Miss World 1967- Miss Peru Madeline Hartog-Bell

The BBC's Breakfast News programme presenter Jeremy Bowen looks back at some of the earlier Miss World contests.

Miss India, Reita Faria, who won the title in 1966

Nowhere will the 50th anniversary be more keenly watched than in India, where it pulls in 96% of the available viewing audience. India has provided three winners in the last six years including last year's winner Yukta Mookhev. This year's contest will feature a parade of 21 past winners of Miss World. One of them, another Miss India, Reita Faria, won the title in 1966.

Miss World Beauty Contest Crown

This Miss World Beauty Crown has long been coveted by the slim. But in the black townships of South Africa the ideal of African womanhood is a much-debated question. Should young black women be thin like models in European fashion magazines? Or should they be naturally curvy?