoring the contest. The 72 participants wore pink, blue and turquoise tights, accompanied by a gold belt, sponsored by Ascot International and posed for the media as a group and individually. The favorites began to emerge among the journalists who covered the contest and they selected to photograph the girls from Poland, Germany, Yugoslavia, United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Belgium and Spain, coincidentally all of them Europeans … Others who were mentioned with certain possibilities were Miss Sweden and Miss Holland, and there were those who mentioned Miss Venezuela. By the way, the Venezuelan was not the only daughter of a beauty queen: The Swedish candidate’s mother had been Miss Sweden in 1960. At the end of the event, the photographers chose Miss Photogenic and the winner turned out to be Miss YUGOSLAVIA (Bernarda Marovt).

                As usual, some of the girls already had previous experience in international beauty pageants. The candidates from Austria, Belgium, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, France, Gambia, Holland, Iceland and Norway had competed in the Miss Universe pageant in Saint Louis, Missouri that same year, the Norwegian being one of the semifinalists. The Icelandic had been 3rd runner-up in Miss Young International 1980. The Spanish had been semifinalist in both Miss Intercontinental 1982 and Miss International 1983, in the latter the representative of Portugal also competed and the Dutch and Danish girls competed in Miss Young International 1983. Miss El Salvador and Miss Malta standing 6 feet tall along with Miss Italy, Miss Swaziland and Miss Trinidad & Tobago who were 5 feet 11 inches were the tallest contestants at Miss World 1983, while the shortest were Miss Guam Miss Singapore and Miss Malaysia standing only 5 feet 4 inches. The following is a table with information of all the contestants of Miss World 1983:

COUNTRY	NAME	AGE	HOMETOWN	OCCUPATION
AMERICAN VIRGIN ISLANDS	Chandra Theresa Ramsingh	18	St.Croix	Law student
ARUBA	Audrey Brugez Van Putten	17	Oranjestad	High school student
AUSTRALIA	Tanya Bowe	21	Adelaide	Business management student
AUSTRIA	Mercedes Stermitz	24	Klagenfurt	Law student
BAHAMAS	Lucille Bullen	18	Nassau	Data processing student
BARBADOS	Nina McIntosh-Clarke	24	Bridgetown	Marketing assistant
BELGIUM	Françoise Bostoen	20	Roeselare	Student beautician
BERMUDA	Angelita Emily Diaz	20	St.George´s	Dental hygiene student
BOLIVIA	Ana María Taboada Arnold	18	Tarija	Law student and works in a travel agency
BRAZIL	Cátia Silveira Pedrosa	20	Rio de Janeiro	Model
CANADA	Katharine Durish	24	Toronto	Model
CAYMAN ISLANDS	Effie Ebanks	18	Georgetown	Commercial pilot student
CHILE	Gina Alejandra Rovira Beyris	19	Santiago	Student teacher
COLOMBIA	Rocío Isabel Luna Florez	18	El Banco, Magdalena	Medical student
COSTA RICA	María Argentina Meléndez Herrera	20	San Jose	Dental student
CURACAO	Yvette Rowina Domacasse	22	Willemstad	Accounting student
CYPRUS	Katia Chrysochou	20	Paphos	English linguistic and musicology student
DENMARK	Tina Lissiette Dahl Joergensen	18	Horsens	Hotel catering student
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC	Yonoris Maribel Estrella Florentino	20	Santo Domingo	Accounting student and tours clerk
ECUADOR	Martha Isabel Lascano Salcedo	20	Guayaquil	Student of marketing and adverstising
EL SALVADOR	Carmen Irene Alvarez Gallardo	18	San Salvador	Computer science student
FINLAND	Sanna Marita Pekkala	20	Helsinki	Model
FRANCE	Frédérique Marcelle Leroy	20	Bordeaux	Student of advertising
GAMBIA	Abbey Scattrel Janneh	19	Banjul	Secretarial student
GERMANY	Claudia Zielinski	19	Lindenberg	Dental student
GIBRALTAR	Jessica Palao	19	Gibraltar	Interior decorating student
GREECE	Anna Martinou	17	Athens	Student and model
GUAM	Geraldine Santos	22	Chalan Pago	Social worker
GUATEMALA	Hilda Mansilla Manrique	23	Guatemala City	School teacher
HOLLAND	Nancy Lalleman Heynis	18	Amsterdam	Model
HONDURAS	Carmen Isabel Morales Ustariz	18	Puerto Cortes	Communications student
HONG KONG	Margaret Cheung Man-Yuk	18	Hong Kong	TV presenter
ICELAND	Unnur Steinsson	20	Seltjarnarnes	Marketing and computer student
INDIA	Sweety Grewal	21	Bombay	Beautician and model
INDONESIA	Titi Dwi Jayati	17	Jakarta	Mathematics student
IRELAND	Patricia Nolan	19	Tallaght, Dublin	Photographic model
ISLE OF MAN	Jennifer Huyton	18	Braaid	Employed in textiles
ISRAEL	Yi’fat Schechter	20	Tel Aviv	Business administration student
ITALY	Barbara Previato	17	Modena	Student
JAMAICA	Catherine Levy	21	Kingston	Entertainment coordinator
JAPAN	Mie Nakahara	22	Tokyo	Fashion design student
KOREA	Min-sook Suh	20	Seoul	Art teacher
LEBANON	Douchka Abi-Nader	17	Beirut	Law student
LIBERIA	Annie Broderick	24	Montserrado county	Mass communications student
MALAYSIA	Michelle Yeoh Choo Kheng	21	Ipoh	Graduate of Arts
MALTA	Odette Balzan	19	Rabat	Secretary and recepcionist
MEXICO	Mayra Adela Rojas González	19	Mexico City	Psychology student
NEW ZEALAND	Maria Sando	18	Palmerston North	Fashion consultant
NORWAY	Karen Elizabeth Dobloug	21	Furnes	Languages student
PANAMA	Marissa Burgos Canalias	19	Panama City	Computer sciences student
PARAGUAY	Antonella Filartiga Montuori	21	Asuncion	Languages student
PERU	Lizbeth Aurora Alcazar Salomón	20	Lima	Decoration student and beauty consultant
PHILIPPINES	Marilou Sadia Sadiua	22	Manila	Decorative arts products specialist
POLAND	Lidia Wasiak	21	Szczecin	Physioterapy student
PORTUGAL	Cesaltina da Conceição Lopes da Silva	20	Lisbon	Sales assistant
PUERTO RICO	Fátima Mustafá Vásquez	17	San Juan	High school student
SINGAPORE	Sharon Denise Wells	22	Singapore	Stewardess
SPAIN	Milagros Pérez Castro	21	Las Palmas	Model
SWAZILAND	Gladys Rudd	22	Manzini	Bookeeper
SWEDEN	Liza Eva Törnqvist	18	Stockholm	Student
SWITZERLAND	Patrizia Lang	19	Zurich	Chemistry student
THAILAND	Tavinan Kongkran	19	Bangkok	Student of Public Relations
TONGA	Anna Johansson	18	Neiafu, Vava´u	Teacher
TRINIDAD & TOBAGO	Esther Juliette Farmer	24	San Juan	Engineer
TURKEY	Ebru Ozmeric	18	Istambul	Student and ballet teacher
TURKS & CAICOS	Cheryl Astwood	19	Grand Turk	Bank clerk
UNITED KINGDOM	Sarah-Jane Hutt	19	Poole, Dorset	Model
UNITED STATES	Lisa Gayle Allred	22	Fort Worth, Texas	Student and model
URUGUAY	Silvia Zumarán Ibarra	21	Montevideo	Translator
VENEZUELA	Carolina Del Valle Ceruti Duijm	21	Caracas	International commerce student and model
WESTERN SAMOA	Theresa Thomsen	19	Apia	Secretary
YUGOSLAVIA	Bernarda Marovt	24	Ljubljana, Slovenia	Student

