Miss World 1974

Miss World 1974
Miss World 1974
Date	22 November 1974
Presenters	Michael Aspel; David Vine†;
Venue	Royal Albert Hall, London, United Kingdom
Broadcaster	BBC;
Entrants	58
Placements	15
Debuts	Barbados; Guernsey; Jersey; Zambia;
Withdrawals	Cyprus; Iceland; Luxembourg; Mauritius; Peru; Portugal; Seychelles; Turkey;
Returns	Costa Rica; Denmark; Ecuador; West Germany; India; Madagascar; Nicaragua; Tunisia;
Winner	Helen Morgan (resigned) ; Anneline Kriel (assumed); South Africa
	← 1973 1975 →

Miss World 1974 was the 24th edition of the Miss World pageant,^[3] held on 22 November 1974 at the Royal Albert Hall in London, United Kingdom.^[4] The event was viewed by an estimated 30 million people,^[1] and was a "Wide World Special" on the ABC Television Network.^[4]

Helen Morgan of the United Kingdom was crowned the winner at the end of the event by Mrs. Julia Morley, becoming the second Welsh and fourth woman from the United Kingdom to win the title. Although it was known to the organizers at the time that she had a child as a single mother when she has crowned Miss Wales, due to intense pressure and media interest Morgan resigned four days later. The wife of the child's father had given many media interviews in the hours following the contest, creating extremely negative and lurid headlines. Morgan was the first Miss World titleholder to officially resign, and the second not to finish her reign as Miss World, after Marjorie Wallace in 1973.

Morgan had represented Wales in Miss Universe 1974 pageant earlier that year and placed first runner-up to eventual winner Amparo Muñoz of Spain. When Muñoz relinquished her Miss Universe title later that year, Morgan had already been outed as a mother and, therefore, ineligible to succeed Muñoz as Miss Universe. Muñoz was not replaced by any of the other runners-up.

Anneline Kriel of South Africa was crowned the new Miss World after Morgan's resignation. This was the second time that South Africa had won the title of Miss World.

Results

Placements

Placement	Contestant
Miss World 1974	United Kingdom – Helen Morgan^[1] (resigned)
1st runner-up	South Africa – Anneline Kriel^[1] (successor)
2nd runner-up	Israel – Lea Klain^[1]
3rd runner-up	Australia – Gail Petith^[1]
4th runner-up	United States – Terry Ann Browning
Top 7	Japan – Chikako Shima Sweden – Jill Lindqvist
Top 15	Africa South – Evelyn Peggy Williams Barbados – Linda Yvonne Field Brazil – Mariza Sommer Ireland – Julie Ann Farnham Jamaica – Andrea Lyon New Zealand – Sue Nicholson Norway – Torill Mariann Larsen Spain – Natividad Rodríguez