Eurovision Song Contest 1968

The Eurovision Song Contest 1968 was the 13th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in London, United Kingdom, following the country's first victory at the 1967 contest with the song "Puppet on a String" by Sandie Shaw. Despite having won for the first time the year before, it was actually the third time that the United Kingdom had hosted the competition, having previously done so in 1960 and 1963, both of which also took place in London. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), the contest was held at Royal Albert Hall on 6 April 1968, and was hosted by Katie Boyle for the third time. It was notably also the first time that the contest was broadcast in colour.

Eurovision Song Contest 1968
Dates
Final6 April 1968
Host
VenueRoyal Albert Hall
London, United Kingdom
Presenter(s)Katie Boyle
Musical directorNorrie Paramor
Directed byStewart Morris
Executive supervisorClifford Brown
Executive producerTom Sloan
Host broadcasterBritish Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
Websiteeurovision.tv/event/london-1968
Participants
Number of entries17
Debuting countriesNone
Returning countriesNone
Non-returning countriesNone
Participation map
  • A coloured map of the countries of Europe
         Participating countries     Countries that participated in the past but not in 1968
Vote
Voting systemTen-member juries distributed ten points among their favourite songs.
Winning song Spain
"La La La"

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

The winner was Spain with the song "La La La" by Massiel, and written/composed by Manuel de la Calva and Ramón Arcusa. This was Spain's first victory - and their first ever top five placing - in the contest.

Location
Royal Albert Hall, London - host venue of the 1968 contest.

The contest was held at the Royal Albert Hall in London. The Royal Albert Hall is known for hosting the world's leading artists from several performance genres, sports, award ceremonies, the annual summer Proms concerts and other events since its opening in 1871, and has become one of the United Kingdom's most treasured and distinctive buildings. At the time of the contest in 1968, the hall had a capacity of 7,000 seats.[1]

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

All countries that had participated in 1967 also participated in 1968.[2]

Originally Spanish broadcaster Televisión Española (TVE) entered Joan Manuel Serrat to sing "La La La", but his demand to sing in Catalan was an affront to the Francoist State dictatorship. Therefore, Massiel, who was on tour in Mexico, was brought in as a late replacement. In just two weeks, she had to rush back to Spain, learn the song, record it in several languages, travel to Paris to get a dress and go to London for rehearsals. She sang the song in the contest in Castilian Spanish with the new arrangement made to fit her. In her winning reprise, she performed part of her song in English, in addition to the original version, becoming the first winner to do so.[2][3]

Participants of the Eurovision Song Contest 1968[4][5][6][7]
Country Broadcaster Artist Song Language Songwriter(s) Conductor
 Austria ORF Karel Gott "Tausend Fenster" German
Robert Opratko
 Belgium RTB Claude Lombard "Quand tu reviendras" French
  • Roland Dero
  • Jo Van Wetter
 Henri Segers
 Finland YLE Kristina Hautala "Kun kello käy" Finnish
Ossi Runne
 France ORTF Isabelle Aubret "La Source" French
Alain Goraguer
 Germany HR[lower-alpha 1] Wencke Myhre "Ein Hoch der Liebe" German
Horst Jankowski
 Ireland RTÉ Pat McGeegan "Chance of a Lifetime" English John Kennedy Noel Kelehan
 Italy RAI Sergio Endrigo "Marianne" Italian Sergio Endrigo Giancarlo Chiaramello
 Luxembourg CLT Chris Baldo and Sophie Garel "Nous vivrons d'amour" French
  • Jacques Demarny
  • Carlos Leresche
 André Borly
 Monaco TMC Line and Willy "À chacun sa chanson" French
  • Jean-Claude Olivier
  • Roland Valade
 Michel Colombier
 Netherlands NTS Ronnie Tober "Morgen" Dutch
Dolf van der Linden
 Norway NRK Odd Børre "Stress" Norwegian
Øivind Bergh
 Portugal RTP Carlos Mendes "Verão" Portuguese
  • José Alberto Diogo
  • Pedro Osório
 Joaquim Luís Gomes
 Spain TVE Massiel "La La La" Spanish
  • Ramón Arcusa
  • Manuel de la Calva
 Rafael Ibarbia
 Sweden SR Claes-Göran Hederström "Det börjar verka kärlek, banne mej" Swedish Peter Himmelstrand Mats Olsson
  Switzerland SRG SSR Gianni Mascolo "Guardando il sole" Italian
  • Sanzio Chiesa
  • Aldo D'Addario
 Mario Robbiani
 United Kingdom BBC Cliff Richard "Congratulations" English
Norrie Paramor
 Yugoslavia JRT Lući Kapurso and Hamo Hajdarhodžić "Jedan dan" (Један дан) Serbo-Croatian
Miljenko Prohaska

