- Wordplay part four - 3rd December 2024
- Terms of endearment (Wordplay part three) - 2nd December 2024
- More ‘Water, water everywhere…’ (Copyright ST Coleridge) part two - 23rd November 2024
During 23 years with The BBC, and a 41 year journalistic career (when he was trained to use clear and simple language, avoiding jargon), for our Editor, Welshman Phil Parry spotting key trends was fundamental, and now this is underlined by media celebration of a woman from Wales winning a beauty contest – yet these events went out of fashion YEARS ago after protests by women’s rights organisations.
Time moves on, but some in the media don’t seem to be aware of it.
Under the headline “First Welsh-born winner of Ms Great Britain title crowned”, WalesOnline (WO) declared: “A Cardiff woman has been named this year’s Ms Great Britain. Emma Powell, 31, has made history after becoming the first Welsh-born winner to claim the title“.
The website went on to proclaim; “Ms Powell is an academic who holds a degree in international business, a graduate diploma in law and a masters in HR from Cardiff University (organisers like to stress the intellectual qualities of contestants). Emma also campaigns to raise awareness about speech and language processing disorders following her son Leo’s diagnosis in 2023″ (it used to be world peace!).
This victory by Ms Powell was also reported for readers in other sections of the media.
However the sexist competition has not been on television for decades, and feminist protests that this was an outdated degrading portrayal of women ensured the whole business is frowned on today.
At the 1970 Miss World contest, flour and old vegetables were hurled at the host, Bob Hope.
In 1984, the then controller of BBC1 Michael Grade, announced that the 1985 contest would be the last shown by the corporation.
Mr Grade stated that it “no longer merits national air time. They are an anachronism in this day and age of equality and verging on the offensive”.
More recently (in 2020) the campaigners’ activities were turned into a hit film called ‘Misbehaviour’.
The film, directed by Philippa Lowthorpe (the first woman to win a Bafta for directing), followed the events leading up to the 1970 Miss World final at the Royal Albert Hall.
Never mind, let’s celebrate being stuck in the 70s, because as WO tells us: “According to organisers The Miss Great Britain competition has seen a huge surge in applicants in 2024”.
The memories of Phil’s extraordinary decades long award-winning career in journalism (during which ‘beauty contests’ fell from favour) as he was gripped by the rare neurological disabling condition Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia (HSP), have been released in a major book ‘A Good Story’. Order it now.
Tomorrow – how during that career (when he was trained to use clear and simple language, avoiding jargon), for Phil, empty threats of legal action as well as extraordinary abuse were commonplace, and it continues to this day.
