Eurovision Song Contest 1977

The Eurovision Song Contest 1977 was the 22nd edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in London, United Kingdom, following the country's victory at the 1976 contest with the song "Save Your Kisses for Me" by Brotherhood of Man. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), the contest was held at the Wembley Conference Centre on 7 May 1977, marking the first time the event took place in the month of May since the first contest in 1956.[1] The contest was directed by Stewart Morris and hosted by English journalist Angela Rippon.[2]

Eurovision Song Contest 1977
Dates
Final7 May 1977
Host
VenueWembley Conference Centre
London, United Kingdom
Presenter(s)Angela Rippon
Musical directorRonnie Hazlehurst
Directed byStewart Morris
Executive supervisorClifford Brown
Executive producerBill Cotton
Host broadcasterBritish Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
Websiteeurovision.tv/event/london-1977
Participants
Number of entries18
Debuting countriesNone
Returning countries Sweden
Non-returning countries Yugoslavia
Participation map
  • A coloured map of the countries of Europe
         Participating countries     Countries that participated in the past but not in 1977
Vote
Voting systemEach country awarded 12, 10, 8-1 points to their 10 favourite songs
Winning song France
"L'Oiseau et l'Enfant"

Eighteen countries participated in the contest; Sweden returned after its absence from the previous edition, while Yugoslavia decided not to enter.

The winner was France with the song "L'Oiseau et l'Enfant", performed by Marie Myriam, written by Joe Gracy, and composed by Jean-Paul Cara. The United Kingdom, Ireland, Monaco and Greece rounded out the top five. Greece's fifth place finish was their best result up to that point. France' fifth win was also a record at the time, and one that France held onto for six years, until being equalled by Luxembourg in 1983.

Location

Wembley Conference Centre was chosen to host the contest. The venue was the first purpose-built conference centre in the United Kingdom, and opened on 31 January 1977—making it a newly built venue at the time. It was demolished in 2006.

At the night of the contest, 2,000 spectators were present in the audience.[3]

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

Tunisia was set to participate in the contest and had been drawn to participate in fourth place, but later withdrew.[1] Yugoslavia decided not to enter this contest and would not return to the contest until 1981 (they did however still broadcast the show), while Sweden returned to the competition, having missed out the year before.[4] This made for eighteen participating nations.

The language rule was brought back in this contest, four years after it had been dropped in 1973. However Germany and Belgium were allowed to sing in English, because they had already chosen the songs they were going to perform before the rule was reintroduced.

Participants of the Eurovision Song Contest 1977[5][6][7][8]
Country Broadcaster Artist Song Language Songwriter(s) Conductor
 Austria ORF Schmetterlinge "Boom Boom Boomerang" German[lower-alpha 1]
Christian Kolonovits
 Belgium BRT Dream Express "A Million in One, Two, Three" English Luc Smets Alyn Ainsworth
 Finland YLE Monica Aspelund "Lapponia" Finnish
Ossi Runne
 France TF1 Marie Myriam "L'Oiseau et l'Enfant" French
Raymond Donnez
 Germany HR[lower-alpha 2] Silver Convention "Telegram" English
Ronnie Hazlehurst
 Greece ERT Pascalis, Marianna, Robert and Bessy "Mathema solfege" (Μάθημα σολφέζ) Greek
Giorgos Hatzinasios
 Ireland RTÉ The Swarbriggs Plus Two "It's Nice to Be in Love Again" English
Noel Kelehan
 Israel IBA Ilanit "Ahava Hi Shir Lishnayim" (אהבה היא שיר לשניים) Hebrew
  • Edna Peleg
  • Eldad Shrem
 Eldad Shrem
 Italy RAI Mia Martini "Libera" Italian
Maurizio Fabrizio
 Luxembourg CLT Anne-Marie B "Frère Jacques" French
Johnny Arthey
 Monaco TMC Michèle Torr "Une petite française" French
Yvon Rioland
 Netherlands NOS Heddy Lester "De mallemolen" Dutch
Harry van Hoof
 Norway NRK Anita Skorgan "Casanova" Norwegian
  • Dag Nordtømme
  • Svein Strugstad
 Carsten Klouman
 Portugal RTP Os Amigos "Portugal no coração" Portuguese
José Calvário
 Spain TVE Micky "Enséñame a cantar" Spanish Fernando Arbex Rafael Ibarbia
 Sweden SR Forbes "Beatles" Swedish
  • Sven-Olof Bagge
  • Claes Bure
 Anders Berglund
  Switzerland SRG SSR Pepe Lienhard Band "Swiss Lady" German Peter Reber Peter Jacques
 United Kingdom BBC Lynsey de Paul and Mike Moran "Rock Bottom" English
Ronnie Hazlehurst

