I Was Once a Beauty Queen Wonderland

'Ladies and gentlemen, a very warm welcome,

'please, for contestant number one.

'Carolyn Moore.'

Most of the beauty contests were held at seaside resorts.

And you just had to be between a certain age and female.

First, in swimsuits, sit back,

turn up the brightness control on your telly,

and meet the first semi-finalist.

I'm sure we were unaware that men might be ogling us.

And we make no apologies of being frivolous.

But it does seem to me that we need a touch of frivolity and fun.

Above all, we need a little beauty in our lives

in these troubled times.

Beauty queens belonged to a different era.

Beauty queens belonged to an era where everyone was sweet

and lovely and never did any wrong.

They were dying a death, anyway.

What do you feel like, standing up there in, say, bathing suits,

being admired just for your body and not your mind?

Erm, well...

I did have a glimpse of what it was like

to live like a bit of a celebrity,

but it never crossed my mind, at all,

what life would be like when the reign finished.

Looking back and knowing

what you can do in life, anyway,

I wouldn't have rushed into the beauty contest thing.

It might have made me want a bit more from life.

As a 20-year-old, I didn't think about the future.

I didn't worry about how I would look in 40 years' time.

Being, sort of, 51, now.

And you're looking back, I think, how did it all go so wrong?

It's just one of those things.

30 years ago, the BBC was televising its last beauty contests.

For two decades, being crowned a national beauty queen

had promised instant fame.

But what happened in the lives of the women once voted

the most beautiful in Britain?

My mother's family used to make a lot of what people look like.

It was very important to them, what they looked like.

I was born in Moreton in Wirral.

It's over the other side of the Mersey River from Liverpool.

I was typical, sort of, working-class kid, basically,

who lived on a council estate,

and I grew up on a council estate in the '60s.

Watching beauty contests on TV, you were a star.

You were immediately a star.

'All right, a big smile. Come on, girls. Keep it up.

'Big smiles.'

It's a way to get

some sort of recognition,

some sort of access to maybe a better life.

I'm not condemned to a life in the typing pool.

When she was knee-high to a grasshopper, type of thing, I said,

"This little one's going to win Miss World, one day."

What it was, you know those little Cinderella shoes

with the little heel on, that girls run around in,

while she used to have a little bathing costume

with a pair of these shoes on, and she used to run around like this.

And one of my neighbours said, "Do you know what?"

He said, "Your daughter's only two and a half,

"but she's got a figure, already. She's shapely."

When I was 15, I went in for Miss New Brighton contest,

and should have been 16, and I lied about my age,

and my mum and dad wrote me

a letter to say I had tonsillitis to my school,

so that I could bunk off the day.

So, I put this bikini on and I trotted around the swimming baths.

And I came second in the contest.

And it was in all the local papers.

And the next day, I was called to the headmistress' office

and she asked me what I wanted to, sort of, achieve

from doing these contests.

She said, "We had high hopes for you, academically. Don't throw that away."

-So, did you listen to the head?

-No.

It became, basically, a full-time job.

Miss Southport was on a Tuesday.

Miss New Brighton was on Wednesday.

Prestatyn was on Thursday night.

Blackpool was on a Thursday.

So, there was a competition just about every day of the week.

I wanted to win Miss Great Britain more than anything else.

And I thought, "Right, this is my, sort of, ticket to the big time.

"It's a golden ticket."

I grew up in Nantwich, which is a rural town in Cheshire.

I was shy, actually.

My mother sent me to ballet lessons from the age of, probably, three.

And that did help me overcome my shyness.

But Nantwich grammar school, I did all right.

I didn't really excel in anything.

When I was 17, I decided

I didn't want to study anymore.

So, that's when I applied for a job at the local bank in Nantwich.

And did they offer you a job?

They did, yes, and I accepted the job.

I decided to take a couple of months holiday

and then I was going to work for this bank -

start as a bank clerk, and work my way up to a bank manageress.

That was when I started entering beauty contests.

APPLAUSE

I thought, "Oh, this is just a bit of fun for the school holidays,

"before I start working."

'Carolyn is just sweet 18, and stands five feet, five inches.'

I wish I was 18 again, don't you?

Mind you, I never looked like that even when I was 18.

I didn't feel shy, which was the strange thing,

from being such a shy girl.

I felt good.

