Eurovision Song Contest 1963

Eurovision Song Contest 1963
Dates
Final	23 March 1963
Host
Venue	BBC Television Centre London, United Kingdom
Presenter(s)	Katie Boyle
Executive producer	Harry Carlisle
Director	Yvonne Littlewood
Musical director	Eric Robinson
EBU scrutineer	Miroslav Vilček
Host broadcaster	British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
Website	eurovision.tv/event/london-1963
Participants
Number of entries	16
Debuting countries	None
Non-returning countries	None
Participation map      Participating countries
Vote
Voting system	Twenty-member juries awarded points to their five favourite songs.
Winning song	Denmark " Dansevise "
1962 ←  Eurovision Song Contest  → 1964

The Eurovision Song Contest 1963 was the eighth edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest and took place in London, United Kingdom. It was organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), who agreed to stage the event after France, who had won the 1962 edition, declined to host it due to financial shortcomings, also having hosted the competition in 1959 and 1961. The contest was held at the BBC Television Centre on Saturday 23 March 1963 and was hosted by Katie Boyle for a second time.

Sixteen countries participated in the contest, the same countries that had also participated the previous two years.

The contest this year was won by Denmark with the song " Dansevise ", performed by Grethe and Jørgen Ingmann. This was the first victory for any of the Nordic countries. Four countries got nul points, with Finland, Norway and Sweden failing to score any points for the first time and the Netherlands for the second time, becoming the first country to go two years in a row without scoring a single point. ^[1]

Location

BBC Television Centre, London - host venue of the 1963 contest.

The BBC was willing to host the contest instead of the previous year's winner France, as was the case in 1960. They would do so again in 1972, 1974 and 2023 because the winning broadcasters from the year before could not afford to produce the contest. The host venue was the BBC Television Centre, White City, London, which opened in 1960. It is one of the most readily recognisable facilities of its type having appeared as the backdrop for many BBC programmes. It remained one of the largest broadcasting facilities in the world until the property was redeveloped in March 2013. ^[2]

Participating countries

Further information: List of countries in the Eurovision Song Contest

Eurovision Song Contest 1963 –Participation summaries by country
Austria Belgium Denmark Finland France Germany Italy Luxembourg Monaco Netherlands Norway Spain Sweden Switzerland United Kingdom Yugoslavia

All countries which participated in the 1962 edition also participated in the 1963 edition.

Eurovision Song Contest 1963 participants ^{[3] [4]}

Country	Broadcaster	Artist	Song	Language(s)	Songwriter(s)	Conductor
Austria	ORF	Carmela Corren	"Vielleicht geschieht ein Wunder"	German, English	Erwin Halletz Norman Newell Peter Wehle	Erwin Halletz
Belgium	BRT	Jacques Raymond	"Waarom?"	Dutch	Wim Brabants Hans Flower	Francis Bay
Denmark	DR	Grethe and Jørgen Ingmann	" Dansevise "	Danish	Otto Francker Sejr Volmer-Sørensen	Kai Mortensen
Finland	YLE	Laila Halme	"Muistojeni laulu"	Finnish	Börje Sundgren	George de Godzinsky
France	RTF	Alain Barrière	" Elle était si jolie "	French	Alain Barrière	Franck Pourcel
Germany	HR [a]	Heidi Brühl	"Marcel"	German	Charly Niessen	Willy Berking
Italy	RAI	Emilio Pericoli	" Uno per tutte "	Italian	Giulio Rapetti Tony Renis Alberto Testa	Gigi Cichellero
Luxembourg	CLT	Nana Mouskouri	" À force de prier "	French	Raymond Bernard Pierre Delanoë	Eric Robinson
Monaco	TMC	Françoise Hardy	" L'amour s'en va "	French	Françoise Hardy	Raymond Lefèvre
Netherlands	NTS	Annie Palmen	"Een speeldoos"	Dutch	Pieter Goemans	Eric Robinson
Norway	NRK	Anita Thallaug	"Solhverv"	Norwegian	Dag Kristoffersen	Øivind Bergh
Spain	TVE	José Guardiola	"Algo prodigioso"	Spanish	Fernando Garcia Morcillo Camillo Murillo Janero	Rafael Ibarbia
Sweden	SR	Monica Zetterlund	"En gång i Stockholm"	Swedish	Bobbie Ericsson Beppe Wolgers	William Lind
Switzerland	SRG SSR	Esther Ofarim	"T'en va pas"	French	Émile Gardaz Géo Voumard	Eric Robinson
United Kingdom	BBC	Ronnie Carroll	"Say Wonderful Things"	English	Philip Green Norman Newell	Eric Robinson
Yugoslavia	JRT	Vice Vukov	"Brodovi" (Бродови)	Serbo-Croatian	Mario Nardelli	Miljenko Prohaska

