Eurovision 1974: The winner takes it all | Song super cut and animated scoreboard

[@riva1958]

EURO GEEK POST TWO including what happened with the scoring debacle Turkey wanted to enter but were told they were too late as the scoreboard had already been ordered and constructed at the cost of £3,000. There is some thought that the EBU used this as an excuse to avoid a Greek/Turkish skirmish. In the end Turkey could have rolled up and had France's place on the scoreboard. The draw for the running order was done on the 5th of December. Israel originally said they had a problem with April 6th and wanted the contest moved to Sunday April 7th. They then suggested the Israeli jury alone could view the contest from the UK perhaps. The other countries said no and if Israel couldn't do the 6th they should withdraw, but they of course decided to go ahead. Italy didn't broadcast the contest live due to the divorce law referendum. France of course entered and then withdrew. Not as often is said due to Pompidou's funeral as this had already taken place on the 4th of April. On the 6th there was a televised Memorial Service and a National Day of mourning. So had this taken place on another day, then France would most likely have taken part. Dani and the conductor etc were already in Brighton for rehearsals but Anne Marie David didn't attend, not due to the fact she couldn't get there, the airports were closed but the ferries were still running, but because she was one of the 3000 guests at Pompidou's memorial. Security was very tight due to IRA threats and the army actually patrolled the streets of Brighton complete with tanks. The new voting system created chaos. The system actually got to the rehearsal stage where it became clear after 20 minutes that the whole thing was fraught with problems and could last over an hour. Katie started drawing her countries from her fish bowl and immediately hit problems as the patchiness of some of the telephone lines made sustaining clear sound really difficult. Greece and Israel were still not using direct lines and had to be patched through other systems. There were problems with understanding some of the spokespersons who may have had some English but not French. There is anecdotal evidence of Katie Boyle asking a spokesperson four times to repeat a score that turned out to be 33. The scores were still being tabulated on a hand machine and then hand punched in to the scoreboard, so this took time plus there were numerous adding mistakes, and keeping the spokespersons online during this was difficult with some bad lines and Katie became very fraught and the scoreboard started to look ridiculous with such big numbers. It was clear that the scoring would run on forever and the show overrun for at least an hour if not more. This was a major problem for the BBC as on a Saturday night they showed Match Of The Day, the football round up programme. This was watched by loads of regular viewers and such importance was placed on football that had it not gone out on time there would have been a public outcry. Therefore Bill Cotton of the BBC took the unilateral decision, possibly in consultation with Charles Curran, to ditch the whole thing and go back to the 10 member 1 vote each system. Katie was also told to 'hurry it along' so that's why she takes the whole thing at a gallop. The fish bowl was ditched and instead Clifford Brown drew the order of voting before the show. One of the problems that viewers complained about after was that there was no way to keep track of who had voted and how many countries were left to vote. The lights on the scoreboard were originally supposed to be on for everyone, then flash as that country voted, then go off. For some reason unknown this was dropped. Many of the other Heads of Delegation were severely unhappy about the decision to change the voting, especially as it is generally accepted that, had the original voting been used, ABBA would most likely not have won. Therefore had Luxembourg or Spain, or indeed probably any other country which didn't have a problem with the possible overrun, held the contest then we would most likely have had an Italian victory. As detailed elsewhere, Eurovision did not start world domination for ABBA despite Waterloo's chart success. They had a very difficult year afterwards before hitting big. What Eurovision did was maintain their own personal interest in being a group [Benny has said that had they not won Eurovision the group would most likely have disbanded as a working group and done different things in different combinations. Certainly Agnetha was already unhappy in the group situation and was always unhappy with losing her individual identity. People forget how big a star she had been beforehand ], and also maintain interest within record companies and promoters investing in them for a while longer. The radio signal went out on mono not stereo due to cost reasons. The story of Katie's dress and underwear is another thing that has developed its own social myth. Yes the original ostrich feathers were delayed and arrived purple instead of pink. When Katie eventually got in to the dress it wouldn't meet on her, she claimed it was wrongly made, others that she had gained weight, and the outline of her bra and pants was obvious. She had to strip and then be sewn back in to the dress with nothing underneath to stop it popping open. This has developed in to a story of Katie having to be cut out of her underwear from under the dress as it glowed white due to the stage lights. Katie herself in later years used to tell this version of the story, although she explained the real reason in her autobiography. UK were favourites at 7/2, Luxembourg 5/1, Netherlands 6/1, and Sweden 7/1. All the people who said afterwards they knew ABBA would win are usually misremembering. They were discussed more for their stage outfits than the song, many commentators talk about their 'fancy dress outfits', and many of the papers the next day mentioned they had only won due to their 'comedy performance'. The subsequent success of Waterloo swept all this criticism away. Similar criticism would return the next year with the win of Teach-In dressed in silver lamé. Olivia Newton John hated Long Live Love and made that plain. The composers were again treated very badly by the BBC and had no input to the performance or staging or orchestration. Olivia gave interviews afterwards saying she didn't like the song while the composers were present. They said they were happy with forth place given that Olivia only did what she had toad only that to get through her 2.42 minutes and get off. Lynsey De Paul wrote the English version of the dropped French entry. Sweden won with just 15% of the vote, one of the lowest percentages ever. Only the four joint winners in 1969 had a lower percentage. The spokesperson for Monaco was Sophie Hecquet who would sing for Monaco the following year. The contest was watched by 18.8 million people in the UK, and 281 million worldwide. Not the 500 million Katie claimed. The audience feedback was almost entirely split down the middle about Sweden deserving to win or not. After the contest a sub group from the EBU was set up to evolve a new system of voting and look at other structures. The group had main members from Germany Sweden UK and Finland. Other countries gave written submissions. Greece asked if more performers could be involved to allow for dancers etc. but this was deemed not in the sprit of the event. ARD Germany and YLE Finland put forward similar proposals for a new voting system. ARD suggested that the juries chose their top 9 songs and award 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8, and 10 points to them. YTL suggested a TOP 8 with awards of 1,2,3,4,5,7,and 10. It was also suggested that juries must have an uneven number of members in case a tie break was needed. Based on the two suggestion above the BBC came up with the 12,10,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 system that was adopted and has prevailed. The BBC met the costs of both the 1972 and 1974 contests mainly from its own expense. A new method was therefore devised that in future all countries must contribute to the cost of the contest based on an evaluation of 'units' around population etc. This idea was accepted but for some unknown reason not implemented for the 1975 contest which Sweden paid for by itself. A different 'group unit' payment range system was adopted in 1976 which meant the establishment of the Big Five who between them would meet 50% of the contests cost. This of course would be another rule that would have implications for all future contests and change Eurovision history. From 1974 we have sadly lost: Peret - Spain, Bert - Germany, Mouth - Netherlands, Jacques Hustin - Belgium , Vladimir Furduj & Began Hreljac - Yugoslavia, Katie Boyle - Presenter

[@thereorderboard]

The best again, I find the horse trading about the voting system so fascinating. Thanks for your research and thanks for posting, it's much appreciated!

