How 70 years of Miss Blackpool turned winners into stars, including Love Islander
As the sun sets over Blackpool’s famous Tower, the seaside resort prepares to celebrate the 70th anniversary of its historic beauty pageant.
Miss Blackpool started as a humble local event but has since grown into a cornerstone of British beauty pageants.
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Past notable winners include the late TV presenter’s mother Paula Yates, Elaine Smith, Wag Tanya Bardsley and Love Island’s Kendall Rae Knight, showing that the competition can open doors to greater opportunities.
Organiser Karen Jean Cookson hopes this year’s event will be no different, with fame and fortune within reach for the new group of hopeful participants.
Karen, a past winner who also owns Angels Elite Models, said: “It’s a fantastic competition that has given opportunities to so many girls over the years.
“A lot of girls have never modeled or danced before they started and it has given them so much confidence and lifelong friendships.
READ MORE ABOUT MISS BLACKPOOL
“It will also bring glitz and glamour to Blackpool for its 70th anniversary.”
‘A place to gain confidence and grow’
According to beauty pageant historian Sally-Ann Fawcett, the competition always attracts celebrity judges.
“Miss Blackpool has always been, without any reservations, a beauty pageant, with minimal emphasis on interviews,” she explains.
“The great theatre, comedy and pop stars of the day would judge – from comedians Les Dawson and Bob Monkhouse to Morecambe & Wise and singers The Nolans – and until 1999 the winner would qualify for the Miss United Kingdom final, which led to Miss World.”
The competition has not taken place since 2019 due to Covid and personal circumstances which meant that Karen – who has been involved in organising the event since she won it in 1995 – and her husband Neil were unable to devote the necessary time to it.
But for the 70th anniversary they have pulled out all the stops and promise to deliver an unforgettable evening.
Karen continues: “Some people think beauty pageants are old fashioned, but they’re not. They’re modern and young and give so much back.
“It’s not just about how you look, it’s also about your personality. It’s kind of weird, but there’s always one girl who stands out.
“You can see how hard they have worked and they really shine on the day itself.
“For the quieter children, it is a place where they can gain self-confidence and grow.
“Tanya Bardsley was such a shy girl when she first came in, and look at her now. She’s amazing and has the world at her feet.”
Miss Blackpool was first held in 1954 and emerged during the post-war boom in beauty pageants.
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It was organised by the Blackpool Corporation to find a representative of the holiday destination for a TV programme in London.
The competition took place at the open-air South Shore Baths and was won by celebrity judges Terry-Thomas, Jimmy Edwards and Marianne Lincoln, who crowned Elaine Smith the winner.
No one could have predicted that the then 20-year-old student would end up in the media for decades.
Elaine walked away with a modest cash prize of £20, but it was her life outside the competition that kept her in the spotlight.
In April 1959, she gave birth to future TV personality Paula Yates, who died of a heroin overdose in 2000 at the age of 41.
Paula, a gossip columnist, made headlines in 1997 when it emerged that her biological father was not BBC star Jess Yates, but Hughie Green, presenter of ITV’s Opportunity Knocks.
Other notable winners include Leila Williams, who, after being crowned Miss Blackpool in 1956 and Miss Great Britain in 1957, presented the very first episode of the children’s programme Blue Peter with Christopher Trace in October 1958.
Went on to find fame
She continued to work on the BBC’s flagship children’s programme until 1962 and also had small roles in the 1960 films Watch Your Stern and Marriage Of Convenience.
Ann Dunsford represented Blackpool in Miss United Kingdom for two consecutive years. She was runner-up in 1974, but took the place of winner Sheila Mitchell at the national competition when Sheila became unwell.
Four Miss Blackpool winners were crowned Miss United Kingdom and went on to Miss World
A year later, Ann won the Miss Blackpool trophy in her own right. Gillian Clark won the competition in 1976 and rose to fame as a member of the television dance group Legs & Co, who performed weekly on the must-see music show Top Of The Pops.
Susan Hempel was crowned Miss Blackpool in 1977 and later Miss Great Britain. Exactly 30 years later, her niece, Sally Hempel, won the Lancashire competition.
When 16-year-old Linzi Butler became the youngest ever Miss Blackpool in 1982, she was not allowed to compete in Miss United Kingdom because she did not meet the minimum age requirement.
Linzi was not pleased with this and she recovered and was crowned Miss Great Britain in 1986.
