Eurovision 1972: The prickly thistle | Song super cut and animated scoreboard
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- čas přidán 7. 01. 2022
- An edited down version of the Eurovision Song Contest 1972 from Edinburgh, with a scoreboard using today’s technology. This all started as a lockdown project!
This edit will give a flavour of the evening (Sat 25 March, 9:30pm) with some great commentary from Tom Fleming.
Enticing as a Monte-Carlo based Song Contest would have been, there was considerable technical and logistical challenges to Radio Monte Carlo hosting. The official record says French television wasn’t interested in helping either, at least on RMC’s terms. We know that the BBC were wrongly confident of victory in Dublin, so perhaps the BBC keeping the Contest going was an inevitability. For the first time in the UK, we’re outside of London, in Edinburgh, where the Contest could take on a distinctly Scottish flavour with the English presentational team dropped for Tom Fleming as commentator, and the surprising choice of ballet-dancer and actress Moira Shearer as presenter. This distinction distances the Contest somewhat from the lack of UK victory in 1971, focusing on Scotland rather than the UK as a whole.
Despite the BBC having the money, not all the bells and whistles were included. Filmed postcards were dropped and the interval act was a replay of a previous Edinburgh Tattoo - strangely, a section of that act would achieve a Number 1 in the UK charts in the following weeks, outdoing the performers on the stage. The modern innovation appears to be the large screen - an increasing feature of BBC live programmes that had the budget (like election programmes). Usher Hall looks pretty packed, so a room at Edinburgh Castle was used - the technical spectacle would have amazed TV execs but it probably washed over the public viewing from home…some 22 million in the UK for this show.
From reading, most people had a great time in Edinburgh. There were a few prickly parts though, with Séverine looking decidedly bored - indeed I’ve kept a few shots of the audience in as it’s clear not everyone was having a great time. As Sandie Jones started her performance for Ireland, someone threw muddy water over some audience members, causing BBC staff to move them out of the Hall. The disturbance isn’t noticed on television, and Sandie gives a great performance. The muddy water wasn’t anything compared to the bomb threat in the hours before, David Mackay (UK conductor, producer) recalls playing the entry a little quicker than he had in rehearsals!
Undoubtedly the biggest stars on the stage were The New Seekers, who were already at number 2 in the UK charts with ‘Beg, Steal or Borrow’. I’ve left David Mackay’s recounting of the New Seekers time in Edinburgh in the comments, as it’s clear they were mobbed throughout the week. They’d had a huge hit in 1971 with ‘I’d Like To Teach The World To Sing’, used on the famous Coca-Cola advert although, in another prickly element, Bill Cotton (head of Light Entertainment) wished the New Seekers well, but hoped they finished second. An exchange that perplexed the group, being unaware that the prize in this Contest can be a bit of a headache.
A third of those performing were in male and female duos this year, a format that didn’t reward them well at all. The growth of groups continued, but the other third of entrants who were female soloists provided the winner once again. Greek born and Hamburg based Vicky Leandros (Vasiliki Papathanasiou) wasn’t a newcomer by any stretch, having a massive hit with ‘L’amour est bleu’ after it came fourth in 1967. Vicky got a UK number 2 with the English translation of ‘Après toi’ in April, and keeping with ‘2’, the song’s lyricist, Yves Dessca became the second person to win two Eurovision’s (having co-written Un banc, un arbre), and the only one to do so in consecutive years.
Down the bottom of board, Malta became the first to finish last on their first two attempts. The Maltese gave the UK just 2 points, as did Spain. UK military bases in Malta were being negotiated with great acrimony at the time, the UK’s presence in the Mediterranean was contested by Spain too. Shortly after this show the dispute came to an end, and perhaps Bill Cotton’s awkward exchange would have melted away in the glow of a UK victory.
DESIGN AND THE BOARD
You might be aware through my twittering’s that the 1972 designs proved a challenge. Eventually I got something that played on the double lines of the prominent typeface and gave a hint to the Scottish theme of this year’s show. I’ve used the League of Moveable Type’s Ostrich Sans for that, and Rodrigo Fuenzalida’s ‘Outfit’ (Google). There’s more detail on this design in my ko-fi updates.
TRANSFER NEWS
None.
INTERVAL ACT
Military Tattoo from Edinburgh Castle.
CREDITS
@SvenskTV - thanks for your awesome work, and other’s work included in your great project! It’s made this one a breeze!
Flags: countryflags.com
00:00 Intro
05:12 Song super-cut
34:50 Interval
35:30 Voting intro
38:25 The reorder board 72
56:25 Recap, data & reprise - Hudba
A few other things I couldn’t fit in the description:
A big thank you again to those who’ve supported the channel on ko-fi/thereorderboard, including those repeat donations! If you follow me you can still see the updates on ko-fi, but I’m still grateful! You can also follow me on Twitter too @thereorderboard. Here’s @mrjdsworld’s blog on the 72 board: euroscoreboards.wordpress.com/2021/07/23/edinburgh-1972/ This also includes some wise caution on the stories of how the Monegasque broadcaster tried to host the show.
In my snipping from the very good andtheconductoris.eu, my final ‘prickly’ part of Edinburgh was the passing over of the original old guard of conductors. This year, Dolf Van Der Linden finds out (via a newspaper) that he wouldn’t be required, and this is also Franck Pourcel’s last year, precipitating a fall in popularity for the Contest in France. I must mention that 72 is considered a successful show, but I do enjoy finding out the behind the scenes bits, and it seems this year there was quite a few happenings! Sir Bill Cotton, who’s mentioned above is relative of TV presenter Fearne Cotton (he was her paternal grandfather’s cousin).