POLITICIANS CRITICIZE MISS INDONESIA’S PARTICIPATION IN MISS WORLD.-

                On the night of Sunday the 13th a special dinner was held where some of the participants performed a talent show for the enjoyment of the candidates themselves, the staff and the national directors. On Monday the 14th, the contestants visited the House of Commons where they had lunch with the parliamentarians. In the afternoon they went to the Royal Albert Hall to begin rehearsals for the grand finale. That day, following the publication of the girls’ pictures on the AP and UPI radio photos, political leaders in heavily Muslim Indonesia wanted the government to reject the participation of 17-year-old Miss Indonesia in the Miss World pageant in London. A group of politicians condemned the participation of Titi Dwi Jayati and branded it as immoral and contrary to the Muslim customs of that country. Indonesia banned beauty pageants, but allowed women to enter foreign pageants as long as they did not claim to represent Indonesia. “I approve the fashion shows that are held to promote tourism, but not the contests to show the softness of the thighs”, Achmad Subagyo, of the Democratic Party, told the English-speaking Indonesian Observer newspaper.

SCANDAL FOR PHOTOS OF MISS YUGOSLAVIA.-

                A British newspaper sparked this year’s first Miss World contest controversy by publishing a photo of Miss Yugoslavia wearing nothing more than a see-through black blouse. Julia Morley, organizer of the contest, accused Bernarda Marovt’s director David Husich of violating an agreement “not to bring the Miss World title in disrepute”. London bookmakers had put Miss Yugoslavia in the top 10 with Miss United Kingdom as the big favorite with 5-1 odds along with Miss United States with 9-1. Husich denied publishing the image that appeared in the Daily Mirror tabloid and threatened to remove Marovt from the competition. However, Husich, editor of the Yugoslav state tabloid magazine “Star”, admitted that he had published several topless photos of Marovt in Belgrade. “It is a bomb for Bernarda and me and I am very angry. I will decide tomorrow whether to withdraw her. This is very embarrassing,” he said. Some of the other 71 contestants who were rehearsing at London’s Royal Albert Hall all day Tuesday said privately that Marovt’s chances of victory in the contest had been lost. Meanwhile, Miss Yugoslavia was not available to comment. Organizers feared nude pictures of her might appear before the finals but this did not happen.

