They may be one of Britain's most successful exports and among the world's most popularTV shows， ranking alongside the World Cup Final and the Olympics Games opening ceremonyin terms of audience. But， in Britain， beauty competitions are unfashionable. To mostpeople， beauty contests seems as out-dated as bowing. Nicolas Baker， a lawyer in London，said that "As much as I think it's fine for women to do .it， I don't think it's interesting and infact， I think they're irrelevant to today， last year， Miss World was broadcast to 142countries， but it wasn't even shown in the country where it started in 1951.
It wasn't always this way in Britain. Once beauty queens dated footballers， traveled the world and were guaranteed fame， fortune and fun. Now， they open new supermarkets， are sponsored by dry-cleaning companies and if they're lucky， they get free clothes form supermarkets.
When Francesca merchant was crowned Miss Sussex in 1969 it was something to beextremely proud of "I came from a small town， and all my friends were green with envy when they found out I'd won". My boyfriend at the time thought it was terrific and boasted to everyone that be was going out with a beauty queen.
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