Format Eurovision Song Contest 1981

1 format

1.1 entrants
1.2 interval
1.3 voting
1.4 aftermath
1.5 conductors

format

having won year before, ireland hosted 1981 contest – second time had done so. in 1971, 1981 eurovision song contest produced country s broadcaster rtÉ. presenter on occasion doireann ni bhriain, known in ireland @ time tv presenter , current affairs radio show women today. chosen fluency in irish , english having studied french, spoke ease. director ian mcgarry, while noel kelehan chief conductor show.

it cost rtÉ on £300,000 stage, although included £110,000 ebu. this, irish government expected make around £2,000,000 tourism result of staging show. rds go on host next irish eurovision production in 1988.

entrants

this year marked début of cyprus in contest, finished sixth. returning contest israel, did not compete previous year, despite winning 2 years previous that. finished seventh. yugoslavia returned competition after five-year absence. italy withdrew first time contest, due lack of interest, while morocco declined take part after sole entry year before.

of performers, many previous contestants returned contest year. notably, jean-claude pascal luxembourg, had won contest 20 years earlier, although manage 11th place time. repeated entrants peter, sue , marc returned fourth time, after 1971, 1976 , 1979. performing again switzerland, remain act sing in 4 different languages (french, english, german , time, italian). other returnees marty brem had taken part year before austria, tommy seebach denmark, , björn skifs sweden. bucks fizz member, cheryl baker had performed in 1978 band co-co uk, while sheeba member maxi had performed solo artist in 1973 ireland.

the 46-piece irish tv orchestra didn t have saxophone didn t consider orchestral instrument, caused great concern united kingdom entry saxophone appeared heavily on song. andy hill – producer of single – said had known, have dropped 1 of 2 backing singers replaced saxophonist, there being 2 on actual recording.

interval

the interval act traditional irish band planxty, performed lengthy piece timedance , depicted irish music through ages. dancers dublin city ballet choreography iain montague. seen precursor riverdance, became famous after performance in 1994. song, written bill whelan, went on released planxty single , became no.3 hit in irish charts.

this mix of past , present theme contest s opening montage, featured shots of celtic ruins, cliffs , castles, edited close-ups of art, aeroplanes, architecture , horse races.

voting

bucks fizz performing making mind

the voting proved memorable closeness. uk won 4 points, leading this, 5 countries took pole position @ various stages: uk, germany, france, switzerland , ireland. before penultimate vote, 3 countries (uk, germany , switzerland) on equal top marks. after this, switzerland (who had performed second last) unable collect points jury s results being announced, while germany failed receive votes either. uk gained eight, meant when final jury (sweden) cast votes, uk needed 5 points or more win on either country. switzerland eliminated receiving 1 vote. uk passed five-point mark , received 8 votes, while germany did indeed receive maximum 12 points, late. france finished third, switzerland fourth , hosts ireland coming in fifth. of these, switzerland received top votes despite finishing fourth, while uk received two. uk did receive points every competing country. meanwhile, @ other end of board norway, finished last no points third time in eurovision history, gaining no points in 1963 , 1978 well.

other memorable moments included glitch in scorekeeping, giving host country ireland 310 points instead of 10 designated luxembourg jury. of note, when host doireann ní bhriain attempted collect yugoslavia s votes, after repeated attempts contact them, yugoslavia s spokeswoman, helga vlahović, went on present 1990 contest, answered phone , abruptly answered don t have , causing laughter erupt audience. during final vote, turkey s 9 points disappeared scoreboard.

aftermath

runner-up lena valaitis in spirits while talking press following contest , largely unconcerned losing. swedish singer björn skifs more outspoken saying; not song contest, show – these dancing girls, take away songs. think there should change in rules allow sing in english. able compete. harald tusberg, head of light entertainment norwegian television upbeat norway s nul points result claimed entry remembered above many others; remembers came second or third – people remember us! . finn kalvik himself conceded graciously saying had enjoyed week s holiday.

following year s contest, france withdrew competing following year, broadcaster announcing songs monument drivel . indeed, many comments had been made regarding quality of winning group s performance indicating song had won style on substance. either way, bucks fizz went on have successful career on next few years, , became 1 of top-selling groups of 1980s. winning song reached no.1 in 9 countries , became top ten hit in nations such australia, new zealand , south africa, selling 4 million copies worldwide.

germany, had never won contest point, becoming increasingly frustrated second placings in , previous year s contest , made concerted effort following year. pay off, in 1982 clinched first victory achieved in overwhelming manner.

the uk s victory year meant contest take place in uk following year – seventh time country had hosted event (a record unbeaten , later extended eighth uk hosting in 1998). bbc opted take north yorkshire town of harrogate @ later usual date, 24 april. 1981 contest held on 4 april , (and including) 2016 has never been again.

decades later, debbie cameron, represented denmark tommy seebach, revealed in book seebach contacted bbc employee, told bucks fizz s victory planned. according employee, had witnessed how bbc technicians had sabotaged sound checks during rehearsal of danish, israeli , western german performances. claim ignores fact bbc did not host 1981 contest.

conductors

each performance had conductor maestro orchestra. host conductor in bold.