She was turned down by a hundred modelling agencies but Rissikat Bade is now one of the hot favourites for the Miss England crown.

The 21-year-old Miss London is an unusual beauty queen - she speaks fluent Russian and Ukrainian, is learning French and is studying for a law degree as well as taking a journalism course.

She says she likes men with talent, any talent, even if their talent is fitting a fist in their mouth.

In London's Covent Garden, dressed in a bright red minidress in the pouring rain, the 5ft 10ins Bade walks to a soundtrack of wolf whistles. But she has struggled to get her modelling career off the ground.

"I've approached about a hundred different modelling agencies, from the top agencies down to the mediocre ones. Even the worst agencies still rejected me," she said. "I was so disappointed and so upset. I kept on thinking 'what is wrong with me?' In the end I thought 'that's it, I'll just be a lawyer. It doesn't matter.'"

But then she began entering beauty pageants, was crowned Miss London and is now looking forward to the Miss England competition on July 19.

Many people believe beauty pageants are outdated but Miss Bade disagrees.

"It's not just about being beautiful," she says.

"The girls are gorgeous but they're also very talented. They're all studying, they're all working hard, not just to be beautiful but to be good role models. It's different to modelling. It's about your personality. The modelling industry can be really shallow, it's mostly about how long your legs are and what dress size you have.

"In beauty pageants you can try to project yourself as a person rather than just being a pretty face. It's about beauty with brains."