[@filipgrmsek]

And we thought 2022 was the Eurovision with the most problems and drama :)

[@TheNothingNothing]

Since this post, we've lost one of the biggest names of this contest, Olivia Newton-John, who was the UK's singer in the contest with "Long Live Love".

[@mark-andrews]

The voting system, isn't that new, aside from the random order, of which country delivers their respective jury results, the system is the same as last used when Holland hosted in 1970 and the same used throughout the 1960's, I think. That voting procedure was well on the way out following the 1969 4-way-tie. The two person on site jury format presumably lasted for three contests, only. In the UK the whole 1974 contest is available on occasions via BBC I Player. My favourite song/ performance is the Mouth & McNeal song, that represented the Netherlands. Some great songs, play out during this contest.

[@riva1958]

@@mark-andrews The 'new' voting system mentioned is the abandoned one, not the one used on the night of the contest. As I say above, Charles Curran reverted to the old original voting system at the last minute. The 'new' voting system, only tried in rehearsals but never used again, had every judge in every country marking every song and took ages.

[@mrjdsworld80]

In the days before head mics, that was a very interesting solution for Spain!

[@ABBADiego]

Universal Music and Polar Music should be ashamed of themselves to be the only copyright owners to spoil what was a wonderfully put together chronicle of the start of ABBA.

[@JeSuisRene]

It’s a shame France withdrew as their entry would be been one of my favourites of theirs (and most welcome after their dull, dull, dull entry in 73). Sweden’s victory was very lucky in that I could envision - had France not withdrawn - Italy or even France themselves taking first prize.

[@debonidaniel]

The Italy entry was on a middle of a great polemic,as Italy was on a public consult about the legalization of the divorce on country and the song still until today blocked on radios and television at the country.France has withdrawn on last minute due the George Pompidou heart attack and subsequent death at the week before the contest.Dani was also in Brighton making your rearshals and due this situation the juries can't be conect and also this is the only time that the contest was not broadcasted live on France.The another time that France doesn't participate was in 1982 when TF1 was becoming a private channel and ORTF was in a downsizing process and they stayed without a member in EBU for 2 years.

[@ponyclub3198]

The Italian song could have (and should have) won any contest besides 1974. Unfortunate.

[@debonidaniel]

@@ponyclub3198 this song was very polemic until today,as they could use for facist protests or anything who constrains the human rights.

[@nadirhajjour]

1. Sweden 2. Italy 3. France

[@inezfeytons3676]

@@ponyclub3198 Abba was much better

[@lucas_vermeire]

The design of this scoreboard has to be my fav The balls that move along the line as the points just looks so cool!!!

[@thomasnisbet3035]

What a contest! I love how the postcards are the contestants mucking about in rehearsals and a public park. "Waterloo" is my last place in this year but I still enjoy it. My top entries are Italy, Yugoslavia and The Netherlands.

[@JeSuisRene]

I went with a few friends on a day out to Brighton last summer. It’s fun spotting places in the postcards and thinking “I was (probably) there!” 😂

[@thereorderboard]

A few other things I couldn’t fit in the description: - Clearly I was a fool to think that considering nearly every other copy of Brighton 74 has ABBA included in it, that I’d be copyright worry free this week. Not so. UMG are blocking very specific parts of the performance, with SVT blocking others and restricting mobile watching. This week I’ve done an extra video of the voting sequence in performance order for followers on ko-fi.com/thereorderboard. With Vimeo, you are restricted to how much you can upload a week if you’re on their basic (£70/year) plan. To upload both videos in HD this week, I’d have to pay £16/m for 5TB of storage. No thanks. A copyright OK version, in HD will appear sometime within the next seven days, apologies about that, I’ll place the link here. - A big thank you again to those who’ve supported the channel on ko-fi/thereorderboard recently, I’m very grateful! If you follow me you can still see the updates on ko-fi, but I’m still grateful! This week you can also see the voting redone in order of performance - it makes for slightly better viewing! You can also follow me on Twitter too @thereorderboard. Here’s @mrjdsworld’s blog on 1974: euroscoreboards.wordpress.com/2021/08/01/brighton-1974/ Thankfully JDS’s blog also summarises the proposed voting system for 1974, which involved juries of 10 members voting in the same way that we saw between 1971-73, that is to say, voting on every entry rather than just picking your favourite. This would have meant Katie calling up each national jury and then the spokesperson giving out 10 to 50 points to all 17 songs. (If anyone thinks differently, do let me know). The BBC had realised that this would be slow, and even duller considering you can’t see the jurors. There was some disquiet as delegations had gladly seen the back of the 10-1 system, however I expect they may well have been placated by the language rule being relaxed. Nevertheless, the EBU set about finding a new system for 1975. Certainly Katie Boyle didn’t hang about during the voting. Some sequences are the quickest I’ve had to endure in all my editing! I had to dramatically quicken my animations, to a point which I am somewhat uncomfortable with - still sometimes the board is much slower than the caller! This year is notable for the first two-night preview programme ‘Auftakt für Brighton’ which was coordinated by ARD and was broadcast simultaneously which was a departure from the usual locally produced programmes. The BBC opted out and as you can hear from David Vine’s commentary he voiced their own version. As described by Vine, the host venue originally started out as some extravagant stables for the Prince Regent (later George IV). The Prince used to stay in a small lodging house nearby but he had a taste for horses and extravagance, and the building of the stables nearly bankrupted him. The domed roof, 80ft in diameter was one of the largest constructions of that type at the time and many of the builders were expecting the dome to collapse once the scaffolding was removed. Inevitably, the grandiose stables led to the relatively modest Pavilion being upgraded to the opulent Palace we see nearby today. Once Queen Victoria was on the throne, she didn’t really like the Pavilion, or Brighton, so the town bought site in 1850. It spent some time as a cavalry barracks before opening as a concert hall in 1867. There was a brief time as a military hospital during WW1 but then between 1934 and 1935 it became the Concert Hall we see in this video. The UK spent 1974 outside of the top two for the first time since Luxembourg 1966 - approaching a decade! Remember too, that 1966 was a blip in a run that had seen the UK either 2nd or 4th in every Contest before that since returning in 1959. At least the final placing kept with up with that impressive record. It was Cliff Richard’s manager, Peter Gormley that had persuaded the BBC that Olivia Newton-John (ONJ) was the right choice for Eurovision. ONJ had moved to the UK from Australia (she was born in Cambridge) to start her pop career in 1966. She’d had some early success in the 1970s, but in 1972 her second album failed to make an impression, and unlike her first, was not released in the US. Her third album did make a success, her country style proved popular - ‘Let Me Be There’ earned her a Grammy for Best Country Female in 1974, beating Dolly Parton. ONJ, therefore, was a big scoop for the BBC. Unfortunately not everything went well…as you can see from the comments on andtheconductoris.eu, the public failed to pick the best of the six songs commissioned - instead going for a marching number although there wasn’t much surprise by the composer, Nick Ingman. ONJ wasn’t a fan of the song (also not a surprise for a UK artist to feel like that about their entry), although she did give a great performance in an unfortunate position in the running order. The selection process wasn’t smooth either. With Cliff’s show not on until August 1974 (the last of that format), it was scheduled for Cilla to host the 'Song for Europe’ again, although in a move that’s the very opposite of ‘girl power’, Cilla felt uncomfortable promoting another female singer during her show. The BBC hastily moved the process to ‘Clunk, Click…As It Happens’. People of a certain age might recognise ‘As it happens’ as a Jimmy Saville catchphrase, and you’d be right. ‘Clunk, Click’ was a variety show named after the successful public information films of the same name (about seat belt safety). Jimmy Saville, if you don’t know, was posthumously identified as one of Britain’s most prolific sex offenders and big questions were asked of the BBC, the NHS and others, including those the height of the British establishment, about what they knew of his unsavoury and dangerous behaviour. Away from him, a BBC strike (not uncommon in the UK at this time) meant that three songs were shown over two programmes, followed by a final. This was much shorter than than the 6 or 7 week process of previous years. By 1976, ONJ was established state side, doing her own shows over there (so long, Cilla!). In 1978 29-year-old ONJ went on play 17-year-old Sandy in ‘Grease' of course, a film with one of the best-selling soundtracks of all time.