Returning artists

Artist	Country	Previous year(s)
Ronnie Carroll	United Kingdom	1962

Production and format

The production mode was unusual in comparison with other Eurovision Song Contests: In contrast to most previous and following editions which were filmed in concert halls or theatres, the staging of 1963 was done in television studios. ^[6] Two studios (TC3 and TC4) were used: one for the mistress of ceremonies Katie Boyle, the audience, and the scoreboard (TC3); the other for the performers and the orchestra accompanying them (TC4). Unusually, a boom microphone (normally used for drama and comedy shows) was employed –the viewer could not see this, so it appeared as if the artists were miming to their vocals. This was not the case, but this innovation was to create a new look for the contest. ^{[1] [7]} The use of television studios allowed a broader variety of staging elements not seen before in the contest, and the use of close-ups so to create an atmosphere of intimacy for television viewers. ^[6]

After the 1962 edition was the only one to be held on a Sunday, the contest was held on a Saturday again in 1963.

Contest overview

Results of the Eurovision Song Contest 1963 ^[8]

R/O	Country	Artist	Song	Points	Place
1	United Kingdom	Ronnie Carroll	"Say Wonderful Things"	28	4
2	Netherlands	Annie Palmen	"Een speeldoos"	0	13
3	Germany	Heidi Brühl	"Marcel"	5	9
4	Austria	Carmela Corren	"Vielleicht geschieht ein Wunder"	16	7
5	Norway	Anita Thallaug	"Solhverv"	0	13
6	Italy	Emilio Pericoli	" Uno per tutte "	37	3
7	Finland	Laila Halme	"Muistojeni laulu"	0	13
8	Denmark	Grethe and Jørgen Ingmann	" Dansevise "	42	1
9	Yugoslavia	Vice Vukov	"Brodovi"	3	11
10	Switzerland	Esther Ofarim	"T'en va pas"	40	2
11	France	Alain Barrière	" Elle était si jolie "	25	5
12	Spain	José Guardiola	"Algo prodigioso"	2	12
13	Sweden	Monica Zetterlund	"En gång i Stockholm"	0	13
14	Belgium	Jacques Raymond	"Waarom?"	4	10
15	Monaco	Françoise Hardy	" L'amour s'en va "	25	5
16	Luxembourg	Nana Mouskouri	" À force de prier "	13	8

Spokespersons

Poppe Berg  [ fi ] announcing the points from Finland

Each country nominated a spokesperson who was responsible for announcing the votes for their respective country via telephone. Known spokespersons at the 1963 contest are listed below.

•  Finland – Poppe Berg  [ fi ]
•  Sweden – Edvard Matz  [ sv ] ^[9]

Detailed voting results

Each country had 20 jury members who awarded their five favourite songs 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1 points in order. All those points would then be added up and the five songs with the most points got 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1 votes in order. Errors in the Norwegian (see below) and the Monegasque votes meant their scores had to be announced twice, with an adjustment to the scores being made in each case before the final score was verified.

