THE Miss England beauty contest took place in London this week and Miss Southampton Kylie Perry carried the hopes of the city with her. Kate Thompson went along to soak up the atmosphere and discover why these pageants are as popular as ever.

IT MAY be 20 odd years since the last beauty contest was aired on mainstream TV, but that doesn't mean they have died a death.

Far from it, as Thursday night's spectacular at the old Hammersmith Palais in London proved.

In time-honoured fashion there was the team of judges that included Alex Best - George was nowhere to be seen - ex-EastEnders star Dean Gaffney - who was plugging his forthcoming pantomime appearance - comedian Richard Blackwood and bandana wearing Simon from boyband Blue.

But this year for the first time, contestants had been encouraged to prove their home support by getting the public to vote by text or online.

Organiser Angie Beasley said they had been overwhelmed by the response.

"Every day since we opened up the website we have received half a million visitors," she said - and on the day of the final she reckoned 1,500,000 people had been to the site to view the girls.

Unlike past years, there was no swimwear section. Instead the girls were asked to wear sports kit - and the skimpier the better seemed to be the order of the day.

The girls were expected to follow pretty complicated choreographed dance and exercise sequences - and one by one they came forward to perform back flips, twirls and even the splits.

Supporters had travelled from all over the country to cheer on the 44 girls who were all hopeful of winning the top prize and a place in the Miss World competition.

Southampton's hopes rested on Kylie Perry, the 19-year-old who got into modelling by accident when her father wanted to write an article on the subject.

Her good looks caught the eye of the judges when the call went out to find a Miss Southampton - and, hey presto!, Kylie found herself strutting and smiling with the best of them.

The world is a very different place from the early 70s when even the heats of the Miss England competition were televised.

Girls in swimsuits displaying acres of white, goose pimply flesh shivering in the blustery weather that was a summer's day in Scarborough can still be recalled.

The only TV cameras at this week's event were from the local Oxford station but Angie is hopeful that BBC or ITV may be interested in screening the final again if they know about the huge numbers who have voted this year.

"We are hoping to get the figures verified to let them have a look," she said. "Miss England is as popular as ever and it would be good to see it back on TV."

While critics may say it is demeaning for women to parade themselves like this and be voted for on their looks, the girls taking part just seemed to be having a pretty good time.

Kylie, who got through to the semi-finals by securing a place in the last 15, had this to say: "I have enjoyed it. It was a great experience and a lot harder work than I expected."