[@thereorderboard]

ABBA were clearly surprised by their victory in Brighton. Waterloo became number 1 in nine European countries, and it reached number 6 in the US (remember Eurovision’s other big star, Celine Dion’s winning song was not a commercial success at all, reaching #11 in Switzerland and not even being released in the UK). It’s by far the most successful Eurovision winner so far. ABBA’s follow up single did not do as well, and the Waterloo album only reached 145 in the US, although received massive critical acclaim. ABBA’s first tour was undersold and dates were cancelled. Björn Ulvaeus has said that after Eurovision, ABBA had tried to position themselves as a semi-glam rock group, whereas really they were all about pop. Great songs such as ‘SOS’ didn’t render number 1 hits in the UK in 1975 either, however ‘Mamma Mia’ did. 1976’s ‘Dancing Queen’ was massive, as well as ‘Knowing Me, Knowing You’. By 1978, ABBA were considered one of the biggest bands in the world, following their fifth album (ABBA: The Album). During a 1978 US promotional tour they appeared along side Andy Gibb on ONJ’s show - the two finalist’s paths colliding as both found very successful careers. The rest is far too much for me to comment on here, although by the time Eurovision visited another small UK resort town, this time Harrogate 82, the bad would split - the member’s personal lives being largely dismantled by fame. Their music continued to perform well, with ‘ABBA: Gold’ being released in 1992, earning some of their songs radio play once again. It’s inclusion in the 1994 films ‘Muriel’s Wedding’ and ‘The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert’, both cult classics lead to a further resurgence. ABBA’s music was further adapted into a successful musical, which in turn prompted two successful film versions. Excitingly, in 2021, new music was released by the group some 47 years after Brighton. They are one of the best selling music artists of all time, with sales approaching 400 million. Phew…so what about the rest of the running order? Well, to be frank it was quite poorly drawn. Something no one can blame, but the BBC didn’t have much luck with the voting sequence or the running order being decided by lots. The first 8 songs created a really nice show but after Essex born Ireen Sheer (I’m keeping count of how many from the county go to Eurovision) the two French chansons rather dampened the mood. This may well have helped Mouth & MacNeal. To my mind, ‘Die Sommermelodi’ is probably my least liked song, followed by Portugal’s ‘E depois do adeus’ - just a song I couldn’t get on board with, despite its historical significance. I think having two German songs right next to each other probably harmed Switzerland, which to my mind is the better of the two (both finished with 3 points). Gigliola Cinquetti’s return was almost completely perfect, despite it being censored in it’s home country because of a divorce referendum (which ended up allowing divorce to remain legal in Italy by 60% to 40%). Cinquetti’s main problem was ABBA of course, but she did give them a good run for their money. I think if I had to pick, my favourite song was probably Yugoslavia, who’ve brought two consecutive great songs to the show although I do largely agree with the final top three selected here. Belgium appeared to be showing very strongly at one point in the voting but they dropped, getting all their 9 points in the first 7 rounds, but didn’t score anything further. Belgium had seemingly done worse out of the 71-73 system, on average finishing 16th, but having an average placing of 7th in the three Contests prior to that. I think also you start to see the beginnings of the novelty at Eurovision, something that will plague the Contest’s credibility in the years to come - although clearly a bit of fun, the Swedish conductor’s outfit, and Mouth (of Mouth & MacNeal) open up the possibility of not taking the show as seriously as it was intended back in 1956. I think Boyle is very Thatcher here…but Thatcher in the late 1980s, which means Thatcher is really being very Boyle. I hadn’t noticed it before. At 47 she makes for a decidedly older presenter than we’ve seen so far in the 1970s. Top awkward moment, the Womble on stage giving her the flower. Her ‘delighted’ when Luxembourg finally could be heard should be a meme, in my opinion. In Portugal you might remember that authoritarian Prime Minister Salazar had had a stroke in 1968. His replacement was Caetano who had adopted a slogan of ‘continuous evolution’. Some reforms were made, with greater political tolerance allowed and freedom of the press established. Hard liners in the military and government pushed back though. Portugal’s colonial wars had left it isolated and had had a profound effect on the country, even though casualties remained small, the wars had reached into their second decade and were eating up Portugal’s budget. A section of the military were increasingly unsettled about the direction of the war, and after the playing of ‘E Depois do Adeus’ was aired on April 24th, rebel captains began their coup. Strategic points in the country were controlled by the rebels and Caetano relented. Thousands of Portuguese had taken to the streets, including at Lisbon’s central flower market where some insurgents put carnations in their gun barrels, lending the revolution its name. The rebels surrounded the Lisbon military police HQ, where Caetano was hiding. The rebels asked for General António de Spínola to take power (he’d been critical of the war). Caetano and the President fled to Brazil eventually. Madrid watched the revolution closely as they were planning for the eventual death of Franco. Portugal was left with the National Salvation Junta in power which led to unsuccessful counter-coups until the first free elections would take place exactly one year later, in April 1975. This allowed the writing of a new Constitution, with a new constitutional government following in 1976.

