Eurovision at 60

-Good luck everyone.

-Run telecine.

-Yes, camera A is ready.

Finland, can you hear me?

THEY SPEAK IN VARIOUS LANGUAGES

We were watching the votes and the room was getting hotter and hotter and hotter and hotter.

-'United Kingdom, seven votes.'

-'Germany 12 points. Norway...'

'You surprise and astound me.'

-'These are the ABBA group.'

-'Nana Mouskouri.'

-'Julio Iglesias.'

-'Serge Gainsbourg'

-'Dana.'

'There is going to be some celebrating tonight with the Irish party.'

'United Kingdom have done it again and I'll take a small bet that this might well go to number one.'

'What do you think of the standard of songs in recent years?'

Very, very low indeed.

'We are unity and we are unstoppable.'

Your mum, dad, five of us, we would all sit,

we were glued to the television which in those days was this size.

Every year Eurovision was a must.

'My mother forced me... No, she didn't force me,'

I really loved to watch Eurovision.

'You'd be sitting on the carpet writing down your favourite ones.'

It was a huge event. It was event TV.

'It was the very first time that Europe came together, as it were,

'on wings of song. The idea was'

to unify the Continent with song

and all it made manifestly clear was how far apart we were.

My favourite one of all would be probably

Mouth & MacNeal, I See A Star.

# I see a star... #

And it was the same year that ABBA won.

# I feel like I win when I lose... #

The favourite Eurovision song of all has to be Waterloo.

# Waterloo, I was defeated You won the war... #

Volare.

# Volare... #

Beautiful song.

Once there was a beautiful Italian song called Non Ho L'eta.

# Non ho l'eta... #

Celine Dion. For Switzerland.

# Ne partez pas sans moi... #

I mean, I love Celine Dion. Surprise(!)

'It's almost impossible to explain Eurovision to someone'

who doesn't know what it is or who had never seen before.

Because you've got to know how it got to where it is today.

The ITA transmitter at Norwood

near the Crystal Palace in south London

and the Eiffel Tower in Paris. With typical French resource

they have made this tourist attraction serve as a TV aerial, too.

'There had been a couple of dreadful wars'

and it was the very first attempt by Europe to bring itself together.

How does it work? Have a look at the Eurovision control room in Brussels.

IN FRENCH

It's a magnificent foolish concept.

That's fine, thank you.

You might say the same about the European Union.

You might say the same about the euro.

'This your first sight of France by direct vision

on this lovely summer night.'

'And up shoot the glittering rockets right over the heads of the crowd.'

Just like sport, music easily travels,

so the EBU thought it would be a good idea to experiment with this,

ask in that case, composers to come

up with their best light music compositions and let them compete.

In 1956 when the first contest took place the UK actually missed

out on that one.

The BBC were organising the British Festival Of Popular Song.

# Everybody falls in love with someone

# Why can't someone fall in love with me? #

-Are you there, Birmingham?

-'Yes, we're here.'

-How is it coming through?

-'Fine.'

-What's the weather like up there?

-'Much better than it has been.'

-A little bit rainy down here. Windy, too.

'Song number three, four votes.'

IN GERMAN

SHE SINGS IN FRENCH

THEY SING IN DANISH

# All the golden dreams of yesterday... #

SHE SINGS IN DUTCH

HE SINGS IN ITALIAN

Italy were absolutely robbed in 1958.

'Domenico was fairly unique at that time, for actually'

opening his arms out during the performance.

Normally, Italian singers stood there with their arms by their side,

but given the song was about flying, it was quite an inspired idea.

HE SINGS IN ITALIAN

SHOUTING

# Sing, sing, sing, little birdie

# Sing, sing, sing it... #

# Sing, little birdie sing a song

# La-la-la-la la-la-la. #

# Sing, little birdie Sing your song

# Sing and you help our love along

# Sing, little birdie up above

# Sing the sound of love... #

'Good evening, this is David Jacobs speaking

'from the Royal Festival Hall.

Alongside me in these boxes are ten commentators each interpreting

'the scene in their various languages.

'In a few seconds, the mistress of ceremonies, Miss Catherine Boyle,

'will make her entrance and the show will begin.

APPLAUSE

Tonight, this programme is being televised to no less

than 14 countries.

# Sing me high, high, high Sing me low... #

# Looking high, high, high. #

Oh, yes, "Looking high."

# Wondering why, why, why did she go, go, go

# For if I, I, I Don't find my love I know

# I shall die, die, die Cos I love her so. #

HE SINGS IN FRENCH

# Are you sure you won't be sorry? Comes tomorrow

# You won't want me back again to hold you tightly... #

THEY SING IN DUTCH

SHE SINGS IN FRENCH

APPLAUSE

France had won twice and really couldn't take it on again,

so the BBC came along and said, "We'll do it

"because we've got this very nice set of new studios

"which we're just building, called the Television Centre,"

and I think they wanted to show them off.

'It was I think the only time in its history that it's ever been

'done in a studio.'

'Viewers in the UK will recognise this building

'but it will be less familiar to the 75 million

'viewers from 17 other European countries.'

We decided that we'd try and make the opening look...

Show off, I think, the Television Centre.

So we decided to try and get a helicopter shot

of the building approaching at night.

The standard of the artists were very high in those days.

There were people like Francoise Hardy for Monaco...

MUSIC: L'amour s'en va by Francoise Hardy

..Alain Barriere from France...

MUSIC: Elle etait si jolie by Alain Barriere

HE SINGS IN FRENCH

..and for Luxembourg was a Greek singer

called Nana Mouskouri.

MUSIC: A force de prier by Nana Mouskouri

SHE SINGS IN FRENCH

It all seemed to go pretty well,

until we got to the end

and then there was a bit of trouble with the voting.

'Song number four, Denmark, two votes.'

Well, hold on, Oslo, just one moment.

I'm afraid I shall have to ask you

to give these votes all over again,

because first, you have to give the number on the board,

then the number of... the name of the country.

Katie Boyle said, "Well, sort yourselves out

"and we'll come back to you later and get your voting."

We will go on to Italy.

When we got to the end,

Switzerland and the Danes were running neck-and-neck.

Well, now we have to go back to Norway for a very decisive vote.

Norway come back on at the end of all the voting

and the second time round,

the votes were completely different to the first time.