DRESS REHEARSAL.-

                On Wednesday the 16th, the candidates attended the sponsoring beauty salon (Leonard de Mayfair) in groups to be ready for the finals and the recordings of the Opening were made that night with the dancers of Ken Warwick and twelve of the girls dressed in their raincoats and umbrellas that they wore in the filming in the Trafalgar Square and the 72 contestants were also introduced wearing their national costumes. The girls also taped the same song from the previous year “For Only a Day” to conclude the pre-recording that would be shown on television during the finals. Immediately after, the Dress Rehearsal was held where the girls paraded in swimsuits and the gown parade was suppressed so that the girls did not show the dress that they would wear during the grand finale, but, at the end, it was the same parade as in swimsuits. During the rehearsal, the name of Miss Personality was known, chosen by the same contestants, and Miss BRAZIL (Cátia da Silveira Pedrosa) was the winner. Julia Morley presented the trophy courtesy of Top Shop.

                In an interview published the day before the finals, the blue-eyed blonde from the United States, Lisa Allred, said she was not worried about winning the contest and that it was her faith in God that counted. “I live my life in Jesus Christ, He is the most important thing in my life,” said the 22-year-old Fort Worth model, who was attending the Interdenominational Living Word Center in her hometown. “I pray that it goes well for me, but I don’t feel pressured about it. Win or lose, God only knows what’s best for me,” she said. “Acknowledge him and He will lead your way, says the Bible and that’s what I do.” In a contest that had attracted relatively little press attention, Lisa Allred had appeared on the cover of Britain’s best-selling newspaper, The Sun with a circulation of 4 million copies. She wore a strapless white sequin suit and a cowboy hat and brandished two six-shooter toy pistols. But the organizers of Miss World told her that the weapons did not fit the peaceful theme of the pageant and made her put them away. “I didn’t mind — I’m all for peace”, she said. British bookmakers like Joe Coral’s who posted the week before Allred as a 5-1 favorite to win the Miss World title reported that British patriotic gamblers had moved her to second place behind Miss United Kingdom in recent days. On Tuesday, Allred was given odds of 9-1, which meant that a winning bet would return the bet nine times with Hutt as the 6-1 favorite. “In our opinion, when we established the quotas last week, Miss USA was the most attractive and the most suitable to win,” said Coral spokeswoman Hilary Spooner. “But beauty is in the eye of the beholder and British gamblers did not see her with our eyes.” Allred, a 5-foot-7 with a dazzling smile said she rates her chances no higher than those of any of the other 71 contestants “and I’ll be just as nervous”. A veteran of two previous beauty pageants, she won the Miss Texas USA title last August and in May won the right to compete in Miss World by being the first runner-up in the Miss USA pageant. “Touring London has been great,” said Allred. “There is so much history here, every place has a history behind it, but I’m tired of people saying it seems like I came straight out of TV’s Dallas”. The British newspaper Sunday People compared Allred’s hairstyle and clothing to that of Princess Lady Di. “But I’m not aware of copying the princess’s fashion,” she said. “I am not really interested in the royal family.” Allred dropped out of fashion marketing at North Texas State University the year before after two years to start modeling full time. “Miss World has really been an education. I have learned more by meeting girls from all over the world and traveling than I ever learned at school”. Whatever the odds of the bookmakers, Allred’s father, brother and sister traveled to London to watch the finals at the Royal Albert Hall. The intentions of Miss USA, when she returned home, was to continue modeling; but her main long-term ambition was marriage and children, with a fashion house “as a hobby”.

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FINAL BETS.-

                At the close of betting, according to Ladbroke’s, Miss UK looked unbeatable with 5-1 odds. Then came Miss France with 7-1; Miss Germany, Miss Chile and Miss Israel with 10-1, Miss USA with 12-1, Miss Canada, Miss India, Miss Sweden and Miss Yugoslavia with 14-1, Miss Colombia, Miss Jamaica, Miss Mexico and Miss Singapore with 16- 1, Miss Ireland with 19-1 and Miss New Zealand and Miss Panama with 20-1. Venezuelan Carolina Ceruti was next to Miss Brazil a little distant with just 33-1.

PROGRAM BOOK

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THE FINALS.-

                On Thursday November 17 the grand finale of the Miss World 1983 contest was held at the Royal Albert Hall in London. But, hours before, the contestants were known and interviewed by the judges at the Grosvenor House Hotel. The event, which was announced as the “Miss World 1983 Contest for Top Shop Trophies,” started a little earlier than in previous years, at 7:40 pm, with the customary opening of the Phil Tate orchestra and the British National Anthem. Eric Morley entered the scene to welcome and explain the procedures of the night. The ceremony’s comperes, Peter Marshall and Judith Chalmers, promptly introduced the 72 participants to the first evening parade, in evening wear. Next came the long-awaited swimsuit show, where all the girls wore the same style of swimsuits from Ascot International. At the conclusion of the individual parade, all the contestants returned to the stage. The scores had been stored in the computer and the results with the names of the 15 semifinalists were ready in a few minutes.

