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Social history

Miss Secretary of Great Britain 1965

Material from a file belonging to Cynthia Williams about her entry into the Miss Secretary of Great Britain 1965 competition. I don’t know how many years this competition ran for as I can find nothing about it on the internet.

This is Cynthia arriving for the competition.

And this is Cynthia photographed for the competition.

In contrast this is clearly an amateur photo of Cynthia and her cat. Much more charming I think.

Another photo presumably from a family album.

And a candid snap which was also in the file.

As well as the photos there are pages of correspondence about the competition, good luck cards, accommodation details and so on.

This newspaper clipping confirms Cynthia was a runner-up in the competition and won a £50 prize, well worth having in the mid 60s. Note her street address was given – not something we’d expect to see today.

How many other files exist in attics documenting the ordinary and extraordinary exploits of everyday people? When they surface they are much more interesting than the lives of modern “celebrities.”