Returning artists

Bold indicates a previous winner.

Artist Country Previous year(s)
Isabelle Aubret  France 1962

Format

1968 was the first time that the Eurovision Song Contest was broadcast in colour.[1] The countries that broadcast it in colour were France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland, Sweden and the United Kingdom, although in the UK it was broadcast as an encore presentation in colour on BBC Two the next day. All of Eastern Europe as well as Tunisia broadcast the contest as well.

Prior to the contest, the bookmakers were sure of another British victory, as the English singer Cliff Richard, who was already dominating the music charts at that time, was hotly tipped as the favourite to win, but in the end he lost out to Spain's song by a margin of just one point.

Contest overview
Results of the Eurovision Song Contest 1968[9]
R/O Country Artist Song Points Place
1  Portugal Carlos Mendes "Verão" 5 11
2  Netherlands Ronnie Tober "Morgen" 1 16
3  Belgium Claude Lombard "Quand tu reviendras" 8 7
4  Austria Karel Gott "Tausend Fenster" 2 13
5  Luxembourg Chris Baldo and Sophie Garel "Nous vivrons d'amour" 5 11
6   Switzerland Gianni Mascolo "Guardando il sole" 2 13
7  Monaco Line and Willy "À chacun sa chanson" 8 7
8  Sweden Claes-Göran Hederström "Det börjar verka kärlek, banne mej" 15 5
9  Finland Kristina Hautala "Kun kello käy" 1 16
10  France Isabelle Aubret "La Source" 20 3
11  Italy Sergio Endrigo "Marianne" 7 10
12  United Kingdom Cliff Richard "Congratulations" 28 2
13  Norway Odd Børre "Stress" 2 13
14  Ireland Pat McGeegan "Chance of a Lifetime" 18 4
15  Spain Massiel "La La La" 29 1
16  Germany Wencke Myhre "Ein Hoch der Liebe" 11 6
17  Yugoslavia Lući Kapurso and Hamo Hajdarhodžić "Jedan dan" 8 7

Spokespersons

Each country nominated a spokesperson who was responsible for announcing the votes for their respective country via telephone. Known spokespersons at the 1968 contest are listed below.

Detailed voting results

Due to a misunderstanding by the hostess, Katie Boyle, Switzerland were erroneously awarded 3 points by Yugoslavia, instead of 2. The scrutineer asked for the Yugoslav votes from TV Skopje to be announced a second time.

Detailed voting results[12][13]
Total score
Portugal
Netherlands
Belgium
Austria
Luxembourg
Switzerland
Monaco
Sweden
Finland
France
Italy
United Kingdom
Norway
Ireland
Spain
Germany
Yugoslavia
Contestants
 Portugal 523
Netherlands 11
Belgium 8111311
Austria 22
Luxembourg 511111
Switzerland 22
Monaco 821311
Sweden 15111264
Finland 11
France 203623312
Italy 71222
United Kingdom 28122145324112
Norway 211
Ireland 181114146
Spain 294214343116
Germany 1111252
Yugoslavia 8111131

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.[14]

Known details on the broadcasts in each country, including the specific broadcasting stations and commentators are shown in the tables below. In addition to the participating countries, the contest was also reportedly broadcast in Tunisia, and in Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania and the Soviet Union via Intervision.[5][1]