                The 15 lucky ones were called in alphabetical order: Miss AUSTRIA (Mercedes Stermitz, 24 years old and 5 f 10i, from Klagenfurt); Miss BELGIUM (Françoise Bostoen, 20 years old and 5f 9i, from Roeselare); Miss BOLIVIA (Ana María Taboada Arnold, 18 years old and 5f 8i, from Tarija); Miss BRAZIL (Cátia da Silveira Pedrosa, 20 years and 5f 8 i, from Rio de Janeiro); Miss COLOMBIA (Rocío Isabel Luna Florez, 18 years old and 5f 8.5i from El Banco, Magdalena); Miss HOLLAND (Nancy Lalleman Heynis, 18 years old and 5f 8.5i, from Zaandam); Miss HONG KONG (Margaret Cheung Man-Yuk, 19 years old and 5f 6i from Victoria); Miss ICELAND (Unnur Steinsson, 20 years and 5f 8i, from Seltjarnarnes); Miss IRELAND (Patricia Trish Nolan, 19 years, 5f 10i, from Tallaght, Dublin); Miss ISRAEL (Yi’fat Schechter, 20 years and 5f 9i, from Tel-Aviv); Miss JAMAICA (Catherine Levy, 21m and 5f 8i, from Kingston); Miss PANAMÁ (Marissa Burgos Canalias, 19 years old and 5f 9i, from Panama City); Miss UNITED KINGDOM (Sarah-Jane Hutt, 19 years old, 5f 8i, from Parkstone, Poole, Dorset); Miss UNITED STATES (Lisa Gayle Allred, age 22 and 5f 7i, from Fort Worth, Texas); and Miss YUGOSLAVIA (Bernarda Marovt, 23 years old, 5f 11i, from Ljubljana, Slovenia). Below is the table with the judge’s scores in order of merit:

		J01	J02	J03	J04	J05	J06	J07	J08	J09	TOTAL
1	ISRAEL	0	4	4	4	2	4	4	4	0	26
2	BRAZIL	0	3	4	4	4	4	0	4	0	23
3	UNITED KINGDOM	0	4	4	4	3	4	4	0	0	23
4	UNITED STATES	0	4	3	4	3	4	4	0	0	22
5	YUGOSLAVIA	0	4	4	4	1	4	4	0	0	21
6	AUSTRIA	0	4	4	4	1	4	0	2	0	19
7	COLOMBIA	0	4	0	4	4	4	0	2	0	18
8	HONG KONG	0	0	4	4	1	4	0	4	0	17
9	IRELAND	0	2	4	0	1	4	4	0	0	15
10	JAMAICA	0	0	3	0	3	4	4	1	0	15
11	BELGIUM	0	1	4	3	2	0	4	0	0	14
12	HOLLAND	0	1	4	0	1	4	4	0	0	14
13	ICELAND	0	2	3	0	2	0	4	3	0	14
14	PANAMA	0	0	1	4	2	4	0	3	0	14
15	BOLIVIA	0	4	4	0	3	0	0	2	0	13
16	AUSTRALIA	0	4	0	0	2	4	0	2	0	12
17	FRANCE	0	4	4	0	0	0	0	1	0	9
18	MALAYSIA	0	2	0	0	2	0	0	4	0	8
19	SPAIN	0	0	3	0	0	0	4	1	0	8
20	SWEDEN	0	4	0	0	0	0	4	0	0	8
21	TRINIDAD & TOBAGO	0	0	1	4	2	0	0	1	0	8
22	EL SALVADOR	0	0	0	0	3	4	0	0	0	7
23	POLAND	0	0	0	0	3	0	4	0	0	7
24	NORWAY	0	0	0	0	2	0	4	0	0	6
25	DENMARK	0	0	0	4	1	0	0	0	0	5
26	FINLAND	0	0	0	4	0	0	0	1	0	5
27	GERMANY	0	0	1	4	0	0	0	0	0	5
28	PARAGUAY	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	1	0	5
29	CHILE	0	0	0	0	0	4	0	0	0	4
30	DOMINICAN REPUBLIC	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	0	4
31	GREECE	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	2	0	4
32	GUAM	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	0	0	4
33	MEXICO	0	0	0	0	4	0	0	0	0	4
34	PUERTO RICO	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	0	4
35	VENEZUELA	0	3	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	4
36	AMERICAN VIRGIN ISLANDS	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3
37	BARBADOS	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	2	0	3
38	CAYMAN ISLANDS	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	3
39	COSTA RICA	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	3
40	CURACAO	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3
41	CYPRUS	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	0	3
42	ECUADOR	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	3
43	GAMBIA	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3
44	GIBRALTAR	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3
45	GUATEMALA	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	3
46	INDIA	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3
47	INDONESIA	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	3
48	ISLE OF MAN	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	3
49	ITALY	0	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	3
50	KOREA	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	3
51	LEBANON	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3
52	MALTA	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	3
53	PERU	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	3
54	PHILIPPINES	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	3
55	PORTUGAL	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3
56	THAILAND	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	3
57	TONGA	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	3
58	TURKEY	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	3
59	TURKS & CAICOS	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	3
60	URUGUAY	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	3
61	WESTERN SAMOA	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	3
62	BAHAMAS	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	2
63	BERMUDA	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	2
64	CANADA	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	2
65	HONDURAS	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	0	2
66	NEW ZEALAND	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2
67	SWITZERLAND	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	2
68	ARUBA	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1
69	JAPAN	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1
70	LIBERIA	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1
71	SINGAPORE	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
72	SWAZILAND	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1
		9	69	63	75	63	69	63	67	6

