by Press Association | |
Eurovision - The Facts
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With more than 50 years under its belt, the Eurovision Song Contest has certainly come a long way.
- The first contest was held in Switzerland in 1956. Just seven countries took part - Belgium, Switzerland, France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Italy - and submitted two songs each.
- Live singing is mandatory and back in 1956 when the contest started, live music was too.
- The UK had its first ever win in 1967 when Sandie Shaw sang the catchy Puppet On A String - despite it having what she called a "stupid cuckoo clock tune".
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- The contest was broadcast in colour for the first time in 1968.
- Spain's Massiel pipped Cliff Richard's Congratulations with La, La, La in 1968. Cliff apparently hid out in the toilets during the results and heard from his manager that he had lost.
- In 1969, the UK, Spain, France and the Netherlands were declared equal winners.
- Katie Boyle had to hold cue cards over her nether regions to protect her modesty in 1974 - an ill-fitting salmon pink dress meant she couldn't wear any underwear.
- Abba, who famously won in 1974 with Waterloo, tried to enter the contest the previous year, but their song Ring Ring didn't make it past Sweden's preliminary heat.
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- Spare a thought for Liechtenstein, which wanted to participate in 1976. But because they didn't have a national broadcaster, they were deemed to be not a member of the European Broadcasting Union and were not allowed to compete.
- 1986 winner Sandra Kim sang J'ai Quinze Ans (I am 15 years old) in her song J'aime La Vie - but she was only 13 at the time. Two more 13-year-olds competed in 1989, but since 1990 only competitors aged at least 16 can compete in the contest.
- Irish contestant Johnny Logan made Eurovision history in 1987 as the only singer to be crowned the winner twice.
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- Chart-topper Celine Dion kick-started her career with a Eurovision win in 1988 when she competed for Switzerland.
- In 2003, Liverpool duo Jemini became the first UK act to be awarded 'nul points'.
- When Lordi won in 2006, they amassed the highest ever points tally with 292, and were awarded the maximum 12 points by eight different countries.
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- Ireland has won more times than any other country, clocking up a whopping seven wins.
- Belgium, Norway and Finland have lost the contest most often - eight times each.
- There's apparently a rule that the performance and the lyrics of a song "must not bring the contest into disrepute".
- Thankfully, no Eurovision song can last more than three minutes.
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