This year our juries aren’t quite as cantankerous as in 1971, eeking out 50.4% of the total possible votes, up from 49.0%. This time, Switzerland was toughest, mainly because of the under-25 juror. The older Swiss juror gave out 10 points more, bringing them in line with others. Overall, the youthful jurors enjoyed the song selection more than the older, which would please executives everywhere, I’m sure. The UK had one of the widest gaps, with the under-25 giving out 11 more points than their older counterpart. The Netherlands were right in step with one another, giving out 49 points each. In terms of songs, the UK entry had one of the largest differential between ages, earning 52 from older jurors, and 62 from younger ones. This wasn’t the highest though, 14 more points were earned for Portugal from the youthful jurors. Ireland’s entry was more liked by the older jurors by 10 points, with Netherlands, Italy, Finland and Switzerland all getting the same from old and young. In 1971, only two songs got more votes from the younger jurors, this year we’re up to 6.
On the board I made a slight change to my split-flaps…I’d incorrectly had them going from 0 to 9 (seems sensible), but actually they go from 1-9 then 0. This meant I could keep up with the real BBC board more easily.
I think overall, this is a good Contest, although it feels like it’s in two parts. Certainly Germany, the UK, Portugal, Austria, Luxembourg and the Netherlands would have made a cracking show. There’s some duff entries, without any bad performances, particularly from France, Malta, Norway, Monaco and Belgium. I quite like Ireland’s entry too. I think it’s a toss-up between Luxembourg and Netherlands for me. Undoubtedly the Nordic bloc has a bad night, accelerating the language rule change I’m sure. Portugal continue to benefit from this voting system - 71 to 73 being one of their strongest periods. Ireland’s worst result so far, and a record kept until 1989, I think a little unfair…I do think this contrasts well with the modern call for the UK and Ireland to sing in something other than English to differentiate themselves! Overall, the bottom half of this order board has some surprising occupants.
Interestingly we have a situation where the UK are on top of the leaderboard but can’t mathematically win - meaning I needed to do some code refreshing. At several points the board knows who the true leader is (based on current score + minimum points left), and that’s often Luxembourg. It’s by that measure that countries are knocked off (if they maximum points from every following round is smaller than the true leader). Although it’s not considered a close race, there’s points early on where almost the entire board is within 25 points or so of each other (apart from MLT and BEL). There’s a low-countries drama at the end too. Mathematically, Netherlands could win if they got a maximum of 20 and Luxembourg scored the lowest, 4. In the end the Belgians do the worst and give the Dutch just 2, meaning they missed out on a top 3 finish.
Although Monaco didn’t host this year, here’s a brief history. Television in the principality was complex owing to it’s proximity to France. There were several deals prior to launch in 1954, one of which led Radio Monte-Carlo having a monopoly of television in south-east France as RTF renounced their broadcasting from Marseille. Obviously in the 1950s, with such low viewing figures, this was a temporary aberration. In 1952, the French government reversed this situation, meaning Télé Monte-Carlo were stuck with a very small audience. The station was privately owned though, the second in Europe after Télé Saar in Saarland. Both were owned by Prince Rainer III and Charles Michelson. The Monaco channel was broadcast via a powerful transmitter though, and it's received by large parts of the that corner of France, before French television can complete it's network. In 1958 they broadcast the wedding of Prince Ranier to Grace Kelly, via the Eurovision network, as well as the Grand Prix (motor cars). In 1963, the channel is called 'TMC' and ten years later (a year after this Contest), Monaco gets colour via the French SECAM standard. The channel expanded in the 1970s and 1980s to Italy and further into France, the popularity of which was only slowed by the arrival of private television channels in France in the 1980s. Once the French government had privatised their first channel (TF1), they owned 40%, with AB Groupe owning another 40% and the Government with the remaining 20%. In 2016, TF1 bought the whole channel. TMC is available across French speaking Europe. TMC was part of the EBU until 1995 as part of Radio Monte-Carlo. Currently, according to wikipedia, the EBU membership is held by a joint organisation: Groupement de Radiodiffuseurs Monégasques (GRMC).
www.andtheconductoris.eu NETHERLANDS: Van Hoof was to become the regular conductor for the Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest for the years to come [replacing Dolf Van der Linden]/ In a 1985 radio interview, Van der Linden commented on the events in 1972: “The record companies wanted their conductor to do the contest. I can’t say that I had sleepless nights, because over the years the festival had developed in a direction which was not entirely to my personal liking; to my mind, the quality of the songs had decreased since the 1950s. As a result, I did not feel involved as much as in the early years. What really annoyed me, though, was the way in which the decision came about. Never in my life was I ditched in such an inelegant way. I learnt of it by reading my morning newspaper, without having been informed by a telephone call from NOS or a note - nothing!” Dolf’s daughter Anneke added in a 2009 interview: “He genuinely felt hurt. Remember, the Eurovision Song Contest had in a way been his child in the 1950s. Now, this child was brutally wrested from his hands.”
www.andtheconductoris.eu UNITED KINGDOM (David Mackay)
The first of David Mackay’s two associations with Eurovision came in 1972, as the BBC’s Head of Light Entertainment, Bill Cotton, invited the New Seekers to represent the United Kingdom in the international festival. As the group’s bass player Paul Layton recalled, “We were absolutely chuffed to be asked, especially when we found out we were going to be performing the final six songs on the ‘It’s Cliff Richard’ series.”
[…]
Suddenly, however, a problem arose. I received a letter from the Home Office, saying that my work permit to stay in the UK would not be extended. My time was up - I had to go back to Australia! Despairing, I showed the letter to my accountant. He then replied on my behalf, writing that the guy there were sending back to Australia was due to conduct the orchestra for the British Eurovision entry. He probably also mentioned that I was the New Seekers’ producer. Whatever his exact wording was, the Home Office got the message. They reversed their initial decision; I got a permission to stay in Britain forever - and that was it really!”