[@thereorderboard]

We have a new entrant into the Eurovision family, Greece. Greece has been an independent modern state since the wars of independence in the 1820s. Fascist Italy wanted Greece within its territory but it fought back heroically in 1940/1. Their resistance eventually led to German occupation, which was brutal. Over 100,000 people died of starvation in the winter of 1941/2 and the ferocious resistance campaign, although effective, led to tens of thousands dying as the result of reprisals. Greece had slipped into dictatorship before the war though, in 1936. Post-war the country immediately fell into a civil war between communists and non-communists although Stalin had left Greece in the Western sphere and had not been interested in it joining the Eastern bloc. King Constantine II’s dismissal of a centrist government in 1965 prompted a long period of political turbulence, with a couple of a military strongmen taking control. A counter coup that failed meant the King left Greece, never to return as reigning monarch. It was in July 1974, a few months after Greece’s arrival on the Eurovision stage, that Turkey invaded Cyprus in response to a Greek-back Cypriot coup on the island. The political crisis in Athens led to the eventual restoration of democracy throughout 1974, which ended in a referendum in 1975 which favoured a republic. Broadcasting in Greece had started in the 1920s and the political turmoil certainly recognised the medium’s power. Television started much later than in western Europe, with two channels launching in 1966. One of the channels was an Armed Forces information service though. It wasn’t until the 1980s that ERT really formed in the way that we might recognise it, showing 7 to 8 hours a day of programming. In 1989, privately owned television channels were allowed for the first time. You may remember during the 2013 debt crisis that the Greek government suspended ERT, fired all 2,656 employees and pulled the plug during the 23:00 news. The EBU stepped in with equipment to keep a service running for Greeks. The government suggested a successor organisation, cleverly called ‘Public Television’. After lengthy legal wrangling with the highest court in Greece, in 2015 ERT was reopened. Striking workers of ERT had kept 17 radio stations and a TV channel running throughout that period. Plenty going on in 1974 here’s a rundown: On March 3rd, Turkish Airlines Flight 981 travelling from Paris to London crashes killing all 346 aboard, which becomes the deadliest single aircraft accident with no survivors. The next day in London, Ted Heath finally resigns after the February 28th poll which lead to a hung parliament. On March 18th, the OPEC oil embargo ends. On April 24th, the Guillaume Affair, in which an East German spy is uncovered in the West German government leads to the resignation of Chancellor Willy Brandt. April 25th see the start of the Carnation revolution. May 17th see 33 people killed in Dublin and Monaghan, the highest number of casualties in a single day during the Troubles. June 17th, an IRA bomb exploded in the oldest part of the British Houses of Parliament, Westminster Hall. July 20th, the Turkish invasion of Cyprus. On August 8th, President Nixon finally realises he’ll be impeached over the Watergate scandal and resigns, Gerald Ford…himself only becoming vice-president a few months earlier…becomes President #38 - the only person never to have been elected to both senior posts. September 23rd, Ceefax, meaning ‘see facts’ was started by the BBC, it’s one of, (if not the) first teletext information services in the world. October 11th, a second UK general election reaffirms Harold Wilson’s second stint in office, with a majority of 3. October 30th, Muhammad Ali knocks out George Foreman in the ‘Rumble in the Jungle’. November 21st, the Birmingham pub bombings kill 21 people - the Birmingham Six were wrongly convicted of this but their convictions were quashed in 1991. On November 28th, John Lennon makes his final public performance with Elton John at Madison Square Gardens. December 13th, Malta declared itself a republic, removing Queen Elizabeth as head of state but remaining in the Commonwealth.

[@debonidaniel]

I love your work and this every year is fit on that i know about Eurovision.The contest is like the Olympics and Miss Universe and modernizes in each edition.If you don't know,they used a new voting system in 1971 after the triple draw in 1969 and the boycott on next year.Horewer,the voting process was in right function on the first two years,but in 1973 was envolved again in polemic due some dissimulation about some juries that as voted to prejudice your direct concorrents as we see the luxembourg and spanish votings that year.During the fact that EBU is are in creation process of a new system who was rejected by the majority from the participating countries they retorned a using the old voting system for this year only.

[@eduardooscar309]

43:53 Sweden takes the lead from first country to vote, and don't leave it to end "WATERLOO" is a masterpiece under three minutes by Eurovision rules ABBA made history and begin your Legend and Legacy

[@adamjones5487]

Just wanted to thank you for all your hard work. Genuinely look forward to these and love the attention to detail!

[@thereorderboard]

Cheers Adam, much appreciated!

[@esczaman1299]

Beautiful work of art, can’t wait to see 1975 edition including the beautiful songs and scoreboard (but I bet yours will be better). All the best of luck for your next edition edit!

[@thereorderboard]

Thank you my friend! I'll hopefully be posting next week.

[@JeSuisRene]

Fun fact: the United Kingdom really don’t like voting for Italy. However, we gave them top marks on two occasions, both of which were when they were represented by Gigliola Cinquetti

[@mrjdsworld80]

You mention the late withdrawal of France due to the death of its president. Now, I love France’s entry for 1974. We’ll never know of course, but I think Dani could have given ABBA a run for their money. Anne Marie David was due to travel to Brighton to present the trophy, but as she was French, she was unable to attend in the end. A few months ago, I found an interview with Gigliola in the Italian version of the Radio Times ahead of the 1991 contest. In this interview she blamed the French withdrawal for her not winning in 1974. She said she was very popular in France, and its jury would have awarded her a high number of points. She also put some blame on Yugoslavia, who were expected to vote for Italy, but didn’t due to a border dispute going on at the time.

[@joaovitormatos8147]

La vie a vignt-cinq ans is really amazing. But come on, with ABBA in the dispute, everyone was playing for seconds

[@giovannimanchia1062]

Where did you find the interview?

[@mrjdsworld80]

@@giovannimanchia1062 the online archive of Radiocorriere TV, the edition with the preview of the 1991 contest.

[@ttheone3518]

This was the first time we heard the voices of Yitzhak Shim’oni for Israel and Michel Stocker for Switzerland, who would give out their respective countries points all the way up till 1993 Also Helga Vlahovic, which we meet multiple times throughout the years

[@JeSuisRene]

Michel Stoker sounds much more chipper here than during subsequent contests!

[@MiroHeinonen]

The spokesperson for Finland, Aarre Elo, who was a major pioneer in the Finnish television entertainment in the 1960s, died just recently. May he rest in peace.

[@mysticgirl916]

Helga would later on be the Yugoslavian spokesperson in 1981 (where she famously decreed "I don't have it" when asked for her votes) and the spokesperson for Croatia in 1994, as well as co-present the 1990 contest from Zagreb alongside Oliver Mlakar. She passed away in 2012

[@Cilla0415]

Hey ho, my favorite year! You really being these old contests to life! Thank you! Keep up the amazing work!

[@Starfilter1]

Great video for a great contest, thanks as always! (And especially for the bonus video on Ko-fi which adds the one thing the show lacks - a close-ish finish). After the dull show in 1972, the BBC is back on form here with a strong production from Michael Hurll. The set looks great (although the sloping carpeted stage is a choice - it was apparently difficult to work on according to some of the production team). The grey scoreboard looks like it's come directly from the February 1974 General Election studio and was then sent straight back for the October one! Katie Boyle on her last show is all ostrich feathers and no knickers(!) and we get a first outing of Ronnie Hazlehurst and his Eurovision theme which returns in 1977 and 82. The camera work is great, particularly when they use the ped mounted camera stage right or the shoulder mounted camera (used for the first time at an ESC) to get shots looking out from the stage at the lights. And to cap it all off, we get an interval act of The Wombles on speedboats! I just wish we had Terry Wogan's commentary for that!

[@GioMonta17]

The Italian entry is still one of my favourites overall

[@debonidaniel]

Is still today blocked and censured on Italy

[@JuvatVivere]

@@debonidaniel really?

