1982 Eurovision Song Contest

The Eurovision Song Contest 1982 was the 27th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Harrogate, United Kingdom, following the country's victory at the with the song "Making Your Mind Up" by Bucks Fizz. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), the contest was held at the Harrogate International Centre on 24 April 1982 and was hosted by English television presenter and newsreader Jan Leeming.

Eighteen countries took part in the contest with deciding not to enter this year. Due to internal issues, regarding a reform of telecommunications laws was left without a broadcaster responsible for its participation for the first time in history.

The winner was with the song "" by Nicole. This was the first time that Germany had won the contest after having competed every year since the contest's inception. Germany received 1.61 times as many points as runner-up , which was a record under the current scoring system until , when received 1.78 times as many points as . The song also cemented Ralph Siegel and Bernd Meinunger, the song's composers, into German Eurovision tradition, writing 18 Eurovision songs between them before and after "", 13 of which were for Germany.

Location

Harrogate is a spa town in North Yorkshire, England. Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, the town is a tourist destination and its visitor attractions include its spa waters and RHS Harlow Carr gardens. Nearby is the Yorkshire Dales national park and the Nidderdale AONB. Harrogate grew out of two smaller settlements, High Harrogate and Low Harrogate, in the 17th century. The town became known as 'The English Spa' in the Georgian Era, after its waters were discovered in the 16th century. In the 17th and 18th centuries its 'chalybeate' waters (containing iron) were a popular health treatment, and the influx of wealthy but sickly visitors contributed significantly to the wealth of the town.

The Harrogate International Centre was chosen as the host venue for the contest. The grand convention and exhibition centre opened a short time prior to the contest, and was the first big event held in the main 2000-seat auditorium. Only 50 local people would see the contest in person, with most seats filled out with delegations and civic dignitaries.

Participants

With 18 participating countries, this was the last Eurovision contest to have such a low number of entries.

was due to participate in the contest with the song "" performed by Themis Adamantidis. Although drawn to perform in position number 2, Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT) withdrew a few weeks before the contest. According to press reports, Greek Minister of Culture and Sports Melina Mercouri had voiced her opposition to the chosen entry as being too low in quality.

In November 1981, the French participating broadcaster, (TF1), declined to enter the Eurovision Song Contest 1982, with the head of entertainment, Pierre Bouteiller, saying, "The absence of talent and the mediocrity of the songs is where annoyance sets in. urovision isa monument to insanity ometimes translated as "drivel"" became the new French participating broadcaster after public outcry, entering the contest for the first time in .

Several of the performing artists had previously competed as lead artists representing the same country in past editions: Anita Skorgan had represented and , and had provided backing vocals ; Jahn Teigen had represented ; Fatima Padinha and Teresa Miguel, members of Doce, had represented as part of Gemini; Sally Ann Triplett, a member of Bardo, had represented the as part of Prima Donna. In addition, Anna Vissi representing Cyprus, had represented along with the Epikouri; and Stella Maessen representing Belgium, had represented the as part of Hearts of Soul and as part of Dream Express. Olcayto Ahmet Tuğsuz, who represented as part of Nazar, provided backing vocals for Turkey.

Format

The overall costs to organize the contest was £500,000.

The opening of the contest showed a map of Europe, with the translation "Where is Harrogate?" popping up on-screen from the languages of the participating countries. The question was always in the language in which the respective country's song was performed, with the exception of Ireland. The Irish entry was sung in English, but the translation of the question in the map was in Irish. Then the map zoomed into Harrogate's location in Yorkshire, followed by an introduction video spotlighting the town.

This year, before the postcard of a specific country (with the exceptions of Israel, who had no commentator, and Yugoslavia, whose commentators were in their own country), the camera would zoom into the commentary box of that country's broadcaster, where the commentator/s would give a hand gesture, e.g. wave. The postcard would start with the country's flag on the screen and an excerpt of the country's national anthem (though in the case of the host country, the UK, the song played was "Land of Hope and Glory" instead of "God Save the Queen", while the Israeli postcard began with an excerpt of "Hava Nagila" instead of "Hatikvah"). The postcards themselves, utilizing state-of-the-art video technology (for its time), were a montage of footage of the artist in Harrogate town or at the International Flower Festival. Some of the postcards also incorporated footage from the preview videos submitted by each participating broadcaster; only preview videos which did not consist of a performance of the song from a national final were used. Apart the national anthem, the postcards also used either a popular song or tune from the country being shown or a song performed at previous editions of Eurovision (i.e. for the Yugoslav entry, "Jedan dan" from 1968 was used, and for Israel, the winning song "Hallelujah" by Milk and Honey from 1979 was used). After the conclusion of the video clip, Jan Leeming introduced the conductor and then the artist for each nation.

Contest overview

After coming second in the Hague in 1980 and in Dublin in 1981, Ralph Siegel and Bernd Meinunger took the first win for Germany. The country led the voting process from start to finish, with no competing country threatening at any point. At the end of 204 available points, Germany had gained 161, with Israel finishing with 100 in second place. For the winning country, this moment was also historic because around 13 million people in West Germany were tuned in to their televisions at that exact moment.

Nicole went on to sing the reprise of her song in English, French and Dutch, as well as German. The English version (also produced by Siegel and ) of her Eurovision winner, "A Little Peace", subsequently shot to No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart.

Spokespersons

Each participating broadcaster appointed a spokesperson who was responsible for announcing the votes for its respective country via telephone. Known spokespersons at the 1982 contest are listed below.

* Solveig Herlin
* John Skehan
* Arne Weise
* Başak Doğru
* Colin Berry

Detailed voting results

Each participating broadcaster assembled a jury who awarded 12, 10, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 point(s) for their top ten songs.

12 points

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

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.

The contest was reportedly broadcast in 31 countries, including the participating countries, Greece, Jordan, and Tunisia; and Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and the Soviet Union via Intervision; with approximately 300 million television viewers and 200 million radio listeners following the contest. Known details on the broadcasts in each country, including the specific broadcasting stations and commentators are shown in the tables below.

Notes

References

External links

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Music festivals in the United Kingdom
1982 in music
1982 in the United Kingdom
Events in Harrogate
1980s in North Yorkshire
April 1982 in Europe