During rehearsals in Edinburgh, the New Seekers and their entourage were deluged with huge crowds of fans. “We couldn’t go anywhere,” Mackay laughs. “The police even asked the group not to go near the windows of the hotel where we were staying. There were loads of kids out there who went berserk anytime they saw a glimpse of one of the group members from one of the windows. There were screaming girls all the time. They even broke down the hotel’s front door. We were kept inside all the time. Every time we had to go to a rehearsal, the police took us out through the back - or one time even through the kitchen - whisking us out, into cars taking us to the auditorium. I would have been alright… I could have walked out the front door without anyone knowing who I was. The group really were the biggest thing in Britain at that time. It was a manic week.”
Aged twenty-seven, Mackay was the youngest of all conductors taking part in the contest that year. “… And I didn’t like conducting!”, he adds, smiling. “Of course, I had to conduct studio sessions regularly. When the New Seekers toured America and Japan, I conducted smaller orchestras for them. It wasn’t that I didn’t know what to do, but, all the same, I never enjoyed it, because I didn’t think I was a good conductor. I never had any conducting lessons. But for this event, I didn’t really have a choice. I wasn’t particularly nervous, as I knew what I wanted to get out of the musicians. The score was done, it was pretty straightforward, but it was just a matter of getting that energy to it.”
“Fortunately, the BBC allowed me to have Terry Britten, who had also done the studio session, to be part of the orchestra for my song. That was a blessing, because there was a slide guitar part which I wouldn’t have wanted to leave to just somebody on the night. In Edinburgh, my work was really with the rhythm section more than anything else. For the concert, I had added little bits and pieces to the orchestration here and there to make it sound better. Everything was done live, including the bass and two acoustic guitars being played by the guys on stage. Some coordination was required, but the rehearsals were good and the concert was excellent as well.”
On the night, Paul Layton, the New Seekers’ bass player, was less confident than his musical director: “It was very nerve-wracking before going on stage. The occasion was very formal. I was faced with a problem of logistics. I was often on television, playing my bass guitar, with a drummer who was some distance away in the orchestra, and no matter how well they hooked up the monitors in those days, it was always going to be a nervous situation, to try to make sure I could hear him as he was playing, without there being any time lag.”
Perhaps, the New Seekers would have been even more nervous if they had been told about the bomb scare which occurred just before the contest was aired. “The group didn’t know and not many other people did,” Mackay recalls, “but I had been in the control room just before eight o’clock - and the police were there. But they and the BBC believed that it was a hoax. They were pretty confident, so they went ahead and did the show. Afterwards, when I told them about what had happened, the group said that they were sure I had conducted it faster than normal - and now they understood why, because I wanted to get it done and go out! We had a good laugh about it.”
Just before the New Seekers were due to go on stage, the BBC’s Bill Cotton came into the group’s dressing room to wish them luck. Mackay: “I’ll never forget that moment. Billy said he hoped we would do really well, and also that he hoped we would come second. I was astonished and asked him why he said that. He explained that they were only putting it on because the country that won it last year (Monaco - BT) wasn’t able to find the resources to do it. So the BBC had to finance it to keep the show going. “But,” as he said, “it takes up so much time and money… we don’t really want to go through all of that again next year. So, in an ideal world, you’ll come second.” I wasn’t particularly happy about his intervention at the time. It was a bit ‘interesting’, let’s put it that way.”
As it turned out, Bill Cotton’s prayers were heard, as the New Seekers finished second. To the group’s disappointment, Spain and Malta gave the UK entry the minimum vote. “There was a little politics involved in that,” Mackay maintains. “We could have come first, but the UK and Malta were in conflict at the time over British army bases on Malta. Edward Heath and Dom Mintoff (the prime ministers of the United Kingdom and Malta at the time - BT) were in open disagreement. If we had gotten some more marks from Malta, it would have brought us a lot closer. On the Monday morning after the contest, the front page of the paper brought the news that Mintoff had finally agreed to the financial compensation offered by Heath… so they were back on song again. Who knows what would have happened with the Maltese vote if the agreement had been reached three days before?”
www.andtheconductoris.eu FRANCE:
From now on, the French Eurovision entries were usually conducted by their respective arrangers, the first one being Jean Claudric for Martine Clémenceau and her song ‘Sans toi’ in Luxembourg (1973). Clémenceau had won a pre-selection show in Paris in which six songs took part. “I arranged and conducted all songs for that selection programme,” Claudric recalls. “As for Pourcel, he was replaced because singers no longer wanted to work with him. Don’t get me wrong: they had no problems with him personally, because everyone recognised his exceptional talents. But producers and artists simply wanted their song’s arranger to conduct as well. If a particular melody has been arranged by Jean-Claude Petit, he should be the one to lead the orchestra. It was no more than logical…”
In fairness, Pourcel’s fate was a sign of the times. Record companies became ever more powerful and felt they deserved more of a say in ‘their’ Eurovision songs. In 1972, in the Netherlands, Pourcel’s contemporary and fellow festival veteran conductor Dolf van der Linden was replaced by twenty-nine-year old studio arranger Harry van Hoof at the insistence of the producer of that year’s Dutch Eurovision entry. In a way, the Eurovision Song Contest was wrenched from the hands of its ‘founding fathers’ - inevitably so.
Pourcel’s countryman Jean Musy - himself twice a conductor on the Eurovision stage in the 1970s - feels about it:
“To me, it is not surprising that the decline of interest in the Eurovision Song Contest in my country more or less coincided with the moment Franck Pourcel stopped being involved as a conductor. From the 1970s onwards, the selection of the Eurovision entry here in France became ever more farcical. The pre-selections here were rigged - and everyone knew. Back in his day, Franck Pourcel, by his sheer presence, made sure there was a certain amount of calm and dignity around the festival. After he had gone, Eurovision became an event of trop de monde et trop de bruit, too many people and too much noise.”
www.andtheconductoris.eu ITALY:
In the voting, the Italian song did reasonably well, finishing in sixth position in a field of eighteen participating entries. “It was a good result,” Reverberi comments. “To me, the experience had been a very interesting one. I had never before conducted an orchestra of English musicians. For Nicola, Eurovision could have been more than just interesting, if only he had been willing to learn English. The festival could have been the springboard to a worldwide breakthrough. The guy had everything needed to succeed at that, except for one element; he didn’t speak English and he was too lazy to learn the language. In the countries of Northern Europe, the Italian language is usually a barrier for artists trying to achieve success, with the possible exception of Germany. In England, songs in Italian simply don’t work. When you want to succeed in Europe or worldwide, being able to sing in the English language is a requirement.”
