A regional daily journalist is set to enter a beauty pageant after being recruited while covering auditions for the contest.
Grimsby Telegraph reporter Laura Gooderham was spotted by Millie Margetts, the current holder of the Miss Great Grimsby & District crown, while interviewing contestants.
Millie felt compelled to make the surprise proposition to Laura, 24, who was at first put off by the idea of entering.
However, she was eventually convinced and will now compete against 16 others for the 2017 title, which serves as a qualifying heat for the Miss England competition.
Laura, left, with current Miss Great Grimsby & District Millie Margetts
Said Laura: “I’m not a very confident person. I never really have been. So I’m hoping to build on that and come out of it a bit of a different person.
“When you look in magazines there’s a way girls are meant to look. Going to the auditions I saw so many different kinds of girls and I think, when you see that, you see pageants aren’t just about being tall or being size zero.”
She added: “I’ve never had my make-up done except for Halloween. There’s that girly side to it which I’ve never really done.
“I’m really looking forward to meeting the girls as well. I’ve had the same group of friends since school, except for uni, so it’ll be really nice to meet new people. Sometimes you think you know everyone and you don’t.”
Millie told the Telegraph: “Laura was taking pictures and interviewing people and, when she was sat in the corner of the room, I thought ‘why aren’t you doing it?’
“So I went up to her and asked her. She was really put off at first as it was out of her comfort zone but I do think she’ll be a really good finalist.”
She added: “It’s not about getting plastered in make-up, it’s about showing who you really are. She’s a really nice girl so she’ll do fine and definitely enjoy it.”
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Back in the 1970s, I was given the job of covering the local carnival queen competition and took my then girlfriend along for an evening out (a rare perk considering how poorly paid I was as a junior reporter).
The number of contestants fell a few short of the dozen that the organisers had hoped to attract, so they invited entries on the night. Egged on a local “personality”, who was one of the judge’s, my girlfriend – who worked in the telesales department at my paper – reluctantly agreed to take part.
To cut a long story short, she was voted as one of the carnival princesses. Not only that, she pretty soon dumped me and started dating the local (married) garage owner, who drove the carnival court’s limo at various events over the summer!
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I sincerely hope that Laura does gain some confidence from this experience, as she herself points out. But I do feel this sort of story belongs in the same 70s period that Markmac157 is referring to. I’ve never seen the equivalent story of a male reporter being invited to enter his local Mr Universe heat!
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I had a chance with Miss Folkestone in the 1980s….
But I never took her up on it. And now that ship has sailed.
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