1982 - Enrique Lopez de Vallejo

After the United Kingdom’s victory in 1981, the 27th edition of the ESC took place in Harrogate, a small town that many viewers in Europe had never heard of it. The contest was held at the Harrogate International Centre on 24 April 1982 and was hosted by English TV presenter and newsreader Jan Leeming. The grand convention and exhibition centre opened short time prior to the contest, and was the first big event held in the main 2000-seat auditorium.

Harrogate grew out of two smaller settlements in North Yorkshire, High Harrogate and Low Harrogate, during the 17th century. As a spa town, Harrogate is a tourist destination and its attractions include its spa waters and RHS Harlow Carr gardens. Nearby is the Yorkshire Dales national park and the Nidderdale AONB. The town became known as 'The English Spa' in the Georgian Era, after its waters were discovered in the 16th century. In the 17th and 18th centuries its 'chalybeate' waters (containing iron) were a popular health treatment, and the influx of wealthy but sickly visitors contributed significantly to the wealth of the town.

In order to making the town of Harrogate known, the BBC came the idea for a map to open the contest. Before Jan Leeming went up the stage, it was played a clip in wich the phrase “Where is Harrogate” was written in each of the national languages of the contendant countries.

After that, to introduce the town, they developed a video of shots around the town, including a shot of a shopping mall window that named all the winners from the UK: Lulu (1969), Sandie Shaw (1967), Brotherhood of Man (1976), and of course Buck’s Fizz (1981). Ireland’s 1970 winner Dana, who is from the Northern Ireland city of Derry (Northern Ireland has been part of the UK since 1920) was also featured in the window spread alongside the second Irish winner Johnny Logan (1980). It is unknown why Logan is featured in the window design as he is from Australia and resided in Ireland at the time.

The Contest

There were 18 participating countries that year. No year since there has had this few participants in competition. The 1982 contest would see two staples of Eurovision pull out of the contest, France and Greece.

Greek withdrawal happened two weeks before the contest. They were set to send Thermis Adamantidis with the song “Sarantapente kopelies” and to perform in second place. To this day ERT has never revealed why the entry was withdrawn from the contest. According to the Eurovision website though, the reason was because ERT was unhappy with the entry. Another theory is that Greece was disqualified after it was revealed that the theme was a previously released song. In fact, it was a known Greek folk song and when it was revised for the competition, it was checked that the theme violated the rules which stated that all songs had to be original in terms of songwriting and instrumentation and cannot be cover songs. Greece was forced to pay a fine and was allowed to return the following year. After returning in 1983, for the 1984 contest, ERT stated that all of the possible songs were of "low quality" and decided not to participate.

France pulling out well before the contest deadline. There are also two theories about it. According to the first one, French broadcaster TF1 declined to participate in November of 1981, with head of entertainment Pierre Bouteiller citing the “lack of talent” and “mediocrity of the songs” as the reason. This would cause the country to miss out until 1983 when Antenne 2 (France 2) would step in to organize the country’s participation and has done so ever since. But another sources suggest that due the downsizing of their national broadcasters, France lost the rights to participating at the contest and so was also forced to withdraw.

Returning artists for 1982

In total that edition saw eight artists return to the contest in Harrogate, with four of them competing as solo artists in the contest for the first time.

For Stella Maessen was the second time representing Belgium but third time at the contest, having represented Belgium in 1977 with the group Dream Express and the Netherlands in 1970. She also received a rare distinction of receiving points from all 18 participating countries despite finishing in 4th place. Her song was entirely in French (although Stella admits that she could hardly speak the language prior to Eurovision).

Fatima Padinha and Teresa Miguel also returned to represent Portugal as part of Doce, having previously participated as members of Gemini in 1978. It would be their fifth try to make it to Eurovision, as Gemini competed in the Portuguese national final in 1977 and 1978, and the members of Doce participated in the same national final in 1980, 1981, and 1982.

Norway’s previous participants Jahn Teigan and Anita Skorgan returned to the contest after Jahn’s 1978 participation and Anita Skorgan’s participation in 1977 and 1979. Anita had performed in Melodi Grand Prix numerous times before 1982, and was also a co-writer on numerous Norwegian entries in the 1980s. Across their two careers, they were present at six contests over seven years (missing out on the 1980 contest).

Also returning was Anna Vissi representing Cyprus (she represented Greece in 1980 and would return for the 2006 contest for Greece again), and Sally Ann Triplett who was a member of the British group Prima Donna in 1980.

Winner: Nicole’s landslide victory in Harrogate

Despite being part of the inaugural broadcast and every contest since (expect for the 1996 contest where they were relegated out), Germany has only won the contest twice. The first ever win for the country would of course happen there in Harrogate with Nicole’s song “Ein bißchen Frieden” and they would have to wait another 28 years to win again with Lena’s song “Satellite”.

Nicole would win the contest by 61 points, which seems like a small margin by today’s results but prior to that the largest gap between 1st and 2nd was only 32 points, the year Israel first won in 1978. This winning margin would not be broken for another 15 years, when Katrina and the Waves beat Ireland’s Marc Roberts by 70 points.

