Anne Woods (gurner)
{{Short description|British gurner (1947–2015)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2019}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Anne Woods
| image = Anne Woods (gurner).jpg
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1947|12|05|df=y}}
| birth_place = Egremont, Cumberland, England
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2015|03|29|1947|12|05|df=y}}
| known_for = Most Gurning World Championship wins by a woman
| spouse = Alex Woods
| honours = Guinness World Records
}}
Anne Woods (5 December 1947 – 29 March 2015) was a British gurner who won the women's world championship 28 times. Her world record was ratified by the Guinness Book of Records in November 2010, after a protracted effort to have it recognised.Williamson, Marcus (3 April 2015). {{cite web |title=Anne Woods: Winner of the women's world gurning title at the Egremont Crab Fair in Cumbria a record 28 times |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/anne-woods-winner-of-the-womens-world-gurning-title-at-the-egremont-crab-fair-in-cumbria-a-record-28-times-10153298.html |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220507/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/anne-woods-winner-of-the-womens-world-gurning-title-at-the-egremont-crab-fair-in-cumbria-a-record-28-times-10153298.html |archive-date=7 May 2022 |accessdate=13 April 2015 |work=The Independent}}{{cbignore}} Known as "the world's ugliest woman",{{Cite news |last=Gordon |first=Bryony |date=4 November 2010 |title='I've decided to stay on British Summer Time this winter' |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/762257898 |access-date=2025-03-02 |work=The Daily Telegraph |id={{ProQuest|762257898}}}}{{Cite news |last=Mackinlay |first=Catherine |date=29 August 2020 |title=Ten times the Lake District made it into the Guinness book of records |url=https://www.lancs.live/news/local-news/ten-times-lake-district-made-18844441 |access-date=2025-04-03 |work=LancsLive |archive-date=26 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230926122308/https://www.lancs.live/news/local-news/ten-times-lake-district-made-18844441 |url-status=live }} she was proud of that title, according to former Copeland council leader Elaine Woodburn. Woods regularly performed her four-minute gurning routine to her signature track, "You're Gorgeous" by Babybird.{{Cite news |last=Chillag |first=Ian |date=3 November 2010 |title=Really Gurning Her Keep |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/waitwait/2010/11/03/131040685/really-gurning-her-keep |access-date=2025-03-09 |work=NPR |archive-date=12 March 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250312105805/https://www.npr.org/sections/waitwait/2010/11/03/131040685/really-gurning-her-keep |url-status=live }}
Woods first started gurning in 1977, when her sons entered her into the competition at the Egremont Crab Fair as a joke.{{Cite book |last=Daeschner |first=J. R. |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_0099480654/page/208/mode/2up?q=%22anne+woods%22+gurn |title=True Brits: A Tour of Twenty-First-Century Britain in All Its Bog-Snorkelling, Gurning and Cheese-Rolling Glory |date=2004 |publisher=Arrow Books |isbn=9780099480655 |pages=208–210}} Her first victory came as a surprise to both Anne and her husband Alex, who started gurning himself more than 20 years later. Since her debut, she missed only one competition when she was pregnant with her daughter. Woods became a local community favourite, and as her subsequent successes were covered by the media, she was credited with putting Egremont "on the map". In his 2004 book True Brits, journalist J. R. Daeschner described Woods as a "diminutive, grey-headed granny" whose face normally had "a certain sweetness etched with the wrinkles from a lifetime of smoking", but that when she gurned, she transformed herself into "a crater-faced hag".
The book Fantastic Feats and Ridiculous Records suggested that Woods' success "could well be attributed to her being able to remove her dentures, making her wrinkled face as ugly as a squashed prune".{{Cite book |last=Phillips |first=Adam |title=Fantastic Feats and Ridiculous Records |date=2009 |publisher=Barron's Educational Series |isbn=9780764143380 |location=Hauppauge, New York |pages=54}} Daeschner noted that Alex Woods was also able to remove his dentures, with the added advantage of having a broken nose. In September 2002, Anne Woods suffered a shock defeat, coming in second place to television presenter Michaela Strachan, who gurned cross-eyed.{{Cite news |last=Lewis |first=Richard |date=2 April 2005 |title=Ugly episode in Egremont |url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/IF0503438574/TTDA?u=wikipedia&sid=bookmark-TTDA&xid=66a73e4d |access-date=2025-03-02 |work=The Times |via=Gale General OneFile}} Her rare defeats included a one-off loss to Pauline Hoyle, a local rival who shouted "It's a fix!" each year when Woods won.
In September 2010, Woods collapsed at the Egremont Crab Fair and had to be taken to hospital after claiming her title.{{Cite news |date=21 September 2010 |title=Gurn to hospital |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/751739239 |access-date=2025-03-02 |work=Daily Record |location=Glasgow |id={{ProQuest|751739239}} }} She died in 2015 at age 67.{{Cite news |date=30 March 2015 |title=Tributes paid to World Gurning Champion |url=https://www.itv.com/news/border/update/2015-03-30/tributes-paid-to-world-gurning-champion/ |access-date=2025-03-09 |work=ITV}}