Miss World Pageant

History
Miss World started as the Festival Bikini Contest, in honour of the recently introduced swim wear of the time, but was called "Miss World" by the media. It was originally planned as a one-off event. Upon learning about the upcoming Miss Universe pageant, Morley decided to make the pageant an annual event.
Opposition to the wearing of bikinis led to their replacement with more modest swim wear after the first contest. In 1959, the BBC started broadcasting the competition. The pageant's popularity grew with the advent of television. During the 1960s and 1970s, Miss World would normally be the highest rated programme of the year on British television, usually pulling in around 30 million viewers.