Eurovision Song Contest 1963

The Eurovision Song Contest 1963 was the eighth edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest and took place in London, United Kingdom. It was organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), who agreed to stage the event after France, who had won the 1962 edition, declined to host it due to financial shortcomings, also having hosted the competition in 1959 and 1961. The contest was held at the BBC Television Centre on Saturday 23 March 1963 and was hosted by Katie Boyle for a second time.

Eurovision Song Contest 1963
Dates
Final23 March 1963
Host
VenueBBC Television Centre
London, United Kingdom
Presenter(s)Katie Boyle
Musical directorEric Robinson
Directed byYvonne Littlewood
Executive producerHarry Carlisle
Host broadcasterBritish Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
Websiteeurovision.tv/event/london-1963
Participants
Number of entries16
Debuting countriesNone
Non-returning countriesNone
Participation map
  • A coloured map of the countries of Europe
         Participating countries
Vote
Voting systemTwenty-member juries awarded points to their five favourite songs.
Winning song Denmark
"Dansevise"

Sixteen countries participated in the contest, the same countries that had participated the previous year.

The contest this year was won by Denmark with the song "Dansevise", performed by Grethe and Jørgen Ingmann. This was the first victory for any of the Nordic countries. Four countries got nul points, with Finland, Norway and Sweden failing to score any points for the first time and the Netherlands for the second time, becoming the first country to go two years in a row without scoring a single point.[1]

Location
BBC Television Centre, London - host venue of the 1963 contest.

The BBC was willing to host the contest instead of the previous year's winner France, as was the case in 1960. They would do so again in 1972 and 1974 because the winning broadcasters from the year before could not afford to produce the contest. The host venue was the BBC Television Centre, White City, London, which opened in 1960. It is one of the most readily recognisable facilities of its type having appeared as the backdrop for many BBC programmes. It remained to be one of the largest such facilities in the world until it redeveloped in March 2013.[2]

Participating countries
Further information: List of countries in the Eurovision Song Contest

All countries which participated in the 1962 edition also participated in the 1963 edition.

Participants of the Eurovision Song Contest 1963[3][4][5][6]
Country Broadcaster Artist Song Language(s) Songwriter(s) Conductor
 Austria ORF Carmela Corren "Vielleicht geschieht ein Wunder" German, English
Erwin Halletz
 Belgium BRT Jacques Raymond "Waarom?" Dutch
  • Wim Brabants
  • Hans Flower
 Francis Bay
 Denmark DR Grethe and Jørgen Ingmann "Dansevise" Danish
Kai Mortensen
 Finland YLE Laila Halme "Muistojeni laulu" Finnish Börje Sundgren George de Godzinsky
 France RTF Alain Barrière "Elle était si jolie" French Alain Barrière Franck Pourcel
 Germany HR[lower-alpha 1] Heidi Brühl "Marcel" German Charly Niessen Willy Berking
 Italy RAI Emilio Pericoli "Uno per tutte" Italian
Gigi Cichellero
 Luxembourg CLT Nana Mouskouri "À force de prier" French
Eric Robinson
 Monaco TMC Françoise Hardy "L'Amour s'en va" French Françoise Hardy Raymond Lefèvre
 Netherlands NTS Annie Palmen "Een speeldoos" Dutch Pieter Goemans Eric Robinson
 Norway NRK Anita Thallaug "Solhverv" Norwegian Dag Kristoffersen Øivind Bergh
 Spain TVE José Guardiola "Algo prodigioso" Spanish
  • Fernando Garcia Morcillo
  • Camillo Murillo Janero
 Rafael Ibarbia
 Sweden SR Monica Zetterlund "En gång i Stockholm" Swedish
William Lind
  Switzerland SRG SSR Esther Ofarim "T'en va pas" French
Eric Robinson
 United Kingdom BBC Ronnie Carroll "Say Wonderful Things" English
Eric Robinson
 Yugoslavia JRT Vice Vukov "Brodovi" (Бродови) Serbo-Croatian Mario Nardelli Miljenko Prohaska

Returning artists
Artist Country Previous year(s)
Ronnie Carroll  United Kingdom 1962