[@EldaMengisto]

Another job well done on this scoreboard! The logo's aesthetics show up well here, and I like how you showed off the different points. Though I'm honestly glad that we're finally in the twelve-point era for the next order board, haha. 1974 is pretty solid, albeit stronger in the first half than in the second half. (It's also a pity that France wasn't able to participate--I think La vie a 25 ans is a charming little piece, though I don't think it would've won) It's curious to see how in hindsight, this is "the one with ABBA" --though they maintained a pretty solid lead throughout the voting. My top five: 5. ISR 4. GRE 3. YUG -- What a great song! Listening to it while following this board, it's very grand, with a solid orchestration throughout. Plus the lyrics are really strong, and convey such a brilliant scene. Sorry to see it was underrated. 2. SWE -- What else is there to say about this song? Waterloo basically held up Eurovision for years. 1. ITA -- But what made Si win out for me is how it really builds. Whereas Waterloo is brazen throughout, Si is more graceful, with more of a story arc throughout the lyrics. The orchestration is also fantastic! (I'm also surprised how it never led at any point during the voting)

[@JeSuisRene]

Interesting you say that about Italy. Had the voting been conducted in performance order, Sweden, Italy and Netherlands would have been leading in the voting at some point.

[@dreasbn]

looking back it's really a gimmick that the UK, one of ABBA's biggest markets gave nill points to ABBA....... and the host announces at the end: there's "No doubt about it" fun fact a new ABBA songtitle from Voyage lol.. a little reference to the ESC evening ? just a thought

[@pointlessnostalgic78]

another excellent job, you brought a new life and light to an already excellent contest and made me spent one happy hour. Thank you so much

[@thereorderboard]

I'm glad you enjoyed it - I think we all need the odd hour's distraction!

[@luukjoling1]

I actually like the Portuguese song, the Dutch one is very catchy and I'm a big ABBA fan so was looking forward to this. The voting sequence is great, as always great use of balls! The commentator trying to get through the ABBA acronym is... Tough. Not as tough as Boyle trying her french out... Thank you! 🥰

[@paulojrneto]

Notably ABBA's Waterloo didn't get any points from Belgium, the country where modern day Waterloo is located, or the United Kingdom, who won the Waterloo battle.

[@MiroHeinonen]

And Napoleon's home country, France, was not able to vote as they withdrew.

[@eduardooscar309]

and the UK, wich is the country that beats (with the prusians) Napoleon at Waterloo, gives 0 pts too

[@user-ht8pn6dv9j]

0:44:20~0:45:26 Luxembourg (???, CLT) 0:47:16~0:47:56 London (Colin Ward-Lewis, BBC) 0:50:04~0:51:05 Dublin (???, RTÉ)

[@ivvainozuk8533]

Amazing ABBA, greetings from Arg bro

[@mrjdsworld80]

Waterloo is not only not the greatest Eurovision song ever, it’s not even ABBA’s best song. Every May in the lead-up to the contest, some newspaper or website or TV programme will do a public poll on the best ever Eurovision song, and it’s always Waterloo. It’s such a relief to me that it never wins ESC 250.

[@JeSuisRene]

… Instead we get an even worse song topping the ESC250 😂

[@ponyclub3198]

That ESC 250 is totally ridiculous and biased towards certain voters from certain countries. Plus most youngsters think Eurovision started the year they started watching it...

[@TheNathanj2009]

For me it’s the weakest song on their ABBA Gold album. It wasn’t even the best song in 1974, for me Italy was the best.

[@DarrenMartin-x9v]

Yet more proof that music was so much better back then.

[@TonyWeaving]

So very true. I was 11 in 1974 and loved Eurovision and still do.

[@ΓιώργοςΤρίγγας-μ9ξ]

Thank you Portugal 🇵🇹 for giving us , Greece 🇬🇷 our first ever point in the Eurovision history! 😊 Also thank you Netherlands 🇳🇱 for giving us the highest points of the night! 4 of them!

[@nadirhajjour]

The Dutch commentary you hear at the end of the video was given by Willem Duys He was the spokeman of the Netherlands in 1957 and 1968 (when Katie Boyle also presented Eurovision) and he presented many national finals. He also have a lot of commentary during the 70s and 80s. He is very well known in the Netherlands. RIP

[@madabbafan]

Notice how Stig Anderson is the only one on stage at the end to recieve the prize? The over zelous security had prevented Benny and Bjorn from taking the stage at that point telling them only the writers were allowed on stage to recieve the prize not the performers. It took B&B a while to make them understand that they were the writers and performers. They eventually got on stage about halfway through Stig's acceptance speach.

[@aknigge]

Here are my personal votes/rankings, i'am from the Netherlands 12 points: Sweden - Abba - Waterloo 10 points: Belgium - Jacques Hustin - Fleur de liberté 8 points: Finland - Carita - Keep me warm 7 points: Yugoslavia - Korni Grupa - Generacija '42 6 points: Israël - Poogy - Natati la khayaya 5 points: Monaco - Romuald - Celui qui reste et celui qui s'en va 4 points: Norway - Anne Karine Strom feat. Bendik Singers - The first day of love 3 points: Italy - Gigliola Cinquetti - Si 2 points: Switzerland - Piera Martell - Mein ruf nach dir 1 point : Germany - Cindy & Bert - Die Sommermelodie

[@JeSuisRene]

I’ve been to the Brighton Dome. Not inside it, but I’ve seen the outside of it in person. Very regal. As for Brighton itself, there’s not much to do there (as compared to places like Southend or Bournemouth), in my personal opinion anyway.

[@debonidaniel]

Brighton was not the first BBC choice as they wanted to made the contest again in London or Edimburg again,but all the possible venues are locked on the contest week.In way of possible british win the circus goes to Manchester.

[@FlavioGirl]

thank you for sharing this. i cant wait for 1975 next :)

[@bluemenbluehn]

Fantastic. Thank you!!! :-)

[@jacobnienhuysen2283]

Great year! A bit ironic and anticlimactic though that the only song we're unable to watch is the winner. XD

[@thereorderboard]

Please do follow the relevant links to see the full thing on Vimeo. Apologies I just can't do anything about it! I do believe I'll get hit with the same in 1976.