She also held the record for receiving 1.61 times as many points as the runner up for 27 years, when Norway’s Alexander Rybak scored 1.78 times as many points as Iceland in the final. This feat is extremely impressive as the contest was jury voting only until 1997, and then the contest moved to televoting until the 2009 semifinals (in 2001 and 2002 countries could choose between 100% televote or 50/50 voting).

Germany had the advantage of performing last. After coming second in The Hague in 1980 and second in Dublin in 1981, Ralph Siegel and Bernd Meinunger, the song composers, took the first win for Germany. They wrote 18 Eurovision songs between them before and after "Ein bißchen Frieden", 13 of which were for Germany. Over 13 million West Germans watched her victory on television. Germany was the commanding leader for nearly the entire voting process.

Additional anecdotes from the 27th edition of the ESC

1. Despite winning the previous year, Buck’s Fizz did not appear at the contest to give Nicole the winning trophy

2. During the postcard an extract of each national anthem was played except for with Israel and the United Kingdom. The Israeli postcard began with the traditional Jewish folk song “Have Nagila” and the UK had “Land of Hope and Glory” play.

3. The Harrogate International Center was said to be so small that the first three rows of seats had to be removed so that the stage could be expanded for the contest.

4. The UK’s Sally Ann Triplett has said that she was very fond of her time in Harrogate and knew she might lose to Nicole. She stated in an interview that the ongoing Falklands War and Nicole’s message of peace might have influenced her loss. She would go on to have a very successful musical theater career.

5. Irish band Chips lost out in their national finals. If they had been successful, would have led to the unique situation of two bands in the same Eurovision with the same name (the other was Sweden).

6. Spain performed a theme with tango flavour in the middle of the Falklands War between United Kingdom and Argentina (although, almost certainly, it was selected previously to the beginning of the conflict)

1966 - David McKean

The Eurovision Song Contest 1966 was the 11th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Luxembourg City on 5 March 1966 at the stunning Villa Louvigny, which also housed the contest in 1962. Eighteen countries participated in the contest this year.

The winning country was Austria with the song "Merci Chérie", performed by Udo Jürgens.

Austria scored a stand-out 31 points. Then there were a bunch of countries fighting for the runners up places. Sweden @ 16 points, Norway @ 15 points, and Ireland/Belgium @ 14 points each.

It was a case of third time lucky for Udo. He had represented Austria in 1964 and 1965 and his persistence was rewarded in 1966. It was the first time a winning song was sung in the German language (plus a little French).

Another artist performing in their third Eurovision was Domenico Modugno from Italy.

It was a very mixed bag for other countries. Sweden (2nd), Norway (3rd) and Belgium (4th) achieved their best results in the song contest to date.

In contrast, a few of the now known “big five’ such as France, United Kingdom and Italy had a terrible contest with their worst outcomes in their ESC history to date.

What else was special or different about the 1966 contest?

·      A new rule kicked in that each country could only enter a song that was sung in one of their country’s national languages. Hard to imagine it these days when many songs are in English!

·      The first ever black singer performed in Eurovision. It was Milly Scott representing the Netherlands. Sha was also the first singer to ever use a portable microphone in the contest. What a ground breaker, go Milly. You looked fantastic!

·      A change in the rules allowed music experts to be part of the national juries again. Weird that they had been excluded.

·      1966 was a year that saw the real emergence of ‘block voting’. The Nordic countries voted for each other, as did the Iberian Peninsula countries of Spain and Portugal. Other block voting was seen by Switzerland-Austria, France-Monaco, Ireland-UK, Netherlands-Belgium. So predictable nowadays.

·      Udo was the last solo male pianist to win the contest until we saw Duncan Lawrence in 2019.

Overall, the telecast was a classy but subdued affair. Not much crazy sixties fashion on display, everyone was rather formal in their suits and gowns. Hopefully Luxembourg shall return one day and host again. Merci xx

1992 - Slaviša Mijatović

1992 CONTEST RETROSPECTIVE:

1992 was an interesting year for the Contest. It was the biggest-ever contest with a full 23 participants, and Ireland easily beat the competition with their ballad “Why Me?”. The top 3 got rounded out by the UK’s Michael Ball (who was the tipped favourite to win), and Malta’s Mary Spiteri. This result foreshadowed what would happen to the Contest once the national language rule was abolished in 1999 – the domination of songs in English.

Linda’s victory made history on a couple of fronts. This started Ireland’s 1990s winning streak, as they would go on to win the next two years and then again in 1996. Talking of winning: the composer of the song was no other than Mr. Eurovision himself, Johnny Logan. This cemented him as the person with the most victories in Eurovision history, by winning for the third time. From Linda’s perspective, it was one of the rare times that an artist returned to Eurovision after not winning – she was 2nd in 1984 with the bop “Terminal 3” – and won the contest. She also got the honour of being the oldest woman to win Eurovision, at the age of 42. Surprisingly, she still keeps that dubious honour.

