Eurovision Song Contest 1970

Eurovision Song Contest 1970
Dates
Final date 21 March 1970
Host
Venue RAI Congrescentrum
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Presenter(s) Willy Dobbe
Conductor Dolf van der Linden
Director Theo Ordeman
Executive supervisor Clifford Brown
Host broadcaster Nederlandse Omroep Stichting (NOS)
Interval act Don de Lurio Dancers
Participants
Number of entries 12
Debuting countries None
Returning countries None
Withdrawing countries
Vote
Voting system Each country had 10 jury members who each cast one vote for their favourite song.
Nul points  Luxembourg
Winning song  Ireland
"All Kinds of Everything"
Eurovision Song Contest
◄1969 • 1970 • 1971►

The Eurovision Song Contest 1970 was the 15th Eurovision Song Contest, held on 21 March 1970 at the RAI Congrescentrum in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The Amsterdam contest is regarded as one of the most significant in Eurovision history for a number of reasons.[1]

Ireland's win was their first. The UK were second, six votes behind Ireland. Luxembourg received zero votes for the only time.

Overview

Location

For more details on the host city, see Amsterdam.
RAI Congrescentrum, Amsterdam - host venue of the 1970 Eurovision Song Contest

Due to there being four winners in the previous contest, a question was raised as to which nation would host the 1970 Eurovision. With the UK having hosted the 1968 Contest and Spain the 1969 Contest, only France and Netherlands were in consideration. A toss of a coin resulted in the host country being decided as the Netherlands.[2]

Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The city's status as the capital of the nation is governed by the constitution.[3] The city is located in the province of North Holland in the west of the country.

Amsterdam's name is derived from Amstelredamme,[4] indicative of the city's origin: a dam in the river Amstel. Settled as a small fishing village in the late 12th century, Amsterdam became one of the most important ports in the world during the Dutch Golden Age, a result of its innovative developments in trade. During that time, the city was the leading center for finance and diamonds.[5] In the 19th and 20th centuries, the city expanded, and many new neighborhoods and suburbs were formed.

The Congrescentrum, venue of the 1970 contest, is a semi-permanent exhibit at the Ferdinand Bolstraat to Amsterdam, and was opened on 31 October 1922. This building was replaced in 1961 by the current RAI building on Europe's Square. The current congress and event center on Europe Square, was designed by Alexander Bodon and opened on 2 February 1961.

Format

The Dutch producers were forced to pad out the show as only 12 nations decided to make the trip to Amsterdam. The result was a format which has endured almost to the present day. An extended opening sequence (filmed in Amsterdam) set the scene, while every entry was introduced by a short video 'postcard' featuring each of the participating artists.[6] Interestingly, the long introduction film (over four minutes long) was followed by what probably is one of the shortest ever introductions by any presenter. Willy Dobbe only welcomed the viewers in English, French and Dutch, finishing her introduction after only 24 seconds.

The set design was devised by Roland de Groot; a simple design was composed of a number of curved horizontal bars and silver baubles which could be moved in a variety of different ways.

To avoid an incident like in 1969, a tie rule was created. It stated that, if two or more songs gained the same number of votes, each song would have to be performed again. After which each national jury (other than the juries of the countries concerned) would have a show of hands of which they thought was the best. If the countries tied again, then they would share first place.

Participating countries

Austria (who had not taken part in 1969), Finland, Norway, Portugal and Sweden boycotted this contest as they were not pleased with the result of 1969 and the voting structure.[6] Portugal did however host a National final, being won by Sérgio Borges.[2]

Of the participating singers, a number were already established performers. Notably, the United Kingdom sent Welsh singer and Apple recording artist Mary Hopkin, while David Alexandre Winter represented Luxembourg. The contest is also notable for the appearance of the then unknown Julio Iglesias, singing for Spain.

Voting and aftermath

In the run-up to the Contest, the United Kingdom were favourites to win and also the favourite with the 50-piece orchestra. So sure of victory, the UK delegation had organised a winner's party to be thrown after the contest.[2] In the end, the only two countries in the running were the UK and Ireland, albeit the latter holding the lead throughout the voting. Ireland took the victory with 32 points, 6 points ahead of the UK, with Germany a distant third. Luxembourg failed to score any points at all - their only time ever to do so.

Ireland won the contest with "All Kinds of Everything", penned by Derry Lindsay and Jackie Smith, and sung by another unknown, Dana, an 18-year-old schoolgirl from Derry, Northern Ireland. The song became a million-seller and the singer an international star. As the contest was held in the Netherlands this year, and the country was one of the four winners in 1969, Dana received her awards from the Dutch winner Lenny Kuhr.

Mary Hopkin scored a few more hits but downscaled her music career in 1971 after getting married. She later commented on her appearance at the Contest as humiliating and said that she hated the song she had to sing.[2] Spanish entrant Julio Iglesias went on to achieve worldwide success in the decades that followed, becoming one of the top-selling singers of all time. Dana meanwhile continued to score hit singles throughout the 1970s with songs such as "Fairytales" and "It's Gonna Be a Cold Cold Christmas" and in the 1990s became a politician, running for the Irish presidential election, 1997 and becoming an MEP.

Of the other performers, Stella Maessen (of Hearts of Soul), Jean Vallée, Guy Bonnet and Katja Ebstein all took part in the Eurovision Song Contest again, the latter twice more. The following year, Austria, Finland, Norway, Portugal and Sweden all returned to the contest.

