Eric Morley

Eric Douglas Morley (26 September 1918 – 9 November 2000) was a British TV host and the founder of the Miss World pageant and Come Dancing TV programme. His widow, Julia Morley, is now head of the pageant and his son Steve Douglas is one of its presenters.

Morley was born in Holborn, London, England. He claimed that his father "was at Oxford and spoke nine languages" but he died young, and he was orphaned age 11 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 HMS 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 played french horn in the band. During the war he became a captain in the Royal Army Service Corps, organising entertainment for the troops and fighting in Dunkirk.

Morley started his career in the entertainment business in 1945 when he resigned his commission to managing a travelling show in Scotland, and then, in 1946, joined the Mecca organisation as a publicity manager. In 1949, he was able to introduce ballroom dancing onto BBC television through the Come Dancing programme, encouraging viewers to visit Mecca's dance halls.

In 1952, he was Mecca's 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.

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