One controversy this year was during the voting. When it was Norway's turn to announce their votes, the spokesman in Oslo did not use the correct procedure in that the song number, followed by the name of the country, should have been announced before awarding the points. Boyle asked Norway to repeat their results, but the Norwegian spokesman asked Boyle to return to them after all the other results were in. When Boyle went back to Norway again the votes had been altered, thus changing the outcome of the contest and giving the victory to Denmark at Switzerland's expense. In fact, the Norwegian spokesman had not given the correct votes on the first occasion, because votes from the 20 jury members were still being tallied. ^[1] Switzerland's broadcaster SRG SSR reportedly intended to appeal and following numerous complaints, checked the transmissions of the votes made. ^{[10] [11]} It was later confirmed a month after the contest that the Norwegian jury didn't change their votes. ^[12]

Monaco was also asked to repeat their voting a second time as initially Monaco gave one point to both the United Kingdom and Luxembourg. However, when Boyle went back to Monaco to receive the votes again Monaco's one vote to Luxembourg was efficiently discarded (although this did not have any effect on the positions of the countries). ^[1]

Detailed voting results ^{[13] [14]}

		Total score	United Kingdom	Netherlands	Germany	Austria	Norway	Italy	Finland	Denmark	Yugoslavia	Switzerland	France	Spain	Sweden	Belgium	Monaco	Luxembourg
Contestants	United Kingdom	28		3			5		3	3	3		3	5	2		1
	Netherlands	0
	Germany	5					2										3
	Austria	16	4						4	1			2		3	2
	Norway	0
	Italy	37	2	1			3		2	5	4	5		3		3	5	4
	Finland	0
	Denmark	42	3	5	2	3	4	2	5			3			5	5		5
	Yugoslavia	3											1	2
	Switzerland	40	5		4	5	1	5		4				4	1	4	4	3
	France	25		4	1	2		4			5	4		1		1	2	1
	Spain	2									2
	Sweden	0
	Belgium	4				4
	Monaco	25	1	2	5	1		3			1	1	5		4			2
	Luxembourg	13			3			1	1	2		2	4

5 points

Below is a summary of all 5 points received:

N.	Contestant	Nation(s) giving 5 points
5	Denmark	Belgium ,   Finland ,   Luxembourg ,   Netherlands ,   Sweden
3	Italy	Denmark ,   Monaco ,    Switzerland
	Switzerland	Austria ,   Italy ,   United Kingdom
2	United Kingdom	Norway ,   Spain
	Monaco	France ,   Germany
1	France	Yugoslavia

Broadcasts

Each participating broadcaster was required to relay the contest via its networks. Non-participating EBU member broadcasters were also able to relay the contest as "passive participants". Broadcasters were able to send commentators to provide coverage of the contest in their own native language and to relay information about the artists and songs to their television viewers. ^[15] Reports estimate that 50 million people would see the contest. ^[16]

Known details on the broadcasts in each country, including the specific broadcasting stations and commentators are shown in the tables below.

Broadcasters and commentators in participating countries

Country	Broadcaster	Channel(s)	Commentator(s)	Ref(s)
Austria	ORF	ORF	Hanns Joachim Friedrichs	[4] [17]
Belgium	BRT	BRT	Bob Boon  [ nl ] and Denise Maes	[18]
	RTB	RTB	Pierre Delhasse	[18] [19]
Denmark	DR	Danmarks Radio TV , Program 1	Ole Mortensen  [ da ]	[20]
Finland	YLE	Suomen Televisio	Aarno Walli  [ fi ]	[4] [21]
		Yleisohjelma  [ fi ]	Erkki Melakoski  [ fi ]
		Ruotsinkielinen yleisohjelma	Jan Sederholm
France	RTF	RTF	Pierre Tchernia	[4] [22]
Germany	ARD	Deutsches Fernsehen	Hanns Joachim Friedrichs	[23]
Italy	RAI	Programma Nazionale TV	Renato Tagliani  [ it ]	[24]
Luxembourg	CLT	Télé-Luxembourg	Pierre Tchernia	[4] [25]
Monaco	Télé Monte-Carlo		Pierre Tchernia	[4]
Netherlands	NTS	NTS	Willem Duys	[26] [27]
	NRU	Hilversum 1	Coen Serré	[26] [28]
Norway	NRK	NRK Fjernsynet , NRK	Øivind Johnssen	[29] [30]
Spain	TVE	TVE	Federico Gallo  [ es ]	[4] [31] [32]
	RNE	RNE [b]		[31]
Sweden	SR	Sveriges TV , SR P1	Jörgen Cederberg  [ sv ]	[33]
Switzerland	SRG SSR	TV DRS	Theodor Haller  [ de ]	[34]
		TSR	Georges Hardy  [ fr ]	[35]
		TSI	Renato Tagliani	[4] [36]
		Radio Beromünster [c]		[37]
		Radio Sottens		[38]
		Radio Monte Ceneri		[36]
United Kingdom	BBC	BBC TV	David Jacobs	[39]
Yugoslavia	JRT	Televizija Beograd , Televizija Ljubljana  [ sl ], Televizija Zagreb	Saša Novak	[4] [40]