                As Eric Morley had explained, each judge had to vote for only 15 candidates in three categories (swimsuit, evening gown and interview) and could give a maximum of 4 points to each of them, two points in the parade in swimsuits (where face and body were evaluated), 1 point for their elegance in evening dress and 1 point for their charm and personality in the interview, so that there would be a total of 60 points distributed in the three categories. However, as you can see in the table published above and according to the votes shown on the TV screen on the day of the finals, there are inconsistencies in the total points reflected by each judge as can be seen in the last row of the table. While judge 1 (it was not necessarily the same order in which they were introduced during the finals, but as announced it was Plácido Domingo), he only voted for 3 candidates (Miss Curaçao, Miss Gambia and Miss India) granting them 3 points to each one (the 2 that corresponded to the swimsuit performance and one for interview or gown) and the judge 9 (who was supposed to be Bruce Forsyth) voted only for two girls (Miss Thailand and Miss Western Samoa) with 3 points each. It can also be seen that no judge gave the exact 60 points (for example, judge number 4, who according to the TV announcement was Geoff Seth, gave 75 points). According to the table, all 9 judges voted at least twice, including Eric Morley, who was not supposed to vote (he was the 5th judge in order). Another curious fact is that according to the scores, Miss Gambia should have been the Queen of Africa, but they gave it to Miss Liberia who was in the 70th position, so it was either a mistake or Morley decided to ask the judges which of the three African women must be the queen, since only three judges had voted for one of them and he may be wished that the consensus had been by majority. It is also striking that if they had included the Continental Queens compulsorily within the group of 15 as they did the previous year, they would have sacrificed Miss Panama and Miss Bolivia and left them out to include the queens of Africa and Oceania…

                The broadcast of the contest via ITV began at 9 p.m. London time on a 90-minute program, beginning with the opening of the Ken Warwich dancers and images from Trafalgar Square and the introduction of the 72 contestants in their national costumes individually and then in a group singing “For Only a Day”. They immediately presented the prerecorded video of all the contestants in swimsuits and where the score that can be seen in the table published above was shown. As viewers watched all of this, on the Royal Albert Hall stage the 15 semi-finalists had already been announced and were interviewed by the evening’s comperes, Peter Marshall and Judith Chalmers, before going to an intermission for the girls to change to their personal-choice swimsuits and everything was prepared for the live broadcast on television. The live signal began when Peter Marshall proceeded to introduce the nine judges. They were:

01- The renowned Spanish opera singer, Plácido Domingo.

02- British Ralph Halpern, Director of Top Shop.

03- English singer-songwriter Lynsey de Paul.

04- Geoff Seth, Director of Ascot Sportwear International.

05- Eric Morley, Organizer of Miss World and Chairman of the Judges.

06- The Epson UK Limited’s Director, Masakazu Sakazaki.

07- Miss World 1975, Wilnelia Merced from Puerto Rico.

08- Michael Edelson, Director of Edelson Furs.

09- Bruce Forsyth, British comedian and presenter.

JUDGES

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                Once the panel of judges was known, Judith Chalmers called the semifinalists on stage in groups of three, not without mentioning that from that moment the score returned to zero. According to the contest schedule, Morley had mentioned that the final ranking score would still be displayed on screen but this did not happen. While each semifinalist paraded in a swimsuit of their own choice, Peter Marshall offered the personal data of each of them. By the way, this year the anatomical measurements were again suppressed at the request of Julia Morley. In the end, the 15 girls posed together for the judges. Following the commercial break, the 15 semi-finalists were introduced individually and in alphabetical order by Marshall in evening dress, with comments from Chalmers. Similarly, at the end of the parade, all of them posed in a group in front of the judges. After dismissing the girls and while the judges selected the last seven finalists, Judith Chalmers presented a video of the Christmas party with the children of the Variety Club hospital where Julia Morley narrated the scope of “Beauty with a Purpose” and the journey that she did to Malaysia along with Mariasela.

                Immediately, Peter Marshall asked for applause for Julia Morley before announcing the seven finalists in random order, who were being interviewed by Judith Chalmers as they were called. They were Miss UNITED STATES, Miss BRAZIL, Miss JAMAICA, Miss COLOMBIA, Miss PANAMA, Miss ICELAND and Miss UNITED KINGDOM. The Colombian and Brazilian girls needed the help of a translator (Verónica) for the interview, and Chalmers asked Miss Brazil if it was true that her mother had been Miss World, which she denied and related that her mother had enrolled in Miss Guanabara contest in 1958 but that in the end she did not compete because her father did not allow it. Obviously they confused her with Miss Venezuela whose mother had been Miss World in 1955. However, the audience applauded and supported the local candidate. As the judges gave the final ranking on the computer, Judith Chalmers called on stage Australian-born British singer Leo Sayer, who performed his hits “You make me feel like dancing” and “Till you come back to me.” After the musical intermission, the comperes called Miss World 1982, Mariasela Álvarez, also British singer Adam Ant to present the Top Shop Awards and Eric Morley to announce the Continental Queens of Beauty. They were: AFRICA’S QUEEN OF BEAUTY, Miss LIBERIA (Annie Broderick); AMERICA’S QUEEN OF BEAUTY, Miss COLOMBIA (Rocío Isabel Luna Florez); ASIA’S QUEEN OF BEAUTY, Miss ISRAEL (Yi’fat Schechter); EUROPE’S QUEEN OF BEAUTY, Miss UNITED KINGDOM (Sarah-Jane Hutt) and OCEANIA’S QUEEN OF BEAUTY, Miss AUSTRALIA (Tanya Bowe).