A brief history of 1972. In January, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark accedes the Danish throne, the first Queen in Denmark since 1412…also, the first not to be called Christian or Frederick since 1513! At the end of the month, Japanese solder Shoichi Yokoi is discovered in Guam, 28 years after he failed to surrender. On January 30th, the most controversial part of the Northern Ireland troubles takes place, ‘Bloody Sunday’ sees 14 unarmed civil rights marchers killed by the British Army. This leads to several anti-British riots taking place throughout Ireland, with the British Embassy being burnt to the ground in Dublin. In March, the Northern Irish Parliament is prorogued and ‘direct rule’ from London starts, which lasts 26 years until after the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. The Volkswagen Beetle exceeds the sales of the Ford Model T, by selling their 15,007,034th car. Nixon goes to China and meets Mao Zedong, an historic 8-day trip. In May, Nixon and Brezhnev sign the SALT I treaty, which aims to limit the number of nuclear bombs in the world. In June things turn a bit more complicated for Nixon when 5 White House operatives are arrested for burglarizing the offices of Nixon’s rival party, the Democrats. There’s the usual terrible toll from air accidents this year, including in Staines, which killed 118 shortly after take-off from Heathrow. Eurovision 1973 is one second further away from June 30th, as the first leap second is added to the Earth’s time at 23:59:60. In July in a sign that tension between the USSR and US are easing, but also what conditions were like the USSR…the US sells $750m worth of grain to Moscow. In July, the Democrats nominate George McGovern for the election in November, who calls for the withdrawal of all US troops from Vietnam. In August solar flares disrupt cabling in the US. Another hefty airliner crash in East Berlin, killing 156. In late August the Summer Olympics are held in Munich. Tragedy would hit the Games with 11 Israeli athletes murdered after Arab terrorist group Black September invade the Olympic village. 6 are killed in the failed hostage rescue attempt. In September, Norway rejects joining the EC, with Denmark joining on October 2nd. Peace talks about Vietnam in Paris have a breakthrough. Queen Elizabeth II visits Yugoslavia. In November, Nixon beats McGovern by a landslide. Just before Christmas, East and West Germany recognise the existence of one another. Elsewhere in the year, Film director Stanley Kubrick asks Warner Bros. to withdraw ‘A Clockwork Orange’ from exhibition in the UK following death threats made against his family. The film does not receive a public viewing in the country for another 27 years.
I love how BBC decided that Scotland would be the hosting country. Not only by the city, but the narrator, the presenter, the jury... Looks like an alternate reality where Scotland is independent and a Eurovision member
Nothing about show that was Scottish.
R.I.P Sandie Jones, the Irish Eurovision singer, sadly died at 68 in the USA on 20 Sept 2019.
The person who did this, all this work. You are my hero! What an amazing job you did and I will binge my way through this! Thank you! ❤️
Loved the design, the font they used is very Mexico City Olympics, loved the lines and the sound of the board was so noticeable! 🏅
I hadn't thought of that - yes the font is very Mexico 68. A design classic!
The absolutely superb design of the scoreboards in all of your videos are hardly anything surprising at this point, but I'm nevertheless astonished by how fabulously you've managed to take on the 1971-73 voting system and make it transparent. It's such a joy to watch and really get into the seventies' Eurovision era. Also many thanks for the detailed commentary on each edition which helps a lot!
As for ESC 1972 itself, I've always felt most of the early seventies (1970, 1971, 1974, 1975) mostly offered a few really good songs each year in the sea of rather so-so entries but I've got to admit this year is pretty decent after all. "Après toi", needless to say, is a classic, but I really have a soft spot for the entries of Italy, Austria, the Netherlands, UK, Portugal and above all - Ireland. Too bad the their sole entry in Irish wasn't appreciated at all, apparently discouraging Ireland from ever singing in it again.
Lovely to hear Tom Flemings voice as commentator for the BBC broadcast, and an obvious choice for the Edinburgh edition as he is a Scots man himself. Always reliable and informed when tasked with broadcasting important state events. Sadly passed now. Also gone is Sandie Jones who passed away in 2019.
Wonderful work on this video, as always 👏🏻
and also sadly Jaime Morey, Grethe Kausland and graceful Betty Mars ,who died a horrid death RIP
Also, fun fact, Grethe Kausland is from my hometown here in Norway, and is a bit of a cultural hero here, although barely anyone remembers her for her eurovision participation.
Thanx to Kirsti Sparboes strong beleive in her entry, Gerthe had to step up as a duet partner for Benney Borg. That made her come back in the limelight agian. We are all happy for that.
There are a lot of old fashioned songs this year, so the half dozen that are good really stand out. I particularly like Luxembourg, Austria and Yugoslavia but my personal winner (by a landslide) is the UK - one of my top five Eurovision songs of all time!
I could write down a lot of compliments on the design and so on, but...
The image quality 🤩
It looks like a recent show.
Looking forward to 1973 and the song that the portuguese dictatorship couldn't understand the message.
Keep it up!
Thanks! I must really say that the image quality is not down to me, but @SvenskTV
This is one of my favourite contests, despite my dislike of the voting system. My personal favourite songs are: Luxembourg [my all time favourite winner], France, Portugal, Sweden & Malta. Whereas Austria and Yugoslavia are two of my most disliked Eurovision songs in the history of the contest.
