Miss World 1970

Miss World 1970 was the 20th anniversary of the Miss World pageant, held on 20 November 1970 at the Royal Albert Hall in London, United Kingdom. Jennifer Hosten from Grenada won the crown of Miss World 1970. Although Miss World 1969, Eva Rueber-Staier of Austria, was present and took part in a dance routine before the announcement of the winner, the new Miss World was crowned by Bob Hope. The event was marked by controversy in the days beforehand, during the contest itself and afterwards.

58 contestants competed for the Miss World title.

This edition saw South Africa send two contestants to Miss World 1970 due to racial segregation in the country: a white contestant represented 'South Africa,' while a black contestant competed under the title 'Africa South.'

This edition marked the debut of Grenada and Mauritius. Also the return of Hong Kong and Puerto Rico, which last competed in 1959, Spain last competed in 1964, Malaysia last competed in 1966, Portugal last competed in 1967, and Ceylon, Italy, Switzerland and Thailand last competed in 1968.

Chile, Costa Rica, the Czechoslovakia and Paraguay, withdrew from the competition for unknown reasons.

There was controversy before the contest began because the organisers had allowed two entries from South Africa, one black, one white. On the evening of the contest, a bomb exploded under a BBC outside broadcast van in an unsuccessful attempt by The Angry Brigade to prevent the contest being televised in which there were no injuries. The audience then had to enter the hall past noisy demonstrators who were held behind barricades.

During the evening there were protests by Women's Liberation activists. The activists threw flour bombs during the event, momentarily alarming the host, Bob Hope. He was also heckled during the proceedings. The protests are the subject of the film Misbehaviour which was released in 2020.

Even greater controversy followed after the result was announced. Jennifer Hosten, Miss Grenada, won, becoming the first black woman to win Miss World, and the black contestant from South Africa placed second. The BBC and newspapers received numerous protests about the result. Four of the nine judges had given first-place votes to Miss Sweden, while Miss Grenada received only two firsts, yet the Swedish entrant finished fourth. The Prime Minister of Grenada, Sir Eric Gairy, was on the judging panel. One of Gairy's obituaries described his corruption and use of a gang of thugs when in government. There were many allegations that the contest had been rigged, with counter-accusations that scrutiny of the results was motivated by racism and pointed out that favouritism of white contestants had been typical in the contest's history. Some of the audience gathered in the street outside Royal Albert Hall after the contest and chanted "Swe-den, Swe-den". Four days later the organising director, Julia Morley, resigned because of the intense pressure from the newspapers. Years later Miss Sweden, Maj Christel Johansson, was reported as saying that she felt she had been cheated out of the title.^{[citation needed]}