Quiz Monkey
What do you want to know?
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Quiz Monkey |
| Arts & Entertainment |
| Television |
| The Eurovision Song Contest |
| Specifics |
| Most Winners |
| UK Winners |
| UK Losers |
| The UK as Hosts |
| The Early Years |
| The Rest |
Because I don't want to come across as a sad old curmudgeon, I am not going to express any opinions about the Eurovision Song Contest. I will just state the obvious fact, which is that it continues to be hugely popular, even in the UK. And that means it's fair game for quizzes – particularly around the time of year when it takes place (late May). Questions are not limited to the title of the winning song or the identity of the successful artistes; because it moves around each year, for example, it's quite normal to get asked which city is hosting the next competition, or in which city Dana International was successful.
And of course, some question setters will never tire of asking about the UK's five winning years (to date), or the years when we came last (see below).
For starters, here are a few specific questions that I've heard asked over the years.
| First held |
 |
1956 |
| Boxer whose father Pat represented Ireland in 1968 (finishing 4th with 18 votes) |
|
Barry McGuigan |
| Ireland's first winner (1970) |
|
Dana |
| Greek–born Vicky Leandros won in 1972, and French–born Anne–Marie David in 1973, for |
|
Luxembourg |
| Irish singer who won twice (What’s Another Year 1980, Hold Me Now 1987) |
|
Johnny Logan |
| Canadian–born singer who won for Switzerland in 1988, with Ne Partez Pas Sans Moi |
|
Céline Dion |
| Transsexual winner for Israel, 1998, with Diva |
|
Dana International |
| UK entry 2003, scored "nul points" with Cry Baby |
|
Jemini |
| Replaced Terry Wogan as BBC TV's main presenter, 2009 |
|
Graham Norton |
| First host nation to receive nul points (2015) |
|
Austria |
| Small town in Co. Cork (population 1,555 in 2018) that hosted the contest in 1993 after Ireland's fourth win |
|
Millstreet |
| 7 |
|
Ireland |
1970, 1980, 1987, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996 |
| 6 |
|
Sweden |
1974, 1984, 1991, 1999, 2012, 2015 |
| 5 |
|
France |
1958, 1960, 1962, 1969, 1977 |
| 5 |
|
Luxembourg |
1961, 1965, 1972, 1973, 1983 |
| 5 |
|
United Kingdom |
1967, 1969, 1976, 1981, 1997 |
| 4 |
|
Netherlands |
1957, 1959, 1969, 1975 |
In 1969 there was a four–way tie for first place. (For details, see below.)
Sweden's first winners (in 1974) were ABBA – probably the most successful Eurovision winners ever, and certainly the most successful act that has ever won it having entered as unknowns.
| Year | Venue | Act | Title | |||
| 1967 |
|
Vienna |
|
Sandie Shaw |
|
Puppet on a String |
| 1969 |
|
Madrid |
|
Lulu |
|
Boom Bang–a–Bang |
| 1976 |
|
The Hague |
|
Brotherhood of Man |
|
Save Your Kisses for Me |
| 1981 |
|
Dublin |
|
Bucks Fizz |
|
Making Your Mind up |
| 1997 |
|
Dublin |
|
Katrina & the Waves |
|
Love Shine a Light |
As already mentioned, in 1969 there was a four–way tie for first place. (For more details, see below.)
Up to and including 2019, the UK entry has finished in last place on four occasions:
| Year | Venue | Act | Title | Votes | |||
| 2003 |
|
Riga |
|
Jemini |
|
Cry Baby |
0 |
| 2008 |
|
Belgrade |
|
Andy Abraham |
|
Even If |
14 |
| 2010 |
|
Oslo |
|
Josh Dubovie |
|
That Sounds Good to Me |
10 |
| 2019 |
|
Tel Aviv |
|
Michael Rice |
|
Bigger Than Us |
11 |
| 2021 |
|
Rotterdam |
|
James Newman |
|
Embers |
0 |
James Newman's effort was the second UK entry to receive nul points, and the first from any country since 2015, when a change in the voting system made it "almost impossible" (see below). It was the 39th song to suffer this ingnominy, and the 19th since 1975 when the scoring system was changed so that each jury gave points to more songs – thus making a nul points score less likely.