Was it not about the time

when the feminists, or whatever they called themselves,

hurled bags of flour at Bob Hope in the Albert Hall.

Yes. Miss World.

-Yes, yes.

-Why were the feminists objecting, do you think?

Why do you think, Carolyn?

Maybe they were envious.

Well, they called it a cattle market.

-They did.

-Yes.

-They said that women shouldn't be parading in swimsuits.

# Hello, Dolly, well, hello... #

Did it feel degrading?

No. It didn't feel degrading, at all.

It felt good to be appreciated.

# Looking swell, Dolly

# We can tell... #

I enjoyed being the centre of attention. Yeah, it was fun.

# Dolly, don't go away, yeah. #

Hello, Carolyn.

Your ambition is to become a bank manageress.

-I didn't know there were such things.

-Oh, yes. There are...

There were, obviously, very few bank manageresses.

He asked me how many but I had no idea.

What about the men bank managers,

do they resent women coming into the profession, or not?

I should think they do, yes.

And how many bank... female bank managers are there

in the country at the moment?

-I think there are only one or two.

-You'll make it three.

-Can I have a quick overdraft?

-Certainly.

Thank you very much. Ladies and gentlemen, Carolyn Moore.

I wasn't aggressively ambitious

but I wanted to succeed at whatever I did.

So, the third prize has gone to number four, Carolyn Moore.

APPLAUSE

That really proved to myself that I can do this,

and I can come back, and maybe I can win it the next year.

I grew up in Devon.

Oh, it was a country up-bringing, most definitely.

Did all the pony club stuff and went to shows

and did a bit of jumping and gymkhana.

When did you realise that you were pretty?

Probably when I was about 12.

I think it was the first time I had to get dressed up for something.

And I remember mother made me a long skirt.

I thought, "Hmm, not bad."

# Girls, let's talk about girls... #

Father wanted me to go to university.

You've got to go to university and work really hard.

So, I thought, "Oh, God, no."

If I can earn some money now, I'd rather do it.

I wanted to buy my own place, and be independent from the beginning.

And the prize money was quite good

so I thought that would be a deposit on a house.

And as the dancers said, "Let's talk about girls, girls, girls."

In fact, 29 of the Kingdom's lovelies.

I was never very glam, growing up.

You know, I didn't really know how to put make-up on, or anything else.

'Number 21, Miss Portsmouth.'

So, I just bought a cheap hair dye at the chemist, and slapped it on.

And suddenly I was blonde.

'Carolyn Seaward from Yelverton.'

I think these contests evolved because we as humans

are programmed to quite like looking at fit, healthy beings.

Those measurements,

and a provocative little item she's nearly wearing.

A 34, 24, 35.

Because, we're programmed to breed...

..and, you know,

that's the shiny hair, good skin, white teeth, bright eyes,

muscle rather than fat, is all a good prospect for breeding.

So, I think that's how these came about

and why people enjoyed watching them.

'I never really thought of myself as good-looking.

'I was fortunately the kind of child that used to attract attention,

'even at a young age, from the opposite sex.'

-And what are you going to be when you grow up?

-I don't know.

What are you going to be when YOU grow up?

'Once you're an attractive teenager'

and girl, people follow you,

people want to know you, want to be with you, want to date you,

whatever they want. Sometimes you get a bit fed up of it.

It sort of gives you a strange view of men.

What did it make you think that the men thing was about?

That they were predators.

I don't think I used that word at the time in my head but they chased you.

And they were sometimes dangerous.

The next of our semifinalists is number 13, Miss North Shields!

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

I was trying to make ends meet, living in the north east,

doing modelling, and I wasn't earning very much money

or getting that much work in the north east.

Those measurements you see there are 37-25-37.

She measures the same exactly upside down.

'So I thought, well, if I do beauty contests, there's the prize-money.

'But I knew also I was very tall,

'and that sometimes put a lot of people off.'

Madeleine, is it cold up there?

Oh, Terry, can't you think of something more original, please?

No, I can't, at the moment, because I'm staggered at your beauty.

I kept trying. And I got knocked back, and I kept trying and trying.

A face you may remember from last year's Miss United Kingdom,

Madeleine Stringer.

Madeline Stringer.

Madeline Stringer.

She told us last year that she didn't stand 6 feet tall,

she was 5' 12".

