AN ACTRESS from Cheshire has been crowned Miss Oxfordshire 2010 – despite having never lived in the city.

Alice Christian was picked to represent the county during the Oxford heat of Miss Great Britain, at the Lava Ignite nightclub in Park End Street on Saturday.

The 25-year-old, who lives in Knightsbridge, London, said she was still proud to represent Oxfordshire, despite only ever having stayed in the city for one night.

Miss Christian, who beat 11 other women in the heat, said: “I’ve not lived here myself.

“A lot of my friends went to university in Oxford so I spent a lot of time here and my uncle also went to university here and we spent a lot of time here when I was younger.

“The competition is about where you are proud of. It’s a requirement for girls to be beautiful as well as intelligent and I chose Oxford because I’m proud to represent here.”

She added: “It’s a bit like a football team. You don’t have to be from Manchester to play for Manchester United, you play for a team you are proud to represent.

“To limit it to girls in the county would probably limit the number of girls who take part. People do a lot more moving around these days.”

She will face 59 other beauties at the final in Weston Super-Mare on December 4.

During Saturday’s heat, Miss Christian, who would like a career in film or television, was interviewed by judges before being asked to model a swimming costume of her choice. She then donned an evening gown.

The former art student, who said she looks like Sophia Loren, said: “I had tears in my eyes when they said my name, I wasn’t expecting it.

“It was a really difficult competition, there were so many lovely, beautiful girls and everyone was really nice to each other.”

She added: “This was my first beauty pagaent. I think the pageants are changing more these days, it’s more about promoting ambitious women who have got their sights set on a successful career.

“There are no height or weight restrictions. The competition is about how you present yourself and how you come across and that’s a reflection of how you feel.”

Organiser of the competition, Swansea-born Liz Fuller, has allowed single mums and divorcees to enter it for the first time in its 65-year-old history.

Last night she said: “This year the girls did not need to be originally from the area they represented because I think times have changed.

“Society is more fluid now and people move around – so girls are born in a city, but can live and study somewhere else and then have family all over the place.”

She said: “Alice had a lot of links to Oxford, as she has family there and many members of her family went to the university.

“It is the area she wanted to represent and I think she did a fantastic job. She’s got a real chance to win the final in December.”