Linda Martin and Johnny Logan celebrating their victory in Malmö

This was also the last year that Yugoslavia participated in the Contest. As a matter of fact, this was not the same Yugoslavia as the year before. The country that was represented by Extra Nena was the union of only Serbia and Montenegro (under a new flag and name “Federal Republic of Yugoslavia” rather than “Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia”). This was because in 1991, the Yugoslav state started falling apart, with independence declarations by Slovenia and Croatia. Those were followed by Macedonia and Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1992.

Extra Nena performing “Ljubim te pesmama” (“I am Kissing you with Songs”) for Yugoslavia

Despite Bosnia-Herzegovina declaring independence on March 1st, RTV Sarajevo still decided to participate in the Yugoslav selection contest, Jugovizija, on March 28th. Arnela Konaković, one of the Bosnian singers, even placed 3rd in Jugovizija. The other participating television stations were only from Serbia and Montenegro. Three weeks after the contest itself, the United Nations passed a resolution imposing sanctions on the new Yugoslav state due its involvement in the conflicts that were erupting in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. This led to the EBU banning the Yugoslav national broadcaster in June 1992. Once the sanctions were lifted, Yugoslavia was readmitted to the EBU in 2001, and eventually re-joined Eurovision under as “Serbia & Montenegro” in 2004. Fortunately, Yugoslavia in 1992 was the last farewell of this sort that we have seen in Eurovision – fingers crossed that it stays the last!

1975 - Kate Krause-Boger

1975…

The year after ABBA won. The first contest hosted in Sweden. And the DRAMA that ensued.

The voting/points system, which was in place until 2015 was introduced: So the 1-12 scoring that a lot of us are still familiar with started right here in Sweden. (Though at the time the points were revealed by running order rather than ascending from 1 to 12.) With such a new system it is not surprising that the hostess Kari Falck was a bit confused.

From a German point of view, the drama of the contest started aleady at the national selection. Appareantly a fan of Jürgen Marcus (who only came in 9th in the national selection) made death threats to Joy Fleming, resulting in her having a bodyguard with her in Sweden.

But Fleming was not the only one in need of a hightened security. Rumor had it that the Red Army Faction had planned an attack on the delegation from Israel.

Security probably had also be increased for general Eurovision protests within Sweden. A huge part of the Swedes were not happy with the funding used for this commericalized event “lacking moral integrity”. For this purpose an alternative festival was organised at the some in another part of Stockholm. As a result, SR did not even broadcast the Eurovision the following year.

The most political drama was caused by the then ongoing “Cyprus dispute”: After Turkey announced there debut in 1975, Greece decided not to paticipate due to said conflict. In the end, Turkey ended up in last place with only 3 points – maybe it was not the best debut to ESC.

But talking about politics, Portugal having had the Carnation Revolutuion a year prior had multiple heavily political songs in their national selection and some songs were censored. However, the song they sent (Madrugada) was a celebration of that revolution; the artist apparently tempted to perform with his gun and uniform – glad that did not happen.

Ending on a positive note: Winning the event in 1975 was the Netherlands with “Ding-A-Dong” - the last Dutch win until 2019.

1965 - Richard Isaac

The 10th Eurovision Song Contest, held in Naples, is most notable for the first victory by a pop song, the modern, effervescent, self-referential, controversial “Poupée de cire, poupée de son,” written by the provocative Serge Gainsbourg and sung by 17-year-old France Gall, a French yé-yé singer representing Luxembourg.

The first non-ballad winner since 1959 sold 16,000 copies in France the day after the contest, and half a million a few months later, reaching #1 in France, Norway, and Canada and peaking high on the charts across Western Europe and as far away as Japan. It has been recorded in 20 languages and covered innumerable times, including by Arcade Fire.

Over the years since, however, Gall came to disassociate herself from it, due to her discomfort with the (albeit clever) lyrics and Gainsbourg’s exploitation of her.

Back to 1965: Ireland’s debut brought the number of entries to 18, the highest yet at the time. The contest — reportedly also broadcast in the Eastern Bloc, including the USSR — was hosted by singer-actress Renata Mauro, who spoke in Italian, French, and English. Conductors were introduced and took their bows before the singers’ names were announced.

There was a very large RAI orchestra occupying the stage, in contrast to the single microphone that almost every contestant sang at, save Austria’s Udo Jürgens, who played the piano. (This was his second Eurovision appearance, and of course he would win the following year.) Only Italy’s Bobby Solo had any backup singers, and there was no staging or choreography to speak of (except perhaps Spain’s flamenco movements), nor unique features on the stage other than the contest’s logo.

The camerawork favored tight closeups for the most part. Shots of the audience in the auditorium revealed the usual (for the time) older crowd, formally dressed and applauding politely between songs. All of this combined to produce a generally static visual presentation, with little movement visible and a mostly unchanging background.

