Miss World 1959

Miss World 1959 was the ninth Miss World pageant, held at the Lyceum Ballroom, London, United Kingdom on 10 November 1959.

Miss World 1959
Corine Rottschäfer
Date	10 November 1959
Presenters	Bob Hope
Venue	Lyceum Ballroom, London, United Kingdom
Broadcaster	BBC
Entrants	37
Placements	11
Debuts	Argentina Ghana Gibraltar Hawaii Hong Kong India Jamaica Jordan Paraguay Peru Portugal Puerto Rico Rhodesia and Nyasaland South Korea Uruguay
Withdrawals	Morocco Turkey Venezuela
Returns	Austria Finland Honduras Iceland Luxembourg
Winner	Corine Rottschäfer Holland
← 1958 1960 →

At the end of the event, the Chief Barker of the Variety Club of Great Britain crowned Corine Rottschäfer of Holland as Miss World 1959. This is the first victory of Holland in the history of the pageant.

Contestants from thirty-seven countries and territories participated in this year's pageant. The pageant was hosted by Bob Hope.

Background

Lyceum Ballroom, venue of Miss World 1959

Selection of participants

Thirty-seven contestants were selected to compete in the pageant. Three contestants were appointed to represent their countries after being a runner-up in their national pageants.

Replacements

Runner-up of Miss Maple Leaf 1959, Huguette Demers was appointed to represent Canada after Miss Maple Leaf 1959, Irene Dobler relinquishing her title in order to marry.^[1] First runner-up of Miss Norway 1959, Berit Grundvig was appointed to represent her country after Miss Norway 1959, Jorunn Kristjansen became first runner-up at Miss Universe 1959.^[2] Miss Holland 1957, Corine Rottschäfer was appointed to represent her country after Miss Holland 1959, Peggy Erwich withdrew due to her modeling commitments.^[3][4][5]

Debuts, returns and withdrawals

This edition marked the debut of Argentina, Ghana, Gibraltar, Hawaii, Hong Kong, India, Jamaica, Jordan, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Rhodesia and Nyasaland,^[a] South Korea,^[b] and Uruguay,^[6] and the return of Honduras, which last competed in 1955; and Austria, Finland, Iceland, and Luxembourg last competed in 1957.

Raymonde Valle of Morocco and Figen Özgür of Turkey withdrew for undisclosed reasons.^[7] Venezuela withdrew after its respective organization failed to hold a national competition or appoint a delegate. Habiba Bent Abdallah of Tunisia was supposed to compete, but withdrew from the competition due to financial constraints.

Results

Placements

Placement	Contestant
Miss World 1959	Holland – Corine Rottschäfer[8][9]
1st runner-up	Peru – María Elena Rossel[8][9]
2nd runner-up	Israel – Ziva Shomrat[8][9]
3rd runner-up	United Kingdom – Anne Thelwell[8][9]
4th runner-up	Denmark – Kirsten Olsen[8][9]
Top 11	Argentina – Amalia Yolanda Scuffi[8] Greece – Yakiathi Karaviti[8] Jamaica – Sheila Chong[8] Rhodesia and Nyasaland – Vivien Lentin[8] South Africa – Moya Meaker[8] West Germany – Helga Meyer[8]

Pageant

Format

The number of placements in this edition has been increased to eleven from six in the previous edition. The eleven semi-finalists were selected through a preliminary competition held on the day of the final competition consisting of a swimsuit and evening gown competition. The eleven semi-finalists were then interviewed by Bob Russell and paraded before the judges, and five finalists were eventually selected to compete in the final interview.^[8]

Selection committee

• Claude Berr – Member of the Miss Europe committee
• Reg Cudlipp – British newspaper editor for News of the World
• Taina Elg – Finnish-American actress and dancer
• Jill Ireland – British actress
• Lady Lydford – British socialite
• Cynthia Oberholzer – South African model
• Oscar Santa María – Brazilian politician
• John Spencer-Churchill – 11th Duke of Marlborough^[10]
• Godfrey Winn – English journalist

Contestants

Thirty-seven contestants competed for the title.^[11]

Country	Contestant	Age[c]	Hometown
Argentina	Amalia Yolanda Scuffi[12]	17	Mar de Plata
Austria	Helga Knofel	20	–
Belgium	Diane Hidalgo[13]	19	–
Brazil	Dione Brito Oliveira[14]	18	Caruaru
Canada	Huguette Demers[15]	21	Montreal
Denmark	Kirsten Olsen[2]	20	Frederiksberg
Finland	Margit Jaatinen[2]	19	–
France	Marie Hélène Trové[16]	19	–
Ghana	Star Nyaniba Annan	20	Accra
Gibraltar	Viola Howells[17]	23	Gibraltar
Greece	Yakiathi Karaviti	20	Athens
Hawaii	Margaret Moani Keala Brumaghim[18]	26	Honolulu
Holland	Corine Rottschäfer[19]	21	Amsterdam
Honduras	Rosemary Lefebre	–	Tegucigalpa
Hong Kong	Michelle Mok[20]	17	Hong Kong
Iceland	Sigurbjörg Sveinsdóttir[21]	18	Reykjavík
India	Fleur Ezekiel[22]	18	–
Ireland	Ann Fitzpatrick[23]	17	Dublin
Israel	Ziva Shomrat[24]	18	Haifa
Italy	Paola Falchi[25]	18	Latium
Jamaica	Sheila Chong[26]	24	Kingston
Japan	Chieko Ichinose[27]	18	Tokyo
Jordan	Ufemia Jabaji	17	Amman
Luxembourg	Josee Pundel	20	Luxembourg City
Norway	Berit Grundvig[2]	19	Oslo
Paraguay	Elvira dos Santos	18	Asunción
Peru	María Elena Rossel[28]	17	Piura
Portugal	Maria Teresa Motoa Cardoso	18	Lisbon
Puerto Rico	Lyllianna Díaz	19	San Juan
Rhodesia and Nyasaland	Vivien Lentin	17	Kitwe
South Africa	Moya Meaker	18	Pretoria
South Korea	Seo Jung-ae[29]	19	Busan
Sweden	Carola Håkonsson[2]	20	–
United Kingdom	Anne Thelwell[30]	22	Heswall
United States	Loretta Powell	24	Stratford
Uruguay	Yvonne Kelly	25	Montevideo
West Germany	Helga Meyer	23	Bielefeld

Notes

1. Competed as Southern Rhodesia and Nyasaland in the pageant
2. Competed as Korea in the pageant
3. Age at the time of the pageant