Madeleine, no stranger, you've been here many times before.

Why do you keep coming back?

'You didn't have to be competitive, you had to be attractive.'

It was a beauty contest.

You had to have the face, the figure, the hair,

and...not a lot of personality, I suppose.

It was a beauty contest.

-What do you think you had, that day you won?

-Perseverance.

My family business was on the docks.

I thought she was Scandinavian.

I thought she had come in on one of the boats.

She was different.

That's what attracted me in the first place.

We been going out for five, six months,

then I think she got invited to go to the first sort of contest,

and I drove her across to Scarborough.

I think it was on Yorkshire TV.

I ferried her round and it sort of snowballed from there, really.

Suddenly she is in the Miss UK, and that was quite a big event.

APPLAUSE

They were beginning to get a little bit of stick

about the swimsuit scene and things like that.

It was probably becoming a little bit old-fashioned.

So the year I was in it, they decided to do an assault course.

We in fact took the girls to the RAF base up at Uxbridge

to put them through their paces - all 48 of them.

A sort of keep-fit with a vengeance.

Take a look and you'll see what I mean.

Get set.

STARTING PISTOL

Well, both girls very careful with those shuffle bars.

We had to go through tyres, go over a net.

There's Fiona, losing her hat.

Where's Catherine? I think Catherine's still there somewhere.

I remember thinking, "Great, an assault course."

Cos I'd spent my whole childhood going round the back garden

with our assault courses.

STARTING PISTOL

And they're away.

I was so competitive as well.

Della's like lightning.

It was all, you know, old hat to me.

I leapt at this rope, swung across, dropped off

thinking, "Great, I hope I've got a really good time."

It's Della first to that rope.

25 seconds to beat, is she going to do it? 21...

And then some of the other girls, some of them

couldn't even hold their weight on the rope

and just slithered down the rope into the river.

I think one girl twisted her elbow

and I think they had to get a sling made to match her evening dress.

SHOUTS

I came second, and they said I was a probably a bit young,

and that I ought to come back next year.

APPLAUSE

Welcome back to Morecambe and back to the final section

in the competition to find Miss Great Britain 1971.

This then is the decisive round as we welcome the first contestant,

Miss Carolyn Moore from Nantwich in Cheshire.

APPLAUSE

-So where's this?

-The Winter Gardens in Morecambe.

What an amazing place.

Very quiet. So different to when I was here, full of people.

So I would have walked across the stage firstly in my evening wear

because we did the swimsuit section outside,

then walked across here, little twirl in front of the judges.

SHE LAUGHS

This is the new section, the daywear section.

We put this in because we feel daywear gives the judges

a much better idea of a girl's taste in clothes

and a girl's personality.

The daywear, I chose a trouser suit.

Even though it was covered up, it still showed my figure.

When you looked t the line-up,

there were girls looking great in hot pants,

and high boots, but maybe I was a girl next door.

It was eight o'clock in the evening, prime time.

There were only three television channels - ITV, BBC One, BBC Two.

And there was probably an audience of about 20 million

watching the Miss Great Britain contest.

-So it could change your life.

-Yeah. Instant celebrity.

I definitely wanted to win.

Having gone that far, I definitely wanted to win.

We had to get a daywear outfit for our outside shots

in a nice garden.

I just went for a completely plain black tailored suit,

and just had my hair up in quite a severe bun.

So therefore I looked quite sophisticated.

Now inside, I wasn't. I was naive.

But I looked the part.

This year, we're going to ask the girls to allow themselves

to be spoken to by an astrologer, well known to you, Ann Petrie.

Before the actual interview, I think that she'd said to us,

"I don't want you to just go, 'Yes, that's right.'

"I want, you know, if I challenge you with something,

"I want to see how you react and how you...

"You don't have to just go along with it."

-Tracy, you're a Sagittarius.

-That's right.

It's said that you not only travel around the world whenever you can,

but you also hop in and out of jobs, and perhaps other people's bedrooms!

I was like, I'm in front of about ten million people here,

it's none of your business, madam! But of course you just go...

LAUGHS NERVOUSLY

Obviously doesn't apply in your case.

But love is a bit of a sport.

'They liked the image to be squeaky clean.'

Fresh-faced girl-next-door thing with, yeah, bodies.

-You are a freedom-loving soul, aren't you?

-Yes.

That's what your life is all about.