Returning artists
Artist Country Previous year(s)
Michèle Torr  Monaco 1966 (for  Luxembourg)
Beatrix Neundlinger and Günter Grosslercher (as part of Schmetterlinge)  Austria 1972 (as part of Milestones)
Patricia Maessen, Bianca Maessen, and Stella Maessen (as part of Dream Express)  Belgium 1970 (for  Netherlands as Hearts of Soul)
Ilanit  Israel 1973
Fernando Tordo (as part of Os Amigos)  Portugal 1973
Paulo de Carvalho (as part of Os Amigos)  Portugal 1974
The Swarbriggs  Ireland 1975

Format

The contest was originally planned to be held on 2 April 1977, but because of a strike of the BBC cameramen and its technicians, it got postponed for a month. As a result, this was the first Eurovision Song Contest to be staged in May since the inaugural edition.[1]

Due to strikes by the BBC camera staff, and lack of time to organise the contest, there were no postcards for the viewers in between the songs. However, various shots of the contest's audience were shown, with the various countries' commentators informing the viewers of the upcoming songs. The intended postcards had been devised using footage of the artists in London during a party hosted by the BBC at a London nightclub. When the postcards were seen for the first time by the participant heads of delegation at the Friday dress rehearsal the day before the final, the Norwegian delegation objected to the way their artist was portrayed. However, as it was not possible for the BBC to edit or revise footage, all the postcards had to be dropped from the broadcast. Footage from the party still formed the interval act broadcast prior to the voting sequence.[10]

Contest overview

The following tables reflect the final official scores, verified after the contest transmission. During the voting sequence of the live show, several errors were made in the announcement of the scores, which were then adjusted after the broadcast. Both Greece and France duplicated scores, awarding the same points to multiple countries. From the Greek scores, The UK, Netherlands, Austria and Finland all had 1 point deducted after the contest and from the French scores, Austria, Germany, Israel, Italy and Belgium all had 1 point deducted. None of the adjustments affected the placing of any of the songs.

Results of the Eurovision Song Contest 1977[11]
R/O Country Artist Song Points Place
1  Ireland The Swarbriggs Plus Two "It's Nice to Be in Love Again" 119 3
2  Monaco Michèle Torr "Une petite française" 96 4
3  Netherlands Heddy Lester "De mallemolen" 35 12
4  Austria Schmetterlinge "Boom Boom Boomerang" 11 17
5  Norway Anita Skorgan "Casanova" 18 14
6  Germany Silver Convention "Telegram" 55 8
7  Luxembourg Anne-Marie B "Frère Jacques" 17 16
8  Portugal Os Amigos "Portugal no coração" 18 14
9  United Kingdom Lynsey de Paul and Mike Moran "Rock Bottom" 121 2
10  Greece Pascalis, Marianna, Robert and Bessy "Mathema solfege" 92 5
11  Israel Ilanit "Ahava Hi Shir Lishnayim" 49 11
12   Switzerland Pepe Lienhard Band "Swiss Lady" 71 6
13  Sweden Forbes "Beatles" 2 18
14  Spain Micky "Enséñame a cantar" 52 9
15  Italy Mia Martini "Libera" 33 13
16  Finland Monica Aspelund "Lapponia" 50 10
17  Belgium Dream Express "A Million in One, Two, Three" 69 7
18  France Marie Myriam "L'Oiseau et l'Enfant" 136 1

Spokespersons

Each country nominated a spokesperson who was responsible for announcing the votes for their respective country via telephone. Known spokespersons at the 1977 contest are listed below.

