484 Eurovision Song Contest

First  viewed :  4th  April  1981

I'd  been  aware  of  the  Contest  since  I  first  got   interested  in  pop  music  at  the  beginning  of  1973, when  Cliff's  Power  To  All  Our  Friends  lost  out  to  Anne-Marie  David's  Wonderful  Dream  ( undoubtedly  a  better  song )  but  this  was  the  first  time  I'd  actually  watched  the  Final. It  wasn't  a  bad  one  to  pick  as  the  UK  scored  its  penultimate  ( at  the  time  of  writing )  victory  with  Bucks  Fizz  and  Making  Your  Mind  Up  complete  with  the  skirt-ripping  routine  already  familiar  from  their  Top  of  the  Pops  appearances. Apart  from  the  result  the  thing  I  most  remember  is  how  vital  a  part  of  the  proceedings  Terry  Wogan's  droll  commentary  was.
Oh  and  Norway  scored  their  customary  nul  points  with  a  dreadful  dirge.

While  Bucks  Fizz  were  well-drilled  and  faultless  on  the  night  their  successors  in  1982   Bardo  were  not  so  good  with  Sally  Anne  Triplett  ( like  Bucks'  Cheryl  Baker   a  second  time  around  contestant  having  been  in  1980's  outfit  Prima  Donna )  sounding  breathless  and  off  key  on  One  Step  Further , She  has  though  had  a  strong  career  in  musical  theatre  ever  since. They  lost  out  to  Germany's  Dana  clone  Nicole  whose  cloying   A  Little  Peace  is  still  the  last  Eurovision  winner  to  top  the  UK  chart. Norway  passed  the  wooden  spoon  to  neighbours   Finland  whose  punky  anti-nuclear  ditty  "Nukku  Pommin"  ( or  something  like  that  ).

I  don't  think  I  watched  it  again  until  1987  when  Ireland's  Johnny  Logan  scored  his  second  win  in  eight  years   with  "Hold  Me  Now" although  he  had  to  make  do  with  the  runner's  up  spot  in  the  charts. The  next  one  I  remember  is  1994  when  a  couple  of  unremarkable  Irishmen  Harrington  &  McGettigan  won  with  the  instantly  forgettable  "Rock  And  Roll  Kids";  there  was  speculation  that  the  Irish  had  selected  it  to  fail  because  they  couldn't  afford  to  host  three  contests  in  a  row  but  it  still  won  anyway.

In  1998  my  wife  and  I  were  invited  to  watch  it  at  a  friend's  house.  That  was  the  one  won  by  the  Israeli  transvestite  but  what  I  remember  best  is  hostess  Ulrika  Jonsson's  hatchet  job  on  one  of  the  special  guests.  The  Dutch  judges  had  invited  a  previous  contestant,  Conny  van  den  Bos  who  was  completely  unknown  in  the  UK, to  be  their  spokesperson  and  when  she  appeared  on  screen  to  announce  their  votes  she  made  a  meal  of  it  : " Before  I  start  giving  you  my   points   I  should  like  to  say  my  heart  goes  to  all  the  singers   because  I  know  what  they  feel". Ulrika  was  having  none  of  this  grandstanding  (  note  she  said  my  points ) and  hit  her  right  between  the  eyes  with  "  I  know . You  of  course  have  taken  part  so  you  must  be  feeling  their  nerves . A  long  time  ago  was  it ?"  and  you  could  hear  the  Birmingham  audience's  collective  intake  of  breath . You  don't  mess  with  the  Swede !

Since  then  the  only  one  I've  watched  through  was  the  infamous  2003  Final  when  the  UK's hapless  Jemini  scored  the  dreaded  nul  points. The  song  was  a  routine  effort  but  they  sang  it badly  and  as  Terry  Wogan  kindly  pointed  out  at  the  time,  the  rest  of  Europe   were   using  the  voting  as  a  way  to  express  their  displeasure  at  the  UK's  support  for  the  Iraq  War. I  don't suppose  Tony  Blair  ever  took  them  to  dinner  to  make  up  for  it.