Continuing commemorating Black History Month UK . Member Andrew Glave takes a trip down memory lane of some great and maybe forgotten Black and British historic figures of the last century.
When Jennifer Hosten first arrived in the U.K. from Grenada for the 1970 Miss World contest, she had no idea there would be such a media frenzy around the competition – and its participants. She quickly realized that she would have to do the best she could to stand out.
But Hosten not only stood out – she went on to take home the top honours, becoming the first Black woman to win the international beauty pageant since it was established in 1951. But that wasn’t the only thing that made the 1970 competition, which took place in London’s Royal Albert Hall, different from years past. It also featured two contestants from South Africa at the height of apartheid: Pearl Janssen, a Black woman who came in second in the competition behind Hosten, and Jillian Jessup, a White woman. And it was disrupted on the night of the competition by British women’s liberation protesters. Women from small countries, and particularly women of colour really were not expected to be more than a number in the contest.
The night of the competition saw the women’s liberation protesters sneak into the venue incognito, with flour, vegetables and flyers in their handbags, ready to launch the protest when all the Miss World contestants were on-stage. These women’s intention was to criticize the contest organizers, not the contestants, and that staging the protest that way would have maximum impact on the night. Yet the protesters became infuriated when host Bob Hope started telling misogynistic jokes, and they decided to launch the protest early while Hope was doing his bit, putting a pause to the proceedings for about 15 minutes.
More controversy then followed after the result was announced. The BBC and newspapers received numerous protests about the result and accusations of racism were made by all sides. Four of the nine judges had given first-place votes to Miss Sweden, while Miss Grenada received only two firsts while receiving the most overall points. Furthermore, the Prime Minister of Grenada, Sir Eric Gairy, was on the judging panel. Although there were judges from several other countries which also took part in the contest, there were many accusations that the contest had been rigged. Some of the audience gathered in the street outside Royal Albert Hall after the contest and chanted “Swe-den, Swe-den”. Four days later the organising director, Julia Morley, resigned because of the intense pressure from the newspapers. Years later Miss Sweden, Marjorie Christel Johansson, was reported as saying that she had been cheated out of the title.
Hosten joined Bob Hope on his annual tour to U.S. forces overseas and made numerous other personal appearances all over the world with quiet dignity despite the controversy surrounding her victory. These days she is a proud mother to two, and grandmother to five grandchildren. She works as a Grenadian radio announcer, development worker, diplomat and author. Hosten released her memoir’s titled “Miss World 1970: How I Entered a Pageant and Wound Up Making History”, which was launched in the UK on March 10, 2020 and is available on Amazon. Hosten’s life was made into a film, Misbehaviour, a 2020 British comedy-drama film directed by Philippa Lowthorpe.
‘Britain’s first black female superstar’
Before Shirley Bassey there was Evelyn Dove, a huge star in the 1920s and ‘30s, who helped create a glamorous new image for Black women.
One of the true pioneers of the booming cabaret age of the 1920s, Evelyn thrilled audiences around the world and her exquisite stage costumes helped to make her one of the most glamorous women of her time. In 1936, amidst a frenzy of public interest, she became the first black British singer to try and conquer America. She headlined a cabaret show at New York’s popular Connie’s Inn. At the time the venue rivalled the Cotton Club as a showcase for the best in black talent.
Evelyn educated privately until she studied singing, piano and elocution at the Royal Academy of Music. As a trained contralto in the early 1920s she hoped for a career on the concert platform, but this was almost impossible in Britain for a black singer at that time. Evelyn worked in London cabaret shows instead and the all-black cast jazz revues that toured Britain and eventually took her to Europe where she was a sensation.
She spent several years in Italy where she proved to be enormously popular with audiences and in 1932 travelled to Paris to replace the legendary Josephine Baker as the star attraction of the Casino de Paris. For the revue, Evelyn wore Josephine’s flimsy, revealing costume. Consequently, the prim and proper middle-class English girl scandalized her family by appearing semi-naked on stage in Paris and it was said that her respectable and strait-laced West African father disowned her. AS WWII approached she returned to Britain where she enjoyed the same appeal as the ‘Forces Sweetheart’, Vera Lynn. The BBC employed Evelyn all through the war, and she proved to be one of radio’s most popular singers, appearing in a wide range of music and variety programs.
Over there
In the 1920s and 1930s many African American expatriates settled in Europe including Josephine Baker, Adelaide Hall and Elisabeth Welch. They captivated audiences with their songs, beauty, elegance and style. But Evelyn stood alone as a black Briton who joined these trailblazers. They were women who created a glamorous new image for black women in show business, far removed from the bandanna-wearing mammy.
Evelyn Dove was a trailblazer who was ahead of her time, forging new barriers and facing up to her own personal struggles with determination and defiance. Her spirit remains alive in all of us.