Most of the women, including Mauro, wore the sleeveless style of the era, with short hair characteristic of the early ’60s, though a few had long sleeves, some with sparkles. Most of the men were dressed formally, in black tie, although Solo wore a suit, and the Finn Viktor Klimenko’s jacket sparkled somewhat (he also resembled Abraham Lincoln, boasting the only facial hair of the evening).

Just over half the songs were ballads; others were peppy. But most were throwbacks, even for the time. Only Sweden’s Ingvar Wixell sang not in a national language (English, which led to the language rule starting in 1966); his was also the only operatic entry, other than Mario del Monaco’s two old-style arias during the interval. Some highlights for me were: Netherlands (snappy); Portugal (emotive, nice voice and song); Denmark (art song); Finland (brassy, moody); and Yugoslavia (smooth, romantic).

The scoreboard was terribly designed and hard to read, with black lines moving rightward as the scores were added, like runners or racehorses. Belgium, Germany, Spain, and Finland (sadly) all logged nul points (each for the second time). The audience never reacted until the very deserving winner was announced, whereupon a bright and happy France Gall came back to accept the trophy, along with Gainsbourg. She then reprised her fresh and breathtaking song, which stood out like a supernova among the other entries and has withstood the test of time, ranking among the very best in Eurovision history.

By the way, as the British announcer remarked even back then, the UK came in second, “once again.”

1998 - Edward Till

A Year in Review—1998 Eurovision

Eurovision constantly evolves, each edition seeing innovations and old traditions retired.  But I want to argue that the winds of change blew particularly strongly in Birmingham during 1998.

Host broadcaster, the BBC, cherished ESC’s traditions, but the UK was in a period of social change and both the European continent and technology were transforming.  The result was a unique blend of old and new.  Take the hosts; national treasure and legend of broadcasting, Terry Wogan, shared a stage with glamourous young Swedish television presenter and model, Ulrika Jonsson.  Even the Te Deum anthem was given a rock update in the form of Eurogroves.

Things Ending

1.            Live Orchestra

1998 was the last year when the host had to provide a live orchestra… and one has never been seen since!  “And the conductor is” disappeared abruptly from ESC vocabulary after 43 years.  Improvements in digital recording technology and shifts in musical tastes meant backing tracks were simply better.

2.            Language Rule

From 1977 to 1998, countries were required to submit entries in an official language.  For me, that rule contributed to the success of the three English speaking countries: UK, Malta and—above all—Ireland.  The UK came second and Malta third in Birmingham, which still seemed normal.  With some exceptions, all have struggled since new champions, notably Sweden, have risen.

Things Starting

1.            Televoting

While televoting was tested in 1997, this was the first year when all countries were compelled to use 100% televoting, unless their telephone networks were too weak.  We began to see new voting patterns.  “Watermarking” (permanent display of the country’s name during the performance) was now required.  The voting system was clearly still fit for purpose, however, as it produced a truly thrilling result, with Israel winning on the very last vote.

2.            Eastern Expansion

“FYR Macedonia” debuted following a naming controversy that only ended in 2019.  A few more former communist countries were to follow, but the Contest was now much larger than only 5 years previously.  With no semi-finals, the exclusion of six countries with poor previous results was used to trim the final to 25.  There was no “Big 5” either: Germany was only admitted after Italy dropped out.  More intangibly, the era of ballads and Celtic breaks was ending.  “Old countries” still dominated the placings for the last time, but the East was unmistakably on the rise.

3.            LGBTQI+ Culture

The Israeli winner was transwoman, Dana International, with Diva.  This must be one of the most significant moments in trans history.  But the BBC also ensured images of gay fans were shown more prominently than ever.  Wives were being left at home, and Eurovision was coming out of the closet!

In my opinion, the contest was highly successful, but you could not escape the feeling that Eurovision was changing.  The BBC finally gets to show us what it can do with Eurovision again in 2023 and I for one cannot wait so see how it rises to that challenge!

1957 - Wayne Ralph

The 1957 Eurovision Song Contest was held in Frankfurt, (West) Germany. It followed the very first contest which was held in and won by Switzerland. With the Swiss declining to host again, the Germans stepped up to put on the show.

After the first contest they made a few tweaks:

• allowing duos to also enter

• not allowing jurors to vote for their own country

A few firsts occurred too:

• Germany’s Margot Hielscher brought her telephone on stage (Telefon, Telefon), making it the first ever “Eurovision prop”

• The Danish duo had a good pash on stage (gosh, it was long)

• The voting was televised

Ten countries took part, with Austria, Denmark, and the United Kingdom competing for the first time and joining the original seven participating countries from the first contest in 1956 (Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands and Switzerland).

The stage featured a harp with a background that was changed out for each artist. The artist and conductor would race down a set of stairs to their harp and orchestra respectively while the presenter, Anaid Iplicjian (a German actress), announced them. Quite entertaining. But then we had the songs ;)

The winner was The Netherlands’ Corry Brokken with her song “Net all then”. She received a massive 31 points. Broken had also performed for Switzerland in the previous year’s contest and she also went on to host the Eurovision Song Contest in 1976 which was held in The Hague.