In a remarkable turn of events, Miss Blackpool 1984, Vicky Ellis, returned to the beauty pageant scene 39 years later and won the title of Miss Exquisite World Elegance – one of the longest periods between two wins in history.
Four Miss Blackpool winners went on to become Miss United Kingdom and go on to compete in Miss World: Anne Thelwell (1959), Helen Upton (1990), Claire Smith (1992) and Vicki-Lee Walberg (1997).
Claire achieved Blackpool’s best ever result at Miss World by finishing first runner-up.
Tanya Bardsley, best known for her role in the ITVBe reality show The Real Housewives Of Cheshire, won the Miss Blackpool contest in 2002 before meeting her husband, former Sunderland and Stoke footballer Phil Bardsley.
‘Public Speaking, Talent and Interviews’
Tanya, a businesswoman and one of the reality show’s original cast members, left in 2021 after seven years.
Fellow reality star Kendall Rae Knight, who appeared on Love Island in 2018, was crowned Miss Blackpool five years earlier. She also won Miss North West and was a Miss England finalist in 2015.
The 31-year-old influencer, who comes from a family of beauty queens – her mother, aunts and cousins have all won titles – recently gave birth to her first child.
The winner of Miss Blackpool will receive the same silver trophy that has been in use since the pageant began.
While this has always remained the same, the competition has been modernised to reflect wider societal changes.
In the 1960s and 1970s, more emphasis was placed on the personality, intelligence and social involvement of the participants than just on their appearance.
This trend continued in the following decades, as the emphasis shifted to the contestants’ diverse talents, with rounds that included public speaking, talent shows and interviews.
More recently, contestants have been quizzed on their achievements, aspirations and their ability to be a positive role model. This year’s Miss Blackpool competition includes the classic swimwear and eveningwear rounds, along with a jeans and T-shirt segment.
Karen is keen to see the girls try and reach the final, which will be held on November 22 in the Woodland Suite at Ribby Hall Village
To start the event in a fun and dynamic way, the contestants are invited to participate in a dance routine.
Contestants must be under 35 years old and, thanks to a recent rule change by the Miss Universe organization, they are allowed to have children and get married.
But this decision remains controversial. Miss World, for example, still bans married women, mothers or contestants over the age of 27.
CEO Julia Morley claims that a year of global travel would suit those without such commitments best. Miss Blackpool 2024 will be hosted by dancer and singer Rio Cookson and 2019 winner Brittany Feeney from Liverpool.
Karen is keen for girls to try and reach the final, which will be held on November 22 at the Woodland Suite in Ribby Hall Village, near Blackpool. “It’s not just a beauty pageant,” Karen explains. “It’s also about friendship and confidence.
“I still keep in touch with many of the women I competed with and through competing in pageants I made connections that have shaped my life.
“I hope this year’s competition does the same for the girls and that they use it as a stepping stone to greater things.”
‘Joy and shameless glamour of the coast’
MY VIEW, by Sally-Ann Fawcett, beauty pageant historian, judge and author of Misdemeanours: Beauty Queen Scandals . . .
6As a child growing up in the North, it soon became apparent to me that Miss Blackpool was the queen of the seaside beauty pageants.
Unlike most other local competitions, Miss Blackpool was originally open to women from all over the UK, meaning that the best candidates travelled from far and wide to enter.
The weekly competitions at the South Shore open-air pool, which attracted thousands of holidaymakers, reached their peak in August, when the big names of the day competed for the silver trophy.
One of the intriguing aspects of Miss Blackpool is that not all the big names actually won the title: Ann Sidney from Poole finished only runner-up in 1964, but was crowned Miss World just a few months later.
Ann Jones, a Welshpool beauty, failed to reach the top three of Miss Blackpool 1975, but qualified for the finals of both Miss Universe and Miss World a few years later. She also became the only British winner in history to win the title of Miss Intercontinental.
And Dinah May, who later became the first bride in the TV drama Brookside and later assistant to film director Michael Winner, also saw the Miss Blackpool crown pass her by despite winning Miss Great Britain in 1976.
When Miss UK was axed in 1999, Miss Blackpool became a standalone pageant and competition remained fierce, with dozens of women vying for the title. It is now the longest-running seaside beauty pageant in the UK, second only to Miss Great Britain.
For me, judging the competition was a dream come true.
The silver trophy, first awarded in 1954, is still used today and will be lifted aloft by the 70th winner in November. It symbolises the joy, excitement and unashamed glamour of the golden age of the British 7 Seaside.
