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HT THIS DAY: November 19, 1996 — Miss World crown for Indian girl Reita Faria, a medical student from Bombay
Miss World Reita Faria won against 51 competitors from all over the world, all of them the chosen beauties of their countries
London- Miss Reita Faria, the 23-year-old medical student from Bombay (vital statistics 35-24-35 inches), was elected Miss World in the beauty contest held here last night (November 17). She won against 51 competitors from all over the world, all of them the chosen beauties of their countries.
The second place was awarded to Miss Yugoslavia, the first contestant from a Communist country, and the third to Miss Greece.
Miss Faria gets a prize of £2,500 and can earn up to £30,000 in the year she “reigns” as the world’s beauty queen through film and public relations parts. But she surprised the British public accustomed to seeing beauty queens making a dash for films or modelling when she said she was not interested in any of these things. She was anxious to sit for her final examination in April next year and her ambition was to be a gynaecologist.
What seems to have helped her in her victory was her obvious intelligence added to her charm and good looks. She is probably the best educated girl to have competed in these contests and having been a medical student for five years has the composure and dignity to withstand the ballyhoo that accompany them. She withstood with calm the long ordeal of the elimination rounds televized over the British and Eurovision networks for 90 minutes.
At the end of it all, asked what she wanted to do with her prize money, she said she had longed for a Mercedes car, but because India was going through a difficult time, she would not spend it on such a luxury. She intended to return to Bombay and marry her financee, Mr. Osbourne Labo, who works in a plantation in West Bengal after she passes her final examination.
Blondes dominated the competition. Four of those who entered the finals were blondes, the other three brunettes.
Miss Canada-Diane Coulter, 18-year-old blonde model who had been made the favourite by Britain’s bookies-did not appear among the 15 finalists.
But these included Miss South Africa (Johanna Maud Carter).
The new Miss World today called on the Lord Mayor of London, Sir Robert Belinger, at his 200year-old office. She wore a turquoise blue sari for her visit to the Lord Mayor.
