Poulton-le-Fylde beauty queen Carole Redhead who was crowned Miss Great Britain dies

Carole Redhead, later Carole Boler, passed away in London where she lived following a battle with lung cancer. She was 79.

Carole took Blackpool by storm in 1964 when she won the coveted Miss Great Britain trophy at the age of 21, beating 37 other finalists at the Super Swimming Stadium in Morecambe. Her prizes included a cheque for £1,000, a trip to Australia, and a diamond watch.

Before her Miss Great Britain success, she won many titles including Miss Fleetwood, Blackpool Jazz Queen, Miss Blackpool Rugby Club and Miss Jubilee Stout.

In her early days, Carole studied dress design at Blackpool Technical College and she once told The Gazette that she had realised her main ambition by taking the GB title .

She explained how she was due to parade at the Miss Blackpool and Miss United Kingdom contests shortly after winning the Miss GB title but as she wept with joy after winning the national prize, she said: “I don’t care about those any more - to be Miss Great Britain was my main ambition.”

As for the prize money, she said: “I would like a car - even though I can’t drive!”

Her routine immediately after the win was exhausting, touring ballrooms across the country and attending events. Before her three-week trip Down Under, Carole was treated to a civic reception at Poulton Town Hall.

Other accolades included a brief breakthrough into the acting world on Britain’s favourite TV show in the 1970s when she played a girl going out with Elise Tanner’s husband in Coronation Street.

Carole eventually moved from her home town of Poulton-le-Fylde down to London, married and brought up two daughters.

More recently, she attended the 70th anniversary party of Miss Great Britain in Leicester, and was a guest at the grand final.

In her later years she turned her hand to fiction writing and wrote the novel Miss Great Kitten about a cat who dreamed of being a beauty queen and successfully beat the bullies to do so.

Although she made her home in the capital, friend Sally Ann-Fawcett told how she would often visit relatives in Lancashire.