Pearl Gladys Jansen (sometimes spelled Janssen, born 1950 in
Bonteheuwel
Bonteheuwel is a former Coloured township in Cape Town in the Western Cape province of South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of So ...
) is a South African singer and beauty pageant titleholder who was first runner-up in the
Miss World
Miss World is the oldest existing international beauty pageant. It was created in the United Kingdom by Eric Morley in 1951. Since his death in 2000, Morley's widow, Julia Morley, has co-chaired the pageant. Along with Miss Universe, Mi ...
beauty contest in the UK in 1970. She was the first
coloured
Coloureds () are multiracial people in South Africa, Namibia and, to a smaller extent, Zimbabwe and Zambia. Their ancestry descends from the interracial mixing that occurred between Europeans, Africans and Asians. Interracial mixing in South ...
woman to represent her country at this level. She competed as "Miss Africa South" due to
apartheid
Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...
.
Biography
Jansen was 20 when she entered the 1970 beauty contest. She has stated that after the contest nothing changed for her because of
apartheid
Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...
.
At age 58, she fulfilled her dream of becoming a singer.
1970 Miss World contest
The
1970 contest was held in
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
,
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
. It began with a row because the organisers had allowed two entries from
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...
, one black, Pearl Jansen, and one white, Jillian Jessup.
Then during the evening
women's liberation
The women's liberation movement (WLM) was a political alignment of women and feminism, feminist intellectualism. It emerged in the late 1960s and continued till the 1980s, primarily in the industrialized nations of the Western world, which resu ...
activists staged a protest and threw flour.
The comedian
Bob Hope
Leslie Townes "Bob" Hope (May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003) was an American comedian, actor, entertainer and producer with a career that spanned nearly 80 years and achievements in vaudeville, network radio, television, and USO Tours. He appeared ...
was also heckled.
Jennifer Hosten,
Miss Grenada, won, becoming the first black woman to win Miss World, and Pearl Jansen placed second.
Legacy
In the 2020 British comedy drama
''Misbehaviour'' about the 1970 Miss World pageant, the actress Loreece Harrison portrays Jansen with a strong Afrikaans accent, which substantially differs from Jansen's own
Cape
A cape is a clothing accessory or a sleeveless outer garment of any length that hangs loosely and connects either at the neck or shoulders. They usually cover the back, shoulders, and arms. They come in a variety of styles and have been used th ...
accent.
[
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ify8rZk91kI]
References
Further reading
*
Jennifer Hosten, ''Miss World 1970: The Craziest Pageant in History and the Rest of My Life'', Sutherland House Incorporated, 2020
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jansen, Pearl
Living people
Miss World 1970 delegates
1950 births
People from Cape Town
20th-century South African women singers
Cape Coloureds