Almost 112 beauties from all over the world compete to win the coveted Miss World 2008 title today. Here’s a look at the venue and this history of the popular pageant...

A look at the venue

The 58th Miss World competition will be held at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg, South Africa, on December 13. It's for the 6th time that this gala event is happening in South Africa. The pageant took place at Sun City from 1992 to 1995 as well as in 2001. The world's beauties will descend on Johannesburg for four weeks and visit many South African landmarks before China's Zhang Zilin hands over her crown to her successor.

Judges will determine which contestant has the winning combination of beauty, glamour, poise and intelligence - all the ingredients needed to be crowned Miss World.

History of the contest

1950s

The pageant was introduced in the year 1951. The first Miss World, Sweden's Kiki Haakonson, was the first and last winner to be actually crowned in a two-piece swimsuit. During the first decade of the pageant's success, the outfits of contestants continued to raise eyebrows and grab headlines.

1960s

In 1966, India enjoyed its first success and Reita Feria proved to be a popular winner. The decade finished with Sweden's Eva Ruber Staier winning the title.

1970s

In the 1970 Miss World, two black women - Jennifer Hosten of Grenada and Pearl Jansen of Africa South - claimed first and second place, something that had never happened before at a major international pageant.

Despite feminist protests, Miss World was achieving monumental television audiences throughout the 1960s and 1970s. In the UK, Miss World 1970 was the single most-watched show of the entire year. Wilnelia Merced (Miss Puerto Rico) won the 1975 competition. By 1979 the show was topping 500 million viewers world-wide.

1980s

In 1980, major changes in the Miss World judging process were implemented. For the first time personality and intelligence came into the evaluation and vital statistics were no longer deemed vital.

1990s

The one and only time that Miss World was held in the United States was in 1991 and it was there, in Atlanta, Georgia, that Ninibeth Leal won her crown, before becoming one of Venezuela's most successful models.

The years 1992 to 1995 marked a particularly successful period for the Miss World contest as the finals moved to Sun City, South Africa and viewer figures increased from 1.2 billion to 1.8 billion.

In 1994, Aishwarya Rai became the second Indian winner after a 28 years gap, her win marking the start of a golden age for Indian contestants who took the crown in four out of the next seven years. The show's first visit to the Indian continent came in 1996 when over 40,000 people turned out to watch the show at Bangalore's cricket stadium.

The start of a new century

Miss World reached its half-century in the year 2000 and the contest returned to London, to the Millennium Dome, for the 50th anniversary show. Massive television audiences of 2.3 billion witnessed India retain the Miss World crown.

The 2007 contest took place in the Crown of Beauty Theatre, Sanya, in the People's Republic of China. Model Zhang Zilin became Miss World 2007. Zhang was born in 1984, more than thirty years after the start of the Miss World pageant.