Anne Woods (gurner)

Imagine making a face so funny it wins a prize! That's what Anne Woods did. She was a gurner, which means she was super good at making silly, funny, and even a little bit spooky faces. She loved to make her face look like a funny monster or a squashed prune! People called her 'the world's ugliest woman,' but she was proud of it because it meant she was the best at gurning!

Anne started gurning by accident! In 1977, her sons entered her into a contest at a fun fair called the Egremont Crab Fair as a joke. But Anne was so good, she won! It was a big surprise. She only missed one competition because she was having a baby. She kept winning year after year, becoming a local hero and making her town famous for her funny faces.

Anne had a special trick to make her face look extra funny. She could take out her false teeth! This made her wrinkles pop out and her face look super silly. She would even dance to a song called 'You're Gorgeous' while making her funny faces for four whole minutes. Her husband, Alex, even started gurning too, and he had a broken nose which made his faces even more interesting!

Anne Woods won the women's world gurning championship an incredible 28 times! That's more times than you've had birthdays for many years! In 2010, she even got a world record for it, which was written in the famous Guinness Book of Records.

She was so good that even when she was a bit older, she could still win against younger people. She showed everyone that making funny faces can be a real talent!