Broadcasters and commentators in participating countries
Country Broadcaster Channel(s) Commentator(s) Ref(s)
 Austria ORF FS1 Unknown [15]
 Belgium RTB RTB Paule Herreman [16][17]
BRT BRT Unknown [17]
 Finland YLE TV-ohjelma 1 Aarno Walli [10][18]
Ruotsinkielinen ulaohjelma Unknown
 France ORTF Deuxième Chaîne Pierre Tchernia [16][19][20]
France Inter Unknown
 Germany ARD Deutsches Fernsehen Unknown [16][19]
 Ireland RTÉ RTÉ Brendan O'Reilly [21][22]
RTÉ Radio Unknown
 Italy RAI Secondo Programma Renato Tagliani [23][24]
 Luxembourg CLT Télé-Luxembourg Unknown [16]
 Monaco Télé Monte-Carlo Unknown [25]
 Netherlands NTS Nederland 1 Elles Berger [17]
 Norway NRK NRK Fjernsynet, NRK[lower-alpha 2] Roald Øyen [26]
 Portugal RTP RTP Unknown [27]
 Spain TVE TVE 1 Federico Gallo [28][29]
Radio Peninsular José María Íñigo [28][30]
 Sweden SR Sveriges TV Christina Hansegård [11][18][26]
  Switzerland SRG SSR TV DRS Theodor Haller [19][31][32][33]
TSR Georges Hardy
TSI Unknown
DRS 1[lower-alpha 3] Albert Werner
 United Kingdom BBC BBC1[lower-alpha 4] No commentary [5][34]
BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 2 Pete Murray [5][36][37]
 Yugoslavia JRT Televizija Ljubljana Unknown [38][39]
Televizija Zagreb Unknown
Broadcasters and commentators in non-participating countries
Country Broadcaster Channel(s) Commentator(s) Ref(s)
 Hungary MTV MTV Unknown [40]
 Malta MBA MTS, National Network Unknown [41][42]
 Romania TVR TVR Unknown [43]

Notes
  1. On behalf of the German public broadcasting consortium ARD[8]
  2. Deferred broadcast on NRK at 22:30 CET (21:30 UTC)[26]
  3. Delayed broadcast on 8 April at 22:30 CET (21:30 UTC)[32]
  4. Re-broadcast in colour on BBC2 on 7 April at 16:30 BST (15:30 UTC)[34][35]

