Entertainer Bruce Forsyth led tributes yesterday to impresario Eric Morley, creator of the global spectacle, Miss World, who has died at the age of 82. Formerly head of the entertainment giant Mecca, Mr Morley died at the Princess Grace Hospital in west London after a heart attack. A Dunkirk veteran, Mr Morley built up Mecca into a huge empire after starting with the company as a publicist, following service in the British army during the second World War.
He came up with the idea of the Miss World beauty contest as a stunt to promote one of his theatres in 1951, tying in with the Festival of Britain. It went on to become an annual event. He is also credited with creating the TV phenomenon Come Dancing.
Miss World was watched by more than 18 million at its peak in the 1970s and early 1980s, but fell from favour as attitudes changed. It left terrestrial TV screens in the 1980s but Channel 5 revived it as a TV event in recent years.