'You were the princess, you were a working class princess.

'Demure but sexy.'

Tricky balance.

Yeah. Especially when you're 21.

When they were about to announce the results, yeah, really nerve-wracking.

I shall announce the results in reverse order.

Third, Miss Chichester.

It's like the start of a race. You know, a sick feeling.

Runner-up to Miss United Kingdom is Miss Belfast.

They obviously announce the third and then the second,

and then you're thinking, I might be nowhere or I might have won.

And Miss United Kingdom 1982 is...

-And what was like when you heard your name called?

-Yeah, great.

-..Miss England!

-I'd had so much support as well.

They always used to say I'd put Grimsby on the map,

and you're just so pleased that you haven't let them down.

The winner, Miss Great Britain for 1971,

and it's Carolyn Moore from Nantwich in Cheshire.

Madeleine Stringer, Miss North Shields,

is Miss United Kingdom 1977.

Miss England, Carolyn Ann Seaward,

is Miss UK 1979.

Tracy Dodds is Miss Great Britain, 1982.

It was just, then, like a rollercoaster.

The blur of photographers and everybody wanting you afterwards.

There's press and you're ushered here and you're ushered there,

and you're photographed. And then, suddenly,

I suppose your...your life isn't your life, in a way.

I just remember feeling very grateful and happy.

And then you sign contracts - things like you don't have babies,

you don't get married, you don't work for anybody else.

You're very much, um, owned by them, sort of for a year.

What did you both think when she won Miss Great Britain?

-Well, we were elated, quite honestly. And, um...

-It was lovely.

It was a very exciting time for us.

-The phone never stopped ringing, did it?

-No.

Day and night.

-From who?

-The press!

Press mainly.

Honestly, it was amazing.

Did you mind her going on

-and therefore deciding to choose her looks at that stage?

-Not at all.

Females are females and males are males.

Aren't they?

And...beauty is beauty

and...ugliness is ugliness.

What's...?

As Miss Great Britain I was contracted for a whole year.

It was a job, really.

Anything from opening a supermarket, cutting a ribbon,

invited to visit the soldiers.

The press would always publish a picture of a beauty queen

or a footballer... or preferably, together.

-Carolyn, are you going to marry George Best?

-No, that was a rumour.

Um, I was very surprised when I saw that in the paper this morning.

-Has he asked you?

-Oh, no, no!

Well, I've only known him a month.

'If I dated somebody high-profile,'

then...they wanted to know.

What do you think his future is in football?

I don't know, I'm not a football fan.

Cos being a beauty queen opened certain doors.

I did a big campaign for Black Heart Rum

and a big poster campaign in Scotland,

dressed as a serving wench.

But I wasn't the right shape, size, to be a fashion model.

Some days I might have a good income, other days I might have no work,

so...it was, um, a little bit uncertain.

I saw an advert for bunnies

to work at the London Playboy club.

So I thought, "Yeah, maybe I can do this."

Um, I went along to 45 Park Lane to audition.

In the fun palace that Hefner built, the Hefner rule is law.

Men weren't allowed to touch us,

but the bunny girls were an attraction to the club, of course.

You, um, had to look good, well groomed,

smile.

The costume was rather like a swimsuit

and the behaviour was rather like a beauty queen.

Did you go to the Playboy Club eventually?

-We did.

-Only for a meal, didn't we?

It was very impressive.

Well, it wasn't only for a meal, actually.

-Did you mind the bunny outfit?

-No.

No, didn't mind it at all, loved it.

Loved that London Playboy Club on Park Lane,

didn't have...a bad image, did it?

A lot of our friends interpreted it wrongly.

-You know?

-As what?

As something that nice girls shouldn't do.

How did you find the male attention when you were in the club and how did you deal with it?

Same way as I deal with it anywhere else...

..enjoyed it.

How long did you work here?

Just two years.

Why did you leave?

I met my husband.

What was he like?

Mark? Very attractive.

Very good-looking.

Suave, sophisticated.

Perfect match.

After the Miss UK I did move up to London from Devon.

And was moving in quite glamorous circles, I suppose.

Even got a part as a Bond girl which was brilliant.

I was told that I was a bit of an ice-maiden

and...was apparently, quite unapproachable.

Um, I didn't feel like I was being an ice-maiden,

I just was quite naturally cool.

