Miss World 1957

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

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 in Miss World 1959 and won.^[1]

Debuts, returns and withdrawals

This edition marked the debuts 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 to a Ghanaian diplomat.^[3] Alicja Bobrowska of Poland withdrew 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
Great Britain	Leila Williams[13]	20	Walsall
Greece	Nana Gasparatou	–	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
United States	Charlotte Sheffield[22]	21	Salt Lake City
Venezuela	Consuelo Nouel[23]	23	Caracas
West Germany	Annemarie Karsten[20]	19	Lübeck

Notes

1. Age at the time of the pageant