'Denmark, four votes.

'Song number ten, Switzerland, one vote.

'And that completes the vote of the Norwegian jury.'

AUDIENCE MURMURS

There was a bit of drawing of breath.

MURMURING

I...thank you very much.

APPLAUSE

And the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest is...Denmark,

with the song Dansevise.

APPLAUSE

An investigation by the EBU afterwards

discovered the votes they did award in the end were correct.

MUSIC: Non Ho L'Eta Gigliola Cinquetti

SHE SINGS IN ITALIAN

I was in the kitchen of our house

and I was watching Eurovision on the black and white set

and this beautiful young girl called Gigliola Cinquetti

came on the stage and I was totally mesmerised by her.

It was just magical.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

MUSIC: Poupee De Cire, Poupee De Son by France Gall

SHE SINGS IN FRENCH

Serge Gainsbourg!

Serge Gainsbourg always had women hanging all over him.

Brigitte Bardot would be hanging onto him

and smoking Je T'Aime cigarettes or something.

Jesus Christ!

SHE SINGS IN FRENCH

COMMENTATOR SPEAKS IN FRENCH

On va entendre maintenant "A Man Without Love".

# A man without love

# Is only half a man... #

If you look back to the UK music scene in the '50s and '60s,

the UK was making some of the biggest music in the world,

yet that wasn't coming through when it came to Eurovision.

# A man without love... #

I think it was our lovely head of department Tom Sloan

who thought he should wear the kilt

and I'm not too sure whether a lot of people

in other European countries didn't find that a little bit...strange.

# ..For a man without love. #

Our entries look like they're from the decade previously.

Great songs, if you like, but sort of parlour songs

and it was really '67 -

they sent Sandie Shaw, barefooted, to just look like she belonged

in the era that we were watching.

Once upon a time, an English song, for the first time,

won the Eurovision Song Contest.

I was lucky enough to be the one who sang it.

MUSIC: Strange Brew by Cream

'67 was the Flower Power year and the songs were great.

A Whiter Shade Of Pale,

"if you go to San Francisco, wear flowers in your hair."

It was quite extraordinary. Every song was a winner.

# Strange brew... #

The age group which buys records

has got much lower

in the last 25 or 30 years.

And I believe that the standard of music

has got correspondingly lower as the age groups got lower.

But 30 years from now,

the popular songs of today may be the popular songs then.

With all due respect, I don't think the songs that you've written

will be heard of or remembered

or even thought about in 30 years' time.

I was a songwriter in Tin Pan Alley

and the very first year that they really put in a contemporary singer,

everybody entered Eurovision,

with the exception of about four teams,

which was John Lennon and Paul McCartney,

Ray Davies, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards

and...who was the other one?

Pete Townsend of the Who, he'd have punched you in the nose

if you mentioned Eurovision.

Do you think, as Tom Sloan has said, that Sandie Shaw represents 1967?

Well, she doesn't for me,

but I don't suppose I count, because I'm over 21.

Because she's a hit artist all over Europe and this is what we want -

a hit song for the Eurovision Song Contest.

And this time, we'll win it.

# I've known him almost two years... #

It seems to be that the BBC picked you for this year's contest

because you're very big in Europe.

They explained that to me, you know -

they wanted someone that represented the young pop scene

and they thought that I was the best one, which is nice.

# I had a dream last night

# He's coming home

# Had a dream last night

# He's coming home

-# Now I feel so sad

-So sad

-# So sad

-So sad... #

She had a strange manager called Evie Taylor.

You think I'm very hard on you, but I'm not.

-She's bringing me down.

-I'm not bringing you down, cos you know it's the truth.

And Evie says to me, I'm going to do something here.

This is the night when we were performing the songs.

I says, "What do you mean?"

She says... "I'm going to do something."

The band started - "Boop, boop, boop..."

And then Sandie started with a long note.

# I...

And then Sandie said, "Stop.

"I've come in at the wrong time. Can we start again?"

And apparently,

Evie had done something with the musician to...

I don't know, but it stopped it.

And it was an attention-getter.

And to me, that was a winning thing.

ANNOUNCER SPEAKS IN GERMAN

I think Evie tried it again at the Eurovision and it never worked.

ANNOUNCER SPEAKS IN GERMAN

Her microphone didn't work at the beginning, if I remember rightly.

The long note was silent.

MUFFLED NOTE

# I wonder if one day that you'll say that you care... #

And I thought, "Oh, no! She's going to miss her moment!

"It's going to be awful! How can she sing now?"

# ..puppet on string... #

It didn't put Sandie out.

And she still did it, and did it brilliantly.

# Love is just like a merry-go-round... #

Who kept the microphone off?

I don't know. It's interesting.

# Then I'm up in the air... #

United Kingdom, seven votes.

From the UK point of view, it wasn't needed.

Puppet On A String, Grossbritanien.

The music business was gigantic.

But from the BBC point of view, it was very important.

# Like a puppet on a...

# String. #

The BBC were very keen to try

and win the 1967 Eurovision Song Contest,

in order that they could stage the 1968 contest,

which would be the first one to be broadcast in colour.

We were basking in the limelight of being hit songwriters.

Having conquered Europe, we decided to slaughter them this time

and Phil, my songwriting partner, he played about on the piano.

He said, "I've written this for the Eurovision."

And the title was I Think I Love You.

# I think I love you I think I love you

# I think the world is fine if you will say you're mine. #

He said, "What do you think?" And I went, "Rubbish."

He says, "Well, help it." And I says, "It's five syllables?"

"Why don't we call it 'Congratulations and celebrations'?"

And that's how it came about.

And the two guitarists that played on the demos of Congratulations,

it was Jimmy Page and John-Paul Jones.

HE LAUGHS

MUSIC: Whole Lotta Love by Led Zeppelin

They hate being associated with Cliff's Congratulations -

two of the best guitarists in the world.

Can you believe that?

They were going... # Congratulations... #

And they thought, "What's this load of nonsense?"

The UK press were wildly speculating

who was going to come second to the UK.

There was a real confidence about the UK's chances of victory.

Cliff Richard was big star. He had the support of the home crowd

and really, there was nothing stopping him.

He looks great. He's charismatic.

The only thing Cliff couldn't do was dance.

