Golden Moments

SANDIE SHAW 1967

SHE famously performed barefoot as she delivered the UK’s first Eurovision win with Puppet on a String in Vienna.

Host Erika Vaal had a memorable night for the wrong reason – she announced Britain as the winner before votes were cast by the last jury, Ireland. Eurovision went to London in 1968, where it was broadcast in colour for the first time.

CLIFF RICHARD 1968

SIR Cliff’s Congratulations was voted the best UK Eurovision entry of all time last year. It lost by a point to Spain’s La La La at the grand final at the Royal Albert Hall in London. He competed again in 1973.

LULU 1969

THE Scots firecracker didn’t need to Shout – instead Lulu performed Boom Bang-a-Bang and became the joint winner with three other entries.

The song became a major hit throughout Europe and helped Lulu to achieve further fame.

It reached No2 in the UK charts.

ABBA 1974

THE Swedish pop group achieved worldwide fame and became the biggest Eurovision act ever when they won the contest.

Abba – Agnetha Faltskog, Bjorn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and AnniFrid Lyngstad – won with Waterloo, which become one of their standards. The contest was held in Brighton after the previous winner, Luxembourg, decided it was too expensive to host the contest two years running, having won in 1972 and 1973.

OLIVIA NEWTON JOHN 1974

WHAT a year this was for Eurovision, as Olivia Newton-John represented the UK with Long Live Love.

Although the future Grease star lost out to Abba and came fourth, her song was one of the great UK entries and

became a big pop hit.

BROTHERHOOD OF MAN 1976

THE classic 70s band won for the UK with Save All Your Kisses For Me.

It became the top-selling winner of all time with more than five million copies sold. Martin Lee, Lee Sheriden, Nicky Stevens and Sandra Stevens went on to top the charts with Angelo and Figaro.

BUCKS FIZZ 1981

MAKING Your Mind Up secured Bucks Fizz a bubbly victory with 136 points.

Their performance featured the two female singers –Cheryl Baker and Jay Aston – getting their skirts whipped off mid-performance.

CELINE DION 1988

CELINE Dion found fame when she won the contest in this year. The Canadian singer represented Switzerland with the ballad Ne Partez Pas Sans Moi, in Dublin. It sold 200,000 singles in Europe in only two days and is one of the greatest Eurovision entries of all time. Celine became a superstar, singing the Titanic theme and playing sold out residencies in Las Vegas.

MICHAEL BALL 1992

THE singer, actor and radio DJ was already a theatre star when he made the UK a runner-up to Ireland with One Step Out of Time.

He recalled recently: “There were cameras in your face and I was just, ‘I want to drink vodka’.”