26 JUNE 2002
Former Big Breakfast presenter Kelly Brook is the sexiest British woman of the past half a century, eclipsing the likes of Elizabeth Taylor, Joan Collins and Julie Christie, according to a men’s lifestyle magazine poll.

Twenty-two-year-old Kelly, who started out as a Wonderbra model, topped the poll of 15,000 Maxim readers, beating Liz Hurley into second place and S Club 7’s Rachel Stevens into third. Others who made it into the top ten included Brookside’s Jennifer Ellison, actress Catherine Zeta-Jones who tied in sixth place with singer Louise Rednap, and model Jordan.

Seasoned stars of the Fifties and Sixties emerged lower on the list, but this could have been due to the fact that the average age of the voters was 29. Dynasty star Joan Collins came in at number 40 while the late Princess Margaret was voted into 46th place.

The magazine’s executive editor, Michael Hodges, said: “We were celebrating the fact that the English have some of the sexiest women in the world. It’s good that our readers voted not only for the beautiful women of today, but also the classic beauties of the past.”