France finished 2nd with 17 points. And the pash helped Denmark to come in 3rd place. Unfortunately, not enough people picked up their own telephone for Germany and poor Margot ended up in 4th place.

Interestingly the Swiss winner from last year, Lys Assia, returned and finished a creditable 8th with her song “L’enfant sue j’étais”.

For better or for worse, 1957 is the first Eurovision Song Contest where footage of the complete show is available. Waiting for the telephone to connect during the voting sequence is excruciating and hilarious at the same time. Definitely worth a look.

2003 - Roy Van de Merwe

Eurovision 2003, the 48th edition of the song contest took place in Riga, Latvia, following the country's surprise victory at the 2002 contest. MARIE N sang the song I WANNA. It was organized at the Skonto Hall on 24 May 2003. Marie N, the 2002 winner and Renars Kaupers, who was in the group Brainstorm, hosted. 

Twenty-six countries participated in the contest, beating the record of twenty-five first set in 1993. Iceland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway and Poland, having been relegated from competing the previous year, returned. Portugal also returned to the contest after being absent the previous year. Ukraine participated in the contest for the first time. Denmark, Finland, Lithuania, Macedonia and Switzerland were relegated due to their poor results in 2002.

The 2003 contest was one of the few editions where no lead artists had previously competed as lead artists in past contests, although Slovenian representative Karmen had previously performed as a backing singer to Vili Resnik (Slovenia 1998).

During the show rehearsals, Latvia impressed me by bringing in children from orphan homes to watch the morning rehearsals. The kids made special gifts for all 26 delegations/artists. Unfortunately, my memory has failed me, and I cannot recall the exact gifts and even trying to google in Dutch, English, Latvian and Russian did not bring answers.

Like Estonian TV the previous year, Latvian TV also gave me a complimentary ticket for the final. A young guy working in my hotel really wanted to attend and as I had press accreditation and could watch it in the press room, I asked Latvia TV if I could give the ticket to him.

Talking of hotels, I stayed with Morten from Norway in an official accredited hotel and on the same floor was the Romanian delegation. We had breakfast each morning with them and got to know them well. Also inside our hotel was a casino and an escort agency and some interesting stories here.

The final was great, and the voting was extremely tight. Turkey won with the song Every way that I can performed by Sertab Erener. This was Turkey's first victory in the contest after 28 years of participation. Belgium, Russia, Norway and Sweden rounded out the top five. Turkey received 167 points, Belgium 165 and Russia 164.

Further down the table, the United Kingdom achieved their worst result to date, finishing twenty-sixth (last place) with no points and resulted in a CRY BABY affair. Such drama but space does not allow me to write the details. The host country Latvia placed twenty-fourth (third from last) – this was the first time since 1995 that the host entry did not place in the top 10, and it was, overall, the worst result for a host entry, since 1992.

This was the last contest to take place on one evening. The EBU revealed that it would be adding a semi-final show to the competition in order to accommodate the growing number of interested countries wishing to take part in the contest.

As the Belgian entry was sung in an imaginary language, this was also the first time the contest featured a song with no parts performed in English or a language native to the country.

My personal top 3 were Poland, Sweden and Latvia, totally different from the winning top 3. The Latvian group was F-L-Y, a trio made up of Martin Freiman, Lauris Raynix and Yana Kay. I met them, and they were lovely to talk to. Besides the promo CD single, I got also a full CD. There is a huge tragedy around the trio. One of the two male members, Martin died in January 2011. He was one of 5 Eurovision artists I met 2000 to 2009 that died young.  

A low light for me was the Russian duo t.A.T.u. I just did not like them nor their song.

As always, a highlight for me is meeting up with Ralph Siegel who was there as the composer of the German entry Let’s get happy by Lou.

An interesting fact is that the Icelandic singer of 2003, Birgitta was born in Husavik. The name meant nothing at that time but after the Eurovision theme movie of a few years ago, this name became a household name. More such facts I deleted due to cutting down the words. But please feel free to ask me!

1974 - Mike Whalley

How to review Eurovision 1974? I’ll share the winner at the end – as most people, Eurovision fans or not – know that story.

So instead, some of the potentially less well-known aspects of the 1974 contest:

• Just like in 2023, the UK had stepped in to host, despite not winning in 1973. No war this time - it was because Luxembourg had ‘done the double’, winning in both 72 and 73, and didn’t have the cash to splash on a second contest. So the BBC, and Eurovision veteran Katie Boyle (for her fourth and final time), hosted the event at the Brighton Dome.

• Eighteen countries planned to take part, but the death of French President Georges Pompidou four days earlier – and his memorial service, which took place on the same day as the Eurovision Song Contest – meant that the French delegation decided not to compete. Their performer, Dani, was in the audience to watch the show instead. Luxembourg’s winning act from 1973, Anne-Marie David (who was French), was also meant to attend – to hand over the trophy to the next winner, but stayed in France due to the period of national mourning.