Detailed voting results
Detailed voting results[13][14]
Total score
Ireland
Monaco
Netherlands
Austria
Norway
Germany
Luxembourg
Portugal
United Kingdom
Greece
Israel
Switzerland
Sweden
Spain
Italy
Finland
Belgium
France
Contestants
 Ireland 1198151258112101281248310
Monaco 965816167122610812525
Netherlands 353311171108
Austria 115231
Norway 18322155
Germany 551132288855561
Luxembourg 17278
Portugal 18221436
United Kingdom 121127127101212883241212
Greece 9210104446105317121663
Israel 4977535103612
Switzerland 7161010544644108
Sweden 22
Spain 526177343777
Italy 3386332227
Finland 501246827524
Belgium 694126847105643
France 1361048731210567101261010124

12 points

Below is a summary of all 12 points in the final:

N. Contestant Nation(s) giving 12 points
6  United Kingdom  Austria,  Belgium,  France,  Luxembourg,  Monaco,  Portugal
4  Ireland  Israel,  Norway,  Sweden,  United Kingdom
3  France  Finland,  Germany,   Switzerland
2  Monaco  Greece,  Italy
1  Belgium  Netherlands
 Finland  Ireland
 Greece  Spain

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.[15]

In addition to the participating countries, the contest was also reportedly broadcast in Algeria, Denmark, Iceland, Jordan, Morocco, Tunisia, Turkey and Yugoslavia, in Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, Romania and the Soviet Union via Intervision, and in Hong Kong.[6] Estimates for the global viewership ranged from 300 to 500 million viewers.[16][17][3]

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 FS1 Ernst Grissemann [18][19]
 Belgium BRT TV1 Luc Appermont [20][21][22]
Radio 1 Unknown
RTB RTB1 Unknown [20][21][23]
 Finland YLE TV1 Unknown [24]
Rinnakkaisohjelma Matti Paalosmaa
 France TF1 Georges de Caunes [23][25]
 Germany ARD Deutsches Fernsehen Werner Veigel [18][21][26]
 Greece ERT ERT Mako Georgiadou [27]
 Ireland RTÉ RTÉ Mike Murphy [28][29]
RTÉ Radio Unknown [30]
 Israel IBA Israeli Television Unknown [31]
 Italy RAI Rete Uno[lower-alpha 3] Silvio Noto [32]
 Luxembourg CLT RTL Télé-Luxembourg Unknown [23]
 Monaco Télé Monte-Carlo Unknown [33]
 Netherlands NOS Nederland 2 Ati Dijckmeester [21]
 Norway NRK NRK Fjernsynet John Andreassen [34]
NRK Erik Heyerdahl
 Portugal RTP I Programa Unknown [35]
 Spain TVE TVE 1 Miguel de los Santos [36][37]
 Sweden SR TV1 Ulf Elfving [12][24][34]
SR P3 Ursula Richter and Åke Strömmer
  Switzerland SRG SSR TV DRS Theodor Haller [18][25][38][39]
TSR Georges Hardy
TSI Unknown
RSR 2 Robert Burnier
RSI 2 Unknown
 United Kingdom BBC BBC1 Pete Murray [6][40]
BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 2 Terry Wogan [6][41][42]
Broadcasters and commentators in non-participating countries
Country Broadcaster Channel(s) Commentator(s) Ref(s)
 Denmark DR DR TV Claus Toksvig [43]
 Hungary MTV MTV2[lower-alpha 4] Unknown [44]
 Iceland RÚV Sjónvarpið[lower-alpha 5] Unknown [45]
 Yugoslavia JRT TV Ljubljana 1 Unknown [46]
TV Zagreb 1 Unknown [47]