# Congratulations

# And celebrations

# When I tell everyone that you're in love with me... #

The UK were leading more or less

most of the...certainly throughout the second half of the votes.

Bill Cotton came along, he says, "Up, you two. You've won it again."

And...Cliff's there, all excited.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

And then the last vote came in.

I don't know how this happened,

but this song won it.

It came from nowhere.

# La, la-la-la, la-la-la... #

If you listen to La-la-la-la, I think there's 98 la-la-las in it.

# La-la-la, la-la-la... #

It was a fix, because Cliff had won this.

There's various rumours

that Franco desperately wanted to host Eurovision in Spain

and bribed the judges.

Those have always been denied by both the European Broadcasting Union

and, unsurprisingly, the winner from Spain, Massiel.

However, Cliff Richard remained open-minded.

# My heart goes boom bang-a-bang Boom bang-a-bang

# When you are near

# Boom bang-a-bang Boom bang-a-bang

# Loud in my ear... #

Spain was a dictatorship when Lulu went on in that little pink dress.

I mean, what a joyful thing to think of.

# It's such a lovely... #

It's almost like she's just stepped out of a Mini

and she's just swung onto these little European people and gone "Boom-Bang-A-Bang".

# When I'm in your arms

# Now you are near I wanna hear your heartbeat too

# Boom bang-a-bang-bang

# Boom bang-a-bang-bang

# Boom bang-a-bang-bang

# I love you

# Ole! #

APPLAUSE

It was a great victory for the British

in a year where everyone won.

Ireland was going through economically hard days

and in the north, where I lived, very, very difficult days,

that we now call the Troubles.

There were running battles every day.

GUNSHOT

People were bewildered. On newspapers all around the world,

all people saw of my town was street battles

and friction and... just really terrible things.

DOG BARKS

The song was very like a folk song and I was basically a folk singer

and it was written by two amateur writers.

They were compositors in a Dublin newspaper.

And I was an amateur. I was at school.

I had to go to Amsterdam with schoolbooks in my suitcase.

I never opened them, mind you, but I did take them!

And I was a complete outsider.

Did I think it would win?

Absolutely not, because I didn't think I could win.

SHE SINGS IN GERMAN

Katja Ebstein sang for Germany.

Julio Iglesias sang for Spain.

# La-la, la-la-la... #

And...I loved Mary Hopkin.

# Knock-knock, who's there? #

She was a very big star.

So the presumption was that Mary would win

and I was very happy with that, because I thought she was great.

The moment we've all been waiting for. Dana...

I was the last on.

The little girl from Ireland on whom all our hopes are pinned.

I just was talking to myself, saying "Don't forget the words,

"don't slip going down that slope."

And the stool was not a stool, it was a cylinder with no footrest.

So, if you went too far, you fell off the back.

If you didn't go up enough, you couldn't steady yourself.

So practicalities...

# Snowdrops and daffodils

# Butterflies and bees

# Sailboats and fishermen

# Things of the sea... #

'I remember visualising the faces'

of family and friends back home in Derry.

# All kinds of everything

# Remind me of you. #

Ireland, five votes.

Well, that certainly gets us off to a good start.

I...I wasn't really interested in the voting.

Irlande, neuve votes.

CHEERING

All of a sudden, the floor manager grabbed me by the wrist

and started pulling me to the stage.

And Ireland has won!

And I'm pulling against him

and he said, you know, "Come with me, you've won."

And I said, "No, no, I haven't won, I couldn't have won."

And then Mary Hopkin said, "You've won."

-APPLAUSE

-Our own Dana has won the Eurovision Song Contest.

From then on, it was like an unreal experience,

an out-of-body experience.

And, of course, there was pandemonium.

I can tell you, here in Amsterdam,

there's going to be some celebrating tonight with the Irish party.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Ireland hadn't had too much international success.

Ireland was still an emerging nation, I suppose.

It had a lot poverty, the Celtic Tiger hadn't roared,

wouldn't roar for maybe another 10, 15 years.

Smiled on Saturday night. How about a big smile back?

Ireland, back then, you couldn't imagine that we'd ever win anything.

You know, we were not bred to win.

We were bred to lose and be downtrodden.

So, the fact that Europe decided little Dana

was the best song in Europe, it was enormous.

The whole country was en fete.

CROWDS CHEER

There was jubilation. I mean...

It was a very bright light... in very dark days.

At last, Saturday comes and excitement begins to build.

Backstage at the Gaiety fairly crackles with tension

and it's all systems go.

Of course, we're all very conscious that we're showing

the face of Ireland to the world - the audience for this programme

is estimated at something between 500-1,000 million.

Probably the largest audience ever for any entertainment programme.

We'd like our country to appear to them

as attractive and friendly, and also efficient.

Of course, we were watching it. This is our showcase to the world.

-Good luck, everyone. Knock 'em dead.

-Three, two...

The BBC was tremendously supportive when Ireland had to host it,

because we had black and white TV. We didn't have colour.

Five seconds. What's next?

Therefore, we didn't have colour cameras

and they were loaned by the British.

It was done in the little theatre on which I had trod the boards,

the Gaiety Theatre in Dublin, which is a little music hall.

Took about, I suppose.... If it took 1,000 people, I'd be amazed.

and it had all the cameras and all the sound

and all the commentary positions and everything

and the two presenters sat in a box,

in a theatre box just by the side, to present.

And that was an example of how small it was in the early '70s.

# Like a doll you throw away

# So sad and lonely all by myself

# I'm just your...

# Jack in the box You know whenever love knocks

# I'm gonna bounce up and down on my spring

# A toy you start when it stops

# I'm just your jack in the box

# Because for your love I'd do anything. #

MUSIC: Apres Toi by Vicky Leandros

SHE SINGS IN FRENCH

This Eurovision Song Contest has presented Luxembourg

with its biggest security problem.

MUSIC: Ey Sham by Ilanit

SHE SINGS IN HEBREW

The qualifying mechanic is that you're a member of the EBU,

the European Broadcasting Union.

So, for example, Israel is a member of the EBU,

so it can participate.

SHE SINGS IN HEBREW

Some guards have even come from Israel itself,

in case Black September terrorists try something this weekend.

The concert hall was surrounded by soldiers, police,

armoured vehicles...

You know - an attack was expected.