Broadcasters and commentators in non-participating countries

Country	Broadcaster	Channel(s)	Commentator(s)	Ref(s)
Ireland	RÉ	Telefís Éireann		[41]
Portugal	RTP	RTP	Federico Gallo	[4] [42]

Notes

1. On behalf of the German public broadcasting consortium ARD ^[5]
2. Deferred broadcast at 23:00 (CET) ^[31]
3. Delayed broadcast on 25 March at 20:00 (CET) ^[37]

References

1. "Eurovision Song Contest 1963". EBU . Retrieved 7 August 2021.
2. "Dyke accused of conflict of interest over £6m holding in rival TV firm". The Independent. London. 17 January 2000.^{[ dead link ‍]}
3. "London 1963 – Participants". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 5 February 2023. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
4. Roxburgh, Gordon (2012). Songs for Europe: The United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest. Volume One: The 1950s and 1960s. Prestatyn: Telos Publishing. pp. 291–299. ISBN   978-1-84583-065-6.
5. "Alle deutschen ESC-Acts und ihre Titel". www.eurovision.de (in German). ARD. Archived from the original on 12 June 2023. Retrieved 12 June 2023.
6. Pajala, Mari (2023). "The Eurovision Song Contest and European television history: continuity, adaption, experimentation". In Dubin, Adam; Vuletic, Dean; Obregón, Antonio (eds.). The Eurovision Song Contest as a cultural phenomenon : from concert halls to the halls of academia. London: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group. p. 192. doi:10.4324/9781003188933-16. ISBN   978-1-03-203774-5. OCLC   1296690839.
7. "Françoise Hardy au Grand Prix Eurovision de la Chanson" [Françoise Hardy at the Eurovision Song Contest]. Feuille d'avis de Lausanne (in French). Lausanne, Switzerland. 13 March 1963. p. 43. Retrieved 6 January 2025– via Scriptorium.
8. "London 1963 – Scoreboard". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 30 March 2021. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
9. Thorsson, Leif; Verhage, Martin (2006). Melodifestivalen genom tiderna : de svenska uttagningarna och internationella finalerna (in Swedish). Stockholm: Premium Publishing. pp. 46–47. ISBN   91-89136-29-2.
10. "La Suisse remporte la deuxième place et... aurait l'intention de présenter un recours" [Switzerland wins second place and... reportedly intends to appeal]. Feuille d'Avis de Neuchatel (in French). Neuchâtel, Switzerland. 25 March 1963. p. 15. Retrieved 30 December 2024– via E-newspaperarchives.ch.
11. "Le grand prix Eurovision de la chanson: fâcheux malentendu!" [The Eurovision Song Contest: a nasty misunderstanding!]. Journal du Jura (in French). Bienne, Switzerland. 26 March 1963. p. 14. Retrieved 30 December 2024– via E-newspaperarchives.ch.
12. "Le jury norvégien n'avait pas modifié son vote" [The Norwegian jury did not change its vote]. Feuille d'Avis de Neuchatel (in French). Neuchâtel, Switzerland. Swiss Telegraphic Agency (SDA-ATS). 26 March 1963. p. 19. Retrieved 30 December 2024– via E-newspaperarchives.ch.
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16. "BBC ziet Songfestival vooral als...televisie" [BBC sees the song festival mainly as...television]. Leidsch Dagblad (in Dutch). Leiden, Netherlands. 23 March 1963. p. 17. Retrieved 14 December 2024– via Erfgoed Leiden en Omstreken.
17. "Fernsehprogramm – Vom 17. bis 23. März 1963 – Samstag, den 23. März" [Television program – From 17 to 23 March 1963 – Saturday, 23 March]. Burgenländische Freiheit  [ de ] (in German). Wiener Neustadt, Austria. 16 March 1963. p. 10. Retrieved 23 June 2024– via Austrian National Library.