See also

Notes
  1. Contains some words in English
  2. On behalf of the German public broadcasting consortium ARD[9]
  3. Delayed broadcast on 28 May 1977 at 20:40 CET (19:40 UTC)[32]
  4. Delayed broadcast on 19 November 1977 at 21:30 CET (20:30 UTC)[44]
  5. Delayed broadcast on 20 May 1977 at 21:30 WET (21:30 UTC)[45]

References
  1. O'Connor, John Kennedy (2007). The Eurovision Song Contest: The Official History. UK: Carlton Books. p. 68. ISBN 978-1-84442-994-3.
  2. "Les programmes de samedi". Le Figaro (in French). 7 May 1977. p. 31. ISSN 0182-5852. OCLC 1367314267.
  3. Lemaire, Norbert (10 May 1977). "Marie Myriam : le Grand Prix de l'Eurovision pour ses 20 ans". L'Aurore (in French). p. 14. ISSN 0294-8486. OCLC 1367943474.
  4. "London 1977". Eurovision.tv.
  5. "Participants of London 1977". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 3 February 2023. Retrieved 6 July 2023.
  6. Roxburgh, Gordon (2014). Songs for Europe: The United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest. Volume Two: The 1970s. Prestatyn: Telos Publishing. pp. 267–287. ISBN 978-1-84583-093-9.
  7. "1977 – 22nd edition". diggiloo.net. Archived from the original on 22 March 2022. Retrieved 6 July 2023.
  8. "Detailed overview: conductors in 1977". And the conductor is... Retrieved 6 July 2023.
  9. "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.
  10. O'Connor, John Kennedy. 'The Eurovision Song Contest - The Official Celebration'. Carlton Books 2015. ASIN: B0182Q85CS
  11. "Final of London 1977". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 11 April 2021. Retrieved 11 April 2021.
  12. Thorsson, Leif; Verhage, Martin (2006). Melodifestivalen genom tiderna : de svenska uttagningarna och internationella finalerna (in Swedish). Stockholm: Premium Publishing. pp. 126–127. ISBN 91-89136-29-2.
  13. "Results of the Final of London 1977". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 11 April 2021. Retrieved 11 April 2021.
  14. "Eurovision Song Contest 1977 – Scoreboard". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 21 July 2021.
  15. "The Rules of the Contest". European Broadcasting Union. 31 October 2018. Archived from the original on 4 October 2022. Retrieved 19 December 2022.
  16. Mogui, Jean-Pierre (9 May 1977). "Victoire à Wembley". Le Figaro (in French). p. 30. ISSN 0182-5852. OCLC 1367314267.
  17. "Le triomphe de Marie". Le Matin de Paris (in French). 9 May 1977. p. 26. ISSN 0398-8996. OCLC 1368006243.
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  20. "T.V. Programma's". De Voorpost (in Dutch). Aalst, Belgium. 6 May 1977. p. 25. Retrieved 10 January 2023.
  21. "Radio en televisie dit weekend". Limburgs Dagblad (in Dutch). Heerlen, Netherlands. 7 May 1977. p. 7. Retrieved 9 January 2023 – via Delpher.
  22. "Radio en T.V." De Waarheid (in Dutch). Amsterdam, Netherlands. 7 May 1977. p. 4. Retrieved 10 January 2023 – via Delpher.
  23. "Samedi 7 mai 1977". LW-Weekend (in German and French). Luxembourg City, Luxembourg. 7 May 1977. Retrieved 10 January 2023.
  24. "Radio ja TV". Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish). 7 May 1977. p. 39. Retrieved 23 December 2022.