[@thereorderboard]

andtheconductoris.eu - FIN - Osse Runne In the Eurovision Song Contest final in Brighton (1974), Finland’s entry was composed by Eero Koivistoinen and called ‘Keep me warm’. Its interpreter was Carita Holmström. Once again, the Finns finished near the bottom of the scoreboard. “It was another song from Finland which deserved much better than it got”, Runne feels. “Carita played the piano live on stage, which was no problem for someone like her with a background in jazz music. Although she should have gotten more votes, it was obvious from the beginning that Sweden and ABBA would win. ‘Waterloo’ was a clever concept - everything: lyrics, clothes... the whole approach was very commercial. Even the conductor ( Sven-Olof Walldoff, ed.) was dressed up as Napoleon... it was good fun and functional, because it underlined the message of the song.” Runne’s most vivid memory of Brighton, however, has to do with the first rehearsal with the orchestra of Ronnie Hazlehurst, the BBC’s musical director who made his first Eurovision appearance that year. Runne: “We were drawn to perform first, meaning that we were the first to start rehearsing as well. Right before I was to meet the orchestra, I was taken aside by Ronnie Hazlehurst. He whispered: “Now you go to the conductor’s platform and pretend not to speak any English at all.” I did not get it right away, but then he said: “It is simply a joke, Ossi, to fool the musicians!” So I went on stage and said to the orchestra: “Hyvää päivää” (Finnish for: ‘how do you do’, ed.) and then explained to them in Finnish what the song should sound like. They were numb and simply waited for me to count them in. After seven or eight bars, I heard the trombone player making a mistake, so I stopped the band and corrected him in Finnish. He looked bewildered, of course. When we had started again, the drummer happened to play some notes which were not in the arrangement. After I had told him what was wrong, again in Finnish, the orchestra was in a mood of uproar. Obviously, they had not understood one word of what I had been saying. At that point, the TV producer came into the auditorium, exclaiming: “What the hell is going on here?” It was only then that Hazlehurst, who had been waiting backstage, entered the hall, laughing out loud and saying: “Sorry boys, it was just a practical joke!” That is one of the reasons why I liked working with British orchestras so much. Everywhere I came, Madrid, Jerusalem, or London, the musicians were the same type of people, but the British always managed to combine their professionalism and versatility with a brilliant sense of humour.” andtheconductoris.eu - POR- José Calvário The 1974 effort of the Calvário/Niza partnership, a melodious love ballad by the title of ‘E depois do adeus’, is a remarkable song in more than one way. First of all, with it, singer Paulo de Carvalho won the Grande Prémio and a ticket to the Eurovision Song Contest in Brighton. José Calvário made his first of four appearances as a conductor in the contest, aged 23 and thereby one of the youngest ever to conduct in this competition. During the performance in Brighton, he can be seen agitatedly walking about in front of the orchestra. The song did not do well, picking up three meagre points and tying for last place with the West German and Swiss entries. The studio recording of the song that was released shortly after the contest has a much lower tempo, which does the composition more justice. A couple of weeks after the contest, in Portugal, the Carnation Revolution broke out, a coup by lower military with left-wing sympathies which ousted the dictatorial Caetano regime from power. The airing of ‘E depois do adeus’ on the Emissores Associados de Lisboa radio station on April 24th, was the preconcerted signal for the revolutionaries to start their planned action. Needless to say, ‘E depois do adeus’ has gone on to become one of the most well-known songs in Portuguese popular music of all times. Numerous artists recorded their own versions of it. andtheconductoris.eu - NED - Harry van Hoof In 1974, the Eurovision Song Contest was held in Brighton, England, where the duo Mouth & MacNeal, who had enjoyed worldwide hit success three years previously with a song co-composed by Harry van Hoof, ‘How do you do’, participated on behalf of the Netherlands. Their entry ‘I see a star’, another bumpy sing-a-long composed by Hans van Hemert (arrangement: Piet Souer), came third behind ABBA and Gigliola Cinquetti. At the end of one week of Eurovision, Van Hoof was exhausted. “I had two assignments in that same week”, Harry explains. “There was the Eurovision Song Contest in Brighton and the UNICEF Gala in The Hague. As this gala was a prestigious gig, I did not want to give it up. Therefore, well in advance of our trip to Brighton, I told our delegation leader Warry van Kampen that I was very sorry, but that I was unable to conduct Mouth & MacNeal in the contest. Warry protested, claiming I had been hired to do the pre-selection as well as the international contest. “You got yourself in trouble and now it is time to find a solution by yourself as well!”, he exclaimed. My solution was to fly from London Gatwick to Schiphol and back three times to be able to take care of the preparations for both shows. In my absence, one of the rehearsals in Brighton was done by the English musical director, Ronnie Hazlehurst - a professional guy and every inch a gentleman! Ronnie took over from me gladly and our singers and the orchestra musicians probably did not even notice there was someone else conducting them! At the end of the week, on Friday, I was in The Hague, conducting the UNICEF Gala, while the next evening, I led the orchestra for Mouth & MacNeal in Brighton. Warry van Kampen and the other delegation members of the Netherlands’ broadcasting service were not amused, but what was there to complain? We came third - it was a great result!” The 1974 Eurovision Song Contest will forever be remembered as the occasion when Swedish’ quartet ABBA shook the European music business by storming to victory with ‘Waterloo’. “In spite of my killing schedule”, Van Hoof recalls, “I attended some of the other countries’ rehearsals, including those of Sweden. To me, it was obvious that ABBA were going to win. They were totally different from all the others. The song stood out, though the composition in itself was excruciatingly simplistic. It was the aggressively sounding arrangement which made it modern. ‘Waterloo’ is an excellent example of a song which was taken to a different level by virtue of its arrangement. ABBA managed to be extremely commercial without becoming tasteless - that was their secret. Of course, those two girls wearing tight suits were great too! The Swedes were unorthodox in their approach… I was astonished when I discovered my Swedish conducing colleague (Sven-Olof Walldoff) wore Napoleon’s bicorn hat for the live broadcast. In rehearsals, the guy proved he knew next to nothing about conducting, but this hat was such a fun idea! ABBA managed to change the musical flavour of the festival for the years to come. The four group members were stars overnight. Only hours before the live show, we had been at the hotel bar with them, chatting and jamming. From the moment they won the contest, however, I never managed to get even close to them again. Though, in the following years, we were in the same TV programmes on some occasions, they were completely protected from the outside world. ABBA had become stars all over the world, but their lives were determined by the people around them. That is the downside of success!

[@thereorderboard]