Electro Velvet's 5 points in 2015 was the next lowest points total ever for a UK entry. But on this occasion three entries actually did worse: France received only four votes, and neither Germany nor hosts Austria received any at all. This made Austria the first host nation to receive nul points.
It was the Eurovision Wiki that said it had been "almost impossible" to get nul points "as of 2015" (I think they mean since 2015) due to a further change in the voting system. (In 2017 it nearly happened twice – to San Marino in the second semi–final and Spain in the final.)
It's not actually clear where the phrase nul points comes from, unless it's urban myth. The French word nul means "worthless"; the French for "no points" would be pas de points or zéro points, but in fact (according to Wikipedia) none of these phrases is used in the contest, as the presenters don't announce zero–point scores.
Up to and including 2023, the UK has hosted the final on nine occasions (despite only winning it four times):
| Year | City | Previous winner(s) | Host(s) | |||
| 1960 |
|
London |
|
Teddy Scholten (Netherlands)
 |
|
Katie Boyle |
| 1963 |
|
London |
|
Isabelle Aubret (France)
|
|
Katie Boyle |
| 1968 |
|
London |
|
Sandie Shaw |
|
Katie Boyle |
| 1972 |
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Harrogate |
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Séverine (Monaco)
|
|
Moira Shearer |
| 1974 |
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Brighton |
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Anne–Marie David (Luxembourg)
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Katie Boyle |
| 1977 |
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London |
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Brotherhood of Man |
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Angela Rippon |
| 1982 |
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Harrogate |
|
Bucks Fizz |
|
Jan Leeming |
| 1998 |
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Birmingham |
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Katrina & the Waves |
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Terry Wogan, Ulrika Jonsson |
| 2023 |
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Liverpool |
|
Kalush Orchestra (Ukraine)
|
|
Graham Norton
|
In the UK, from a 21st–century perspective, the main point of interest in the first few years of Eurovision is that we didn't compete in two of the first three years. In 1956 we missed the deadline for submitting our entry; it's not clear why we didn't compete in 1958.
| Year | Venue | Winners | Song | Act | No. | Vts | ||||
| 1956 |
|
Lugano |
|
Switzerland |
|
Refrain |
|
Lys Assia |
14 | N/A |
| UK entry: | None | N/A | ||||||||
| 1957 |
|
Frankfurt |
|
Netherlands |
|
Net als toen |
|
Corry Brokken |
10 | 31 |
| UK entry: |
|
All |
|
Patricia Bredin |
7 | 6 | ||||
| 1958 |
|
Hilversum |
|
France |
|
Dord, mon amour |
|
André Claveau |
10 | 27 |
| UK entry: | None | N/A | ||||||||
| 1959 |
|
Cannes |
|
Netherlands |
|
Een beetje |
|
Teddy Scholten |
11 | 21 |
| UK entry: |
|
Sing, Little Birdie |
|
Pearl Carr & Teddy Johnson |
2 | 16 | ||||
The UK has competed every year since 1959 (except 2020 when the contest was not held), making a total of 64 entries (up to and including 2022).
... and finally, here's a complete list (from 1960, in reverse chronological order) of host cities, winning entries, UK entries (song title and artiste in each case), and where the UK came in the final reckoning.
The last but one column shows the total number of entries and the final placing of the UK entry; the last column shows the number of votes received, respectively, by the winning entry and the UK entry.
If you're ever asked which country is hosting the next Eurovision, it's whichever country won the last one.
| Year | Venue | Winners | Song | Act | No. | Vts | ||||
| 2022 |
|
Turin |
|
Ukraine |
|
Stefania |
|
Kalush Orchestra |
25 | 631 |
| UK entry: |
|
Space Man |
|
Sam Ryder |
2 | 466 | ||||
| 2021 |
|
Rotterdam |
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Italy |
|
Zitti e Buoni (Shut Up and Behave) |
|
Måneskin (mona–skin) maneskin |
26 | 524 |
| UK entry: |
|
Embers |
|
James Newman |
26 | 0 | ||||
2020: no contest due to the COVID–19 pandemic.
© Haydn Thompson 2017–23