• Always with an interesting story in Eurovision, Italy didn’t actually broadcast the Eurovision live in 1974, despite Eurovision royalty – Gigliola Cinquetti – taking part for them. Gigliola won the contest in 1964, and has subsequently co-presented in 1991 in Rome, and been an interval act in Turin in 2022. But in 1974, she came second, with her song ‘Si’ (in English, ‘Yes’). Due to a highly political divorce referendum campaign in Italy at the time (which was held on 12 May 1974), state television channel RAI decided not to show the contest, in case they were accused of it being a ‘subliminal message and a form of propaganda to influence the Italian voting public to vote "yes" in the referendum.’ The song wasn’t played on most Italian state TV and radio stations until after the referendum had been held, over a month later!

• Australia’s own (national treasure) Olivia Newton-John – a vision in a baby blue nightdress – took part as the UK entrant, which gave us the memorable ‘Long Live Love’, which finished joint fourth.

• Voting was the now-antiquated ’10 jurors’ system – whereby each country had ten individual jurors, each chosing their favourite song. This means that technically, a country could give anywhere from 1 to 10 votes to any country – with the total sum from each country just 10. Finland and Switzerland both gave FIVE POINTS to the winners – i.e. half of their country’s total vote. This style of voting also meant that the winning score was extremely low by modern standards – only 24 points! But way ahead (comparatively) of Italy (18), Netherlands (15) and UK, Luxembourg and Monaco (all on 14 points).

Oh – and – the winner? ABBA, Sweden, Waterloo. As you all know, after the show they conquered the world – which apparently began with an all-night party in the appropriately named Napoleon Suite at The Grand Brighton Hotel.

1997 - Angel Aguilar

Even know I wasn’t born yet, ha-ha, I have learned that The Eurovision Song Contest 1997 was the 42nd edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest, held on 3 May 1997 at the Point Theatre.  The contest was held in Ireland following the country's victory at the 1996 contest with the song "The Voice" by Eimear Quinn.

The 1997 contest was the seventh edition to be staged in Ireland, as well as the fourth to be produced by RTÉ in five years. The Point Theatre served as the host venue for the third time, following the 1994 and 1995 contests, becoming the only venue to have been the site of three Eurovision Song Contests.

Twenty-five countries participated in the contest, with a new relegation system introduced to determine which nations could participate, based on each country's average points total in previous contests. Italy made its first appearance since 1993, and Denmark, Germany, Hungary and Russia returned after last competing in 1995, having been prevented from competing the previous year after failing to progress from that event's qualification round. Belgium, Finland and Slovakia, participants in the previous year's contest, were unable to return after being excluded by the new relegation rules.

The winner was the United Kingdom with the song "Love Shine a Light", written by Kimberley Rew and performed by Katrina and the Waves. Ireland, Turkey, Italy and Cyprus rounded out the top five, with Ireland earning their fifth placing in the top two within six years and Turkey and Cyprus achieving their best results to date. Five of the competing countries used televoting to determine their points, allowing the general viewing public a say in the results for the first time; following this successful trial all countries were encouraged to use this system starting from the following year's event.

Entries were also permitted for the first time to feature no live music accompaniment, with each performance being able to use only a backing track rather than utilizing any part of the orchestra or any live instrumentation from the performers themselves.

1987 - Kevin Fansler

Eurovision 1987, Year in Review: Watch Party Highlights

By Kevin Fansler

Since this ESC Year in Review assignment is free-form, I thought I would point out a few highlights for you if you’re participating in the club watch parties this coming weekend.

There are the obvious “don’t miss” moments, like Johnny Logan sending chills down your spine. And one would think Sandra Kim would sing a tune or two, but she does not. She’s trotted on stage for a brief interview at the end, but there will be no reprise of J’aime la vie.

Here are some other things you might look for:

● In the boring moments, contemplate that pyramid thingy in the center of the stage. Is that meant to be wool? Snow? Beach rocks? What exactly is that covering for the pyramid, and what is the point of it?

● The postcards are the usual mix of tourism faff and “look at what industries we have”! But the MUST-SEE postcard plays before Switzerland’s entry. Trust me on this. You can thank me later.

● Please watch Italy — and you’re welcome. Gente di mare, in my opinion, is the only song from this year’s contest that has aged well.

● You may as well watch Germany, as it places well. You can be as baffled as the rest of us as to why.

● Watch out for the hostess, Viktor Lazlo, during her (yes, her) costume change for the voting. That fascinator in her hair is um… fascinating. How is it attached? Is it annoying to have that thing wrapping around your head?

● Speaking of Viktor Lazlo, I held my breath at the top of the stairs for her initial entrance. I couldn’t imagine going down the stairs — in heels, in that dress, with no railing, while talking to the audience.

● While you’re looking at fashions, pay attention to the hair. Norway’s porcupine hairdo didn’t age well, for instance.

● Another highlight for me is the Blues Brothers–style entry from Israel. Highly entertaining!

● If you sit through Luxembourg’s Plastic-something entry, watch for the eyes! Someone backstage must have told him to keep his eyes more open, because he overdoes it in a hysterical way.

