Eurovision 1972: The prickly thistle | Song super cut and animated scoreboard

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

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