Conductors

Each performance had a conductor who maestro the orchestra.[7]

Returning artists

For the first time, no artists from previous contests returned.[1]

Results

Nr. Country Language[8] Artist Song English translation Place Points
01  Netherlands Dutch Hearts of Soul "Waterman" Aquarius 7 7
02   Switzerland French Henri Dès "Retour" Return 4 8
03  Italy Italian Gianni Morandi "Occhi di ragazza" Eyes of a Girl 8 5
04  Yugoslavia Slovene Eva Sršen "Pridi, dala ti bom cvet" Come, I'll Give You a Flower 11 4
05  Belgium French Jean Vallée "Viens l'oublier" Come, Forget Him 8 5
06  France French Guy Bonnet "Marie-Blanche" - 4 8
07  United Kingdom English Mary Hopkin "Knock, Knock Who's There?" - 2 26
08  Luxembourg French David Alexandre Winter "Je suis tombé du ciel" I Fell From Heaven 12 0
09  Spain Spanish Julio Iglesias "Gwendolyne" - 4 8
10  Monaco French Dominique Dussault "Marlène" - 8 5
11  Germany German Katja Ebstein "Wunder gibt es immer wieder" Wonders always happen 3 12
12  Ireland English Dana "All Kinds of Everything" - 1 32

Scoreboard

Dana sings the winning song All Kinds of Everything
Results
Netherlands 7 3 3 1
Switzerland 8 2 2 1 2 1
Italy 5 1 2 2
Yugoslavia 4 4
Belgium 5 3 1 1
France 8 1 2 2 3
United Kingdom 26 3 2 2 4 2 2 4 4 3
Luxembourg 0
Spain 8 3 2 3
Monaco 5 1 1 2 1
Germany 12 1 1 3 4 1 2
Ireland 32 5 6 9 1 4 2 3 2

International broadcasts and voting

The table below shows the order in which votes were cast during the 1970 contest along with the spokesperson who was responsible for announcing the votes for their respective country. Each national broadcaster also sent a commentator to the contest, in order to provide coverage of the contest in their own native language. Details of the commentators and the broadcasting station for which they represented are also included in the table below.[1]

Voting order Country Spokespersons Commentator Broadcaster
01  Netherlands Flip van der Schalie Pim Jacobs[9] Nederland 1
02   Switzerland Alexandre Burger Theodor Haller TV DRS
Georges Hardy TSR
Giovanni Bertini TSI
03  Italy Enzo Tortora Renato Tagliani Secondo Programma
04  Yugoslavia Dragana Marković Milovan Ilić Televizija Beograd
Oliver Mlakar Televizija Zagreb
Tomaž Terček Televizija Ljubljana
05  Belgium André Hagon Claude Delacroix[10] RTB
Herman Verelst BRT
TBC RTB La Première)
Nand Baert BRT Radio 1
06  France TBC Pierre Tchernia[10] Deuxième Chaîne ORTF
07  United Kingdom Colin-Ward Lewis David Gell[11] BBC1
Tony Brandon BBC Radio 1
John Russel British Forces Radio[2]
08  Luxembourg TBC Jacques Navadic[10] Télé-Luxembourg
Camillo Felgen RTL Radio
09  Spain Ramón Rivera[12] José Luis Uribarri TVE1
Miguel de los Santos[13] Primer Programa RNE
10  Monaco TBC Pierre Tchernia Télé Monte Carlo
11  Germany Hans-Otto Grünefeldt Marie-Louise Steinbauer[14] ARD Deutsches Fernsehen
Wolf Mittler Deutschlandfunk/Bayern 2
12  Ireland John Skehan Valerie McGovern RTÉ Television
Kevin Roche Radio Éireann
-  Austria (Non-participating country) Ernst Grissemann ORF
-  Greece (Non-participating country) TBC EIRT
-  Norway (Non-participating country) No commentator NRK[15]
-  Portugal (Non-participating country) Henrique Mendes RTP1

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Eurovision Song Contest 1970". EBU. Retrieved 16 June 2012.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Roxburgh, Gordon (2014). Songs For Europe - The United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest Volume Two: The 1970's. UK: Telos Publishing. p. 27. ISBN 978-1-84583-065-6.
  3. ↑ Dutch Wikisource. "Grondwet voor het Koningrijk der Nederlanden (1815) (Dutch)". Retrieved 2 May 2008.
  4. ↑ Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, Vol 1, p896-898.
  5. ↑ Cambridge.org, Capitals of Capital -A History of International Financial Centres – 1780–2005, Youssef Cassis, ISBN 978-0-521-84535-9
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 O'Connor, John Kennedy. The Eurovision Song Contest - The Official History. Carlton Books, UK. 2007 ISBN 978-1-84442-994-3
  7. ↑ "Conductors 1970". 4Lyrics.com. Retrieved 16 June 2012.
  8. ↑ "Eurovision Song Contest 1970". The Diggiloo Thrush. Retrieved 4 March 2012.
  9. ↑ "Nederlandse televisiecommentatoren bij het Eurovisie Songfestival". Eurovision Artists (in Dutch).
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Christian Masson. "1970 - Amsterdam". Songcontest.free.fr. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  11. ↑ O'Connor, John Kennedy (2007). The Eurovision Song Contest: The Official History. UK: Carlton Books. p. 42. ISBN 978-1-84442-994-3.
  12. ↑ "Nueva España - 22/03/1970" (PDF). Store.diariodelaltoaragon.es. 1970-03-22. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  13. ↑ "FORO FESTIVAL DE EUROVISIÓN • Ver Tema - Uribarri comentarista Eurovision 2010". Eurosongcontest.phpbb3.es. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  14. ↑ Rau, Oliver (OGAE Germany)
  15. ↑ Dyrseth, Seppo (OGAE Norway)

External links

Coordinates: 52°20′29″N 4°53′18″E / 52.34139°N 4.88833°E