It has been 50 years since Page 3 girls first made a splash in the tabloid press and although the bottom may now have fallen out of the topless market, one former model is still bringing a touch of glamour to Rochester High Street, as Nicola Jordan discovered…

Sam Gibson was regularly pictured in "red top" national papers in the 1980s.

But she never appeared to bare all because she would have been stripped of her coveted beauty pageant titles she won in Medway and Dartford before her modelling career took off.

So, despite several offers of gracing the feature page which established the careers of Katie Price, aka Jordan, Samantha Fox and Linda Lusardi, Sam opted for the more sedate page 7 of the Daily Mirror.

The 51-year-old gave up the studio spotlight after giving birth to her daughter Taylar in 1992.

But she has kept her looks and her 10-12 size figure, and is still fitting into outfits from her heyday.

Sam's career in front of the camera started when she was a 14-year-old pupil at Gads Hill School, Higham.

She said: "I won the Miss Cuxton title after lying about my age because I should have been 16.

"I then won Miss Rainham and went on to get Miss Dartford and Miss Rochester-upon Medway."

At the age of 19 she scooped her best accolade, Miss Kent, and was given a Fiat Uno as a prize.

She said: "That was the stepping stone because I could then qualify and enter the big ones like Miss England and Miss UK.

"And then the other ones like Miss Lovely Legs when I won a trip to Florida, which was amazing."

Her taste for pageants started when she was just three and she would beg her mum to let her stay up and watch Miss World at the family home in Rochester.

After leaving Gads Hill, with nine O-levels, she enrolled on a secretarial course at MidKent College.

But the lure of the catwalk world beckoned and she signed up to top international agencies, Select Models and Models One, leading a glitzy lifestyle.

From a young age she was aware of the downside of the job, such as being offered drugs and being exploited.

It was largely thanks to her parents Brenda and Tony and strict agency staff that she kept her feet firmly on the ground.

When she was 19, she met the love of her life Gary at The Avenue nightclub, Gillingham.

The couple married and had Taylar, now 26, and son Regan 20.

Sadly, Gary died when he was just 47 from a heart condition.

She said: "Suddenly, I was a single mum and full-time housewife bringing up two children."

She now lives in Wigmore and works behind the bar at the King's Head, Rochester.

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She said: "I loved every minute of being a model. I was lucky and was kept protected even having a chaperone to the loo.

"It was not sleazy like some try to make out. I certainly never felt exploited.

"I'd heard about feminists disapproving, but it didn't really touch my life.

"I was also earning good money, most of which I would spend on clothes.

"I can still get in to some of my outfits. I'm more of a Jennifer Lopez than Twiggy."

"I loved every minute of being a model. It was not sleazy like some try to make out..."

She keeps in shape doing workouts at home and walking her dogs.

Although she has had her breasts enhanced, she has shied away from botox or any other kind of surgical work.

The history of Page 3 started in Rupert Murdoch's Sun newspaper in November 1969 with a model posing suggestively in an unbuttoned shirt.

On its first anniversary, the then editor Larry Lamb celebrated by publishing the first nude shot of a woman "in her birthday suit".

Murdoch, the Australian billionaire media mogul, was initially enraged but changed his mind when sales increased from 1.5 million to 2.1 million in a year.

Sam, who was often mistaken for glamour legend Samantha Fox, said: "I'm 100% behind Page 3.

"It's been proved they sell papers. I certainly would not have a problem if my daughter had wanted to follow in my footsteps. I would definitely do it all again."

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