I knew what I looked like, I did know what I looked like. Um...

Did you know the power of your looks?

Yes. I wish I knew how to use it.

I...well, no.

Yeah, I was aware that men thought at that time

that I was very attractive but that's where it ended.

I remember thinking that no nice men came up to speak to me at all,

it was usually drunk, obnoxious ones.

The norm...normal, nice, down-to-earth ones,

I don't think I really came across them.

I don't know if they even knew how to talk to me.

Rumours have abounded that you have been out with royalty.

-Yeah.

-Is it true?

I'd prefer to be so discrete, I can't even say yes or no.

-But I could say yes.

-I'll take that as a yes.

'I met Prince Andrew'

at Dartmouth Royal Naval College.

And he very nicely invited me for dinner.

The press just got hold of it

and blew it up out of all proportion.

You know, I just went to Buckingham Palace once.

We had a fun evening and went running around on the roof of the Palace.

And we had a nice dinner, but um, that was it.

Why only one dinner?

Um, I was too young and too naive at that stage.

I hadn't even had a proper boyfriend, if you know what I mean.

I was an extremely late starter on that front.

These Plymouth girls always aim high, you know?

-You think so.

-Oh, yes.

-Might you get married in St Paul's?

-Oh, wishful thinking, I don't know.

-He could get married in St Paul's.

-Yes, he could, but I probably won't.

I grew to like the confident men, actually.

There was Laurent, the Swiss banker.

Donald, the Greek shipper.

We lived just close to Belgravia.

But Donald was very busy, he worked hard. I didn't work hard at all.

After Donald... it was...a Canadian chap, yeah.

Carl the Canadian.

He suddenly proposed, out of the blue.

So I said yes, but that could have been the three gin and tonics

that he plied me with before asking.

But I had this fear that having gotten married

they'd suddenly turn into a nightmare

and then I'd be kind of trapped there.

And because I was usually told, "Oh, you could get anyone you wanted,"

in the back of my mind was, "Oh, well. No, it'll be fine.

"I've got plenty of time for that, I've got plenty of time for that."

In May 1978, I was in the northeast doing a sponsored walk.

# There is a house in New Orleans... #

I'd gone for tea at this house and then in walked this man,

Chas Chandler.

# And it's been the ruin of many a poor boy... #

I knew Chas had been in The Animals and I learnt later

that he managed Jimi Hendrix.

And we looked at each other, and our eyes met,

and I don't know that... first meeting, that memory,

just stays with me forever.

And from that day on?

Chas didn't let me out of his sight.

A week after I met him...he proposed to me.

And I just burst out laughing and he...he lent into me

and he said, "Don't you laugh at me.

"I'm deadly serious, will you marry me?"

How did that make you feel?

Gosh, I think I...it was lovely,

it took away all...any angst you had about being a single lady.

And being chased and followed and hounded.

I just felt safe.

I'd read in the paper that he was a millionaire.

He had gold Rolls-Royce.

He certainly dressed really smartly.

But that all changed.

Career-wise, well,

I had maybes thought that I would continue with the modelling,

but I was pregnant straightaway,

and I don't think he did want me to work.

I don't think he even wanted me... out the house for very long.

Charles explained to me once about...a man with a beautiful woman,

he's always on the watch for other people moving in on his lady.

Whenever we went anywhere, he'd always work out where the exits were.

And if he... He'd say, "What are you doing talking to that person?

"That person's real trouble."

And I said, "I can't tell the difference!"

I would go to the beach and go jogging

and that was my bit of sanity, I could think things through.

REPORTER: Surviving the beauty circuit was Grimsby's Della Dolan.

About the only thing worrying Della is if she'll get enough time

in the next two weeks for her regular gym work-outs.

Everybody knew who Miss UK was, so everywhere you went

people would want to say hello, or...getting fan mail and things.

It was a little bit threatening for Craig I think.

I always expected her to win

and I wasn't surprised at all.

But I didn't notice any particular change in her at the time.

I'm just pleased to be taking her home with me, get back to normality.

Just a few months after we had a photoshoot at Manchester United

and one of the players was there on the shoot.

Um, Gary Bailey, he was the goal keeper.

Willie tonight is looking for help from soccer and from athletics.

From football there's Gary Bailey, the immense United goal keeper...

'And I hadn't realised but he was quite keen on me

'and wanted to meet me.'