andtheconductoris.eu - UK - Nick Ingman Coming back to the UK to pursue a career in music, she [ONJ] was recommended by Cliff Richard’s manager Peter Gormley to Norrie Paramor, then the managing director of his own record company NPO. From 1968 to 1974, Ingman was under contract at NPO as Paramor’s assistant arranger. When Gormley convinced those responsible at the BBC that Newton-John was the right choice for Eurovision, Ingman was commissioned to arrange half of the six songs selected for A Song for Europe, in which Olivia was the sole contender. Ingman: “The other half was taken care of by Brian Bennett, who was the Shadows’ drummer and a very talented arranger. The deal was that the arranger of the winning song would conduct it in Eurovision. By 1974, Olivia was a familiar face to me, as she had been part of Norrie Paramor’s entourage for several years. About every second week, she performed in the Cliff Richard Show, for which I wrote part of the arrangements. Olivia was pleasant girl who knew what she wanted. When the Eurovision project came our way, Norrie probably felt it was a young persons’ thing - anyway, he decided not to get involved himself. Olivia’s producer John Farrar passed the arranging job onto me and Brian. The Song for Europe orchestra was backstage and, consequently, we did not get any TV exposure.” “Before that”, Nick continues, “I recorded the orchestral backing of the three songs that had been allotted to me with a group of session players in the Abbey Road Studio in London. All musicians in the studio were joking about which one would win. Two of the songs were called ‘Someday’ and ‘Angel eyes’, beautiful ballads which allowed Olivia to showcase her vocal abilities. Brian’s three songs were nice, too - the only odd one out was ‘Long live love’, which was some sort of march. When I conducted the opening bars and the studio musicians started playing, we all stopped and burst into laughter… and we said: ‘That is the winner!’ It was so typically Eurovision! Composer Harold Spiro sent me a demo and told directly his ideas had to be copied. He insisted on boom boom... and in a commercial way, he was right, because ‘Long live love’ won the ticket to Eurovision. Olivia hated the song, but the British audience had awarded Spiro’s clever concept.” One of ‘his’ three songs having won, Nick Ingman was now bound to conduct the orchestra for Olivia Newton-John’s Eurovision Song Contest performance as well. That year, the international Eurovision final took place in Brighton. Because of Ingman’s involvement as the musical director of the British entry, that year’s chief conductor, Ronnie Hazlehurst, did not get to conduct his orchestra for any of the participating songs. “I wish it had been abroad”, Nick laughs. “It would have made the experience more special for me, though it was special in one way - it was my last commission under the aegis of Norrie Paramor before he sold his record company and left for the BBC Midlands Orchestra. In Brighton, the atmosphere was pretty unique… due to the IRA threat, security was very high. Literally in the street outside the pavilion where the contest was held, there were tanks and guys with guns. This made me even more nervous than I already was… remember, I was only twenty-six years old and people kept telling me over and over again how many millions of people would tune in. It would be my first TV appearance anyway - in such a huge live event! The rehearsals were kind of unpleasant, as they mainly consisted of hanging around, hours and hours of doing nothing and waiting to rehearse your three-minute-song. For security reasons, it was not allowed to attend the other delegations’ rehearsals. The conducting job itself was simple… there was no more to remember than the tempo and that was not hard to remember, because it was a march! Olivia kept her calm and there were no hiccups during our preparations.” In the end, ‘Long live love’ tied for fourth place with two other countries, with Sweden’s ABBA storming to victory with ‘Waterloo’. Ingman: “I had not heard any of the other songs before the concert itself, but as soon as ABBA came on and the melody started, I knew we did not have a hope in hell of winning the contest. ‘Waterloo’ is not a great pop song, but in the Eurovision genre it stood out big time. Moreover, the two girls were pretty, they bounced around the stage, and wore funny clothes. Even their conductor (Sven-Olof Walldoff, BT) was part of the performance by wearing a Napoleon hat! ABBA demonstrated that you can be commercial and have a great pop record as well. It was a foregone conclusion that they would walk away with the trophy.”

[@lorofcb3]

How Greece did not make the top 10 let alone top 3 is beyond me.

[@mrjdsworld80]

And that’s the last board you’ll ever do that doesn’t use the 1-12 points system! The EBU’s period of experimentation with voting systems is about to come to an end. Though sadly for a few years we’ll continue to see points awarded in performance order (as they are here.) But it just didn’t work with the 1-12 system.

[@debonidaniel]

Is a funny thing,but they stoped to use the 1971-1973 voting system after some countries acusations to have corruption and coation as the voting is open to everyone see what the juries are doing.

[@stefanborkos]

Wat was het toen geweldig mooi.

[@JeSuisRene]

2:55 - is the music here the same used for the introduction during Harrogate 82?

[@Starfilter1]

Yes, this theme was used by Ronnie Hazlehurst for ESC 1974, 77 and 82. In the eighties he also reused it as a theme for the Royal Variety Performance. (He also reused part of the 1977 opening theme for To the Manor Born.)

[@riva1958]

Greek Entry Replacement I forgot to mention about the Greek entry being a replacement. Such was the cover up afterwards that this is one of Eurovision's least known incidents. Greece decided to hold a big National Final for its first Eurovision entry. This was won by the rock band Nostradamus. However there had been a big scandal the year before when one of the band and the manager had been accused of statutory raping a fan after a show. The band were arrested but then paid off the fan's family and the charges were withdrawn. The Greek regime government didn't want the band and this scandal to be their introduction to the contest, especially as Greece saw the contest as opening up tourist trade etc. They therefore banned the band from taking part and being the regime ordered the whole history of the NF and the scandal be expunged from its newspapers etc. There are a couple of photographs of the band members being arrested at the time, and a couple more of Nostradamus being presented with their award for winning the NF. However, such was the effectiveness of the Greek regime, I have never been able to unearth the name of the actual song they won with. They did release 3 songs in 1974 so it may have been one of them, or perhaps not! As the NF then 'officially' didn't happen, Marinella was then parachuted in as a safe pair of hands to be Greece's debut star.

[@thereorderboard]

Thanks for posting again! Apologies for the late reply! Super interesting stuff once again!

[@KarlDowney]

The empty slot on the original scoreboard was supposed to be for 🇫🇷France.

[@debonidaniel]

The title resumes all!

[@riva1958]

EURO GEEK POST ONE 1974 is a contest which has so many rumours, half truths, miss told stories, and fabrications attached to it that at some times it is difficult to unravel the true situation. So this post is rather long and split over two sections. 1974 is also a rare event in Eurovision history in that had it been held in any other country we most likely have had a different winner, and where would that have left ABBA. More of all that later. 1974 isn't one of my favourite years, I'm not that keen on many of the songs with only Netherlands becoming a party favourite of mine at the time. Ireland I loath and fail to see why it got any points at all. Both Luxembourg and the 1973 runners up Spain turned down the chance to host the 1974 contest. The EBU initially asked the BBC NOT to bid for the contest to try and get some of the other countries to show willing. Only two bids were received, one from IBA Israel which didn't have colour TV and would have needed a lot of support from the EBU and other countries. Also some countries were politically resistant to appearing in Israel at the time. There were also concerns about the actual logistics of Israel being so far away from the core European countries. Israel also had issues with communications and had we gone to Israel in 1974 the voting system would have had to been the same as 71-73. The other bid came from UK ITV who said they would fund the whole thing themselves including a national UK multi artist final. Once the BBC heard of the ITV bid, which if accepted would have excluded them possibly forever, they put in their own bid which was accepted on June 7th 1973. The plans were that the contest would be held in London in the Royal Opera House but that was unavailable for the whole of rehearsal week. Then the Royal Albert Hall was considered again but that too proved unavailable. Brighton Corporation offered the use of The Dome for nothing and threw in free and subsidised accommodation for the delegations, so basically that's the only reason it was chosen. The producer was told to have Katie Boyle and given no option. Katie was a personal friend of Charles Curran. Seating in the hall was reduced from just over 2,000 to just over 1,000 once the commentator booths etc were in place. TVE Spain and CLT Luxembourg wanted all future contests held in TV studios and not as outside broadcasts [the original aim of the contest was to promote technical achievement in outside broadcast as is evident in many of the early programme notes and literature]. Portugal wanted to retain the juries in the venue whereas the BBC wanted the juries back in their countries. Netherlands felt the juries shouldn't view the rehearsals at all and only hear a complete recording beforehand. There had been various stops and starts and technical issues in 1973 which the juries had witnessed. In the end the juries only heard the final rehearsal but did so live. They didn't see any performances until the actual contest. There was lots of disquiet from many countries about the 1973 result and its closeness and the fact the outcome could get influenced by one jury member. At a meeting in August 1973, one of the main points was how to avoid a country getting zero points in any system, so the new voting system was devised. As detailed elsewhere, this was 10 jury members giving a vote to every country from 1-5 and these being added together. So each country could have a maximum of 50 from other juries. it was also decided that the voting should be random and the plan was for this to happen during the actual voting itself with Katie Boyle choosing from a bowl the country that would vote next. This actually happened in rehearsal, more of which you can read below. Again a system was in place that should there be a tie, the not involved countries would each give just one vote to determine the winner decided on by a majority show of hands. Again the rules say nothing about the tied songs being sung again, just that the other juries would vote again.