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19. H. L. (24–25 March 1963). "Sympathique victoire du Danemark à l''Eurovision de la Chanson!'" [Nice victory for Denmark at the 'Eurovision Song Contest!']. Le Soir (in French). Brussels, Belgium. p. 5. Retrieved 1 December 2024– via BelgicaPress  [ nl ].
20. "Alle tiders programoversigter – Lørdag den 23. marts 1963" [All-time programme overviews – Saturday 23 March 1963] (in Danish). DR . Retrieved 22 March 2024.
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25. "Radio-Télévision". Luxemburger Wort (in German and French). Luxembourg City, Luxembourg. 22 March 1963. p. 5. Retrieved 19 December 2022– via National Library of Luxembourg.
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29. "Klart for Melodie Grand Prix 1963" [Ready for Melodie Grand Prix 1963]. Oppland Arbeiderblad (in Norwegian). Oppland, Norway. 23 March 1963. p. 12. Retrieved 19 December 2022– via National Library of Norway.
30. "Grand Prix" . Morgenposten (in Norwegian). Oslo, Norway. 18 March 1963. p. 14. Retrieved 21 July 2023– via National Library of Norway. Grythe was supposed to refer from this year's 'sound Olympiad', but now he has withdrawn in favour of Øyvind Johnssen from the steam radio's entertainment department. Grythe has so many irons in the fire that he simply does not have time to travel to London. [original: Grythe skulle refere årets «lyd-olympiade», men nå har han trakket seg til fordel for Øyvind Johnssen i dampradioens underholdningsavdeling. Grythe har så mange jern i ilden at han simpelthen ikke rekker å reise til London.]
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32. HerGar, Paula (28 March 2018). "Todos los comentaristas de la historia de España en Eurovisión (y una única mujer en solitario)" [All the commentators in the history of Spain in Eurovision (and only a single woman)] (in Spanish). Los 40. Archived from the original on 26 September 2021. Retrieved 14 December 2022.
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35. "Programme TV" [TV programmes]. Radio TV – Je vois tout (in French). Vol. 41, no. 11. Lausanne, Switzerland. 14 March 1963. pp. 28–30. Retrieved 19 December 2022– via Scriptorium.
36. "radiotivù" [radio TV]. Gazzetta Ticinese  [ it ] (in Italian). Lugano, Switzerland. 23 March 1963. p. 2. Retrieved 3 July 2024– via Sistema bibliotecario ticinese  [ it ].
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40. • "Радио Телевизија Београд – Телевизија" [Radio Television Belgrade – Television]. Borba (in Serbo-Croatian (Cyrillic script)). Belgrade, SR Serbia, Yugoslavia. 21 March 1964. p. 12. Retrieved 25 May 2024– via Belgrade University Library.
    • "RTV Ljubljana – Televizija" [RTV Ljubljana – Television]. Delo (in Slovenian). Ljubljana, SR Slovenia, Yugoslavia. 23 March 1963. p. 8. Retrieved 28 October 2024– via Digital Library of Slovenia.
    • "Televizija" [Television]. Slobodna Dalmacija (in Croatian). Split, SR Croatia, Yugoslavia. 23 March 1963. p. 8. Retrieved 22 July 2022.
41. "To-Day's TV Programmes" . The Irish Times . Dublin, Ireland. 23 March 1963. p. 6. Retrieved 19 December 2022.
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External links

Media related to Eurovision Song Contest 1963 at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website