Euro Geek Stuff
RMC Radio Monte Carlo did intend to hold the contest. There is a memo in the EBU archives dated just a week or so after the '71 contest about the proposal to hold the contest outdoors in a purpose built venue in June 1972. Construction was also under way on a new concert hall in Monaco which was the back up plan. The BBC, who held great sway in the EBU at the time, objected to the contest being held in June and objected as early as end of May 1971. The BBC had already contracted The Cliff Richard Show as the showcase to choose the 1972 entry and couldn't cancel that without paying fees etc. RMC started making noises that it was June or they couldn't do it, plus there was the fact they would need technical help, or money to pay for it, so the EBU put out tentative feelers, but no official request, to Spain and Germany both who said no. The UK suggested in a memo that France should hold it as they had lost out on the coin toss in 1970, however France refused even to discuss it while RMC were still involved. The suggestion that a joined Monaco-France contest was proposed perhaps held in Nice with Severine as presenter has never been proven and is probably hearsay. There is nothing in the EBU archive [ very incomplete] about it. The BBC then said they would host if Monaco couldn't which prompted RMC to immediately withdraw.
Cliff Richard was chosen as the original UK performer for 1972 but was committed to tour during the date of Eurovision so was promised 1973 and the Cliff show was used to showcase the New Seekers entries.
Edinburgh and Blackpool were both considered as host cities and the BBC insisted the contest start at 9.30 UK time. Any country which didn't want to start showing it at that time [contests traditionally started at 10pm] should record it and show it later. The estimate for the contest costs was £25,000 based on the cost of Dublin '71, and the BBC agreed to pay half if the rest came from the EBU. The actual cost of the contest in the end came to £81,000. The producer has said he was never given a budget to stick too and money was no object. Anything he wanted just appeared. The day after the BBC submitted its application to the EBU a counter offer was made by ITV to host saying they would pay for the whole costs themselves. The BBC were told of the ITV offer and it is thought they then agreed to foot most if not all of the costs themselves so the EBU went with the BBC again. Also the BBC and the EBU had a long history of working together on projects with the first President and Director General of the EBU being from the BBC.
There were approximately 1,500 people in the audience in the Usher Hall. There are photographs online of the stage set being built.
The Usher Hall didn't have space for the jury to meet or wings for the jury 'stands' to be easily stored [in Dublin they watched the contest in a pub across the road and then came over to 'cast' their votes] so the producer came up with the idea of Edinburgh Castle. The juries watched on big screens, in black and white, and not on TVs as was stipulated in the rules of the contest. The producer also wanted Moira Shearer and won the BBC round by the fact that Moira could speak French and the main woman the BBC were pushing for on the short list couldn't.
The juries were shown all the songs in first rehearsal on video tape as there had been problems with watching the live rehearsals in Dublin as various things had gone wrong during some songs which had to be sung twice. Then they rather strangely gave a full dummy run voting rather than just a short practice as happened in Dublin . How much this resembled the true vote in the end is unknown.
Alice Babs daughter, singer Titti Sjoblom, was the female Swedish jury member.
Mary Roos was a surprise winner of the German NF, even she herself was amazed she won, and had already changed in to her going home clothes and removed her makeup when the winner of the NF was announced and she had to quickly get changed back to sing again.
The English lyric of Portugal's entry, called Shadows, was written by actor Bill Owen who played Compo in Last Of The Summer Wine.
The UK guitar players in the New Seekers complained that because of the position of the orchestra they couldn't hear the music cues properly so just had to go with the flow.
The reason we saw the juries voting after Finland was to give the stage hands time to get the piano on stage for the Austrian entry.
The lyrics of the Italian song had to be changed to stop it being obviously about a girl losing her virginity.
Everyone will have seen the footage of Severine looking at her watch before Monaco sang, and this is often interpreted as an indication of her boredom. However the shot was programmed and she knew it would happen at a precise time and she was checking whether it was coming up or not. The director went to her a few seconds too early that's all.
The man who comes on at the end and kisses Vicki Leandros is her father Leandros Papathanasiou who under the name of Mario Panas co-wrote the music for Apres Toi. He's still alive aged 95.
In the UK the English language version Come What May was the biggest selling song by a solo female in 1972 and got to Number 2 in the only year a solo female didn't have a Number 1 hit in the UK charts. Vicky released 7 different language versions of the winning song. This was a record for any Eurovision song never mind winner and was equalled by Nicole in 1982. Only one other Eurovision song, Latvia 2004 Fomines and Kleins - Dziesma par Laimi has been released in more language versions which is 9. The Latvians also recorded more languages that were never released and had planned to record their song in all the languages of the world but the money for that disappeared when they failed to qualify for the final.
Vicky Leandros made the cherry broach she is wearing herself. Jewellery of cherries and cherry motifs were very popular in 1972 and appeared on all sorts of clothing etc. My sister had a coat with cherry shaped buttons. Vicky has unfortunately gained a rather negative reputation among musician etc who have worked with her as being rather a bit of a diva and control freak.
The BBC had originally planned to film the interval act of the Military Tattoo but then someone showed them the old footage to check if that was the sort of thing they wanted, so they just used the old stuff form 1968.
The problem with the jury members being close friends, family or more likely lovers on jollies of executives in their respective TV corporations was even more obvious than in Dublin and the producer raised questions about the validity of the jury members with the EBU. There were apparently even some jury members who turned up with a copy of their votes before they had even heard the songs. Basically having only 2 jury members was the downfall of the system.
The winning score of 128 was exactly the same as the year before. Interestingly each time Luxembourg won previous to 1972 the UK also came second. The voting system was, surprisingly to us looking back, very popular with TV viewers in 1972.
The BBC wanted to organise the usual after show party in the Usher Hall. However there are strict licensing laws in Scotland and Edinburgh Town Council refused to grant a late licence for a bar. Drinks could not be served after 10pm and the Council and the police made it clear that any attempt to do so would result in the party being raided. After much back and forth the Council refused to budge but the post show party with drinks did go ahead behind locked doors with the police turning a blind eye and showing some sense.