[@KeithMillsD7]

Any chance of making a video with countries voting in performance order?

[@thereorderboard]

Et voila... vimeo.com/679352431/3d78d26633?share=copy

[@Pawhlen]

Taking inspiration from the scoreboard design used in JESC 2003?

[@nadirhajjour]

It is too bad France retired because their song - La vie à 25 ans by Dani - was better than the Dutch, Monegasque and Luxembourgian entries in my opinion. I think it would have been placed third if it participated! You can see Dani sitting in the audience after the Irish performance because she was drawn to sing as number 14.

[@debonidaniel]

They withdrawn due the death of George Pompidou one week before and the contest can't broadcasted on country as they are on a official morning and his funeral was early on saturday final.Dani was in Brigthon and made part of the first rearshars and watched the show at the Arena.

[@nadirhajjour]

@@debonidaniel yes its also the reason why Anne Marie David was absent!

[@debonidaniel]

@@nadirhajjour exactly,all the french airports are closed and the ORTF broadcasts are shutdown during one week.

[@nadirhajjour]

@@debonidaniel haha it's still fascinating Romuald participated haha

[@debonidaniel]

@@nadirhajjour his flight started from Italy

[@wilsonazevedo8451]

The winner takes it all

[@mrjdsworld80]

I was never able to find out why a draw was held to decide the voting order. First time it was ever done, and it wouldn’t be done again until 2006! It was odd that Finland and Italy opened and closed the voting, just as they had open and closed the song performances. Entirely possible of course yet quite a coincidence!

[@MiroHeinonen]

Putting Finland first and Italy last in voting as well was maybe intentional.

[@debonidaniel]

We had certain polemic and constraits during the 1973 voting and they tried to test a new system and new rules and that evoluted until the things we know today.

[@ponyclub3198]

It sounds like Katy Boyle learned her French in Russia. What a strange accent.

[@sophiee.h]

6 April 1974 [BBC Broadcast]

[@moramento22]

Oh I can see that super quick score calling you mentioned in the comments. Especially the Irish one, the votes came like from a machine gun. 🤣

[@thereorderboard]

I know!! It was quite a shock...having recovered from the 71-73 system I hoped for an easy ride and it didn't come!

[@listman3865]

Perhaps an idea for after 1979: the 2004 onwards semifinals

[@LJpMcC81]

I’m a big ABBA fan, But they should remember where they came from and other artists & record companies who refuse their songs to be used in KZbin videos that are Celebrating the Eurovision Song Contest’s History! It’s ridiculous and and absolute Joke!!!!

[@patricketienne2579]

ITALY and NEDERLANDS the best.

[@mrjdsworld80]

Excellent work yet again- my own view is the actual 1974 scoreboard is one of the ugliest ever used at the contest. Sadly, the grey foreshadows the rest of the decade at Eurovision, after 1974 all the colour is drained out of the contest and until 1979 (and even into the early 1980s), it’s all very dark, dour and brown.

[@VATJON]

I'm Litterly Watching MGP now. don't vote if your not Norwegian

[@user-ht8pn6dv9j]

48:56

[@JeSuisRene]

While I do love ABBA, Waterloo isn’t the best song here in Brighton, nor is it the band’s best song (incase you ask, ABBA’s best song is either Angeleyes or Thank You for the Music). As for my favourite entry in Brighton? Probably Netherlands, followed by Yugoslavia and Spain.

[@debonidaniel]

I have to admit this with you.But was the start,as ABBA tryed two times before to represent Sweden,with one of these songs is Ring Ring.

[@BFDIrussian]

Fun fact: United Kingdom 🇬🇧 give 0 points to ABBA

[@BFDIrussian]

United Kingdom 🇬🇧 to ABBA 0 points!

[@euro--towelie1890]

Have you noticed the rather cryptic lyrics of the Israeli entry?

[@joaovitormatos8147]

It's about a couple hating each other

[@ponyclub3198]

Like what?

[@debonidaniel]

@@ponyclub3198 is about a toxic relationship.Rumors on that days tell about the lyrics are linked to on about the one of the girls divorce that was to be signed on next days after the contest.

[@zloinaopako]

Trivia: The beginning of the Portuguese song triggered the Carnation Revolution in Portugal which overthrew the Portuguese fascist dictatorship.

[@mrjdsworld80]

Katie was over it by 1974 I think, she seemed out of it (was she a little tipsy?) at times.

[@JeSuisRene]

She seemed rather pissed off to me - after the Finnish votes, she has the look of “one down, sixteen to go” practically written on her face!

[@JeSuisRene]

Michael Hurll… how did you manage to produce such a great Eurovision in 1974 but such a crap one in 1982?

[@Starfilter1]

I feel like a lone voice in the wilderness defending the production of 1982, but 74 is better. And Stewart Morris' production in 1977 is better than both of them!

[@JeSuisRene]

@@Starfilter1 I rather like the 77 production (even if the execution is slightly shoddy), so it’s nice to see the Italian set designers have taken inspiration from London’s 77 set design (and both of Jerusalem’s).

[@Starfilter1]

Song-wise there's lots to enjoy here. I can't complain about the winner or the runner-up, and I have a soft spot for Israel, Monaco and Switzerland as well. Both Olivia Newton-John and Michael Hurll's camera direction sell 'Long Live Love' for all it's worth but the UK viewers really should have picked the runner-up 'Angel Eyes' instead.

[@JeSuisRene]

Angel Eyes, sharing a name with my favourite ABBA song!

[@Starfilter1]

@@JeSuisRene They're both great songs!! (Although I think my favourite ABBA songs are Super Trouper and Under Attack).

i am watching this while watching dora the croatian nf ema mgp and waiting for malta and san marino

[@ponyclub3198]

The wait is over, and any song from 1974 is better than Croatia, San Marino & Malta

[@TheNathanj2009]

Long live love is a terrible song, Olivia Newton John did her best with it somehow dragging up to 4th

[@karlomorosin7880]

Thx god you have to blur ABBA coz I wanted to skip it. I hate this cheap, cheezy, no-quality and commercial piece of crap. Everything else is just great