I did sense something, you know, just a bit of male-tuition.

You know, I just felt that there was something not quite right.

Spending a lot of time in Manchester.

You know, he's a good-looking chap and he wanted to take me out

and in the end I split up with Craig...

..to go out with him.

The press were very interested. They were following me at home

and following Gary.

I was on the front page of the Daily Mirror holding the FA Cup.

Gary and I, you know, me with my fur coat on.

And, um...things like that.

It was unpleasant, I've got to say.

Very unpleasant.

With my Miss UK winnings

I bought the business which Craig had with his brother,

a shop called Hobo.

He and his brother at the time were looking to sell it,

so...I bought the business off them.

I was supposed to go on a national tour

and then have a contract of £20,000.

Did it pan out?

No. No.

The work just wasn't there,

it wasn't there at all.

A few months before the contest I had done topless test shots.

The Sun came out and they started doing Page Three

there were boobies all over the place and it just got to be more pressure,

so if you were a pretty girl and you wanted to be a model,

then there was pressure to, "Oh, take your top off because that's what people want."

I think I was Miss Great Britain for about three days

before the test shots ended up in one of the newspapers.

They didn't accept it from their national beauty queen

and they didn't accept it from me either.

I went into hiding cos the press went, "Woah",

cos I said I want to resign as Miss Great Britain.

It all went splat, really.

-How did you feel?

-Horrible.

It was just this big bubble and it had burst.

Beauty queens belong to a different era.

Beauty queens belong to an era where everyone was sweet and lovely

and never did any wrong.

They were dying a death anyway.

I was 28 and I'd had such a mad life.

I wanted to be normal.

I met Steve and I just thought that he was fabulous.

Hiya.

'Steve was a business man.

'He got on the corporate ladder and he got all this money.'

I had my daughter, India.

We ended up going to live in Australia

and we had a beautiful mansion on the water. It was gorgeous.

I loved being a mother. I loved being a wife.

They were my universe.

My husband and my daughter were just my absolute life.

He went out and he bought himself this Jag.

And then the guy down the road went out and bought himself,

a couple of weeks later, he went and bought

this bright yellow Porsche.

And Steve said, "Oh, look at his Porsche."

I said, "You've just got yourself this beautiful car.

"Why are you looking at that? You'd better not do that with me,

"just stick me in front of a newer model or whatever."

He goes, "Don't be silly." And that's what he did.

I was 38 and she was 26

and he just left me.

He just left me and he left his daughter.

Life with Chas wasn't settled. It was...

-SHE LAUGHS

-It was interesting!

# Do you understand me now? #

We went to Miss Cyprus's wedding,

Miss Cyprus I met in the Miss World contest.

And while we were in Cyprus, we went to this Roman arena.

Chas was saying,

"What a great rock venue this would be for concerts and stuff."

And eventually, he built his arena.

He came back to the North East and put it into his hometown.

-Which will you be remembered for, do you think?

-I don't know...

I think you'll always be Chas Charlie, the ex-Animal.

-Does that bug you?

-No, not at all.

I used to be an Animal but I'm all right now.

Lizzie was born and then when Lizzie was seven months old,

I was still breastfeeding this baby, my husband collapsed

and was in hospital for three months.

Fortunately, he got well and he was well for seven years,

but then sadly, he passed away.

SEAGULLS CHIRP

'It was very difficult. It was really difficult.

'Very dark phase in my life.'

All right, I was liberated, I didn't have anybody saying to me,

"Where are you going?

"What time will you be back?" and this and that, the negative side.

'But I just wasn't used to it.

'I had no income. I had no savings.

'There was no insurance on Chas's life.

'It was a bit of an awful mess for me, really.

'And part of it was the six million debt I inherited.'

-INTERVIEWER: 'Which was the debt from? The arena?'

-'Yes.'

'He borrowed money to build it, so there was a debt.'

It had to be paid.

SHE CLEARS HER THROAT

I had to borrow some money off someone at the funeral.

Somebody said, could they do anything to help.

I thought, well, yes, I know you're a wealthy person.

Can you please lend me £10,000

and I'll pay you back in a year's time,

or as soon as I sell the house?

It was a bit tough.

'I came back to the UK, I went onto benefits and mum and dad got me

a council house, which was great because it was a roof over my head.

