Eurovision’s No. 1 loser
QUESTION Has a losing entry in the Eurovision Song Contest gone on to be a hit?
ARGUABLY one of the best, and certainly one of the most successful, songs in the history of the Eurovision Song Contest was Volare by Domenico Modugno.
In the 1958 contest, it came third out of ten songs, but was a worldwide hit at various times for Modugno, the Marino Marini Quartet and Dean Martin, who reached No. 1 in the u.S. billboard charts.
When you consider how many winning Eurovision songs have disappeared without a trace, including the 1958 French winner, Dors, Mon Amour, the success of Volare is outstanding.
l’amour Est bleu (love Is blue), by greek singer Vicky leandros representing luxembourg, only managed fourth out of 17 songs in 1967’s Eurovision, which was won by the UK’s Puppet On A String by Sandie Shaw.
An instrumental version by Frenchman Paul Mauriat topped the billboard 100 chart for five weeks and was a UK No. 12.
T. A. Cox, Malvern, Worcs.
IN THE days of the UK’s Song For Europe, it was the done thing for our entry to make the singles chart, even if it flopped at Eurovision.
The Allisons’ Are you Sure? was the Eurovision runner-up in 1961 and No. 2 in the UK charts, while the bookmakers’ 1982 favourite, bardo’s One Step Further, only came seventh at Eurovision, though it reached No. 2 in the charts.
Other Top Ten songs include 1970 Eurovision runner-up Mary Hopkin’s Knock, Knock, Who’s There?, which was No.2 in the charts, and Cliff richard’s Power To All Our Friends, which came third in 1973 at Eurovision, No.4 in the UK charts and was a worldwide No. 1.
Cliff had done even better in 1968 with Congratulations, a UK No.1 and worldwide million seller, which was controversially defeated at Eurovision by Spain’s Massiel with her banal la, la, la.
Tim Mickleburgh, Grimsby, Lincs.
THE winner of the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest in brighton was, of course, Abba’s Waterloo, which was also a UK chart-topper. The runner-up from Italy was Si, a sumptuous ballad by gigliola Cinquetti, who had won the contest a decade earlier.
Si, which was released in English as go (before you break My Heart), reached No. 8 in the charts and would surely have won the contest any other year.
The third placed Dutch entry, Mouth and MacNeal’s I See A Star, also reached No.8 in the charts. The UK entry, long live love by Olivia Newton-John, which finished fourth at Eurovision, reached No. 11 in the charts.
Steve Trump, Upminster, Essex.
QUESTION Which language has the world’s longest alphabet?
THE official language of Cambodia, Khmer, is spoken by 16 million people and is recognised by the guinness book of World records as having the longest alphabet, with 74 letters.
Modern Khmer speakers use only 68 characters, made up of 33 consonants, 23 vowels and 12 independent vowels. Two consonants, two vowels and two independent vowels are rarely used.
Khmer does not work in the same way as our alphabet. The script is neither syllabic nor strictly alphabetic, but sits somewhere in between.
Its sequences of consonants and vowels are written as a unit. The vowels are secondary to consonants while complementary consonants are used for foreign words. To add to the difficulty, there are no spaces between words in written Khmer, but they do write from left to right. Trust me, it’s a nightmare to learn!
Hindi is the most widely used language in India, with half a billion speakers. Its alphabet consists of 13 vowels, 33 consonants and between five and seven compound characters, a total of 50 to 52 letters, depending on the Indian region. Technically, the Chinese do not have an alphabet, but instead use an ideographic writing system. Thousands of pictographs represent different words, syllables and concepts.
Japanese is another ideographic language, with Kanji being the best known form, but there are also two phonetic alphabets, each with 46 letters.
At the other end of the spectrum is rotokas, spoken by 4,300 people in the bougainville Province of Papua New guinea. It has just 12 letters.
Pamela Highsmith, St Andrews, Fife.
QUESTION What is the best response to a truly daft question by a reporter?
FURTHER to earlier answers, my favourite was by jockey lester Piggott. In 1968, Derby winner Sir Ivor was invited to run in the Washington DC international.
In American racing they go flat out from the start, so punters were aghast that lester kept Sir Ivor at the back of the field until almost the end of the race, when he pulled him out and flew past the rest to win easily.
Post-race, outraged journalists surrounded Piggott and he was asked: ‘At what point did you think you would win the race?’ A man of few words at the best of times, he replied in his nasal tones: ‘About two weeks ago!’
Just for good measure, he came back the following year and won the title again on Karabas.
Tony Davies, Doncaster, S. Yorks.
MORECAMBE and Wise were once asked what they would be if they weren’t comedians. Eric replied: ‘Mike and bernie Winters.’
Ian Johnstone, Epsom, Surrey.
WHEN the rolling Stones played the Knebworth Festival in Hertfordshire in 1976, Mick Jagger perused the list of prestigious would-be interviewers. ‘yeah, New york Times, Melody Maker and... the Stevenage gazette.’
According to a photographer who was there, the nervous young local newspaper reporter asked: ‘What do you think of Stevenage, Mr Jagger?’
Jagger said: ‘Naah! you don’t wanna do it like that! Ask me about bianca . . .’
John Ash, Milton Keynes, Bucks.
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