Her Grandma was Miss Singapore in 1960

As I was researching about macarons, I stumbled upon gold. A beautiful post by Aliya, a Singapore girl in Perth who writes about her grandma winning the Miss Singapore crown in 1960. The title was Miss Singapore City 1960.

The women truly had hour glass figures then and they were so elegant. Aliya reveals that her 19 year old grandma was married and that her mum was already a 4 month old infant then. It’s a must read, fascinating post with lovely old black and white photographs:

My Grandma: Miss Singapore 1960

and her follow-up post which answers questions about her Grandma.

I loved that a pillow was one of the prizes. When I was a child in the 70’s the brand Dunlopillo was very expensive and exclusive, so that was no small prize. I slept on a Dunlopillo rubber mattress till it got all lumpy, but it was so soft and comfy to me.

About bookjunkie

Blogging about life in Singapore & recently cancer too.
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18 Responses to Her Grandma was Miss Singapore in 1960

  1. Aliya says:

    Thank you for your lovely comment!! It’s so nice of you to feature my posts!

    If you have the time, have a peak at an older post I did on my great-grandfather who started Qureshi’s Carpets in Singapore in the early 40s! The posts I’ve done are just the tip of the iceberg; lots more to come – grandma’s dad was the commander of the Royal Malayan Navy, our family’s friendship with the late Bollywood screen legend Raj Kapoor, celebrity and royal wedding invitations and telegrams, newspaper articles, etc.
    And that’s just my mum’s side!
    My dad’s related to George Benard Shaw!!

    I must admit, my family is pretty darn cool!

    x Aliya
    Your newest reader

    • bookjunkie says:

      Really felt that many people would love reading your blog like I did.

      Wow that’s so awesome Aliya – super interesting. Am gonna check those out as well. I can’t wait for all those future posts 🙂

      So glad you came by too, and I happen to love Perth as well.

  2. whatsaysyou says:

    I checked out Aliya’s post thanks to you and it is very interesting. By the way, I find the 1960s interesting due to my maternal grandmother.

  3. Mija says:

    I do a lot of research for a living and came across your blog. Then I remember researching the history of Singapore years ago and here is an interesting fact you should know. Your grandmother was not the Miss Singapore of 1960. The Miss Singapore of 1960 was Christl D’Cruz who became a semi-finalist in the Miss International pageant of 1960. You have to been the Miss Singapore to enter this pageant. Plus all the archived articles in Singapore show Christl D’Cruz as the Miss Singapore of 1960. Your grandmother as Miss Singapore “City”, which is not THE Miss Singapore. Just thought you should know before the families of the real Miss Singapore of 19690 finds your blog. Here is an article about Miss International pageant from August 1960 that shows Christl D’Cruz as a semi-finalist as Miss Singapore. You can also check wikipedia-Miss International 1960 where it has Christl D’Cruz as Miss Singapore.

    ANOTHER CROWN IN THE COSMOS

    MISS INTERNATIONAL 1960

    PART TWO

    Round Three – August 11, 1960

    On the final night of preliminary judging, Miss Greece through Miss Paraguay competed in evening gown; Miss Peru through Miss Venezuela competed in playsuit; and Miss Argentina through Miss Germany competed in national costume and speech. The divisional winners? Miss Norway, Lise Hammer, recovering from an infected foot, won the evening gown division. Miss U.S.A., Charlene Lundberg won the playsuit division; and Miss Ceylon, Yvonne Eileen Gunawardene, won the national costume and speech division.

    One final preliminary award was given out this day, as well. It was the Miss Friendship Award, won by Miss British Guiana, Julia Ann Adamson.

    After all these awards, and an entertaining “divertissement,” emcee Byron Palmer announced the 15 semifinalists, based on their total points received in each round of preliminary competition.

    The semifinalists were, in alphabetical order by country:

    1. AUSTRIA – Elizabeth Hodacs
    2. COLOMBIA – Maria Stella Márquez Zawadzky
    3. ENGLAND – Joyce Kay
    4. GERMANY – Helga Kirsch
    5. ICELAND – Sigridur Geirsdottir
    6. INDIA – Iona Pinto
    7. ISRAEL – Lili Dajani
    8. ITALY – Maria Grazia Jacomelli
    9. JAPAN – Michiko Takagi
    10. PARAGUAY – Gretel Hedger Carvallo
    11. PHILIPPINES – Edita Resurreccion Vital
    12. POLAND – Marzena Malinowska
    13. SINGAPORE – Christl D’Cruz
    14. U.S.A. – Charlene Lundberg
    15. VENEZUELA – Gladys (Laly) Ascanio Arredondo

    • aliya says:

      Hi there! My grandfather (when he was still around) did make mention of the Miss International pageant to me and as far as I know, its a different pageant altogether from the Miss Universe pageant. I was also informed by both him and my grandma that Singapore did not send a representative to compete in the 1960 Miss Universe pageant. I don’t know, I just don’t see why my grandparents would lie to me about something like this… I’m just re-telling what I was told while growing up, so yeah… 🙂

      • Nick Constantino says:

        Hello Aliya… My name is Nick Constantino and I am the only child of Christl D’Cruz and i did also grow up in Singapore since 1963 for near 20+ years. She was the Miss Singapore 1960 and your grandma was the Miss Singapore CITY as Mija stated above. The Miss World International contest, as i understand history… became the Miss Universe Pageant. Glad we got this cleared up. Cheers… My Mum was also the First Miss Singapore – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miss_Singapore_International

    • Nick Constantino says:

      ThanX Mija for helping with clarifying the difference between my Mum – Christl D’Cruz and Aliya’s GrandMa.

  4. Mija says:

    oops, typing too fast….it’s 1960 not 19690.

  5. Mija says:

    I must say, your grandmother was very beautiful!!!

  6. RJ says:

    Hi, i am doing a SG50 show, possible to give me a call? or leave me msg of ur contact. I would like to know more about Mdm Christl D’Cru

    • bookjunkie says:

      I don’t know her Radha…perhaps you could contact her directly? That is, her grand-daughter..through her blog?

      Wishing you luck for the show.

    • Nick Constantino says:

      Apologies RJ for not having followed this in time. My mum would have been honoured if u wrote about her. If there is anything I can do to help with content in the future plz do not hesitate to contact me directly. I am Christl D’Cruz’s only child. Nick001Constantino@Gmail.Com

  7. Andrew Parkin says:

    I visited Singapore on a shoestring in August 1961, aged 20, and was camping out on Changi beach when a little Fiat car with an open roof drew up. The girl inside stood up with her head through the roof and said “Hello, I’m Miss Singapore 1960. Would you like me to show you the city?”

    I remember she was pretty and that she gave me a tour of the city in her Fiat, but I don’t remember her name.

  8. Joshua Woods says:

    I’m the step son of Christl D’Cruz. Would love to answer any questions if I can.

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