THE NEW MISS WORLD.-

                Then Morley released the results of the contest, as always, in reverse order, as the finalists waited anxiously in the backstage and the Continental Queens waited on stage: SECOND RUNNER-UP, Miss BRAZIL (Cátia da Silveira Pedrosa) and FIRST RUNNER-UP, Miss COLOMBIA (Rocío Isabel Luna Florez) … The tiaras of both were placed on stage by Morley’s son Julian and the Top Shop trophy was presented by Adam Ant.

               and MISS WORLD 1983 … Miss UNITED KINGDOM !!!. Sarah-Jane Hutt, the local candidate, a 19-year-old, 5 feet 8 inches tall model with brown eyes and brown hair, wearing a sparkly red evening gown, became the fourth Briton to win the coveted crown (not including Helen Morgan who relinquished the title after a brief 4-day reign in 1974). Sarah-Jane, coincidentally, was from Poole, Dorset, where Ann Sidney was also the winner of the title in 1964, coincidentally the same year that Sarah-Jane was born. Julian Morley removed the Continental Queen trophy from the Englishwoman’s hands and placed the sash that identified her as the new sovereign of world beauty. Sarah-Jane received the Top Shop trophy from Adam Ant and sat on the throne to be crowned by outgoing Queen Mariasela Álvarez. Julian handed her the scepter before beginning to take her triumphal walk with the traditional Miss World march, in the midst of a general ovation as she was the audience’s favorite. Flashing to hold back tears, Sarah-Jane said she felt “fantastic.” “I never thought I would win,” “It has been the greatest honor of my life”.

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                After the telecast and posing for the required photographs were over, the winner and her honor roll went to the Grosvenor House Hotel for the Coronation Ball and where the prizes were presented to the winners. The final positions of the remaining finalists were also announced. Incidentally, Miss JAMAICA was so upset that she had not made up the winning team that she refused to attend the coronation party. Because of her unprofessional and not so desired behavior, Morley downgraded her to seventh place … In sixth position he called Miss PANAMA, in fifth place Miss USA and in fourth place Miss ICELAND. All of them received a prize of £ 500. As Continental Queens, Miss Israel, Miss Australia and Miss Liberia also received a £ 500 prize and the remaining 8 semi-finalists a prize of £ 100. Unlike in previous years, the “losers” did not receive any cash prizes this time, although all the contestants were given a medallion as a reminder of their participation in the contest. Obviously the runner-ups also received their award checks: Miss BRAZIL as second runner-up (£ 1,000) and Miss COLOMBIA as first runner-up (£ 2,000) while Miss UK won a check for £ 5,000 and a work contract that would provide her with a minimum of another £ 25,000 in performances during her reign year as Miss World, totaling a prize of £ 30,000. Princess Margaret greeted the winner during the coronation ball. More than 1,000 people, including the other Miss World contestants, gathered to dance and celebrate until dawn. A worldwide television audience estimated by organizers at 500 million people in 45 countries watched the contest via satellite. It was later confirmed that in the UK the program was watched by 14.95 million viewers through the ITV signal.

THE FATHER OF SARAH-JANE SPEAKS.-

                The father of the new Miss World, the English model Sarah-Jane Hutt, said on Friday that he did not believe that his 19-year-old daughter is the most beautiful girl in the world. “No, I don’t think Sarah-Jane is the most beautiful girl in the world,” said Colin Hutt in a telephone interview. “There are millions upon millions of beautiful girls in the world,” he said, although he also said that he was sure that his daughter would win the title. He said the family saw Sarah-Jane only for a “minute” after her coronation on Thursday night. The new Miss World danced late into the night at a coronation gala held at a luxurious London hotel. The British tabloid press celebrated Miss Hutt’s homegrown coronation that day with large photos of the model on the front pages. Hutt said he hoped his daughter’s new fame wouldn’t change her life very dramatically. “Obviously she will change her life, but she is a very good girl, very sensible. I am sure she will manage very well.” The Daily Mirror published a photo of Sarah-Jane, a model of Poole in southwestern England, strutting down the catwalk in pointed heels and a one-piece swimsuit. The Sun, Britain’s best-selling tabloid, posted a photo of the ever-smiling Sarah-Jane with Princess Margaret, the sister of Queen Elizabeth II, at the coronation ball after her ascension to the Miss World throne. ‘Crowned’, THE SUN published in a great headline.

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THE NEW SOVEREIGN OF WORLD BEAUTY WAS CRITICIZED.-

                The next day, as the brand-new Miss World greeted the press at the Grosvenor House Hotel for breakfast, the contest’s “bad girl”, Yugoslav beauty Bernarda Marovt, lashed out in all directions. She claimed that Miss World organizer Julia Morley did not want her from the start, that the eventual winner Miss UK earned the nickname “Woodentop” (lacking intelligence) due to her “mediocre personality” and that she, Bernarda, was not allowed to see her four-year-old lover, Josip Knez. She made the allegations at a London restaurant after failing to convince the judges that she should wear the Miss World crown. Most observers agreed that Bernarda stole the show in her see-through evening gown. But Bernarda was upset by the security measures surrounding the contest and now she and Josip were planning to return to Yugoslavia, where he was an advertising executive and she was a successful model.

