Eric Morley
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Eric Douglas Morley (28 November 1918 – 9 November 2000) was born in Holborn, London, England. He was the founder of the Miss World pageant. He was married to now headchief of the pageant Julia Morley.
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[edit] Life and career
Morley's father died when Morley was just 11. He was orphaned when his mother and stepfather died of Tuberculosis. He attended Whitstable Grammar School in Kent. London County Council sent him to the Royal Navy Training Ship 'Exmouth' which was moored at Grays. Here, he broke bars of chocolate to sell to his peers. He joined the Royal Fusiliers at 14 and he played french horn in the band. He reached the rank of Captain. During the war he became a captain in the Royal Army Service Corps, organising entertainment for the troops and fighting in Dunkirk.
He met and in 1960, married Julia Morley.
Morley started his career in the entertainment business in 1946 following his demob and he joined the Mecca organisation as head of publicity. In 1952 he was general manager of dancing, and was made a director in 1953. With Mecca, Morley helped to populise bingo which was played at Mecca venues throughout the United Kingdom. He changed the company from a small catering and dancing firm into a leading entertainment and catering company in the UK. It employed 15,000 people and covered dance halls, catering, bingo, gambling, ice-skating rinks, bowling alleys, discos and several restaurants. The company also provided catering and entertainment services for several of the biggest football clubs in London; Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur.
In 1978 he left Mecca after a disagreement with the then parent company, Grand Metropolitan.
He then became chairman of the ailing brewery Bellhaven company in Scotland.
[edit] Politics
Morley also had political ambition. In the 1979 general election, he slashed the Labour Party 7,500 majority of Sam Silkin to a mere 122 in his seat in Dulwich, south London.
Following his defeat, he remarked, "Unlike Sam Silkin, I didn't go to Dulwich College and to Cambridge. I went to the college of hard knocks, and last week I received my doctorate."
He was a confirmed supporter of Margaret Thatcher.
[edit] Miss World
Miss World was started in 1951 as a promotional tool for Mecca: in the beginning it was held in Mecca halls. The first competition tied in with the Festival of Britain. The competition was watched by 20 million in Britain at its peak in the 1970s and 1980s. In 1970, flour bombs were thrown at the compere, Bob Hope, by protestors. Morley answered his critics saying, "If it is shameful to women, then the best thing they can do is turn it off". The competition raised millions of pounds for charity.
In 1968, his wife, Julia Morley, took over the day to day running of Miss World and, following Morley's death in 2000, took over the job as chairman of the pageant.
Eric Morley also started the Come Dancing programme in 1948.
At the age of 63, Morley completed the London Marathon despite a damaged hamstring, and supported both the Variety Club of Great Britain and Variety Clubs International, the latter as president in 1978.
He died on 9 November 2000, in the Princess Grace Hospital, West London. He had suffered a heart attack.
[edit] External links
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