● And finally, Turkey’s delegation did a disservice to their singer. She is quickly out of breath from the frenetic choreo, and it shows. If you’re going to throw an aerobics routine on stage, keep it to the backup dancers, please!

1970 - T.J. Tuck

Eurovision 1970: The Aftermath of 4 Winners

The 1970 Eurovision Song Contest was the crystal anniversary of the annual event, that took place in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, following that country’s quarter victory at the 1969 edition in Madrid. It was the second time The Netherlands had hosted the contest. It was hosted in Amsterdam following a ballot between France and The Netherlands after the joint 1969 victory (Spain and the United Kingdom did not participate in the ballot due to having hosted the 2 years prior). It took place on 21 March 1970 at the RAI Theatre, a venue boasting a capacity of 1,750. Imagine having a host venue with such a small capacity these days! This edition saw only 12 participating countries, with Portugal, Austria, and the three Nordic countries boycotting the event, accusing the contest of marginalizing smaller countries and that it had lost its entertainment value (we all know how false that turned out to be!). There were also stories of the boycott arising in protest of there being 4 winners the year before (which seems to be the most reasonable option).

As only 12 countries participated in 1970 (in contrast to 16 the year before), the current format of the contest was born. The show included an opening video presentation filmed in Amsterdam to introduce the host country, with each participating country’s entry being prefaced with a video postcard featuring the artists. The stage consisted of a simple design of curved horizonal bars and silver baubles that we able to be moved into different positions based on the performer. Unlike the infamous “rainbow of death” we experienced in Turin, Amsterdam didn’t “drop the baubles”, and the set performed as advertised.

To avoid the 4-way tie incident of 1969, the “tie rule” was introduced in 1970. Under this rule, if two or more countries were tied for first place, the songs would be performed a second time, with the national juries (excluding those of the tied countries) voting again for the winner. A tie would only be entertained should the second jury vote also be a tie. Thankfully, this didn’t occur at the Amsterdam contest. Drawing conclusions to the most recent 2022 contest, in 1970, the United Kingdom also finished in 2nd place (1972 being the seventh time, 2022 being the sixteenth). The United Kingdom continues to hold the record for the most 2nd place finishes in the contest. In 1970, the current record holder for the most wins at the Eurovision Song Contest – Ireland – won for the first time, with Dana’s All Kinds of Everything taking the top spot.

Overall, the 1970 contest was an uneventful “normal” year for the event, that sprung off the Irish dynasty of 7 Eurovision wins that continues to this day.

1963 - Alan Tubery

1963 was my 3rd Eurovision and I remember it well due to the controversy during the voting.

When it was Norway's turn to announce their votes, the Norwegian spokesman asked presenter Katie Boyle to return to them after all the other results were in! When she went back to Norway the votes had mysteriously altered, thus changing the outcome of the contest and giving the victory to Denmark at Switzerland's expense. Being Swiss I was fuming!

 Host broadcaster BBC agreed to stage The Eurovision Song Contest 1963 after France, who had won the 1962 edition, declined to host it due to financial shortcomings. They also had hosted the competition in 1959 and 1961, a rehearsal for Liverpool in 2023?

 Katie Boyle hosted for a second time and did again in 1968 and 1974.

All countries which participated in the 1962 edition also participated that year.

The 1962 edition was the only one to be held on a Sunday, but it was held again on a Saturday

Unusually, a boom microphone normally used for drama and comedy shows was employed but the viewer could not see this, so it appeared as if the artists were miming to their vocals. This was not the case, but this innovation was to create a new look for the contest.

Ronnie Carroll who had sang for the United Kingdom in 1962 returned with "Say Wonderful Things" and finished 4th It was the same  result as his previous entry "Ring-a-Ding Girl"!

Some big names performed that year

Germany sent Heidi Brühl. She was a German singer and actress who came to prominence as a young teenager and had a prolific career in film and television. Her 1960 recording of "Wir wollen niemals auseinandergehn" had sold over one million copies

Italy sent Emilio Pericoli. His success was closely tied to the 1961 Sanremo Festival. He recorded a cover version of the song, "Al di là", by festival winner Betty Curtis but his version was an international success, hitting the charts in the U.S. # 3 and in UK #30. It sold over one million copies. In 1962, he entered the festival together with Tony Renis and sang the ballad "Quando, quando, quando", featured in the movie The Easy Life, and became one of the best-known Italian hits.

Switzerland sent Israeli singer Esther Ofarim, who was robbed of the victory with the song "T'en va pas". In 1963, Esther and her husband Abi started to have success on the charts in Europe. By 1965, she was well known throughout Europe. She headlined in the major concert halls and theaters, starred in German films and had her own television specials on BBC.Their greatest success in Germany was in 1967 with "Morning of My Life", which was written by the Bee Gees. In 1968 "Cinderella Rockefella" hit the top of the charts in a number of countries including the UK.

Sweden sent Monica Zetterlund. She was a Swedish jazz singer and actress and gained international fame. Through her career, she starred in over 10 Swedish film productions and recorded over 20 studio albums.