               British fashion model Sarah-Jane Hutt, the first British to win the title in 18 years, began her one-year reign as the new Miss World on Friday, November 18, modestly denying that she was the most beautiful woman in the world, and some disgruntled competitors agreed with that. “She was not the prettiest girl, we all thought the judges were wrong,” said Miss Barbados, 24-year-old Nina McIntosh-Clarke. The Associated Press, the British domestic news agency, reported that Miss Jamaica, Catherine Levy, 21, who had originally finished fourth, was so angry at not winning that she refused to attend the coronation ball after the televised pageant on Thursday night. But Miss Hutt smiled that morning when, after dancing until the wee hours of the morning at the Grosvenor Hotel in London, she appeared for a photo shoot that extended to Hyde Park. Sarah-Jane said she had been able to see her mom and other relatives smiling at her from the end of the hall when she was sitting on her new throne. “They looked so happy and I felt like I had accomplished something not just for me, but for them,” she said. When asked by reporters if she was “the most beautiful girl in the world”, Miss Hutt simply replied: “No” … “I feel fantastic, I never thought I would win even though I was the favorite,” she told reporters. She denied having a relationship and about her “supposed” boyfriend, Chris Newman, she said they were just friends. When asked about what she would do after the reign, Sarah-Jane said that she would focus on her year of reign for the time being and then decide on her career. She topped the bookies’ favorites list during the two weeks the girls were in London. Her success was attributed to the patriotism of British gamblers.

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HER REIGN.-

                On Saturday, November 19, Sarah-Jane planted a tree in Green Park at the start of Tree Week in Great Britain. She attended numerous openings and even promoted a new black suit design for the Christmas festivities. The first international commitment of the beauty as Miss World was in El Salvador, where she traveled on Sunday December 4 accompanied by Julia Morley. After the trip, she returned to London and in February 1984 she continued her itinerary visiting Grenada (where she arrived on board the British Navy ship HMS Plymouth to celebrate the festivities of independence), Jamaica, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Colombia, Ireland, Iceland, Poland, Belgium, France (in these last four countries she attended the coronation of their new beauty queens), the USA (where she toured numerous cities promoting the rebroadcast of the contest through the Turner cable channel and also attended a Variety Club gala in Los Angeles attended by First Lady Nancy Reagan and where a large sum of money was collected for charity), Japan (where she was received by Kimberly Santos, Miss World 1980 from Guam, who was newly married and lived in Tokyo) and Hong Kong, as well as the whole of the UK. In most of these countries, she visited hospitals and participated in Fashion Shows to collect money to benefit the children’s charity works of the Variety Club and working with the motto “Beauty with a Purpose”. She crowned her successor at the Royal Albert Hall in London in November 1984.

MISS INDONESIA FACES PROTESTS.-

                Upon returning to her country, Miss Indonesia, 17-year-old Titi Dwi Jayati faced protests and harsh criticism for her participation in Miss World. Even members of Muslim religious organizations asked the authorities for sanctions against her, because she had applied for permission to leave the country to study modeling in Britain and not to participate in a beauty contest. No Indonesian citizen could leave the country without requesting a special exit permit and where they had to explain the reason for their trip. Titi had traveled to the competition in London without the approval of her country’s government. But to dispel rumors of her morality, she underwent a medical check-up to ensure that she was still a virgin, according to what the national director, Mrs. Andi Nurhayati told the press, who also said that Miss Indonesia had been chosen in a “closed doors” contest because the government did not agree with these types of events, and where the girls had been evaluated not only for their beauty, but also for their intelligence, education, behavior, skills and abilities. The possibility that Indonesia would not participate in any other international beauty events arose after this incident. The director said that should the government send her written laws stating that beauty pageants were banned, then she would abide by the order, as long as the prohibition covered all kinds of beauty events. And so it was, the following year she made the attempt to send Titi to the Miss Universe pageant in Miami “on the sly” but the Indonesian authorities denied her permission to leave the country. After this, Indonesia was absent from international beauty pageants until 1995, although a few years earlier the contest called “Puteri Indonesia” had been held again and whose winners had attended Miss Universe in 1993 and 1994 as observers. The country only returned to Miss World in 2005 …

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BIOGRAPHY OF SARAH-JANE HUTT.-

         Sarah-Jane Hutt was born in Poole, England on October 3, 1964. Her parents were Colin and Ann Hutt and she has an older brother, Daron. She studied at Mountbatten College in Romsey, Hampshire. In 1982, at the age of 17, she participated and won Miss Bournemouth, which gave her pass to Miss United Kingdom that year, where she only managed to be a semifinalist. The following year, in 1983, she returned to Miss United Kingdom as Miss Winbourne, reaching this time the title on August 24 of that year. A Scarborough firm made a doll with her image as Miss United Kingdom wearing a pink swimsuit that was sold to the public, but which many considered to be ghastly. She attended Miss World held at the Royal Albert Hall in London and was crowned as such on November 17 of that same year. Her roommate in the pageant was Miss Ireland. As Miss World, she traveled 15 countries and until now has been the last British to win Miss World. After handing over the title, she went to live with her longtime boyfriend, whom she had originally denied, Christopher “Chris” Newman. Four years later, her fiancé was convicted of fraud. He was sentenced to six months in prison after being convicted of deliberately misleading 45,000 people with his money after his mail order company filed for bankruptcy for £ 700,000. Many years after living in concubinage, he and Sarah-Jane were married and currently live in Ferndown, Dorset. She did not want to know anything more about Miss World. In a newspaper article, her father was quoted as saying that winning the title had ruined her life.

