The United Kingdom was represented at the

Eurovision Song Contest 1957 The Eurovision Song Contest 1957 was the second edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster (HR) on behalf of ARD (broadcaster), ARD, the contest, originally known as the () ...

with the song "All", composed by Reynell Wreford, with lyrics by Alan Stranks, and performed by

Patricia Bredin Patricia Bredin (14 February 1935 – 13 August 2023) was an English actress and one-time singer. She is best known as the first representative of the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1957. Career In 1957 Bredin took the part ...

. The British participating broadcaster, the

British Broadcasting Corporation The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public broadcasting, public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved in ...

(BBC), selected its entry through a national final, the second edition of ''Festival of British Popular Songs'' and, subsequently, the performer internally once the national final was over. This was the first-ever entry from the United Kingdom in the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster ...

, and the first-ever entry performed in English in the contest.

Before Eurovision

''Festival of British Popular Songs 1957 ''

The United Kingdom was represented in the

for the first time in . The

(BBC) did not participate in the inaugural contest in , as it had created its own contest, the ''

Festival of British Popular Songs The Festival of British Popular Songs 1956 was a song contest organised by BBC Television and the inaugural edition of the ''Festival of British Popular Songs'', which became the United Kingdom's national selection process for the 1957 Eurovisi ...

'', aspects of which influenced the 1957 Eurovision contest. The ''Festival of British Popular Songs 1957'' served as the selection for the United Kingdom's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 1957. All British music publishing companies were invited to submit each one song for the national selection. Around 70 to 80 songs were reportedly submitted. A jury consisting of Jack Payne, Harry S. Pepper,

Cyril Stapleton Horace Cyril Stapleton (31 December 1914 – 25 February 1974) was an English violinist and jazz bandleader. Biography Horace Cyril Stapleton was born in Mapperley, Nottingham, England, He began playing violin at the age of seven, and played ...

Walter Ridley Walter John Ridley (28 February 1913 – 23 January 2007) was a British record producer and songwriter. Primarily associated with traditional pop music especially in the 1950s, he produced hit records by Alma Cogan, Max Bygraves, Ronnie Hilton ...

and Frank Lee met in December 1956 to select the competing entries of the live shows. The interpreting artists were chosen separately by the BBC production team. The ''Festival of British Popular Songs 1957'' consisted of three semi finals and a grand final. All shows took place in the King's Theatre,

Hammersmith Hammersmith is a district of West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. It ...

(West London). They were produced by

Francis Essex Francis Essex (24 March 1929 – 5 March 2009) was a British television and stage producer, author and composer. Essex's career spanned several decades during which he worked for several TV production companies. His jobs included: Light Entertai ...

. The presenter was David Jacobs, who would host many other British national finals the following years. Since the ''Festival of British Popular Songs 1956'' was judged to be lacking effectiveness because it stretched over several months, it was decided that the 1957 edition would consist of weekly shows. Six songs competed in each semi-final. The songs were scored by ten regional juries, each consisting of twelve members of the general public. Each juror awarded one vote to their favourite song. Two songs in each heat advanced to the national final.

Semi-finals

The first semi-final took place on 22 January 1957 at 19:45 GMT. The artists were accompanied by the Bill McGuffie Quintet and an orchestra under the musical direction of Eric Robinson. For the interval,

Dennis Lotis Dennis Lotis (8 March 1925 – 8 February 2023) was a South African-born British singer, actor, and entertainer, whose popularity was greatest in the 1950s. He was described as having "a sophisticated style that was particularly attractive to t ...

performed "Everybody Fall in Love With Someone", the winning song of the

Festival of British Popular Songs 1956 The Festival of British Popular Songs 1956 was a song contest organised by BBC Television and the inaugural edition of the ''Festival of British Popular Songs'', which became the United Kingdom's national selection process for the 1957 Eurovisi ...

. The ten regional juries in the first semi-final were from the cities of

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area ...

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

, Bangor,

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

and

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. The broadcast was watched by 6.8 million viewers in the United Kingdom. The second semi-final took place on 29 January 1957 at 21:00 GMT. The artists were accompanied by the Frank Weir Quintet as well as by an orchestra conducted by Stanley Black. For the interval act, the Frank Weir Quartet performed "The Way It Goes", the winning song from the first heat. The ten regional juries in the second semi-final were from the cities of

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

Swansea Swansea ( ; ) is a coastal City status in the United Kingdom, city and the List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, second-largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City and County of ...

, Bangor,

Plymouth Plymouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Devon, South West England. It is located on Devon's south coast between the rivers River Plym, Plym and River Tamar, Tamar, about southwest of Exeter and ...

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...

and

. 7.1 million viewer in the United Kingdom watched the program. The third semi-final took place on 5 February 1957 at 19:45 GMT. The artists were accompanied by the Malcolm Lockyer Quartet as well as by an orchestra under the musical direction of

Frank Chacksfield Francis Charles Chacksfield (9 May 1914 – 9 June 1995) was an English pianist, organist, composer, arranger, and conductor of popular light orchestral easy listening music, who had great success in Britain and internationally in the 1950s and ...

. The ten regional juries in semi-final 3 were from the cities of

and

. The program was watched by 7.1 million viewers. The song "Don't Cry Little Doll" was subject to controversy since the songwriters had sold the copyright to a different music publisher before and it was not clear whether the song had been published before. Finally, it turned out that the song had only been on a test pressing and the BBC allowed the song to compete in the final.

Final

The final of the ''Festival of British Popular Songs 1957'' was held on 12 February 1957 at 19:45 GMT. The artists were accompanied by an orchestra under the musical direction of three different conductors: The performances of "Don't Cry Little Doll" and "All" were conducted by

, "Once" and "For Your Love" were conducted by Stanley Black, "Seven" and "The Way It Goes" by Eric Robinson so that all songs in the final were conducted by the same conductor as in their respective semi-final. The regional juries for the final were from the cities of

, Bangor,

and

. A cup was presented to the winning composer, Reynell Wreford. The broadcast was watched by 7.5 million viewers in the United Kingdom.

Recordings

never recorded the winning song "All" but a recording of the song was released by English singer

Robert Earl Robert Earl (born 29 May 1951) is an English-American film producer, investor, restaurateur, and television personality. He is the founder and CEO of Planet Hollywood, chairman of the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, and host of ...

. In addition, an instrumental version by Victor Sylvester as a single reached number 14 in the sheet music charts.

At Eurovision

Patricia Bredin delivered an operatic performance of "All", performing third that night following and preceding with "". The conductor was Eric Robinson. At a length of 1:52 minutes, it was the shortest entry in the history of the contest until Finland in 2015 as well as the first song to be performed in English. The song also turned out to perform right before Italy's "", the longest entry in the history of the contest at 5:09 minutes. At the close of voting, the United Kingdom had received six votes and finished seventh among the ten countries, despite votes from five of the nine other countries. It would take the United Kingdom until not to finish in the first half of the scoreboard again.

Voting

Each participating broadcaster assembled a ten-member jury panel. Every juror could give one vote to their favourite song.

References

Bibliography

* {{Eurovision Song Contest 1957

1957 Events January * January 1 – The Saarland joins West Germany. * January 3 – Hamilton Watch Company introduces the first electric watch. * January 5 – South African player Russell Endean becomes the first batsman to be Dismissal (cricke ...

Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 1957

Eurovision The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster submits an origina ...