There are some great photographs of Vicky Leandros taken the next morning on the steps of the Scottish Records Office across the road from the hotel where all the delegations stayed.
From 1972 we have sadly lost: Moira Shearer - Presenter, Betty Mars - France who threw herself out of a window, Pierre Isacsson and Berndt Ost -Sweden, Peter Doyle - UK, Grethe Kausland - Norway, Jamie Moray - Spain, Paivi Paunu - Finland, Sandie Jones - Ireland, Sandra and Andres - Netherlands
Ireland should really have sung in Irish more. I think The Voice would have sounded good as Gaelige. I remember in the days of RTÉ holding Eurosong, if an Irish-language song was chosen, the prize money was doubled!
I do agree that it’s a shame we haven’t sent more songs as Gaeilge, but I think you might agree that the token ‘amhráin as gaeilge’ in nf’s over the years were usually of a very below average quality most of the time so the slot was dropped. I still hope that one something spectacular is located somewhere…Irish can be a beautiful language in song and Ceoil an Grá is a great example of it.
Wonderful animation, such lovely details. Thanks so much for all your fab work!!
Thank you for this, shame I wasn’t able to join in the fun of the live premiere (I was about 20 mins late to the party.) The 1972 contest seems to be rather unloved edition. Admittedly it’s not a classic year in my view, but it’s a great winner (my father’s favourite Eurovision song, and he bought the English-language version “Come What May” back in 1972) and there’s some decent songs in there, even if the production isn’t amazing and doesn’t live up to the promise of the opening sequence (apparently the interval act was recorded in 1968!) Hopefully with SvenskTV and your work, it’ll get a bit more love.
Not just the first time outside of London, also the first and, to date, only time the BBC staged the contest outside of England.
Indeed - although I think Cardiff got to the final two in the running to host in 1998. And after '94 and '96 there was much speculation in the press that if RTE couldn't afford another contest in Dublin that they might co-produce with the BBC in Belfast. I don't think this was ever a serious possibility, but imagine Eamonn Holmes hosting instead of Mary Kennedy!
@@Starfilter1 Do you know which venue in Cardiff the BBC proposed for 98?
@@JeSuisRene I don't, I'm afraid. I remember hearing about Cardiff in 98 but I can't remember any more details from that time. I looked up Gordon Roxburgh's book this morning and he says the final four were Birmingham, Cardiff, Glasgow and Manchester but with no further details.
That book also says that Belfast bid for 1998. This was as well as bidding speculatively for 95 and 97 if RTE would co produce with the BBC (I'm not sure how serious these bids were but they had a lot of media attention at the time). The proposed venue for a Belfast contest in the 90s would have been the King's Hall.
(By the way Rene, I've been wondering for a while - is your profile picture the Central globe?!)
Thanks for another great production🙂👏
Wow! I have never seen a video from this contest with so great quality. Great job!
Another triumph from the ReorderBoard! Lovely to see the flippy numbers on the scoreboard again. 😉 The stats for the most and least generous juror were interesting too. As always, I’m looking forward to the next one! 👍😊
Thanks for the video @thereorderboard and for the live premiere. It was great to watch it in (virtual) company. And I appreciate the efforts you made with the stripey font - it wouldn't have been ESC '72 without it!
To whoever did this - utterly wonderful. A Eurovision fan's dream! Thank you very much! 😚
That Maltese entry was a trainwreck musically and stylistically
This was such a pleasure to watch! Thank you for all your hard work!
Thank you so much! I'm glad you enjoyed it!
Best winner of all time👍🏽
How do I not know this song; absolutely beautiful!!
Brilliant. Scoring actually makes sense when you watch this!😂
Indeed it does. This voting system gives a more accurate picture of how the juries ranked each song. In the current system, 15 songs get no points at all, so we've no idea of the final ranking for the lower scoring countries. In theory, a song could be 11th in every jury's ranking yet register a nul points
Great quality image and video.
Thanks your channel is awesome thanks ❤️❤️💕😘 love your video s
Fabulous scoreboard, thanks for your hard work..
Especially enjoyed this 1972 one as it was the first time I watched the ESC. And my top 3 were the actual top 3 ! The winning song still one of the best winning songs all these years later...shame Luxembourg 🇱🇺 not in it any more.. they could have the UK's place ...am sure they wouldn't come last all the time..! 😅
thank you for sharing this. i cant wait to see 1973 :)
Produced by Terry Hughes, who went on to direct the majority of episodes of "The Golden Girls". The versatile BBC Radio Orchestra survived until 1991 when it was disbanded.
This is bringing back memories
Happy New Year! I hope your holidays went well. Plus, I like this particular scoreboard for its slickness.
I do have a soft spot for 1972, because it was the first contest before the 12-point era which I watched. I though the songs were quite good for the most part, though on a second viewing, it became a bit less interesting, specifically with the production.
My top five:
5. YUG
4. ITA
3. IRE (I love this song! It's very dainty and sweet, with a really nice soundscape. Hopefully, Ireland could take the plunge and send another Gaelic song soon!
2. GBR -- Wavering on this one a bit; this and the Irish and Italian entries frequently bounce across the 2nd-4th place range. That said, Beg, Steal or Borrow is endearing and sweet, with a summery sound throughout. Plus, it kickstarted the UK's best run of songs at Eurovision (with the exception of Long Live Love), lasting through 1977.
1. AUT -- Falter im Wind reminds me of being around a campfire or going on a trip outdoors, and I love it for that! The flute flourishes and acoustic sound really help out with it, and it's all kinds of enjoyable. Probably my favorite from Austria.
Happy New Year!
That’s pretty much my top five - just swap out Italy for Germany and shuffle the order a little. But yeah, this isn’t a contest I’d paid much attention to prior to this edit, so I’m pleasantly surprised that there were some very good songs here. Unfortunately there are some serious duffers in the pack too (Sweden, Monaco and Belgium jump to mind), and the production is reminiscent of a stiffer, more formal version of 1968.