Production and format

The production mode was unusual in comparison with other Eurovision Song Contests: In contrast to most previous and following editions which were filmed in concert halls or theatres, the staging of 1963 was done in television studios.[8] Two studios (TC3 and TC4) were used: one for the mistress of ceremonies Katie Boyle, the audience, and the scoreboard (TC3); the other for the performers and the orchestra accompanying them (TC4). Unusually, a boom microphone (normally used for drama and comedy shows) was employed – the viewer could not see this, so it appeared as if the artists were miming to their vocals. This was not the case, but this innovation was to create a new look for the contest.[1] The use of television studios allowed a broader variety of staging elements and the use of close-ups so to create an atmosphere of intimacy for television viewers.[8]

After the 1962 edition was the only one to be held on a Sunday, the contest was held on a Saturday again in 1963.

Contest overview
Results of the Eurovision Song Contest 1963[9]
R/O Country Artist Song Points Place
1  United Kingdom Ronnie Carroll "Say Wonderful Things" 28 4
2  Netherlands Annie Palmen "Een speeldoos" 0 13
3  Germany Heidi Brühl "Marcel" 5 9
4  Austria Carmela Corren "Vielleicht geschieht ein Wunder" 16 7
5  Norway Anita Thallaug "Solhverv" 0 13
6  Italy Emilio Pericoli "Uno per tutte" 37 3
7  Finland Laila Halme "Muistojeni laulu" 0 13
8  Denmark Grethe and Jørgen Ingmann "Dansevise" 42 1
9  Yugoslavia Vice Vukov "Brodovi" 3 11
10   Switzerland Esther Ofarim "T'en va pas" 40 2
11  France Alain Barrière "Elle était si jolie" 25 5
12  Spain José Guardiola "Algo prodigioso" 2 12
13  Sweden Monica Zetterlund "En gång i Stockholm" 0 13
14  Belgium Jacques Raymond "Waarom?" 4 10
15  Monaco Françoise Hardy "L'Amour s'en va" 25 5
16  Luxembourg Nana Mouskouri "À force de prier" 13 8

Spokespersons

Each country nominated a spokesperson who was responsible for announcing the votes for their respective country via telephone. Known spokespersons at the 1963 contest are listed below.

Detailed voting results

Each country had 20 jury members who awarded their five favourite songs 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1 points in order. All those points would then be added up and the five songs with the most points got 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1 votes in order. Errors in the Norwegian (see below) and the Monegasque votes meant their scores had to be announced twice, with an adjustment to the scores being made in each case before the final score was verified.

One controversy this year was during the voting. When it was Norway's turn to announce their votes, the spokesman in Oslo did not use the correct procedure in that the song number, followed by the name of the country, should have been announced before awarding the points. Boyle asked Norway to repeat their results, but the Norwegian spokesman asked Boyle to return to them after all the other results were in. When Boyle went back to Norway again the votes had mysteriously altered, thus changing the outcome of the contest and giving the victory to Norway's neighbours Denmark at Switzerland's expense. In fact, the Norwegian spokesman had not given the correct votes on the first occasion, because votes from the 20 jury members were still being tallied.[1]

Monaco was also asked to repeat their voting a second time as initially Monaco gave one point to both the United Kingdom and Luxembourg. However, when Boyle went back to Monaco to receive the votes again Monaco's one vote to Luxembourg was efficiently discarded (although this did not have any effect on the positions of the countries).[1]

Detailed voting results[11][12]
Total score
United Kingdom
Netherlands
Germany
Austria
Norway
Italy
Finland
Denmark
Yugoslavia
Switzerland
France
Spain
Sweden
Belgium
Monaco
Luxembourg
Contestants
 United Kingdom 28353333521
Netherlands 0
Germany 523
Austria 16441232
Norway 0
Italy 3721325453354
Finland 0
Denmark 4235234253555
Yugoslavia 312
Switzerland 4054515441443
France 254124541121
Spain 22
Sweden 0
Belgium 44
Monaco 251251311542
Luxembourg 13311224

5 points

Below is a summary of all 5 points received:

N. Contestant Nation(s) giving 5 points
5  Denmark  Belgium,  Finland,  Luxembourg,  Netherlands,  Sweden
3  Italy  Denmark,  Monaco,   Switzerland
  Switzerland  Austria,  Italy,  United Kingdom
2  United Kingdom  Norway,  Spain
 Monaco  France,  Germany
1  France  Yugoslavia

Broadcasts

Each participating broadcaster was required to relay the contest via its networks. Non-participating EBU member broadcasters were also able to relay the contest as "passive participants". Broadcasters were able to send commentators to provide coverage of the contest in their own native language and to relay information about the artists and songs to their television viewers.[13]

Known details on the broadcasts in each country, including the specific broadcasting stations and commentators are shown in the tables below.

