Miss World: 9 facts about the pageant you probably didn't know

As the 63rd Miss World pageant goes underway, we bring you some facts that you may have not known!

Miss World is the oldest surviving international beauty pageant. Launched in 1951 by Eric Morley, who by then had introduced ballroom dancing to television through the show Come Dancing, the pageant began as Festival Bikini Contest but was dubbed as Miss World by the media.

What started out as a one-off event became an annual extravaganza after Morley heard of a similar concept being institutionalised by the Americans -- the Miss Universe pageant.

Today it is part of the Big Four beauty pageants alongside Miss Universe, Miss International and Miss Earth.

Miss India, Reita Faria became the first Asian to be crowned Miss World in 1966… but you probably knew that. What followed isn't as well documented.

The Government of India wasn't very happy with the fact that the Faria joined the legendary American entertainer Bob Hope to South Vietnam as part of the cheering up brigade to South Vietnam and met the American soldiers at a time when New Delhi supported Ho Chi Minh's Communist government in North Vietnam.

More about Reita Faria in this exclusive piece from our archives!

Winner of the 1974 contest, Helen Morgan became the first Miss World winner to resign. Anneline Kriel of South Africa who was first runner-up succeeded her.

Morgan, a Welsh model was a bank employee and was an occasional participant in beauty pageants in the UK. She had won the Miss Wales and Miss United Kingdom titles in 1974 and represented UK in the Miss Universe pageant where she was first runner-up to Spain's Amparo Munoz.

Interestingly, after Munoz resigned before her reign ended, the crown wasn't offered to anyone including Morgan.

In any case, Helen Morgan also represented the UK at Miss World and won.

To think that a hesitant Morgan was paid £30 as a last-minute stand-in when another competitor dropped out at the Miss Wales competition earlier!

However barely four days after her stupendous victory, it was discovered that Helen Morgan was a mother of a one-and-a-half year old baby boy. Even though this did not violate the pageant rules -- all participants had to be unmarried -- Morgan had to resign.

Miss South Africa Anneline Kriel succeeded her.

Carmen Susana Duijm Zubillaga of Venezuela became the first Latin-American to win Miss World in 1955.

With six wins, Venezuela has the most number of Miss World titles. After Duijm, five other Venezuelan beauties went on to wear the crown:  Pilin Leon won the title in 1981 followed by Astrid Carolina Herrera in 1984, Ninibeth Leal in 1991 Jacqueline Aguilera in 1995 and Ivian Sarcos in 2011.

It wouldn't be exactly f-i-f-t-y years since its inception before a black African would wear the Miss World crown. Agbani Darego of Nigeria was crowned in 2001 by our very own Priyanka Chopra at Sun City in South Africa.

According to the news agency Reuters, the pageant was beamed to a projected global television audience of 1.2 billion people.

With five Indian beauty queens having held the title in the pageant's history, India ranks second only after Venezuela in the title ranking. The Miss India winners who won the crown include Reita Faria (1966), Aishwarya Rai (1994), Diana Hayden (1997) Yukta Mookhey (1999) and Priyanka Chopra (2000).

India holds yet another distinction in the Miss World history. It is only one of the three countries to have won consecutive victories:

May Louise Flodin of Sweden was crowned Miss World 1952 the year after her fellow citizen Kicki Hakansson won the crown in 1951.

Ann Sidney and Lesley Langley of the United Kingdom won the title in 1964 and 1965 respectively.

The feat was repeated for the last time by Priyanka Chopra after the previous year's winner Yukta Mookhey crowned her Miss World in 2000.

When Maria Julia Mantilla was crowned Miss World in 1984, she became the second recipient of the crown from Peru after Madeline Hartog-Bel won the title in 1967. The two victories are separated by 37 years -- the longest interval between title wins.

The 1954 Miss World Antigone Costanda became the first Miss Egypt to win the Miss World title for Egypt.

However the following year, Costanda refused to turn up at the contest held in London to relinquish her crown as a mark of protest against the political hostilities between Egypt and Britain over the Suez Canal.

It was left to the British actress Eunice Gayson to crown the new Miss World in 1955 -- Miss Venezuela, Carmen Susana Duijm Zubillaga who would become the first Latin American beauty to win the title!