Die sympathische Mary Roos für Deutschland! Noch immer präsent und beliebt!! ❤
Here are my personal votes/rankings, i'am from the Netherlands
12 points: United Kingdom - The New Seekers - Beg, steal or borrow
10 points: Spain - Jaime Morey - Amanece
8 points: Luxembourg - Vicky Leandros - Après toi
7 points: Germany - Mary Roos - Nur die liebe lässt uns leben
6 points: Yugoslavia - Tereza Kesovija - Muzika i ti
5 points: Austria - Milestones - Falter im wind
4 points: Portugal - Carlos Mendes - A festa da vida
3 points: Sweden - Family Four - Härliga sommardag
2 points: Monaco - Anne Marie Godart & Peter Maclane - Comme on s'aime
1 point : Ireland - Sandie Jones - Ceol an Ghrá
The extraodinary and magical Vicky Leandros❤
I'm glad you're back my friend! An excellent editing once again! I just love that we can now have the contests in such good quality!
My most favourite of this year are Portugal and Luxembourg, of course. Carlos Mendes is so handsome here, as well as Vicky. Another song I like very much is Malta's. Too bad it ended up last, I find it a very cute and happy song!
Another one I discovered by watching the video is the one of Finland. To my ears it also sounds very good!
Norway's song of that year is one of my ESC favourites. Too bad I can't find it anywhere.
I cannot wait for the 73 scoreboard
A few fun facts and observations off the top of my head:
- The enigmatic Klaus Munro, who co-wrote, arranged, and conducted the winning entry, remains one of the few "one-and-done" Eurovision conductors whose sole contest appearance was for a winning entry (this also happened in 1961, 1966, 1967, 1969 [for the UK and the Netherlands], 1974, 1990, and 1997). I always wondered why he took so long to come out and conduct. Stage fright?
- Ends and beginnings of eras in the conductor zone here: this was Harry van Hoof's first appearance as the Dutch maestro, aged only 29 and taking the baton - unwillingly and unexpectedly, in the latter's case - from veteran Dutch conductor Dolf van der Linden. The spurned van der Linden never returned to the contest, even when his Metropole Orkest was the host orchestra in 1976 and 1980 (the musical directors were Jan Stulen and Rogier van Otterloo, respectively). van Hoof, meanwhile, would conduct all the Dutch entries through the end of the 1970s and would resume from the '80s through the mid-90s after van Otterloo passed away. This was also the final contest for France's Franck Pourcel, who'd conducted all but two of France's entries between the very first contest in 1956 and 1972, and served as musical director for the 1959 and 1961 contests.
- Vicky Leandros was the only non-French performer to take the trophy for Luxembourg, and indeed - as is also the case with Luxembourg's other winners - the local involvement is slim. The music was by a German and a Greek (Leandros' father, in fact), the lyrics by the German with a Frenchman (Yves Desca, who with this became the first songwriter to write two winning entries in a row). But the song was a huge hit, and one thinks that the combination of her success and that of Demis Roussos (whose breakthrough international hit, "Goodbye, My Love, Goodbye" was written by the same songwriting team as "Apres toi," minus Desca) was what motivated Greece to finally debut at the contest in 1974.
- One country NOT debuting at the contest was Israel, who apparently had submitted their application too late. I believe the move was spurred by Ilanit and Nurit Hirsch, the duo who would go on to represent Israel on their proper debut the following year.
A lot of countries send non nationals to compete, be it artists, conductors or writers, and there's nothing in the rule book against this. I guess Luxembourg, with it's small population, had to take full advantage by sending Greek, Spanish, and even a group called 'The Internationals'. Other countries have done it too.
Hooray, can’t wait for the French version for Luxembourg 1973. I am excited on what you’ll create. (personally 1973 was my favourite year of the 70s for Eurovision cuz it had the most repeatable songs IMO. What was your favourite of the 70s?)
This is a funny Voting For me. But The Winner is a GREAT!
Mary Roos from Germany is our winner! Many greetings from Sweden!
The first half of the 70s were some dark years for france in the contest, who had up until then more or less always had good results. Luckily they cleaned up their act in 1975 and managed to be a really big competitor in the rest of the 70s
74 would have marked the turning point if they could've competed
another great production by you - and I enjoyed watching it live too, My votes for this year are:
1pt Netherlands
2pt Norway
3pt Sweden
4pt Finland
5pt Germany
6pt Austria
7pt United Kingdom
8pt Yugoslavia
10pt Luxembourg
and finally
PORTUGAL 12 POINTS - yes, perhaps controversial as Vicky is amazing but I have really warmed to this entry in recent year; it has a somewhat different structure to most eurovision songs.
And of course, I want to give an honorary 'dha phointe deag' to 'Ceol an Ghra' as our only Eurovision entry 'as Gaeilge'.
Moira wasn’t a presenter, she was a actress and ballerina, and it showed. She didn’t seem natural as a presenter (to me anyway), and just spent the evening reading from her script. Quite an unusual choice back then to give the job to a non-presenter, I understand the BBC were keen for the role to go to someone of Scottish heritage, but surely someone else was available?
It’s a shame Tom Fleming only did BBC contest commentary once, he was very good. They should have asked him to present!
I'm racking my brain trying to think of who else the BBC could have asked to present in 1972. Lulu seems the most obvious candidate but she probably wasn't the sort of star the BBC would have used for this sort of occasion back then. Mary Marquis perhaps? She was a BBC Scotland presenter who would have been known to the wider UK audience through the Nationwide programme.
I know running order back then was a random draw, but they really couldn’t have had a better song to close the show than the Dutch entry.
