The Eurovision Song Contest 1971 was the 16th edition of the annual

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...

. It took place in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

, following the country's victory at the with the song "

All Kinds of Everything "All Kinds of Everything" is a song written by Derry Lindsay and Jackie Smith; as performed by Dana, it won the Eurovision Song Contest 1970 representing . "All Kinds of Everything" marked a return to the ballad form from the more energetic pe ...

" by Dana. Organised by the

European Broadcasting Union The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; french: Union européenne de radio-télévision, links=no, UER) is an alliance of public service media organisations whose countries are within the European Broadcasting Area or who are members of the C ...

(EBU) and host broadcaster (RTÉ), the contest was held at the Gaiety Theatre on 3 April 1971, and was hosted by Irish television presenter

Bernadette Ní Ghallchóir Bernadette Ní Ghallchóir (; born 1947 or 1948) is an Irish television presenter and continuity announcer. She was a familiar face of RTÉ between the late sixties and early eighties. Career In the late 1960’s, Ní Ghallchóir (using the name ...

. Eighteen countries participated in the contest, equalling the record of the

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is sworn in for a full term ...

and

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo ...

editions.

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

returned after their two-year absence, while

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bot ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of th ...

and

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...

all returned after having boycotted the competition the previous year. On the other hand,

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

competed for the first time. The winner was

Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...

with the song "

Un banc, un arbre, une rue "Un banc, un arbre, une rue" (; "A Bench, a Tree, a Street") was the winning song of the Eurovision Song Contest 1971 performed in French language, French by French people, French singer Séverine (singer), Séverine, representing . The song is a ...

", performed by Séverine, written by Yves Dessca, and composed by Jean-Pierre Bourtayre. This was Monaco's first and only victory in the contest. The song was performed by a French singer, living in France, sung in French, conducted by a French native and written by a French team. Séverine later claimed she never visited Monaco before or after her victory – a claim easily disproved by the preview video submitted by Télé-Monte-Carlo featuring the singer on location in the Principality. This was also the only time in the contest's history, where the second and third-placed entrants were also awarded.

Location

The contest was held at the Gaiety Theatre in

, the capital and most populous city of

. This was the first time that the contest was held in Ireland. The Gaiety Theatre was selected as the venue for the 1971 contest as it was celebrating 100 years since its establishment in 1871.

Format

For the first time, each participating broadcaster was required to televise all the songs in " previews" prior to the live final. Belgium's preview video featured Nicole and Hugo performing the song "

Goeiemorgen, morgen Belgium was represented by Jacques Raymond and Lily Castel, with the song "Goeiemorgen, morgen", at the 1971 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 3 April in Dublin. Raymond and Castel had not taken part in the original Belgian final, whic ...

", but Nicole was struck with a sudden illness days before the contest final, with

Jacques Raymond Jacques Raymond (born Jozef Remon on 13 October 1938) is a Belgian singer. He represented Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest 1963 with the Dutch song " Waarom?". In the 1971 Eurovision Song Contest, he teamed up with Lily Castel to sing " ...

and

Lily Castel Lily Castel (born Alice van Acker on 10 April 1937) is a Belgian singer, best known for her participation with Jacques Raymond in the 1971 Eurovision Song Contest. Early career Castel started out as a dancer before auditioning for television ...

stepping in at short notice to perform the entry in their place. Reports suggested that Castel had not even had enough time to buy a suitable dress for the show. The BBC were worried about the possible audience reaction to the UK song due to the hostilities raging in

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is #Descriptions, variously described as ...

. They specifically selected a singer from Northern Ireland,

Clodagh Rodgers Clodagh Rodgers (born 5 March 1947) is a retired singer and actress from Northern Ireland, best known for her hit singles including " Come Back and Shake Me", "Goodnight Midnight", and "Jack in the Box". Career Rodgers was born in Warrenpoin ...

, who was popular in both the UK and the Republic of Ireland, to ease any ill-feeling from the Dublin audience. However, Rodgers still received death threats from the IRA for representing the UK. Groups of up to six people were allowed to perform for the first time, with the rule in previous contests of performing either solo or as a duet abolished. This was only

RTÉ (RTÉ) (; Irish for "Radio & Television of Ireland") is the national broadcaster of Ireland headquartered in Dublin. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, whil ...

's second outside broadcast in colour. The contest was broadcast in

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its ...

, the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

and

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a List of cities in China, city and Special administrative regions of China, special ...

several days later. In between each song, a film depicting the tourist highlights of each nation using stock footage provided by the participant tourism bureaus was seen, accompanied by a piece of organ music chosen to complement the country.

