United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 1968

Last updated

Eurovision Song Contest 1968
CountryFlag of the United Kingdom.svg  United Kingdom
National selection
Selection processArtist: Internal selection
Song: A Song for Europe 1968
Selection date(s)5 March 1968
Selected entrant Cliff Richard
Selected song"Congratulations"
Selected songwriter(s)
Finals performance
Final result2nd, 28 points
United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄196719681969►

The United Kingdom held a national preselection to choose the song that would go to the Eurovision Song Contest 1968.

Contents

Before Eurovision

Artist selection

Cilla Black had been the BBC's first choice to sing the 1968 UK entry, but she had turned it down as she did not believe any nation was likely to win back-to-back contests. As in 1967 when the UK won with Sandie Shaw, a current pop singer, Cliff Richard, was chosen to sing the song.

A Song for Europe 1968

The show was held on 5 March 1968 and presented by Cilla Black as a special edition of her debut BBC1 TV series 'Cilla'. Unlike the last three UK selections, the songs were not presented at all before the final. Instead, for the first time, the songs were broadcast twice in the final, with the performances repeated immediately after Richard had sung them successively. Viewers cast votes by postcard via mail to choose the winner and 171,300 chose Congratulations , a catchy party song, with the runner up over 140,000 behind in the poll. The result was broadcast one week later on 12 March 1968. The votes presented below were only announced rounded up.

A Song for Europe 1968 – 5 March 1968 [1]
DrawSongVotesPlace
1"Wonderful World"19,9903
2"Do You Remember?"4,2006
3"High 'n' Dry"30,5002
4"The Sound of the Candyman's Trumpet"11,2004
5"Congratulations"171,3001
6"Little Rag Doll"10,4005

Chart success

Richard released all six short listed songs on an Extended Play maxi single titled Congratulations: Cliff sings 6 Songs for Europe , with the winner and the runner up being released on a standard single that spent two weeks at No.1 in the UK Singles Chart. This was the first of only two tracks from the Eurovision Song Contest that topped the UK chart without winning the competition. Cliff recorded French, German, Italian and Spanish versions of the winning song, as well as a German version of Wonderful World, which was also recorded (in English) by Elvis Presley.

At Eurovision

"Congratulations" won the national and went on to come a close second in the contest, losing only to Spain by one point.

As the contest was held in the UK, the BBC opted not to send a Television commentator, instead Katie Boyle introduced each act from the stage. However Pete Murray provided commentary for BBC Radio 1. The contest was also broadcast on British Forces Radio with commentary provided by Thurston Holland. Michael Aspel served as the spokesperson for the U.K jury.

Voting

Congratulations: 50 Years of the Eurovision Song Contest

In 2005, "Congratulations" was one of fourteen songs chosen by Eurovision fans and an EBU reference group to participate in the Congratulations anniversary competition. It was one of two British entries to appear in the main competition (along with "Save Your Kisses for Me"). The song was drawn to perform first, preceding "What's Another Year" by Johnny Logan.

At the end of the first round, "Congratulations" was not among the five songs proceeding to the final round. It was later revealed that "Congratulations" finished eighth with 105 points. [3]

Voting

Points awarded to "Congratulations" (Round 1) [3]
ScoreCountry
12 points
10 points
8 points
7 points
6 pointsFlag of Denmark.svg  Denmark
5 points
4 points
3 points
2 points
1 point

Related Research Articles

The United Kingdom held a national selection to choose the song that would go to the Eurovision Song Contest 1964. It was held on 7 February 1964 and presented by David Jacobs.

The United Kingdom held a televised national pre-selection broadcast on BBC1 to choose the song that would go to the Eurovision Song Contest 1969 with Scottish singer Lulu chosen to represent the UK.

The United Kingdom held a national preselection to choose the song that would go to the Eurovision Song Contest 1970.

The United Kingdom held a national preselection to choose the song that would go to the Eurovision Song Contest 1971.

The United Kingdom held a national preselection to choose the song that would go to the Eurovision Song Contest 1972.

The United Kingdom held a national preselection to choose the song that would go to the Eurovision Song Contest 1973.

The United Kingdom held a national pre-selection to choose the song that would go to the Eurovision Song Contest 1974.

The United Kingdom held a national pre-selection to choose the song that would go to the Eurovision Song Contest 1975.

The United Kingdom held a national preselection to choose the song that would go to the Eurovision Song Contest 1976.