Before the semi-final era (until 2003), the running order was usually (with the exception of 1996 which had an audio-only, non-televised pre-selection) drawn near the end of the previous year, before the national final season. The first and last drawn countries usually deliberately looked for a song that would fit for opening or closing the show.
It sure was a nice end to get the audience ready for the voting sequence 👏
Geek Fact: The singer of the Norwegian Entry, Grethe Kausland, did a norwegian cover of the dutch entry, that became a bigger hit than the Norwegian antry she performed originally :-)
One additional aspect of the new voting system that Moira mentioned but Bernadette didn’t in 1971 was that not only must one juror be under 25 and one over 25, but there must be at least 10 years difference in their ages.
Moira looked like Bernadette’s mother ;-)
Fun fact: Carlos Mendes, Portugal’s singer (who also participated in 1968), has said in interviews that this contest was nearly fixed and that he had been offered a honorable third place but he declined.
Haha I do not believe him!!!
@@nadirhajjour why not? It wouldn’t be the first time a dictatorship tried to buy points...
He has indeed stated that a few times... and some other things (I seem to recall he stated that RTP (the portuguese broadcaster) didn't want to win ESC back then)
@@wickedwizard5377 well I do believe that the voting sometimes was kind of rigged but I do not believe there was someone who could offer a good placing for money lol. Do you really believe all 36 juries from the 18 countries were corrupt?
@@nadirhajjour No idea how it would have worked but he’s certainly not the only person who’s talked about the contest having been fixed in the past and I simply believe him. You know who was the last person to claim a victory had been bought? Salvador Sobral, the winner of the 2017 edition (he said it in his winning speech in Portuguese “estava tudo comprado”).
Fans in general don't have quite a high regard for this edition... but I think it's quite a good year - my top-10:
01: Austria
02: Portugal
03: Luxembourg
04: The Netherlands
05: Switzerland
06: United Kingdom
07: Yugoslavia
08: Malta
09: Finland
10: Ireland
Vicky's moment of glory was so underwhelming: all she got was a hug from Séverine, she didn't get an award (only the lyricist) nor even a bouquet of flowers (Dana and Séverine got both in the previous two years). To make it even worse, Moira Shearer got up from the chair to welcome Séverine on stage but didn't bother to do the same for Vicky.
She did at least get a kiss from her Dad x
1972 isn't a favourite of mine. BBC contests usually try something new and interesting production-wise and they don't take themselves too seriously. But 1972 feels like a cheaper version of 1968 and it's all a bit formal, especially Moira Shearer. It most definitely isn't the Eurovision Infectious Gaiety and Bounce competition this year!
However I suppose the cross-fading camera direction is stylish and I did like Tom Fleming's joke about us all watching at home with our own suits of armour. He was more usually the voice of royal weddings, funerals and Remembrance Day services so this must have made quite a change for him!
The frock of the German lady matches the set behind.
Reading the comments I do want to say I think this is a great year. Iconic winner, great top 5 and an (for as far you can say it about this voting method) fairly exciting voting sequence! I did have some stake in the game cause I loved the Dutch entry this year and Austria was another dark horse favourite of mine. UK and Luxembourg deserved the spots they had but Germany would've dropped a few spots for me personally!
It's kinda strange that you didn't do up the Scottish Gaelic names for the countries on the scoreboard.
Germany - A 'Ghearmailt
France - An Fhraing
Ireland -Èirinn
Spain - An Spainn
United Kingdom - An Rioghachd Aonaichte
Norway - Nirribhidh
Portugal - A 'Phortagail
Switzerland - An Eilbheis
Malta - Malta
Finland - Suomaidh
Austria - An Ostair
Italy - An Eadailt
Yugoslavia - Iugoslabhia
Sweden - An t-Suain
Monaco - Monaco
Belgium - A 'Bheilg
Luxembourg - Lugsamburg
Netherlands - An Olaind
😍
The best entry from that tear, was the portuguese.
A great edit! I think the production was rather stiff and formal. As for the songs, many more I like but some serious duffers in the mix. If I was a juror…
5 🇩🇪 Germany
4 🇫🇷 France
4 🇮🇪 Ireland
1 🇪🇸 Spain
5 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
2 🇳🇴 Norway
4 🇵🇹 Portugal
4 🇨🇭 Switzerland
2 🇲🇹 Malta
3 🇫🇮 Finland
5 🇦🇹 Austria
2 🇮🇹 Italy
4 🇭🇷 Yugoslavia
1 🇸🇪 Sweden
1 🇲🇨 Monaco
1 🇧🇪 Belgium
3 🇱🇺 Luxembourg
3 🇳🇱 Netherlands
And how this would translate to conventional points:
1p 🇱🇺 Luxembourg
2p 🇳🇱 Netherlands
3p 🇨🇭 Switzerland
4p 🇫🇷 France
5p 🇵🇹 Portugal
6p 🇮🇪 Ireland
7p 🇭🇷 Yugoslavia
8p 🇩🇪 Germany
10p 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
12p 🇦🇹 Austria
Beaucoup de contributions sont des succès. Pourtant Nicola di Bari aurait dû obtenir plus de points.
Will you be using Wogan’s commentary for 73?
I think I will, but make sure I only use it when necessary as I think the audio quality isn't great (almost certainly phone line quality)
even if Belgium and The Netherlands had crapped out and gave a single point to Luxembourg at the last block the Lux would still win
Great quality but sucks that everything is cut short.
The original upscaled and full length is on SvenskTV. (czcams.com/video/p8BSeZym_yE/video.html). This is a super cut.
Spain gave 2 points to the first two places what a shame
Heh, Spain gave the UK their lowest possible score while Norway gave them their highest possible score!
This was definitely the most boring scoring system in the history ofnthe contest and the most easy to spot rigging
what the hell is wrong with spain's votes? they gave the lowest possible amount to all the highly ranked songs lmao
Tactical voting, I suppose. They thought they had a realistic chance of sneaking a win, so gave the least amount of points they could to the contest favourites.