Voting system

A new voting system was introduced in this year's contest: each country sent two jury members, one aged over 25 and the other under 25 (with at least ten years' difference between their ages), with both awarding each country (except their own) a score of between one and five points. While this meant that no country could score fewer than 34 points (and in the event all eighteen scored at least 52), it had one major problem: some jury members tended to award only one or two points. Whether this was done to increase their respective countries' chances of winning is not known for sure, but this shortcoming was nonetheless plain. However, the system remained in place for the

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using mean solar tim ...

and

1973 Events January * January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 15 – Vietnam War: ...

contests.

Participating countries

made their début in this year's contest, while

and

all returned after a brief absence. This brought the total number of countries to eighteen.

Conductors

Each performance had a conductor who directed the orchestra. This marked the first contest to feature someone other than the musical director conducting the host country's entry; Noel Kelehan conducted Ireland's entry instead of musical director Colman Pearce (who would subsequently conduct the Irish entries between 1972 and 1975). This would consequently be the first contest in which the musical director did not conduct any of the competing entries, followed by , -, -, , and . * * Anthony Chircop * Jean-Claude Petit * Hardy Schneiders * * Waldo de los Ríos *

Franck Pourcel Franck Pourcel (14 August 1913 – 12 November 2000) was a French composer, arranger, and conductor of popular and classical music. Biography Early life Born in Marseille, France, Pourcel started learning the violin at the age of six. Later, ...

* *

Johnny Arthey John Raymond Arthey (24 September 1930 – 27 October 2007) was a British conductor and composer. He was responsible for arranging many hit pop records in the 1960s and 1970s. Life and career Johnny Arthey started his career as a pianist ...

* Francis Bay * * * Noel Kelehan *

Dolf van der Linden David Gijsbert van der Linden (22 June 1915 – 30 January 1999), known as Dolf van der Linden, was a Dutch conductor of popular music with a reputation which extended beyond the borders of the Netherlands. Biography David Gijsbert van der Lind ...

* *

Miljenko Prohaska Miljenko Prohaska (17 September 1925 – 29 May 2014) was a Croatian composer, music arranger and orchestra conductor. He was mainly known for founding a number of prominent Croatian orchestras and for his longtime service as the conductor of ...

Ossi Runne Ossi Runne (23 April 1927 – 5 November 2020) was a Finnish trumpeter, orchestra leader, composer, and record producer.Arne Bendiksen Arne Joachim Bendiksen (19 October 1926 – 26 March 2009) was a Norwegian singer, composer and producer, described as "the father of pop music" in Norway. Career Bendiksen was born in Bergen, Norway. In the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, he was a m ...

Returning artists

Participants and results

This is the only time in the contest's history where the second and third placing entrants were also awarded.

Detailed voting results

Eurovision Song Contest 1971 - Saskia & Serge

10 points

Below is a summary of all perfect 10 scores that were given during the voting.

Jury members

Listed below is the order in which votes were cast during the 1971 contest along with the names of the two jury members who voted for their respective country. Each country announced their results in groups of three. # Beatrix Neundlinger and Jochen Lieben # Spiro Sillato and Gaetan Abela"It was all in the game", Fred Barry, Times of Malta, 7 April 1971 # ''Unknown'' # ''Unknown'' # Kirsten Ludwig and Wolfgang Henk # Noelia Afonso and Francisco Madariaga # Claude Crémieux and Jacques Ourevitch # Mady Heinen and Michel Klein # Jeremy Paterson Fox and Gay Lowe # ''Unknown'' # ''Unknown'' # Eva Blomqvist and Putte Wickman # Vivienne Colgan and Ken StewardEriksen, Espen: "Vi tjener inn tapet på turisme", VG, page 13, 7 April 1971 # Jos Cléber and ''Unknown'' # Pedro Albergaria and Luís Filipe Costa # Mišo Kukić and Zoran Kržišnik # Markku Veijalainen and Vieno Kekkonen # Sten Fredriksen and Liv Usterud

Broadcasts

Each national broadcaster also sent a commentator to the contest, in order to provide coverage of the contest in their own native language. In addition to the participating countries, the contest was also reportedly broadcast in Greece, Iceland, Morocco and Tunisia, in Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland and Romania via Intervision, and in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Ethiopia, Hong Kong, Jamaica, Kenya, Mauritania, Mauritius, Sierra Leone, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda and the United States.

Notes

References

Bibliography

*''The Eurovision Song Contest: The Official History'', John Kennedy O'Connor, Carlton Books Ltd,

External links

* {{Coord, 53.340312, N, 6.261601, W, type:landmark_region:IE, display=title

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses ( February 25, July 22 and August 20) and two total lunar eclipses ( February 10, and August 6). The world population increased by 2.1% this year, the highest increase in history. Events J ...

Music festivals in Ireland 1971 in Ireland 1971 in Irish music 1971 in Irish television 1971 in radio 1971 music festivals 1970s in Dublin (city) April 1971 events in Europe Events in Dublin (city)