Miss World 1957

Miss World 1957
Marita Lindahl
Date	14 October 1957
Presenters	Eric Morley
Venue	Lyceum Ballroom, London, United Kingdom
Entrants	23
Placements	7
Debuts	Canada Luxembourg
Withdrawals	Egypt New Zealand Switzerland Turkey
Returns	Australia
Winner	Marita Lindahl Finland
←  1956 1958  →

Miss World 1957 was the seventh Miss World pageant, held at the Lyceum Ballroom in London, United Kingdom on 14 October 1957.

At the end of the event, Petra Schürmann of West Germany crowned Marita Lindahl of Finland as Miss World 1957. This is the first victory of Finland in the history of the pageant.

Contestants from twenty-three countries participated in this year's pageant. The pageant was hosted by Eric Morley.

Background

Lyceum Ballroom, venue of Miss World 1957

Selection of participants

Twenty-three contestants were selected to compete in the pageant. One contestant was appointed to represent her country after being a runner-up in her national pageant.

Replacements

Miss Holland 1957, Corine Rottschäfer was supposed to compete in this edition. However, since she had already won Miss Europe, she was replaced by her first runner-up, Christina van Zijp to compete in Miss World. Rottschäfer later competed at Miss World 1959 and won. ^[1]

Debuts, returns and withdrawals

This edition marked the debut of Canada and Luxembourg, and the return of Australia, which last competed in 1955.

Zubaida Tharwat of Egypt and Yvonne Bridel of Switzerland did not participate due to budget constraints. Tharwat also withdrew from the competition due to the dispute between the United Kingdom and Egypt over the Suez Canal. ^[2]

Leyla Sayar of Turkey did not participate for undisclosed reasons. New Zealand withdrew after its respective organization failed to hold a national competition or appoint a delegate.

Monica Amekoafia of Ghana was supposed to participate, but chose to get married. ^[3] Alicja Bobrowska of Poland withdrew from the competition for undisclosed reasons. ^[4]

Results

Miss World 1957 participating countries and territories

Placements

Placement	Contestant
Miss World 1957	Finland – Marita Lindahl [5]
1st runner-up	Denmark – Lilian Juul Madsen [5]
2nd runner-up	South Africa – Adele June Kruger [5]
3rd runner-up	Tunisia – Jacqueline Tapia [5]
4th runner-up	Japan – Muneko Yorifuji [5]
5th runner-up	France – Claude Inès Navarro [5]
6th runner-up	Israel - Sara Elimor [5]

Pageant

Format

The number of placements in this edition has been increased to seven from six in the previous edition. The seven finalists were selected through a preliminary competition held on the day of the final competition consisting of a swimsuit and an evening gown competition. ^[5]

Selection committee

• Claude Berr – Member of the Miss Europe committee
• Charles Eade – British newspaper editor
• Norman Hartnell – British fashion designer
• Laurence Harvey – Lithuanian-born British actor
• Trevor Howard – British actor
• Charles Jacobs – American photographer
• Margaret Leighton – British actress
• Mrs. Raine McCorquodale – wife of the Earl ng Dartmouth, Gerald Legge
• Lady Jane Vane-Tempest-Stewart – British socialite and philanthropist
• Stirling Moss – English Formula One racer ^[6]

Contestants

Twenty-three contestants competed for the title. ^[7]

Country	Contestant	Age [a]	Hometown
Australia	Ronnie Goodlet [8]	32	Victoria
Austria	Lilo Fischer [7]	18	Graz
Belgium	Jeanne Chandelle [9]	18	Brussels
Canada	Judith Welch [7]	20	Toronto
Denmark	Lilian Juul Madsen [10]	19	Copenhagen
Finland	Marita Lindahl [11]	19	Helsinki
France	Claude Inès Navarro [12]	19	Maoussa
Greece	Naná Gasparatou [13]	–	Athens
Holland	Christina van Zijp [14]	21	The Hague
Iceland	Rúna Brynjólfdóttir [15]	–	Reykjavík
Ireland	Nessa Welsh [16]	19	Dublin
Israel	Sara Elimor [7]	17	Tel Aviv
Italy	Anna Gorassini [7]	21	Milan
Japan	Muneko Yorifuji [17]	21	Osaka
Luxembourg	Josee Jaminet [7]	18	Luxembourg City
Morocco	Danielle Muller [18]	19	Casablanca
South Africa	Adele June Kruger [19]	21	Johannesburg
Sweden	Elenore Edin [20]	22	Stockholm
Tunisia	Jacqueline Tapia [21]	17	Tunis
Great Britain [b]	Leila Williams [22]	20	Walsall
United States	Charlotte Sheffield [23]	21	Salt Lake City
Venezuela	Consuelo Nouel [24]	23	Caracas
West Germany	Annemarie Karsten [20]	19	Lübeck