References
  1. René-Roger (9 April 1968). "La chanson espagnole triomphe devant 200 millions de spectateurs". La Croix (in French). p. 3. ISSN 0242-6056. OCLC 1367977519.
  2. "Eurovision Song Contest 1968". EBU. Retrieved 16 June 2012.
  3. "Winners of the 1960s - What happened to them?". EBU. 23 July 2011. Retrieved 20 October 2021.
  4. "Participants of London 1968". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 23 March 2023. Retrieved 7 July 2023.
  5. Roxburgh, Gordon (2012). Songs for Europe: The United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest. Volume One: The 1950s and 1960s. Prestatyn: Telos Publishing. pp. 454–470. ISBN 978-1-84583-065-6.
  6. "1968 – 13th edition". diggiloo.net. Archived from the original on 8 August 2022. Retrieved 7 July 2023.
  7. "Detailed overview: conductors in 1968". And the conductor is... Retrieved 7 July 2023.
  8. "Alle deutschen ESC-Acts und ihre Titel" [All German ESC acts and their songs]. www.eurovision.de (in German). ARD. Archived from the original on 12 June 2023. Retrieved 12 June 2023.
  9. "Final of London 1968". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 8 April 2021. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
  10. "Jatkoajalla Euroviisut". Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish). 6 April 1968. p. 37. Retrieved 23 December 2022.
  11. Thorsson, Leif; Verhage, Martin (2006). Melodifestivalen genom tiderna : de svenska uttagningarna och internationella finalerna (in Swedish). Stockholm: Premium Publishing. pp. 74–75. ISBN 91-89136-29-2.
  12. "Results of the Final of London 1968". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 8 April 2021. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
  13. "Eurovision Song Contest 1968 – Scoreboard". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 9 July 2015. Retrieved 14 June 2021.
  14. "The Rules of the Contest". European Broadcasting Union. 31 October 2018. Archived from the original on 4 October 2022. Retrieved 19 December 2022.
  15. "Austria – London 1968". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 13 May 2018. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
  16. "Radio-Télévision". Luxemburger Wort (in German and French). Luxembourg City, Luxembourg. 5 April 1968. p. 23. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
  17. "Radio en tv programma". Trouw (in Dutch). Meppel, Netherlands. 6 April 1968. p. 4. Retrieved 3 January 2023 – via Delpher.
  18. "Radio ja televisio". Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish). 6 April 1968. p. 37. Retrieved 23 December 2022.
  19. "TV – samedi 6 avril". Radio TV - Je vois tout (in French). Lausanne, Switzerland: Héliographia SA. 4 April 1968. pp. 78–79. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
  20. "Programmes radio – samedi 6 avril". Radio TV - Je vois tout (in French). Lausanne, Switzerland: Héliographia SA. 4 April 1968. pp. 53–54. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
  21. "Television and Radio". The Irish Times. 6 April 1968. p. 18. Retrieved 22 December 2022.
  22. Gray, Ken (11 April 1968). "Pop and bedazzlement". The Irish Times. p. 12. Retrieved 22 December 2022.
  23. "Oggi alla televisione". La Stampa (in Italian). Turin, Italy. 6 April 1968. p. 6. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
  24. "Sabato, 6 aprile". Radiocorriere TV (in Italian). April 1968. p. 98. Retrieved 23 January 2023.
  25. "Monaco – London 1968". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 13 May 2018. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
  26. "TV radio". Oppland Arbeiderblad (in Norwegian). Gjøvik, Norway. 6 April 1968. pp. 26–27. Retrieved 3 January 2023 – via National Library of Norway.
  27. "Boletim do dia". Diário de Lisboa (in Portuguese). Lisbon, Portugal. 6 April 1968. p. 30. Retrieved 3 January 2023 – via Casa Comum.
  28. "Programas de Radio y TV". La Vanguardia (in Spanish). 6 April 1968. p. 59. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
  29. 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.
  30. "Spanish Eurovision commentator José María Iñigo passed away". European Broadcasting Union. 5 May 2018. Archived from the original on 5 May 2018. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
  31. "Fernsehen". Die Tat (in German). Zürich, Switzerland. 6 April 1968. p. 23. Retrieved 3 January 2023 – via e-newspaperarchives.ch.
  32. "Programmes radio – lundi 8 avril". Radio TV - Je vois tout (in French). Lausanne, Switzerland: Héliographia SA. 4 April 1968. pp. 56–57. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
  33. "Settimana dal 6 al 12 4. 1968". Eco di Locarno (in Italian). Locarno, Switzerland. 6 April 1968. p. 13. Retrieved 3 January 2023 – via Sistema bibliotecario ticinese.
  34. "Eurovision Song Contest – BBC1". Radio Times. 6 April 1968. Retrieved 3 January 2023 – via BBC Genome Project.
  35. "Eurovision Song Contest – BBC2". Radio Times. 6 April 1968. Retrieved 3 January 2023 – via BBC Genome Project.
  36. "Eurovision Song Contest – BBC Radio 2". Radio Times. 6 April 1968. Retrieved 3 January 2023 – via BBC Genome Project.
  37. "Schedule – BBC Radio 1 – 6 April 1968". Radio Times. 6 April 1968. Retrieved 10 January 2023 – via BBC Genome Project.
  38. "Televizija – sobota – 6. aprila" (PDF). Glas (in Slovenian). Kranj, SR Slovenia, Yugoslavia. 6 April 1968. p. 22. Archived (PDF) from the original on 3 January 2023. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
  39. "Televizija – Subota 6. travnja". Slobodna Dalmacija (in Serbo-Croatian). Split, SR Croatia, Yugoslavia. 6 April 1968. p. 8. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
  40. "TV – szombat IV.6". Rádió- és Televízió-újság (in Hungarian). 1 April 1968. p. 13. Archived from the original on 3 January 2023. Retrieved 3 January 2023 – via MTVA Archívum.
  41. "Your Listening and Viewing". Times of Malta. 6 April 1968. p. 6.
  42. Barry, Fred (6 April 1968). "Eurovision Song Contest – Tonight's 17-Nation Event". Times of Malta. p. 13.
  43. "TV – sîmbătă 6 aprilie". Radio TV (in Romanian). p. 15. Archived from the original on 3 January 2023. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
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