I’ll Make You Miss World

Plot

Sarah Taylor hardly seems Miss World material. She is tomboyish, tough, slovenly, does not care for her appearance or charm, hates makeup, works as a mechanic, and thinks the idea of becoming Miss World is ludicrous. Nonetheless, Sarah’s sister Alice is convinced that she does have what it takes to become Miss World and sets out to her into a beauty queen. But the problems Alice has to surmount with Sarah are not making the road to the Miss World title easy.

miss-world

Notes

  • Art: Mike White

Appeared

  • I’ll Make You Miss World – Bunty: #402 (25 September 1965) – #420 (29 January 1966)
    Reprinted: #823 (20 October 1973) – #841 (23 February 1974)

23 thoughts on “I’ll Make You Miss World

  1. I followed this story so closely that I have never forgotten it!! I loved my bunty each week and used to carefully cut out the dress up doll and clothes each week . Girls today do not know what they are missing!

    1. Yes, girls today don’t know what they’re missing. All those titles have vanished and nothing is around to replace them. What’s on the shelves now for girls is crap. Gee, what happened to those good old days? Can anything be revived or a new title launched in today’s market?

  2. I am not so sure about the cutout dolls now because they ruined a lot of Bunty back covers, which collectors wouldn’t like.

    1. They certainly did. Although it was disappointing to have to buy such damaged issues, over the years I replaced what I could. During the next few weeks I’ll discover how many issues with a destroyed rear cover I still have. I’ll try to remember to report back.

      The accurate details you need, Briony, are :-
      402 (25 September 1965) – 420 (29 January 1966)
      823 (20 October 1973) – 841 (23 February 1974)

  3. This story was a huge hit both times it was printed. But those were the days when Miss World contests were really big. Would the story still be popular today or would it be considered a bit dated and un-PC?

    1. It may need some updating if it was printed today, but could still be of interest. Before the cinemas shut down, I was going to see Misbehaviour (film about the 1970 Miss World Competition), I was disappointed had to postpone!

      1. It should be of interest to you, Lorraine, that you can get a DVD of ‘Misbehaviour’ cheaply on eBay. There are two or three around the £5 mark but for a few £s more you can get new ones. Indulge yourself!!! I bought one five minutes ago.

        1. I should pick up a copy , will just have to find a time to watch it! It’ll make a change from what films my daughter chooses to watch all the time! Although I do enjoy a disney movie, she does tend to watch the same film a lot! Recently it has been “101 Dalmations”

          1. Has Ruby actually counted them all? In fact, are all of them ever on the screen at the same time? I’ve never seen the film so I wouldn’t know, but if I’d been making the film, I would probably have managed with a dozen or so, and just moved them all round pretty quickly!! I doubt whether she would have noticed the deceit.

    2. When I was still at school, there were bathing beauty competitions at outdoor swimming pools in holiday resorts at several coast towns in England. Being a northener, I only remember the competitions in Morecambe and Blackpool. both of which were also famous for their Illuminations, when the entire promenades and the piers would be festooned with thousands of coloured lights, with many lighting up shapes of people or animals, or both together, which, as they went on and off in a kind of choreographed process, seemed to be moving. Both towns also had a fairground, which did good very good business from spring to autumn. A lot of effort by many people produced some incredible designs, many of the best in my opinion being in Morecambe’s Happy Mount Park. The most famous local beauty of the time was Rosemary Frankland, who was actually Welsh but was living in Lancaster, where I was born. She came second in the Miss Universe competition in 1961, and later the same year became Miss World. This sudden fame that appeared to have gone to her head, became notoriety when she got embroiled with the comedian Bob Hope, who was old enough to be her grandfather, if memory serves. She was a very beautiful girl but clearly out of her depth. My brother once told me that in her younger days, when she was leading a normal working life, she had sold him a pack of underpants when she was working as a counter assistant in the Lancaster branch of Marks and Spencers. Nobody can know what the future holds, but I do wonder how her life would have unfolded if only she had been able to see into her future.

  4. I think the artist is Mike White, although the style is a touch darker and has more finish than his usual work for DCT. One of his most impressive pieces of work for Bunty I think, assuming it is him.

      1. It would be early Mike White if it is him. I understand his first work was done around 1963/64 for Micron (Schoolgirls’ Adventure Libraries), so this would probably be one of his first pieces for DCT.

        Personally speaking, I feel pretty certain that he did most of the characters – Alice and the supporting cast. I’m not sure about the heroine Sarah, who has a more rounded and “finished” look than is usual for his work at this time. Also, parts of the story look more heavily inked than was usual for him. If he was still a beginner for DCT, it may be that another artist did the main character Sarah and some of the more prominent detail, while he did the rest. Also possible I suppose that somebody else inked part/all of the story over his pencils.

        1. Come to think of it, Alice does look a bit like Mike White’s style. Sarah does not. Perhaps you are right and it is Mike White and another artist/inker.

  5. The Best of Bunty annuals said this story was a huge hit when it first appeared and again when it was reprinted. But it appeared during the heights of the beauty contests. I’ve been wondering if it would be so popular now. After due consideration, though Miss World might be a bit dated, I have decided it would be, as it has so much going for it. I myself would like to read the full story.

    1. I acquired most of this story in a recent batch of Buntys and have only just read it through. I agree that it’s a good story in its own right, and doesn’t depend on the Miss World connection for its effect. It doesn’t get particularly technical about beauty contests, and when you do get a bit about beauty techniques (like the raw egg facial) it’s often played for laughs. Although it follows the usual path of a “Wendy Must Win” type story about apparently impossible ambitions, the serial strikes me as being much more about the relationship between a chalk-and-cheese pair of sisters. Hence, by the end of the story, Sarah is going all out to win the contest for Alice’s sake, rather than for the much-coveted Rolls-Royce.

      I find by the way that I have all of the story apart from the first two episodes (823 & 824) and 830. Which parts are you missing? Happy to send scans of any episodes you don’t have.

      1. Thank you, Goof, I really appreciate your offer. The episodes I have are #832 and the one in Best of Bunty retro (the episode where Sarah gets her foot stuck in a drain).

      2. Morning, Goof. Just a quick message to let you know that when I found time late last night to check my BUNTY collection for 1973, I discovered that I do have issues 823, 824, and 830, and I am perfectly willing to scan and print off for you the episodes therein of ‘I’ll Make You Miss World’. If you email your address to me at derek.g.marsden@sky.com I will send them to you with the minimum of delay.

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