But the next 3 artists ended up being massive International superstars and record sellers.

France Alain Barrière. "Elle était si jolie" turned out to be a big seller all over Europe. "Tu t'en vas", a 1975 Summer duet with fellow Eurovision Noëlle Cordier, topped most European charts and was the third biggest-selling single of the year in Europe. He sold 5.400.000 million records including in South America.

Monaco sent one of my all-time favorite artist Françoise Hardy! She has been an important figure in French pop music since her debut, spanning a career of more than fifty years with over thirty studio albums released. Her first 1962 hit “Tous les garçons et les filles" sold over two million copies in France and got translated and re-recorded to be exported to Italian, German, Spanish, Japanese and English-speaking markets and charted even in South Africa, Australia and New Zealand including in the UK Chart. She became the most exportable French female singer after Edith Piaf, rose to international fame and released music sung in English, Italian and German. Her last release is the 2018 Album “Personne d'autre”. She has sold worldwide 6.700.000 million singles and  4.800.000 Albums. Click here for more.

And  Luxembourg sent ….Nana Mouskouri!

She became well known throughout Europe for the song "The White Rose of Athens", recorded first in German. It became a success, selling more than 3 million copies worldwide. The song was later translated into several languages and it went on to become one of her signature tunes. Over the span of her career, she has released over 200 albums in at least twelve languages, including Greek, French, English, German, Dutch, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Hebrew, Welsh, Mandarin Chinese and Corsican. Across a career of seven decades, She has performed more than 10,000 shows at venues around the world, including the Royal Albert Hall, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Sydney Opera and New York’s Lincoln Center. According to Universal Music she sold over 250,000,000 records (albums and singles) worldwide. 

1963 Eurovision Song Contest Full Show BBC (English Commentary by David Jacobs) - Host Katie Boyle

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHSzWevdTyk

1978 - Tarrant Falcke

When everyone subscribes to Brotherhood of Man's successful formula from 1976, but chooses a less bright and crazy version of it after Schmetterlinge's takedown of that formula in 1977 – you get 1978. Twenty songs, largely a mix of four- or five-piece choreographed harmonies, and exuberant lead singers in front of the classic background singing troupe. Not generally considered the most memorable of contests, there were safe choices throughout: no alpenhorns or clowns, Denmark's heart-emblazoned bass drum was one of the few sprinkles of kitsch.

"This contest, especially designed for television...", presenter Léon Zitrone opened unironically as he stared straight into the wrong camera; and postcards mundanely showing the artists' trek from green room to stage did little to reinforce his point. But a spectacular stage, with a Saturday Night Fever style light-up deck, raised platform for the backing singers, and enormous swivelling bandstand for the orchestra, was certainly a feast for the eyes. Paris also dabbled with electronic special effects during the victory presentation (not during the entries) – a flickery oscilloscope projection which would have been revolutionary for the pre-Tron crowd.

But for the colour palette, the heady and flashy days of early 70s fashion were behind us. The backdrop, as well as some 80% of entrants, were co-ordinated in demure mixes of black, white or red. White suits and large red flowers on the lapel were particularly in. The only entrant to miss this memo was the UK's Co-Co, with outfits which were conspicuously bright, obnoxious in hue, not co-ordinated with each other, and (for its two women) short – pioneeringly short, in fact, as Co-Co arguably led the way for the sexier tone that the contest took on in the early 1980s.

Paving the way for t.A.T.u. and Flo Rida in 1978 was Baccara: the Spanish duo were ring-ins for Luxembourg, fresh off the back of its 1977 hit 'Yes Sir, I Can Boogie' which is still among the ten highest-selling singles worldwide. Never before had such pre-existing stars graced the Eurovision stage. With a choreographed routine and breathy vocals (which also paved the way for t.A.T.u.), Baccara scored big from the Mediterranean juries but weakly otherwise.

But 1978's greatest gift to the contest was the "piano abandonment": Belgium's Jean Vallée, then Sweden's Björn Skifs, played (or pretended to play) their first verses at the piano, before rising to finish their songs on foot – pioneering what has become a staple of Eurovision staging. No pioneering act is without risk: Vallée – evidently unaccustomed to walking while performing – almost fell stumbling backwards over a step as he finished his song.

Following the entries, we were treated a pleasant if non-sequitur interval of prerecorded lounge jazz and fiddle music. The largely uneventful voting, which Izhar Cohen of Israel had wrapped up by the halfway point, included some patchy telephone lines to the eastern countries, the first set of nul points under the 12-10-8 system (by Norway, of course, and the suspenders-snapping Jahn Teigen), green room cuts to Izhar Cohen and Jean Vallée (the latter with cigarette in hand, a sign of the good old '70s), and infamous efforts by Middle Eastern broadcasters to conceal the Israeli victory – the first in a long line of political conflicts which have kept Arabic nations out of the contest to this day.

Few would accuse 1978 of being a classic contest, but it was very much in its zeitgeist.