And I thought, right, what can I do?

What sort of job can I do to look after my daughter?

I went along to my local college and I did A-levels. I was 40.

The local college were running a degree course for Sheffield,

the University of Sheffield.

And they took me on as a mature student

and I did a first-class degree.

I actually cried. I burst into tears. I just felt...

I felt like I'd really sort of messed up with the beauty contest,

but that was a different part of my life, that had been a long time ago.

But I thought, I've done something I was so proud of.

I felt like, I've worked for this.

It wasn't this that I was being judged on. It was this.

Because I got a first-class degree,

I was offered a post as a teacher

on the course that I'd actually graduated from.

'Did it change your circumstances for you and India?'

'Absolutely.'

-Hello.

-Hi. What a lovely morning.

Hi, hello. Is Carolyn in?

-Yes, she is. Yes.

-Good.

-Just a moment, I'll give her a call.

-Carolyn.

-Hello, morning!

This is, introduced me. This is your house.

Yes, this is my mother, Pamela.

-Actually, Carolyn's just a lodger.

-And I swot here yes, at times.

This is the scene of many a gourmet dinner party that mother throws,

that I'm not usually invited to.

She doesn't want to join the old people.

I was invited but it's like, "No, no, I've got other plans, thank you."

-I just eat the leftovers afterwards.

-Yes.

When did you first realise that Carolyn was so pretty

and that you had such a pretty daughter?

-When she was about a year old.

-SHE LAUGHS

Did she have any boyfriends when she was a teenager?

Not really. It was horses.

They got me into horses to keep me away from boys.

-Yes.

-And it's worked a little too well.

After Carl the Canadian, it was Yuri the mad doctor.

We ended up renting a house together,

but unbeknown to me he'd actually got engaged

on the phone to a girl back in South Africa

and asked to borrow... he wanted to borrow money from me.

He said it was for the Inland Revenue, so I lent it to him,

but actually it was to buy her engagement ring back home.

-And that was that?

-That was that.

Well, that area is Carolyn's.

Along that corridor is everything to do with Carolyn,

which really is not fit to be seen.

This is one tidy area down here, that's all mine.

Explosion at the jumble sale look.

Carolyn has two bedrooms, two bathrooms.

Lucky, aren't I?

-Do you have to pay rent?

-Yes, aren't I lucky?

Did you think that Carolyn would be back,

or would you prefer that she was...

I would much prefer that she were off my hands.

CAROLYN LAUGHS

It would be nice for her to be settled somewhere.

I shan't always be here. What's she going to do then?

Take over the whole house, I presume.

Probably end up living under a bridge in a cardboard box,

but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

You begin to think that your judgement of people is slightly off.

That's what I thought. So I became a little bit distrustful then of men.

As far as relationships from now on,

I honestly don't think I'm interested.

I just would have trouble trusting, I think.

Someone's just sent me that from Germany to sign, actually.

That was a still from Octopussy, the film Octopussy

and that was taken in India at the Lake Palace.

Happy memories, you know. They were good times.

-When you look at it, does it feel like another time?

-Oh, yes.

-Absolutely. It feels like another person, actually.

-Really?

-Yes.

What part do you think your looks have ever played,

in kind of, how men have regarded you?

Maybe men have wanted to control me a little too much.

I think that could be it. Um...

Maybe they were afraid that I would meet someone else and go off,

therefore they were very controlling.

Maybe they were keeping their options open in case I did go off. Maybe.

My life now is very simple, which is the way I want it.

I house sit for people.

You know, I'm a gypsy, basically.

Hello! Hello!

-You're very welcome to come to use the pool.

-Yes, thanks.

So, I really enjoy that going from place to place.

And it is quite a responsibility.

And as far as the dogs are concerned,

Sultan with his back legs is a bit wobbly.

If I hadn't had those looks at that age,

I probably would've gone into working with horses, actually.

'I've reverted back to probably what I would have done anyway

'had I not done the Miss England, Miss UK thing.'

It's almost gone full circle and now, you know, I ride,

I look after people's horses and animals

and that's probably what I would've done anyway.

Do a bit of nudey sunbathing. Of course,

it's not so good now that mother's thinned this hedge

and the neighbours walk by, but I just keep very still.

Looking back and knowing what you can do in life anyway,

I wouldn't have rushed into the beauty contest thing,

I would have studied harder.

