$ z! `. [ X* B9 I - ^+ X( F @7 A( [' y, pOxford girl with beauty and brains on verge of unique double firstBeauty contestants are not usually known for their great intellect or grasp of world affairs. 6 ]; @: H9 L/ ?, c) n: f
But Lois Day - the first Oxford University student to make the finals of the Miss Great Britain contest - is determined to change all that. For Lois there will be no platitudes about working for charity - instead she can talk about the MSc in Financial Economics she is studying at the university’s Saïd Business School. $ d, s4 c5 j8 i/ A9 n1 N4 o
( `. A6 j' Z+ T7 l5 g+ v3 A! g% V: C" aThat puts the 23-year-old at odds with her main rivals for the title, including Amanda Harrington, from Birkenhead - the latest winner of Nuts magazine’s Bedroom Babes competition - and Fay Bevan, from Newport, whose CV details a ‘four-page spread in Knicker Draw’. Lois, who was born in London and moved to Ireland as a child, is one of 50 finalists for next month’s competition after making it through to the finals of Miss England last year. "I absolutely loved the experience and I decided that I really wanted to try again. I’m so excited," she said. Lois was an undergraduate at Trinity College in Dublin, where her first-class degree in Economics and Social Studies helped secure her place at Oxford. She said: "The course is hard work - everyone laughs at us 'geeks' in the business school for working so much. The exams are horrendous but I love the course as it is great for preparing for the work I want to go on to do." Lois, who is lining up an internship in a New York investment bank when she graduates, defended the pageant against claims it was sexist. "I’m a real girls’ girl - I love dressing up but I don’t think there’s anything wrong with being pretty and a feminist. This competition is about celebrating all the best parts of women - their presence, personality and looks." Lois’s mother Liz, who runs a hotel in southern Ireland, said the whole family, including Lois’s two sisters, would be in London on May 21 to cheer her on.