POOLE’S Ann Sidney has been recalling the day 50 years ago when millions across the globe tuned in to see her crowned Miss World.

In just a few months, she had gone from being a hairdresser from Parkstone to being one of the most photographed figures on the planet.

Ann, now living in London after years in California, will be back in her home town on Friday, November 21, for a wine tasting at the Haven Hotel in aid of the Friends of Poole Park Heritage Lottery Fund.

In an interview for the Daily Echo – to be published in our Echoes nostalgia section on Tuesday, November 18 – she recalls arriving on the train when her parents moved to the town as a child.

“The first sighting for me was when I was about five years old. Poole Park was my first view and I was thinking this was absolutely fantastic,” she said.

She lived at Kent Road, near Branksome Rec, and studied at Martin Road School and Kemp-Welch School, leaving at 15 to be an apprentice hairdresser.

“Leaving school at 15, what do you know? I was very creative and as far as hairdressing was concerned, it would have been a good career for me but it wasn’t what I wanted,” she recalled.

After struggling to break into modelling, she took a train to Blackpool and began entering every beauty competition she could. Within four months, she was through to the finals of Miss United Kingdom.

In November 1964, it seemed the whole town was tuning in to the Miss World contest from London.

The Echo reported at the time how “pandemonium” broke out at her parents’ home when she was crowned.

Days later, Ann returned to a tumultuous welcome at Poole’s railway station.

“It was phenomenal coming back,” she said.

  • Places at the wine tasting on November 21 cost £15. Call 01202 709228 or 07590 077108.