-TERRY COMMENTATES:

-So with every available digit crossed for Cliff,

here it is now. For the United Kingdom, our entry...

'Just before the show starts, the floor manager says,

"Please remain in your seats when you're applauding.

"Do not stand up, otherwise, you may be shot.

"Because we have to take care."

So, that was a fairly nerve-racking moment.

# Power to all our friends

# To the music that never ends

# To the people we want to be

# Baby, power to you and me. #

# I see a star... #

Camera A ready!

Yes, Camera A's ready.

PRESENTER SPEAKS IN SPANISH

1974 produced more chart hits in the contest in the UK

than perhaps any other year.

# Si... #

The Italian entry in 1974

was the closest I ever got, I think, with Eurovision,

to a song that felt like something that

I would want to have written -

an incredibly tragic, heart-wrenching piece of drama.

MUSIC: Si by Gigliola Cinquetti

# Long, long live love

# Love... #

Olivia Newton John sang for the UK that year.

She was an established artist and, even then,

we were having problems getting established artists to sing

in the Eurovision Song Contest - can't risk being beaten.

But she did get beaten.

# Love, love, love, love

# Oh

# Long, long live love... #

I remember saying at the time, "Well, that's very plucky

"of Olivia Newton John, you know?

"I can't wait to see what's going to happen to her career now.

"Probably downhill."

And she went to Hollywood, starred in Grease

and became a huge international star,

which just shows that I know absolutely nothing.

# Long live love. #

-TERRY COMMENTATES:

-These are the ABBA group.

They made their first record in 1972

and, if all the judges were men, which they're not,

I'm sure this group would get a lot of votes.

You'll see why in a minute. Their song is called...

Oh! And it's Napoleon.

Napoleon - no wonder. Their song is called Waterloo.

This is Sven-Olof Walldorf,

who's entered into the spirit of it all, dressed as Napoleon,

waiting for Waterloo by Abba for Sweden - watch this one.

They came on and they knocked everybody out.

The star-shaped guitar and the stack-heeled silver boots...

The whole thing just looked extraordinary.

Not only was that, like, the first step

in what became one of the most incredible pop careers ever,

but the fact that it felt like a rock song

and it wasn't a bouncy, typical Eurovision song.

It felt exciting.

# Waterloo

# I was defeated, you won the war

# Waterloo

# Promise to love you forevermore...

-Sweden, three votes.

-La Suede, trois votes.

Looking back now, of course,

it seems fairly obvious that ABBA would win with Waterloo.

No member of the British jury

gave ABBA's Waterloo any points whatsoever.

-Sweden, five votes.

-Oy, oy, oy!

Of course, we all think they were destined to win

and they came fully formed, but they mightn't have won.

And then, I guess, the course of history would be very different.

APPLAUSE

SWEDISH COMMENTATOR SPEAKS

# When you feelin' all right Everything is uptight

# Try to sing a song that goes ding ding-a-dong

# Let's put an end to our ding-dang-dong

# Ding-a-dong. #

# Ding-a-dong, listen to it

# Maybe it's a big hit

# Even when your lover is gone, gone, gone

# Sing ding-ding-dong... #

GLASS SMASHES

# The time is moving on

# And I really should be gone

# But you keep me hanging on for one more smile

-# I love you

-I love you

# All the while

# With your cute little wave Will you promise that you'll save

# Your...kisses for me

# Save all your kisses for me

# Bye-bye, baby, bye-bye... #

MUSIC ECHOES

Rock Bottom is the name of the song

sung by Lynsey de Paul and Mike Moran,

which you won't have seen winning the Song For Europe last night.

The contest took place at the New London Theatre

and was going to be seen by millions of viewers on BBC One,

but minutes before airtime, it was blacked out

because of an industrial dispute.

# Where are we?

# Rock bottom

# Tragedies

# We got 'em

# Remedy

# What do we...

# Rub it out and start it again... #

# Rock, rock

# Rock bottom

# Rock, rock

# Rock bottom

# Rock, rock

# Rock bottom

# Rub it out and start it again. #

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

# All it took was one glance

# To get my love, babe... #

# I've tried to make you into someone

# That you never wanted to be... #

# All I offer is my solid love... #

# Those were the bad old days

# Before I had it... #

'Back in the '70s'

Eurovision didn't have that, kind of, cheesy stigma about it.

It was still regarded with great affection

and we always stood a good chance of being in the top five, at least.

-# Doo-bee-doo

-Doo-dee-doo-bee-doo... #

At that time, I don't think we came less than the top five.

# Those were the bad old days... #

And we represented the UK in France in Paris, and we were tipped to win.

Singing the United Kingdom's entry

at number eight with Alyn Ainsworth, Coco.

# And you put all the good inside of me. #

We came 11th which, at the time, was the worst the UK had ever done,

so at the time, I thought, "I've let Queen and country down", you know?

I was quite depressed about it.

Having said that, it was my childhood dream, so I had fulfilled the dream,

even though it... didn't match up to what I'd hoped.

MUSIC: Mil Etter Mil by Jahn Teigen

THEY SING IN HEBREW

'Israel, eight points.'

Israel, ten points.

'Israel, douze points'

Israel, 12 points.

Israel, 12 points.

APPLAUSE

However, it was not universally popular across the Arabic countries.

As soon as it became obvious that Israel was going to win,

Jordan decide to replace the transmission

with a photograph of a vase of flowers.

BEEP

And later on Saturday,

in international control rooms like this throughout Europe,

all eyes will be on Jerusalem for this year's Eurovision Song Contest.

# Mary Ann, I'm gonna do what I can

# But I can't do more than try

# Tearin' my heart out tryin' to make it up to you

# Mary Ann, I'm gonna do what I can

# That's the truth and that's no lie

# Cryin' my eyes out Gotta get it back with you. #

This year's contest is being staged by Holland,

from here in the Congresgebouw at The Hague.

APPLAUSE

Song 17, sung in English by Johnny Logan.

# I've been waitin' such a long time... #

I was absolutely rooting for him.

The song What's Another Year was a departure

from the songs of that era.

# What's another year? #

It was written by Shay Healy.

He didn't write songs for a living. He was a broadcaster, journalist.

But the words of that song, I believe,

came from a very personal experience.

He heard someone say the phrase

and it struck a chord with him in his life.

