Eurovision ... a brief history or so

Hiya and welcome to Eurovision Histories where today we are going pretty far back in time to 1976. A time of Smash Martians, blackouts and flares! And today we are hopping over the Irish Sea to talk about their entry from that year !  The 21st Eurovision Song Contest was held in The Hauge, Netherlands on April 3rd. It was hosted by 1957 Eurovision Winner Corry Brokken and 18 participating countries fought it out to claim the Eurovision title ! We had some pre contest drama with Sweden's withdrawal due to money issues ( they couldn't afford to host another contest if they won) as well as public demonstrations.  But we are here to get the facts before we dive in so here they are. A link to the Performance is also here if you've never seen it or it's escaped your memory.  Song: When Artist: Red Hurley  Place : 10th Points : 54  Ireland 1976 Ireland performed 7th in the evening, after Belgium and before The Netherlands. It was conducted by vetran conductor , Noel Ke...

Hi hi hi ! In today's edition of Eurovision Histories,  we aren't going back that far at all , just 3 years in the past where the world was supporting Ukraine in their fight against Russia, oil prices caused chaos and 27 year old me was moving and was finally working in an industry she loves ( I'm still in my job today in fact)  The 66th Eurovision Song Contest took place in Turin, Italy. The semi finals took place on the 10th and 12th of May with grand final held on May 14th. 40 countries took part this year with Russia's expulsion from the EBU. Greece competed in the 1st semi final on May 10th and qualified for the final.  Here's the facts first before we go deeper into the song and performance. Here's a link too for the semi final performance if you've forgotten the song or haven't seen this one.  Song : Die Together  Artist: Amanda Tenfjord Place in Semi 1 : 3rd 🥉( Qualified to Final)  Points : 211 Place in Final : 8th Points : 215 Greece 2022 Greec...

Hello all. In today's entry in the Eurovision Histories series, we are heading back 58 years to 1967. The last contest to be broadcast in black and white in fact and a time of McDonald's inventing big macs and lots of civil wars. We're looking at our first Belgian entry and the first to be sung in Flemish.  The 12th Eurovision Song Contest took place on April 8th in Vienna, Austria. 17 countries competed this year after Denmark withdrew this year. It was hosted by Erica Vaal.  Let's give the facts first before we look at the song in question (and a link to the performance if you haven't seen it or have forgotten it )  Song: Ik heb zorgen Artist : Louis Neefs Place : 7th  Points : 8  Belgium 1967 Belgium selected their song via a national final. It was a very odd selection involving 9 semi finals where 10 artists sent multiple songs to compete in these semi finals. These varied between 5-9 per artist. Different songs competed in each semi final and then 7 songs o...

Are you alright there ? Today's entry in the Eurovision Histories series we are looking at another national final entry. We're not going back too far in time today, to 2011. A time of protests and riots in the wider world. I was 16 during this time, failing chemistry and this was the 2nd Eurosong final I watched sat at my family computer.  The 56th Eurovision Song Contest took place on May 14th with the 2 semifinals on May 10th and May 12th. But we aren't here to take a look at the representative for Ireland but one of the competitors who fought for the honor of competing for the emerald isle this year.  The Irish selction for 2011 was held on February 11th 2011, on The Late Late Show (a staple of Irish selections). The songs had been revealed the day before on the radio. 5 songs were co.peting for the chance to be Ireland's representative using a mix of both regional juries and public vote.  The song we will be looking at is below where you can see the facts ( and a li...

Hello all. For today's entry in the Eurovision Histories series, we will be checking out our first winning entry and winding it back all the way before the show was even in colour ! Back to 1963, a time where the beatles became famous, we only had 2 TV channels and Eurovision was far more different to the show we all love today !  The 8th Eurovision Song Contest was held on March 23rd 1963 in London, United Kingdom. France, the previous years winner declined to host for a 3rd time in 5 years. This year's contest was held at BBC Television Centre in a bizarre way where the performers and the orchestra were in one studio and the host and scoreboard were in another. This year also featured boom microphones which led to some lip syncing allegations ...  So now to come the facts before we dive into this entry further. A link to the performance is also here if you don't know it or have forgotten it. !   Song : Dansevise Artists: Grethe and Jørgen Ingmann Place : 1st 🥇 Poi...

Hello all ! In today's edition of Eurovision Histories,  we're going back to the 80s again to look at 1987. Again, it was the time for massive perms, crazy eyeshadow looks but in the wider world we also had big storms and the start of what would become the Internet!  The 32nd Eurovision Song Contest took place on May 9th, also known as Europe Day in Brussels, Belgium. Hosted by singer Viktor Lazlo, this contest saw the most participants to date at 22 entrants ! We'll be looking at the participation of Austria today and our first entry sung in German.  Here are the facts before I get too far into my thoughts and a performance link in case you don't know this one or have forgotten it !  Song: Nur noch Gefüh Artist: Gary Lux  Place : 20th  Points : 8  Austria 1987 I cannot find any information to indicate that Austria held a national final this year to select their song. However I do have info on our Artist at least. This was Gary's 4th time at Eurovision...