It might have made me want a bit more from life then, actually

and expect a bit more.

CONTINUOUS BUZZER

Miss UK definitely changed my life

because it gave me the freedom to have my own business,

which I had for 25 years.

It always gave me independence.

It's also been good for Danielle and Holly. They're both entrepreneurial.

It does reflect as an example for your children.

At the moment, we're living in Verbier, Switzerland,

and this is Craig, my husband, who was also my first boyfriend.

We've been together 32 years and married 25.

I'd totally given up. I was getting on with my normal life.

I was getting back into work. It did hurt, it hurt.

The only sort of thing I thought was that if she bought the business,

there'd probably be a chance that she wanted to come back to Grimsby

and maybe she wanted to come back and be with me.

There was the odd headline. "Della's Back With Her Fella..."

-I can't remember, there's a few.

-We've got all the clips.

I think Della's mother's got all the clips at home.

-But you must have felt pretty good.

-Yeah, felt great.

'Craig had his own business, I had my own business,

'so we both had our individual interests.

'That's sort of stayed with us through our whole marriage, really.'

'We've had success, we've had failure,

'but the business has given Della and I'

the sort of freedom to find ourselves out here in a ski resort.

She did that well. There's Mum!

Ooh, she's not far.

They asked me which type of men I preferred, whether I preferred

the South American men, and I said I preferred an Englishman.

'I didn't follow fame, I married the boy next door.

'And yeah, I wouldn't change anything for the world.'

He came out with me and my friends and there was about 12 of us.

I was like, "Oh, yeah, by the way, lads, Craig married Miss UK."

All the boys started clapping. Craig stood up, he was like, "Thank you."

-You did stand up.

-You did stand up.

-You did stand up and bow.

No, I didn't!

What's the secret to being in a long relationship like yours?

-Tolerance.

-Yeah.

Now, at this stage of my life, home is a flat in Berwick-upon-Tweed.

Beside the river, beside the sea.

My last house with Chas was beside the sea.

Now I like to think when I walk around, people don't know my past

or any of it, I'm just more incognito,

I'm just one of the crowd, you know.

-Men?

-No.

-Why's that?

It just hasn't happened, you know.

That "when the eyes meet across the room" thing,

does that still happen when you're nearly 60?

I don't know.

I like male company, I like men, but you know,

somebody would sort of have to enjoy my company,

but not...

..possess me, own me.

This is my Miss UK dress.

I can still get into it. Isn't that good?

What was it about the dress that you liked when you picked it?

It was pretty and frilly and swirly.

Girly, wasn't it? Yes.

Chocolate boxy. Pretty.

It suits a younger person to me.

I'm a bit too old for this style.

-Did you want to see the tiara?

-Yes.

The tiara is fantastic. Let me show you.

Isn't that beautiful?

They're presented with this and they will be Miss Liverpool 2012.

Yeah.

What happens as you get older?

Certainly you don't turn heads any more.

There's a certain time in a woman's life,

if she's been good-looking when she was younger, she becomes invisible.

I think people do have expectations.

If they haven't met me before, I can see their faces.

Like, "Where is she? Where is she?" "No, it's me!"

I personally don't want the attention.

I find it a little bit uncomfortable,

maybe because I still don't know how to handle it very well.

Maybe I never knew how to handle it.

I think that, for 51, I'm doing OK.

If you can keep the physical you in sync

with the way that you're thinking, that's great, that's nice.

I think times have changed for women.

It's really hard not to be bothered about your looks.

And you don't have confidence as a young person.

You have the looks, the beauty,

and you never ever appreciate it when you have it.

The thing about getting older

is we do hopefully get more relaxed and confident, yeah.

I'm going to be 60 this year

and the thought of it is freaking me out a bit.

What's this one?

I don't feel my age, no, I still feel exactly the same.

Which is a problem sometimes.

I tend to wear clothes like my daughter

and then look at myself and think, God.

He calls Mum "Mum". Because I call her "Mum".

And I'm not disciplined enough to say Granny all the time, or Carrie all the time.

-I don't want to be Granny.

-You don't want to be Granny!

-I don't feel like I'm Granny.

-You don't look like a granny.

Some women say as you get older, you just become invisible.

-Have you experienced that?

-No.

No. No woman wants to be invisible. Surely not.

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