# What's another year? #

He didn't sit down to write a Eurovision hit.

And I do think you can...

Something in you knows that.

Ireland have done it, as you can see.

There's Johnny Logan, kissing Katja Ebstein...

..because...he comes on stage now, Johnny Logan.

He's going to be jumping like that for quite a while.

# For someone who is getting used to being...

# Alone? #

-APPLAUSE

-Emotional performance from the winner, Johnny Logan.

# Trust your inner vision... #

They're Cheryl, Mike, Jay and Bobby and the venue is Dublin,

where they're in competition

with entrants from 19 other Eurovision countries.

I was on the jury that year

and as soon as we heard Bucks Fizz, we went, "That's the one."

The Eurovision Song Contest,

live from Dublin, starting at eight o'clock tonight

on BBC One.

But do you think, generally, because the stakes are so high now,

that the Eurovision Song Contest is perhaps more important than it used to be?

Because it gives you such an enormous, kind of...

So many people see you...

I think it's... How many? 500 million?

500 million - that's such a...

I mean, that's the biggest amount of press and publicity

you could ever get in an hour or so.

The lady who put us together

took a lot of time,

and she made sure all the details

were right before we went together.

He was the main ingredient, so we all had to be short and blonde.

HE LAUGHS Yes, I am...

I was 5' 10", then.

-CHERYL SCOFFS

-What, in your dreams?

We were one of the first manufactured bands

which, at the time, was scorned upon,

but now, of course, it's kind of the norm.

It's expected that protesters

supporting the H Block hunger strikers will picket contestants

before and after the concert.

This report from Peter Gould.

A police escort is being provided for the coaches bringing the performers

to the Exhibition Centre where the Song Contest is being staged.

Because of this IRA threat, when we were travelling anywhere,

we were in our own coach.

We had two outriders and we were going through the red lights,

not thinking of the danger, or the reason they were doing it,

of being an IRA target. We were thinking,

"Whoa, this is really exciting, it's like being the Queen!"

Bucks Fizz, the group performing the UK's entry,

are one of the favourites to win.

# Blue, blue

# Blue Johnny, blue... #

SHE SINGS IN GERMAN

I said, "Germany are going to win this."

That German song was nice.

It was competitive, definitely.

I remember going and putting my make-up on backstage.

There was definitely a few dagger looks from other competitors.

And I just gave them back.

APPLAUSE

Of course, it's the most nervous you're going to be.

# You gotta speed it up... #

Representing your country and it meaning so much.

But we started, we did the... # Gotta speed it...

SHE MUMBLES THE WORDS

-Oh, yeah.

-# ...making you mind up. #

And then Michael looked at me and went, "Here we go."

Here we go!

And I thought, "That's it" - just Mike Nolan and me and Jay and Bobby

and we're just doing... we're just having some fun.

# Get a run for your money and take a chance

# And it'll turn out right... #

And that... You know, the skirts dance move was genius.

# You're making your mind up... #

Jay wanted short skirts, because Jay is tiny,

and so I didn't want to wear short skirts, I wanted to wear long.

I've got footballer's legs.

It was getting on my nerves, and I went "Oh...let's have both."

And if remember rightly,

it was the choreographer who said, "That's perfect!"

# But if you wanna see some more

# Bending the rules of the game will let you find... #

The Bucks Fizz skirt was an enormous scandal, let me tell you,

because...sex and nudity in Ireland was in its infancy, then -

and, indeed, has remained so. And rightly so.

Bucks Fizz, on the night, sounded so bad. They were really woeful.

But because we'd heard the song a lot, it didn't matter.

But if you were hearing it for the first time,

that was not a winning performance.

# For making your mind up. #

APPLAUSE

The first country that gave us votes was Austria.

'Royaume Uni, quatre points.'

United Kingdom, four points.

They said four and I thought,

"Well, we've got another 26 countries to go yet, don't let's all panic."

THEY LAUGH

'United Kingdom, eight points.'

-That's a bit more like it.

-Eight points.

'We got lots of eights.'

We won only by about, what, three points?

-Four points.

-Four points, yeah.

Without that Austrian four, we shouldn't have won.

Heavens... Heavens, they've done it again

with Making Your Mind Up.

Another win for the United Kingdom.

I'll take a small bet that this might well go to number one

in the British Hit Parade.

-And I was like a lunatic when we won, weren't we?

-Yes, you were.

-And you've never changed.

-Yes.

Yes, absolutely beside themselves.

MUSIC: No Bombardeen Buenos Aires by Charley Garcia

The Eurovision Song Contest is coming this year from the brand-new,

multimillion-pound Harrogate Conference Centre in North Yorkshire.

Bienvenue a Harrogate! Welcome to Harrogate.

This is the question on all Europe's lips tonight.

Ou est Harrogate? Wo ist Harrogate?

HE LAUGHS

That's the place, in North Yorkshire.

Portugal want a ukulele, who's doing that?

Yes - exhibition strokes.

Do you think for the lads in the orchestra...?

I mean, it's obviously very hard work this week,

rehearsing and doing a live show.

-But do you think it's a challenge for them?

-Oh, yes.

I think they're very proud to do it,

because we consider ourselves to be the best.

CHEERING Eurovision Song Contest is either

a showcase for the best of international pop

or a collection of instantly forgettable rearrangements

of the same three chords,

mostly sung in languages you can't understand.

# One step further... #

For one reason or another, the quality of the songs

has now become something of a joke.

This year's British entry, for instance,

contains the immortal word "tooken", which is unlikely to appear

in the new edition of Roget's Thesaurus.

# I could've tooken one step further... #

THEY HUM SONG

You're both going to face this way.

I think it's a very, very good song and people seem to like us,

which is really, really nice, and the routine and everything,

the whole package for the song, is so good.

I think we stand a really, really good chance.

-And it's exactly the same, but go round the other way.

-The other way.

And you look at her and... No, you go that way.

'I got my first break last year'

when I was asked to do Bucks Fizz

and I didn't really want to do it at first,

cos I've never choreographed with singers and it was fun,

it was so exciting, you know, when they won.

But it taught me this year, I think, that a gimmick always works.

Bucks Fizz had won the 1981 Eurovision Song Contest

with the gimmick of ripping the skirts off

and you can see, in 1982, that this continues with a number of acts

and it almost becomes a Eurovision dance competition.

