IntroductionThe Eurovision Song Contest is now a much loved and looked for annual event that brings together songs from a variety of European countries to find which is the best. It’s unusual in that most countries allow viewers to vote and so the song is really the one that ordinary people judge as the best. That, at least, is the theory.
Britain has participated since the contest began and in the 1960s we had some successes as well as participating in some dramas. I am going to review each year from 1960 right up until 1969 with details of the British successes and failures and, of course, bring you details of the winning song each year.
A little history
As anyone who was there will remember, the period after the Second World War was a bleak one for most countries, Britain included. People had lost loved ones, food and housing were in short supply and money was tight.
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) was formed (in fact in Torquay, Devon) in 1950 and was an organisation of 23 European and Mediterranean broadcasters. Against the grey and dispiriting backdrop of the immediate post war period a committee was formed to look at ways to bring together previously warring nations in a spirit of cooperation, competition and entertainment.
From this committee came forward the idea of a yearly song contest to be performed live and sent out live over the (then new) television network. After all the songs had been performed, the participating countries would then vote for the best of the other countries songs. The country of the winning song would then host the next year’s contest.
Bear in mind, as you read my articles yet to come, that winning the contest is simply an honour and no money goes with it (but the winning song gets a trophy and the singer and songwriter gets medals).
It also costs a lot of money to host a contest like this and money was in short supply at that time. These days much of the cash needed is raised by commercial sponsorship and I believe that the participating countries chip in but in those days the country, so far as I know, had to bear the cost themselves.
The first contest
Obviously the contest had to start somewhere and someone had to host the very first one and that country was Switzerland.
The Eurovision Song Contest began on 24 May 1956 at the Teatro Kursaal in Lugano, Switzerland. The rules and format were slightly different and Britain along with Austria and Denmark were disqualified before the contest even started for registering too late for the deadline. I’m not sure how that came about and if anyone has any more information on Britain’s disqualification please let me know.
For the record there were 14 songs and Switzerland won with ‘Refrain’ sung by Lys Assia.
The event was televised although few in 1956 had televisions and so it was also broadcast by radio.
The events leading to 1960
We begin next week in 1960 but, to set the scene, in 1959 the contest was held in Cannes and won by the Netherlands singer Teddy Scholten with Een Beetje (a little bit).
This meant that the following year’s contest, 1960, was set to be hosted by Holland.
Again for the record, in 1959 Britain finished second with a song called ‘Sing Little Birdy’ by Pearl Carr and Teddy Johnson.
So the scene is set for next week when I will begin my review of the contest for the 10 years of the 1960s decade with particular reference to Britain’s performance.
There are various books about the Eurovision Song Contest and to get you started here are two links to books on Amazon UK.
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