Broadcasters and commentators in participating countries
Country Broadcaster Channel(s) Commentator(s) Ref(s)
 Austria ORF ORF Hanns Joachim Friedrichs [4][14]
 Belgium BRT BRT Herman Verelst and Denise Maes [4][15]
RTB RTB Pierre Delhasse [4][15][16]
 Denmark DR Danmarks Radio TV, Program 1 Ole Mortensen [4][17]
 Finland YLE Suomen Televisio Aarno Walli [4][18]
Yleisohjelma Erkki Melakoski
Ruotsinkielinen yleisohjelma Jan Sederholm
 France RTF RTF Pierre Tchernia [4][16][19]
 Germany ARD Deutsches Fernsehen Hanns Joachim Friedrichs [4][14][15]
 Italy RAI Programma Nazionale Renato Tagliani [4][20]
 Luxembourg CLT Télé-Luxembourg Pierre Tchernia [4][16]
 Monaco Télé Monte-Carlo Pierre Tchernia [4]
 Netherlands NTS NTS Willem Duys [4][15][21]
NRU Hilversum 1 Coen Serré [15][22]
 Norway NRK NRK Fjernsynet, NRK Øivind Johnssen [4][23][24]
 Spain TVE TVE Federico Gallo [4][25][26]
RNE RNE[lower-alpha 2] Unknown [25]
 Sweden SR Sveriges TV, SR P1 Jörgen Cederberg [4][10][23]
  Switzerland SRG SSR TV DRS Theodor Haller [4][14][19][27][28]
TSR Georges Hardy
TSI Renato Tagliani
DRS 1[lower-alpha 3] Unknown
RSR 1 Unknown
RSI 1 Unknown
 United Kingdom BBC BBC TV David Jacobs [4][29]
 Yugoslavia JRT Televizija Ljubljana Saša Novak [4][30][31]
Televizija Zagreb Unknown
Broadcasters and commentators in non-participating countries
Country Broadcaster Channel(s) Commentator(s) Ref(s)
 Ireland RÉ Telefís Éireann Unknown [32]
 Portugal RTP RTP Federico Gallo [4][33]

Notes
  1. On behalf of the German public broadcasting consortium ARD[7]
  2. Deferred broadcast at 23:00 CET (22:00 UTC)[25]
  3. Delayed broadcast on 25 March at 20:00 CET (19:00 UTC)[28]