But ultimately, the contest was won by a girl soloist,

just sitting there,

just performing the song straight to camera.

MUSIC: Ein Bisschen Frieden by Nicole

'It's a song about peace.'

You can't run over the stage from this side to the other side,

so you have to concentrate

on the lyrics, the message.

SHE SINGS IN GERMAN

'I didn't see the audience'

and I didn't want to know that 700 million people are looking out.

-TERRY:

-I'm inclined to think that Britain's Bardo

must have a very good chance with One Step Further.

It's entirely significant that throughout the hundred of years that

I did the Eurovision Song Contest, I never once picked the winner.

'And Germany, 12 points.'

That's Ralph Siegel, there, with Nicole.

'Hello, Jeanne. Hello, Harrogate. Jerusalem calling.'

Really, most important for me...

..it was the point that a German girl

with a song about peace... got 12 points from Israel.

Germany, 12 points.

'Ralph took my hand and said, "That's incredible." '

The first time Germany gets 12 points from Israel,

and we know our history.

-That was...

-SHE EXHALES

Ein Bisschen Frieden from Germany.

'I went to the stage again.'

-TERRY:

-We'll hear a reprise of the winning song.

And I sang it in four languages,

but nobody knew that.

'I had five seconds from the first to the refrain.'

"Should I, should I not? Should I, should I not?

"Should I or should I not? Yes.

"I will make it."

'I thought, "OK, we're in England, what about English?" '

# A little loving, a little giving

# To build a dream for the world we live in... #

'So if you saw the video, you will see the faces of my musicians'

looked at each other and said, "What's going on? What's going on?"

'Then, I turned to French.'

SHE SINGS IN FRENCH

APPLAUSE

-MALE REPORTER:

-It's nearly six weeks now

since the Israelis began their advance into Lebanon.

Since then, international opinion against the war has hardened

and Israeli casualties have mounted.

I was invited to Tel Aviv to sing the songs in front of soldiers.

It was a little bit dangerous, but I wasn't afraid.

I knew I must do this.

All the soldiers, young people, girls and boys, sat down

in front of me on a hill.

'When I started singing, they put down their weapons

'and took each other's hand and listened.'

# We are feathers

# On the breeze... #

'The wish in everybody's heart for peace was alive.'

I think it will be ever alive, this wish.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Great applause for Germany's Nicole from Saarbrucken.

17 years of age.

Marvellous victory.

Welcome to the 28th Eurovision Song Contest in Munich.

MUSIC: I'm Never Giving Up by Sweet Dreams

# I'm never giving up

# Not giving in... #

Israel, huit points.

As the votes started coming in, we were doing pretty well.

United Kingdom, 12 points.

Whoa, we did. United Kingdom get the 12 points.

When the votes are coming in, you've got cameras on your face

and you've got to go, "Oh, yes. We got ten points."

"We got two points. Oh, well, you know, never mind.

"We got two points, but we're still happy."

Not really.

Finally, Luxembourg, 12 points.

When the votes started not to come in

and Luxembourg started getting the 12s,

you started noticing all the TV camera crews slightly moving away.

For the fifth time, Luxembourg has won the Eurovision Song Contest.

MUSIC: Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley by Herreys

# Diggi-loo diggi-ley

# Life is goin' my way

# When I'm walkin' in my golden shoes... #

MUSIC: Lenge Leve Livet by Dollie de Luxe

THEY SING IN NORWEGIAN

And, finally, are you ready?

Norway, 12 points.

You surprise and astound me(!)

MUSIC: La Det Swinge by Bobbysocks!

THEY SING IN NORWEGIAN

I remember it very well.

They won in their neighbouring country, Sweden,

which also gave it a special touch.

They drove back to Oslo, went across the border to Norway.

People cheered with flags all the way from the border and up to Oslo.

It was a fantastic moment.

# Soon we will know

# Who will be the best

# In the Eurovision Song Contest. #

MUSIC: J'aime La Vie by Sandra Kim

THEY SING IN FRENCH

MUSIC: Soldiers of Love by Liliane Saint-Pierre

MUSIC: Boogaloo by Lotta Engberg

MUSIC: Ja Sam Za Ples by Novi Fosili

# ..This is OK

# This is OK... #

MUSIC: Shir Habatlanim by Datner & Kushnir

The silly dressy-up, bing-bongy-bang idea,

which sort of took hold from the '80s onwards,

where everyone thought it was a bit of a joke

and therefore we turned it into a bit of a joke.

It was a great shame.

# Just hold me now

# And I will know though we're apart... #

Dear Johnny Logan. When you think that he won it twice...

..he should have been a bigger star than Elvis.

Come on, Ireland.

# What do you say when words are not enough...? #

Perhaps it's an indication of how...

lightly people take the Eurovision Song Contest.

# What can I say now my words are not enough? #

I can't sing any more. Thank you.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

TERRY SPEAKS IRISH

Good evening and welcome to Dublin,

scene of the 33rd running of the Eurovision Song Contest.

Who said it wouldn't last?

Dublin - one of the great ones.

I remember it above all for the presence of Bruce Forsyth,

who I had invited to come.

His daughter Julie had written our entry that year, Go,

sung by Scott Fitzgerald.

# Go before you break my heart

# Once more, I know... #

Are Italy going to give United Kingdom...?

They are. 12 points to the United Kingdom.

As the voting was proceeding, we were still in chances for the gold.

There's five points in it, I can tell you,

between the United Kingdom and Switzerland.

So, can Scott Fitzgerald hang on by the skin of his teeth

or will Celine Dion catch up?

Everything depends on Yugoslavia.

It went absolutely to the wire

and came down on the last vote to one point.

We've got to get the 10 or the 12 to win it.

Norway, 10 points.

10 points to Norway. Who's getting the 12?

Look at Bruce Forsyth.

What a cliff-hanger.

And finally, France.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

I'm still in recovery from that moment.

Just pipped the United Kingdom with the closest finish

I've ever seen in the Eurovision Song Contest.

Pipped them by one point.

There's the winner, Switzerland's Celine Dion.