Notes

1. Age at the time of the pageant
2. Competed as Great Britain in the pageant

References

1. "Om de mooiste van de wereld Jonge Haagse schone mag meedingen te Londen" [Young beauty from The Hague can compete in London for the most beautiful in the world]. Het Parool (in Dutch). 13 July 1957. p. 3. Retrieved 7 April 2025– via Delpher.
2. "Jennifer Lawrence Looks Spookily Like 1950s Egyptian Actress (Says Internet)". HuffPost UK. 25 January 2023. Retrieved 7 April 2025.
3. Johnson, Elizabeth Ofosuah (24 February 2019). "See the first-ever beauty queens from Africa". Face2Face Africa. Retrieved 7 April 2025.
4. "Alicja Bobrowska: Poland's Post-War Icon of Beauty and Talent". PolandDaily24.com. 8 January 2025. Retrieved 13 April 2025.
5. "Charlotte's name missing from 'World' finalists". Deseret News. 15 October 1957. p. 21. Retrieved 7 April 2025– via Newspapers.com.
6. "Geinig tijd voor huwelijksreis: Stirling moet miss World kiezen" [Fun time for honeymoon: Stirling has to choose Miss World]. Het Parool (in Dutch). 9 October 1957. p. 9. Retrieved 13 April 2025– via Delpher.
7. "1957 'Miss World' line-up". The Straits Times. 11 October 1957. p. 2. Retrieved 13 April 2025– via National Library Board.
8. "Beauty pageants from the past in all their crowning glory". Herald Sun. Retrieved 13 April 2025.
9. "Erelijst Miss België". De Morgen (in Dutch). 11 January 2010. Retrieved 13 April 2025.
10. "Pernille Sørensen crowned Miss World Denmark". The Times of India . 7 October 2014. Archived from the original on 28 February 2023. Retrieved 13 April 2025.
11. "Suomen ainoa Miss Maailma Marita Lindahl on kuollut – lue puolison koskettava kirje" [Finland's only Miss World Marita Lindahl has died - read the touching letter from her husband]. Yle (in Finnish). 31 August 2017 [27 June 2017]. Retrieved 13 April 2025.
12. Belingard, Christian (5 December 2012). "La fabuleuse histoire des Miss se prolonge samedi soir au Zénith de Limoges". France 3 Nouvelle-Aquitaine (in French). Retrieved 13 April 2025.
13. "7th Miss World - 1957". Miss World . Archived from the original on 22 February 2025. Retrieved 30 April 2025.
14. "De mooiste Miss" [The most beautiful Miss]. De Volkskrant (in Dutch). 18 July 1957. p. 7. Retrieved 13 April 2025– via Delpher.
15. "Op de heliport te Rotterdam arriveerden zaterdagmorgen per helicopter uit Brussel' vijj schoonheidskoninginnen op wiinodigiginp; van een aantal modehuizen" [On Saturday morning, five beauty queens arrived at the heliport in Rotterdam by helicopter from Brussels; of several fashion houses.]. Friese koerier (in Dutch). 7 October 1957. p. 1. Retrieved 13 April 2025– via Delpher.
16. "Flu hits the Miss World misses". The Straits Times . 14 October 1957. p. 2. Retrieved 13 April 2025– via National Library Board.
17. "Japanese Beauties". Spokane Daily Chronicle . 14 June 1957. p. 33. Retrieved 13 April 2025– via Google News Archive.
18. Babas, Latifa (11 February 2019). "Histoire : Quand le Maroc était représenté dans les concours internationaux de beauté". Yabiladi (in French). Retrieved 13 April 2025.
19. Abrahams, Miguel (12 June 2018). "Adele relives her Miss SA, Miss World pageant days". Bedfordview Edenvale News. Retrieved 13 April 2025.
20. "De zes meisjes, die u van deze" [The six girls you like this]. Nieuw Utrechtsch dagblad (in Dutch). 8 October 1957. p. 5. Retrieved 13 April 2025– via Delpher.
21. Ben Khalifa, Lotfi (14 February 2019). "Voyage avec les nymphes tunisiennes". Le Temps (in French). Retrieved 13 April 2025– via PressReader.
22. "British beauty". The Singapore Free Press. 11 September 1957. p. 11. Retrieved 13 April 2025– via National Library Board.
23. "Universe". Deseret News. 18 July 1957. pp. 1, 4. Retrieved 13 April 2025– via Newspapers.com.
24. Suárez, Orlando (27 July 2022). "Misses venezolanas de sangre azul". El Diario (in Spanish). Retrieved 13 April 2025.

External links

• Official website