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FROM THE OTHER CONTESTANTS.-

                Miss Gibraltar competed in Miss Universe 1984 in Miami where she was selected as Miss Congeniality and Miss Ireland also participated unsuccessfully. Miss France, Miss Finland and Miss Belgium were first, second and third runner-ups in Miss Europe 1984, where the representatives of Austria and Denmark were semifinalists and where the girls from Holland, Ireland, Cyprus and Poland also competed. On the other hand, Miss Thailand competed at World Miss University in 1986 and 1988, and Miss Malaysia won the Miss Woomba International in 1984.

                When Miss Iceland participated in London, she was already almost three months pregnant with a girl who would be called Unnur Birna (whose pregnancy Unnur Steinsson knew how to hide perfectly). Interestingly, her daughter was elected Miss Iceland and Miss World in 2005. Miss Colombia became a renowned otolaryngologist, with an emphasis on Facial Plastic Surgery and Rhinology and continues to practice in her office in the city of Neiva. The Brazilian Cátia Pedrosa married in 1985 to the Brazilian politician and journalist Wagner Montes, with whom she remained married for a year and with whom she had her only son with the same name as him. She worked as an actress, television presenter, and was the cover of Playboy magazine in June 1988. Cátia had been struggling with depression, panic syndrome, and anorexia for many years, attempted suicide nine times, needing to attend psychotherapy for a time. She died on March 20, 2018, at the age of 55, from colorectal cancer, which started in the abdomen. Miss Yugoslavia continued working as a model and became a famous Top Model on the Italian catwalks. She founded a women’s modeling academy in Slovenia where she still lives, and until recently another was to open in Italy.

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                Miss Malaysia appeared in television commercials and entered the Hong Kong film market when she got the attention of a film producer in that city. She began her film career in action movies and martial arts, where she performed most of her own stunts. It was Bond girl in “Tomorrow Never Dies”. Subsequently, she landed roles in “Crouching Tiger”, “Hidden Dragon”, “The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor”, “Reign of Assassins” and assumed the role of Aung San Suu Kyi in “The Lady”. Another who made field in acting was Miss Hong Kong. Thanks to her participation in Miss World, she was selected to intervene in the TV series Police Cadet’84, starring Tony Leung Chiu Wai in 1983, thanks to which she signed a contract with Shaw Bros. studio, which made her debut in the movies with “Prince Charming” in 1984. In 1985, she starred in the film series “Police Story”, playing the girlfriend of the character Jackie Chan. Beginning in the late 1980s, Cheung’s career began to gain critical acclaim thanks to her becoming the muse of the renowned director Wong Kar Wai, and a series of film awards: the Silver Bear Berlin cinema for her role as Ruan Ling Yu, the first star of Chinese cinema, in “Center Stage” (1992), the Cannes Film Festival Female Performance Award for “Clean” (2004), the Association of Hong Kong critics for “Comrades: Almost a Love Story” (1996), plus five Golden Horse Awards and five other Hong Kong Film Awards. She married French director Olivier Assayas in 1998 but divorced him in 2001 and was later related to German architect Ole Scheeren from 2007 to 2011.

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                Miss Indonesia is now known as Titi DJ and is a pop singer, songwriter, actress and television star in her country. She was married three times and had four children. Her last marriage was to rock singer Noviar Rachmansyah in 2007 and whom she divorced in 2011. Miss USA is now Mrs. Parks, a housewife and still living in Forth Worth, Texas. Miss Mexico is a well-known actress and television presenter in her country. She was married for 10 years to the also actor Octavio Burgueño, with whom she fathered her daughter Ivana in 2002. In 2006 they adopted a boy whom they named Fabián. She has participated in many soap operas, the last one was “Como tú no hay 2” which just ended in June 2020 and was broadcast on Televisa. Miss Poland worked as a model in Austria and Great Britain. In 2004, she participated in the broadcast of Robinson Expedition on TVN, in which she ranked third. Miss Panama became an entrepreneur and still lives in her country.

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                Miss Venezuela married her boyfriend José Luis Hernández Bravo for the civilian in December 1983 and for the church in January 1984. She has a daughter named Andrea Carolina. She suffered from cancer but managed to recover. She has lived for more than 10 years in Morriston, Florida, USA with her family and has a farm where she is dedicated to the business of raising and selling horses. Her mother, our remembered Susana Duijm, Miss World 1955, passed away on June 18, 2016. Miss Honduras studied journalism, was the news anchor for VICA Television but one day she met businessman Alejandro Larach, they got married and they still live together in San Pedro Sula. Miss Peru is also an entrepreneur and lives in Miami, Florida, USA. Miss Ecuador is a personal trainer in her country and still lives in Guayaquil. Miss Philippines was a renowned actress in her country in the 1980s. Miss Bermuda is now Mrs. Douglass and lives in York, Pennsylvania, USA.

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Thanks to Donald West, Daryl Schabinger, Neil Craig, Sally-Ann Fawcett, Carlos Cepeda, Henrique Fontes, Mario Jérez, Norberto Colón, Junior Zelaya, Toni Hidalgo, Edwin Morillo, Mills Aldorino, Orlando Ospina, Miss Holland Now and Glamour Argentino