MUSIC: Ne Partez Pas Sans Moi by Celine Dion

SHE SINGS IN FRENCH

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

MUSIC: J'ai Vole La Vie by Nathalie Paque

SHE SINGS IN FRENCH

MUSIC: Derekh Hamelekh by Gili and Galit

THEY SING IN HEBREW

MUSIC: Give A Little Love Back To The World by Emma

# We can't go on

# Taking out forever

# Give a little love back to the world

# We've still got time

# Let's do it together... #

This one couldn't be anything else but Spanish.

Azucar Moreno - Bandido.

When you're ready.

I don't like it. It's going too smoothly.

Listen, will I hum you the first couple of bars

while we're waiting here?

MUSIC BEGINS

They're applauding the tape technician now.

Very nice.

It has to be something...

Not something that somebody would either love our hate,

something that everybody, as a whole, will like

and get a good feeling from, so it can't be too unique in its style.

What do you think your chances are in the contest?

There is no contest. We've got it.

# And half the world have too much

# Their only hunger is their greed... #

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

It's a really plucky thing to do, cos you're an established star.

I mean, you'll be expected to win, that's what I mean.

Oh, really?

I hope I do, but that's not the reason that I'm doing it.

I'm trying to work out the reason that I am doing it right now.

I went for Michael Ball. I mean, he has a miraculous voice

and fine good looks. I thought there was a winning combination.

So I invited him to come to Television Centre

to have a meeting with him

in order to propose that he should sing the British entry.

I think there was a moment where it was almost palpable

that the air was leaving his body

as he understood what I was saying to him.

He left my office saying, of course he would think about it,

but that I shouldn't hold my breath.

MUSIC: One Step Out Of Time by Michael Ball

# One reason to put this love on the line... #

And, again, to my sad disappointment,

we got the silver, we came second.

It's Ireland that's won it for the fourth time.

Fourth win for Ireland.

MUSIC: Why Me? by Linda Martin

MUSIC: Go West by Pet Shop Boys

The people, in the shape of the more adventurous demonstrators,

started climbing aboard, the army caved in.

Whatever Mr Gorbachev decides, the people are unlikely ever again

to allow the Communist machine to dominate their lives.

At that time, new nations were popping up like mushrooms,

all of whom wanted to be in the Eurovision Song Contest.

It's the Eurovision Song Contest tomorrow night,

time to send the brain away for the weekend.

The competition's got used to the sneers,

but for the first time in a long while,

the organiser's claims about building international understanding

through music are being taken at face value,

at least by one small country.

The Bosnian team has arrived with a song and a story

to prick the conscience of Europe.

Their entry, entitled The Whole World's Pain,

was written and rehearsed under gunfire in Sarajevo.

Two months ago in the dead of night, they ran full pelt

across the UN-controlled airfield in the city, braving sniper fire.

People risking their lives to take part in a TV show

is a way of saying, "We're here.

"Despite all of this stuff that's going on, we're here

"and this is what we've risked to get there."

Although the group made it,

six other people were shot dead trying to escape that night.

We are not here to use that tragedy in our country.

It did sound a bit like it, that's why...

Maybe for you, but that's reality in my country.

It's happened. It's already happened.

That's happening now, you have to understand that.

That's really happening.

-Yeah, I do believe it.

-Yes.

But then what happened if every other country would do the same?

This should be...?

Oh, you are lucky you haven't this problem in your country.

MUSIC: Sva Bol Svijeta by Fazla

THEY SING IN BOSNIAN

Well, that deserves to get the biggest roar of the night.

MUSIC: In Your Eyes by Niamh Kavanagh

# I see the light leading me home again... #

The Irish have always been tremendously enthusiastic

about Europe, and certainly about taking part

in the Eurovision Song Contest.

MUSIC: Rock'n'Roll Kids by Paul Harrington and Charlie McGettigan

And that's been reflected in the enormous success they've always had.

I mean, they've won it more times than anybody else.

They've won it three times in succession.

If you listen to those songs, they're all kind of different.

I do think that that's perhaps why Ireland was very successful,

cos the writers weren't writing to win Eurovision,

they were writing what they felt.

Ireland have done it.

They can do this, and they've won it for the third time in succession.

Unprecedented.

In the end, it became a sort of national panic,

because, you know winning's great,

but Ireland couldn't afford to stage this thing.

Because, you know, in the beginning you were able to just put

a few cameras in a theatre, or do it in a convention centre

or something, but it just grew and grew,

as did the price of putting it on.

SHOES CLACK

I still think the greatest Irish contribution to

the Eurovision Song Contest was Riverdance.

It is still the best interval act there's ever been.

Just extraordinary that it came from nowhere, that Bill Whelan

just came up with that music, which you assume you knew.

The first time you heard that song you just kind of thought,

"Oh, this is obviously a traditional Irish song

"that they've just vamped up." No, he wrote it.

It took what was an everyday experience for Irish people

and turned it into something magical.

Like, you know, one Irish dancer, you think, well, that's boring,

so you think, 100 Irish dancers, that'll be 100 times more boring.

But instead, just...

It was incredible.

APPLAUSE

Good grief. That brought the folk memories out.

MUSIC: Love City Groove by Love City Groove

This is Britain's attempt to bring the Eurovision Song Contest

screaming into the '90s.

# I'm glad that I been found Always wanted you around

-# Keepin' me lost for words

-Yeah, I know how that sounds

# Now I been to many places and I seen many things

# But nothin' that I know can ever make my heart sing like you do

# It's like a voodoo You know what I'm sayin'?

# Baby girl, I ain't playin'

# I'm glad that I'm the one to rock your world

# Cos, honey, yeah... #

# Ooh, ah, just a little bit

# Ooh, ah, a little bit more

# Ooh ah, just a little bit

# I'll give you love you can't ignore... #

-Ireland is the winner.

-There's the winner - Eimear Quinn.

# I am the voice of your hunger and pain

# I am the voice of the future

# I am the voice... #

# Things can only get better... #

We have been elected as New Labour and we will govern as New Labour.

The Labour government, Tony Blair's government,

won the election

so there was a kind of whole thing going on in the country

at that point.

Everybody was full of optimism, thinking, well, you know,

"And, dammit, we're going to win the Eurovision Song Contest as well."

# I used to think maybe you loved me Now, baby, I'm sure... #

We had to consider quite carefully the move to do

the Eurovision Song Contest,

because we were aware of the obvious connotations of it

being the kiss of death for an artist's career.