  25. "TV – samedi 7 mai". Radio TV - Je vois tout (in French). Lausanne, Switzerland: Héliographia SA. 5 May 1977. pp. 14–15. Retrieved 10 January 2023.
  26. "Gesehen – Grand Prix Eurovision (I. Programm)". Bocholter-Borkener Volksblatt (in German). Retrieved 18 January 2023.
  27. "Eurovision 2020: Giorgos Kapoutzidis -Maria Kozakou ston scholiasmo tou diagonismou gia tin ERT" Eurovision 2020: Γιώργος Καπουτζίδης -Μαρία Κοζάκου στον σχολιασμό του διαγωνισμού για την ΕΡΤ (in Greek). Matrix24. 12 February 2020. Archived from the original on 14 February 2020. Retrieved 10 January 2023.
  28. "Television Today". The Irish Times. 7 May 1977. p. 17. Retrieved 22 December 2022.
  29. "Celebrities and public figures launch Irish campaign to boycott Eurovision 2019 in Israel". Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions. 30 July 2018. Archived from the original on 22 February 2019. Retrieved 22 December 2022.
  30. "Radio Today". The Irish Times. 7 May 1977. p. 17. Retrieved 22 December 2022.
  31. "Radio ∗ Televizia" רדיו ∗ טלוויזיה. Maariv (in Hebrew). Tel Aviv, Israel. 7 May 1977. p. 131. Retrieved 10 January 2023 – via National Library of Israel.
  32. "Sabato 28 maggio". Radiocorriere TV (in Italian). 22–28 May 1977. p. 123. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  33. "Monaco – London 1977". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 13 May 2018. Retrieved 10 January 2023.
  34. "Radio-TV". Tønsbergs Blad (in Norwegian). Tønsberg, Norway. 7 May 1977. p. 31. Retrieved 9 January 2023 – via National Library of Norway.
  35. "Televisão – Hoje". Diário de Lisboa (in Portuguese). 7 May 1977. p. 15. Retrieved 9 January 2023 – via Casa Comum.
  36. "Programas de Radio y T.V.". La Vanguardia (in Spanish). Barcelona, Spain. 7 May 1977. p. 52. Retrieved 10 January 2023.
  37. 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 5 January 2023.
  38. "Televisione". Gazzetta Ticinese (in Italian). Lugano, Switzerland. 7 May 1977. p. 11. Retrieved 10 January 2023 – via Sistema bibliotecario ticinese.
  39. "Radio – samedi 7 mai". Radio TV - Je vois tout (in French). Lausanne, Switzerland: Héliographia SA. 5 May 1977. p. 62. Retrieved 10 January 2023.
  40. "Eurovision Song Contest 1977 – BBC1". Radio Times. 7 May 1977. Retrieved 9 January 2023 – via BBC Genome Project.
  41. "Eurovision Song Contest 1977 – BBC Radio 2". Radio Times. 7 May 1977. Retrieved 9 January 2023 – via BBC Genome Project.
  42. "Schedule – BBC Radio 1 – 7 May 1977". Radio Times. 7 May 1977. Retrieved 10 January 2023 – via BBC Genome Project.
  43. "Programoversigt" (in Danish). LARM.fm. Retrieved 12 January 2023.
  44. "TV – szombat november 19". Rádió- és Televízió-újság (in Hungarian). 14 November 1977. p. 20. Archived from the original on 9 January 2023. Retrieved 9 January 2023 – via MTVA Archívum.
  45. "Sjónvarp – Föstudagur 20. maí". Dagblaðið (in Icelandic). Reykjavík, Iceland. 20 May 1977. p. 27. Retrieved 9 January 2023 – via Timarit.is.
  46. "Televizija – sobota 7" (PDF). Glas (in Slovenian). Kranj, SR Slovenia, Yugoslavia. 7 May 1977. p. 12. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 January 2023. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
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