The 1985 edition of A Song for Europe was held at the BBC Television Centre in Studio 1 on 9 April, hosted by a suited Terry Wogan. The theme music was Te Deum. The BBC Concert Orchestra under the direction of John Coleman as conductor accompanied all the songs, but despite performing live, the orchestra was off-screen, behind the set.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">UK national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest</span> BBC TV show

Eurovision: You Decide is the most recent name of a BBC television programme that was broadcast annually to select the United Kingdom's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest. The show had previously gone under several other names, including Festival of British Popular Songs (1957), Eurovision Song Contest British Final (1959–1960), The Great British Song Contest (1996–1999), Eurovision: Making Your Mind Up (2004–2007), Eurovision: Your Decision (2008), and Eurovision: Your Country Needs You (2009–2010), but was known, for most of its history, as A Song for Europe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Congratulations (Cliff Richard song)</span> 1968 single by Cliff Richard

"Congratulations" is a song recorded by British singer Cliff Richard. The song was written by Bill Martin and Phil Coulter. It is best known as the British entry at the Eurovision Song Contest 1968, held in London finishing in second place behind the Spanish entry. The song went on to reach number 1 in many countries including Spain.

The Swedish national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest was Melodifestivalen 1974. It was, by a runaway score, won by the group ABBA, comprising Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Agnetha Fältskog, Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus. Their song, "Waterloo", was written by Björn and Benny with Stig Anderson. It was originally written in Swedish, but for the ESC final, it was translated into English, which the rules allowed between the years 1973 and 1976.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Power to All Our Friends</span> 1973 single by Cliff Richard

"Power to All Our Friends" is a song by Cliff Richard which was chosen as the British entry to the Eurovision Song Contest 1973, by a postal vote which was decided by BBC viewers after Richard performed six contending songs on A Song For Europe, featured on Cilla Black's BBC1 Saturday evening show Cilla. The runner-up song was "Come Back Billie Jo", written by Mitch Murray and Tony Macaulay, which was included as the B-side on the single. "Power to All Our Friends" came third in the Eurovision Song Contest.

The United Kingdom participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 with the song "Even If" written by Andy Abraham, Paul Wilson and Andy Watkins. The song was performed by Andy Abraham. The British entry for the 2008 contest in Belgrade, Serbia was selected via the national final Eurovision: Your Decision, organised by the British broadcaster BBC. Six acts competed in the national final and the winner was selected through three rounds of voting.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest</span>

The United Kingdom has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 65 times. It first took part in the second contest in 1957 and has entered every year since 1959. Along with Sweden and the Netherlands, the UK is one of only three countries with Eurovision victories in four different decades. It is one of the "Big Five" countries, along with France, Germany, Italy and Spain, that are automatically prequalified for the final each year as they are the biggest financial contributors to the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). The British national broadcaster, the BBC, broadcasts the event and has, on multiple occasions, organised different national selection processes to choose the British entry. The United Kingdom has won the Eurovision Song Contest five times, and has finished as runner-up on a record sixteen occasions. The UK has hosted the contest a record nine times, four times in London and once each in Edinburgh (1972), Brighton (1974), Harrogate (1982), Birmingham (1998), and Liverpool (2023).

Ireland was represented by Johnny Logan with the song "Hold Me Now" in the 1987 Eurovision Song Contest in Brussels.

Italy was represented by Domenico Modugno, with the song '"Nel blu dipinto di blu", at the 1958 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 12 March in Hilversum, Netherlands. Broadcaster RAI chose the winning song from the Sanremo Music Festival 1958 as their Eurovision entry: the song had been performed twice at Sanremo and Modugno was chosen over Johnny Dorelli as the performer.

Spain was represented by vocal group Mocedades at the Eurovision Song Contest 1973, held in Luxembourg. Mocedades were selected internally by Radiotelevisión Española (RTVE), the Spanish broadcaster, to represent the country at the contest in Luxembourg with the song "Eres tú".

References

  1. Roxburgh, Gordon (2012). Songs for Europe: The United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest. Volume One: The 1950s and 1960s. Prestatyn: Telos Publishing. pp. 444–453. ISBN   978-1-84583-065-6.
  2. 1 2 "Results of the Final of London 1968". Eurovision Song Contest. Archived from the original on 8 April 2021. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
  3. 1 2 "Congratulations: Results from the voting (Round 1)" (PDF). Eurovision Song Contest. Archived from the original on 20 May 2006. Retrieved 6 April 2021.