And then the other comment we got from people was, "You'd better win."

# Hey-oh, lowly, lowly, low lowly, low-ah...#

I was going into it completely blindly

cos I'd never seen it before.

So I watched some of these tapes of Eurovision

and that was an eye-opener.

You know, it kind of went from juggling acts to acrobatics

and I thought,

"Well, this is just missing a couple of poodles and a clown."

# He's up at four and early... #

But when we got involved with it

and we saw how passionately some countries...

They put forward their very best music.

There wasn't any leverage for being offhandish about it,

we had to take it very seriously.

It was suggested that I "tone down" my American accent.

And I didn't know how I was going to do that unless, you know,

I ended up sounding like Dick Van Dyke. Can you imagine?

-IN A BRITISH ACCENT:

-Oh, yeah, I've lived here since 1976, yeah.

MUSIC: Encore Une Fois by Sash!

It's a twister!

From the second you are greeted at the airport,

the enthusiasm was overwhelming.

Hello...

And I thought, "Oh, my God, this thing is huge."

I was walking into it thinking, "No pressure," and all of a sudden

I was thinking, "Oh, my God, there's a colossal amount of pressure."

MUSIC: Bara Hon Alskar Mig by Blond

Here we are in what is called the greenroom.

Don't be fooled by the fact that it is blue.

And we are now doing what, erm...

you do an awful lot of when you're involved

in the Eurovision Song Contest - and that is wait.

Look, I'm sorry, but this is my favourite bit.

Having sat through 23 other acts, they don't

so much grow on you as they sort of lose their offensiveness.

HE RAPS

And so I was starting to get really attached to a lot of them

and I thought, "Wow, now that's a really good Eurovision song."

Oh, what did the Russian one do...?

# Prima donna... #

# Prima donna... #

So, little by little, I was losing confidence

and I turned to the two backup singers and I said,

"Hey, how are you two so composed?" And they turned to me and they go,

"Beta-blockers, darling."

So, you know, you get out there and the music starts

and I'm listening for the click and I just thought,

"Well, now or never."

# Love shine a light in every corner of my heart

# Let the love light carry Let the love light carry... #

But it was, hands down, the most nerve-racking

and trouser-cacking 2 minutes and 58 seconds of my whole life.

# Love shine a light in every corner... #

United Kingdom... CHEERING

That's the first douze points.

-Hi, Mom and Daddy.

-Hi.

It was just absolute delight.

I mean, it was a show I had always wanted to do,

Terry had always wanted to win it, so I mean,

he was ecstatic about it.

First time since 1981.

And then your life changes from there on, cos you've won

the Eurovision Song Contest.

-What a thing.

-CHEERING

# Viva...#

A bitter row has erupted in Israel over the singer

chosen to represent the country in the Eurovision Song Contest,

which is due to be held in Birmingham.

She's called Dana International

and, until a sex change operation five years ago, Dana was a man.

Orthodox Jews are outraged by her nomination,

some fanatics have even threatened to kill her.

I represent liberal Israel,

Israel that accepts human beings, whoever they are.

# Viva Victoria... #

ULRIKA SPEAKS SWEDISH

Toche, toche, mahogany gas pipe.

# Viva la diva Viva Victoria, viva. #

CHEERING

One of the things that I had obsessed about was just trying to make

the show run to time and smoothly and sort out what has often

been a mess at the end when there's a winner and they kind of...

You know, it takes ages to get them to the stage,

so we'd rehearse that endlessly.

Israel have won it by seven points over the United Kingdom.

Dana International was declared the winner and cue the fanfare...

FANFARE

..and Dana is nowhere to be seen at all and you kind of think...

Come on, quickly.

Come on, quickly, let's go, we must go

or you're not going to be on. You must go.

She's decided to change her frock.

I'm standing talking to about 80 million people with

nothing in my head.

Been a long time.

God knows what I said, I can't remember a single thing about it

but my whole life flashed in front of me.

# Take me to your heaven... #

Take Me To Your Heaven is the winner

of the Eurovision Song Contest 1999.

-Mazeltov!

-APPLAUSE

That's Dana International, of course, last year's winner.

There she was, pretending to fall...

and actually doing it.

Welcome, Europe.

CHEERING

What no-one can really ever get a handle on

until you go is the scale of it.

Oh, it felt almost like just a barn dance when we did it,

it's become such a colossal affair.

It's Estonia!

Thank you, Denmark!

It's a very big responsibility. It's not very easy for Estonia

but we will do it.

Without no doubt, we will do it.

And we will do it well.

Hello, Europe.

Since it began, Eurovision has reflected

the changing political map of Europe

-and that continues to this day.

-Latvia.

The expansion of the contest eastward projected new energies

but also saw the UK's fortunes in Eurovision really changing.

MUSIC: Cry Baby by Jemini

Saddam Hussein is not cooperating with the inspectors

and therefore is in breach of the UN resolution.

Jemini came last and gained the dubious accolade of being

-the worst UK result ever.

-What about the political side of this?

A lot of people are saying that this was about the Iraq war.

I mean, we were told that there was some politics in Eurovision

but hopefully, you know, we were hoping that we would go there,

give it our best shot, which we did.

# Love, love's not enough

# I need your trust

# But you don't try... #

I think, probably when we started to not do so well

was when, as a country, we thought, "Well, actually,

"if we don't take it seriously then we won't be disappointed."

# Bye-bye, baby You lied to me, baby... #

As a nation, I think, musically, you know, we are

one of the finest in the world and I think

to not represent our country with that at the heart of what

we're doing, I think it's a bit shameful, to be honest.

I think, certainly, there is some resentment in Europe towards the UK.

Certainly amongst the national broadcasters.

They make a lot of effort, they put in their biggest stars

and yet they see, perhaps,

the UK entering novelty acts or songs that maybe don't reflect

the wider UK charts and I think there is perhaps a little bit of suspicion

or frustration at the fact that we're not entering our best.

Boots, leather, whips - what a winning combination.

MUSIC: Wild Dances by Ruslana

Ukraine.

# You're my lover

# Undercover

# You're my secret passion I have no other... #

If you have a whole evening of songs,

let's say you have 25 songs,

and you have to decide what to vote for, you need what I would call

a little anchor, something that you can remember it for.