Poole Community

With only the 3 the main Channels of BBC 1, BBC 2 and ITV; television of the ‘60’s was more of a social event and talking point than it is today. With scores of Channels to choose from now, other than the soaps, X-Factor or Strictly Come Dancing, TV has practically died as a conversation point because it’s rare any two people see the same show.

At that time, everyone watched certain programmes like Sunday Night at the London Palladium, and those extremely tedious Brian Rix farces where he always ended up being caught with his trousers down; which seemed to be shown every Bank Holiday because they would be a talking point at work next day, so people tended to make sure they saw certain programmes an effort to be sociable and socially accepted.

Watching the ‘Miss World’ televised event would be one of them, especially in 1964 when Poole’s then ‘Carnival Queen,’ Ann Sydney, brought our town to worldwide attention and acclaim by winning the much-coveted title.

For the male population of the UK in an era when the St. Trinian’s and Carry On films were regarded as risqué, it was an excuse to somewhat legitimately watch young women parade up and down on a stage wearing just a bathing costume. And despite the bikini going as far back into history as ancient Rome, it was not popularized until the mid-1940’s, and was not regarded as socially acceptable to wear when competing for the Miss World title at that time. Indeed, historically, ‘Page 3 Girls’ didn’t happen until November 1970, when a 20 year old German model, Stephanie Rahn, posed topless in ‘The Sun’ for the very first time This caused such a sensation amongst the population of working men who bought that newspaper, it caught on, and sales soared from 1.5 million to 2.1 million copies per year.

Today, no doubt, Ann Sydney would be one of the top ‘Supermodels’ earning far more than she ever did in the ‘60’s, and probably showing a little bit more, too. But she made the town of Poole extremely proud when she won the title, and the accompanying fame also boosted the holiday trade as she had brought everyone’s attention to this ‘beautiful place’ in which we live.

*With some degree of controversy attached, Poole’s Sarah-Jane Hutt also won the Miss World title in 1983.

*Lesley Langley, from Weymouth, also won the title in 1965.