References
  1. "Eurovision Song Contest 1963". EBU. Retrieved 7 August 2021.
  2. "Dyke accused of conflict of interest over £6m holding in rival TV firm". The Independent. London. 17 January 2000.
  3. "Participants of London 1963". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 5 February 2023. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
  4. Roxburgh, Gordon (2012). Songs for Europe: The United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest. Volume One: The 1950s and 1960s. Prestatyn: Telos Publishing. pp. 291–299. ISBN 978-1-84583-065-6.
  5. "1963 – 8th edition". diggiloo.net. Archived from the original on 1 January 2022. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
  6. "Detailed overview: conductors in 1963". And the conductor is... Retrieved 15 June 2023.
  7. "Alle deutschen ESC-Acts und ihre Titel". www.eurovision.de (in German). ARD. Archived from the original on 12 June 2023. Retrieved 12 June 2023.
  8. Pajala, Mari (2023). "The Eurovision Song Contest and European television history: continuity, adaption, experimentation". In Dubin, Adam; Vuletic, Dean; Obregón, Antonio (eds.). The Eurovision Song Contest as a cultural phenomenon : from concert halls to the halls of academia. London: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group. p. 192. doi:10.4324/9781003188933-16. ISBN 978-1-03-203774-5. OCLC 1296690839.
  9. "Final of London 1963". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 30 March 2021. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
  10. Thorsson, Leif; Verhage, Martin (2006). Melodifestivalen genom tiderna : de svenska uttagningarna och internationella finalerna (in Swedish). Stockholm: Premium Publishing. pp. 46–47. ISBN 91-89136-29-2.
  11. "Results of the Final of London 1963". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 30 March 2021. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
  12. "Eurovision Song Contest 1963 – Scoreboard". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 9 July 2015. Retrieved 14 June 2021.
  13. "The Rules of the Contest". European Broadcasting Union. 31 October 2018. Archived from the original on 4 October 2022. Retrieved 19 December 2022.
  14. "Das Fernsehen und sein Programm". Die Tat (in German). Zürich, Switzerland. 23 May 1963. p. 15. Retrieved 19 December 2022 – via e-newspaperarchives.ch.
  15. "Programma voor morgen". Limburgs Dagblad (in Dutch). 22 March 1963. p. 9. Retrieved 19 December 2022 – via Delpher.
  16. "Radio-Télévision". Luxemburger Wort (in German and French). 22 March 1963. p. 5. Retrieved 19 December 2022.
  17. "Programoversigt – 23/03/1963" (in Danish). LARM.fm. Retrieved 19 December 2022.
  18. "Radio ja televisio". Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish). 23 March 1963. p. 23. Retrieved 7 November 2022.
  19. "Programme TV". Radio TV - Je vois tout (in French). Lausanne, Switzerland: Héliographia SA. 14 March 1963. pp. 28–30. Retrieved 19 December 2022.
  20. "Oggi alla TV". La Stampa (in Italian). 23 March 1963. p. 4. Retrieved 19 December 2022.
  21. "Annie heeft een 'hele mooie jurk'". Limburgs Dagblad (in Dutch). 23 March 1963. p. 7. Retrieved 19 December 2022 – via Delpher.
  22. "Radioreportage van het Songfestival". Nieuwe Leidsche Courant (in Dutch). 23 March 1963. p. 7. Retrieved 16 February 2023.
  23. "Klart for Melodie Grand Prix 1963". Oppland Arbeiderblad (in Norwegian). 23 March 1963. p. 12. Retrieved 19 December 2022 – via National Library of Norway.
  24. "Grand Prix". Morgenposten (in Norwegian). 18 March 1963. p. 14. Retrieved 21 July 2023 – via National Library of Norway. Grythe was supposed to refer from this year's 'sound Olympiad', but now he has withdrawn in favour of Øyvind Johnssen from the steam radio's entertainment department. Grythe has so many irons in the fire that he simply does not have time to travel to London. [original: Grythe skulle refere årets «lyd-olympiade», men nå har han trakket seg til fordel for Øyvind Johnssen i dampradioens underholdningsavdeling. Grythe har så mange jern i ilden at han simpelthen ikke rekker å reise til London.]
  25. "Radio y TV". La Vanguardia (in Spanish). 23 March 1963. p. 42. Retrieved 19 December 2022.
  26. HerGar, Paula (28 March 2018). "Todos los comentaristas de la historia de España en Eurovisión (y una única mujer en solitario)" (in Spanish). Los 40. Archived from the original on 26 September 2021. Retrieved 14 December 2022.
  27. "Programmes radiophoniques – samedi 23 mars". Radio TV - Je vois tout (in French). Lausanne, Switzerland: Héliographia SA. 14 March 1963. pp. 62–64. Retrieved 19 December 2022.
  28. "Wochenprogram für Radio und Fernsehen". Freiburger Nachrichten (in German). Fribourg, Switzerland. 23 March 1963. p. 8. Retrieved 19 December 2022 – via e-newspaperarchives.ch.
  29. "Eurovision Song Contest Grand Prix 1963". Radio Times. 23 March 1963. Retrieved 23 December 2022 – via BBC Genome Project.
  30. "Televizija – sobota – 23. marca" (PDF). Panorama glasova (in Slovenian). 23 March 1963. pp. 6–7. Archived (PDF) from the original on 19 December 2022. Retrieved 19 December 2022.
  31. "Televizija". Slobodna Dalmacija (in Croatian). 23 March 1963. p. 8. Retrieved 22 July 2022.
  32. "To-Day's TV Programmes". The Irish Times. 23 March 1963. p. 6. Retrieved 19 December 2022.
  33. "Boletim do dia". Diário de Lisboa (in Portuguese). 23 March 1963. p. 15. Retrieved 19 December 2022 – via Casa Comum.

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