Host
countries
Most
participants
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The
2007 contest, held inHelsinki, Finland, had a record of 42 participating
countries, beating 2005 when there were 39 participants. Only 24 countries eventually
participated in the final though. In 2003 there was a record of 26 countries in
the final, since there was no semifinal yet.
The most songs in one show did we see in the 2007 semifinal, which was a marathon of 28 songs.
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Least
participants
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In
1956 only seven countries took part in the first ever Eurovision Song Contest
in Lugano, Switzerland. But since each country that year (and only that year)
was allowed to send two songs there still were 14 songs. With the change of rules
(one song per country) the year after, but three new countries a number of 10
participating songs was reached in the 1957 contest in Frankfurt, Germany.
The same number of countries took part in the 1958 contest in the Netherlands
(though Sweden replaced the United Kingdom).
The number of participants
increased slightly to 18 in 1966. In 1970 however there were only twelve songs in the competition,
held in Amsterdam. After 1969, when four countries won, Norway, Sweden, Finland,
Portugal and Austria withdrew. They all returned, accompanied by newcomer Malta
the year after, bringing the number back to 18.
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Presenters
(presented most)
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British
Katie Boyle has presented
the contest a record of 4 times, in the years 1960, 1963, 1968 and 1974.
Only French Jacquelline Joubert presented more than one ESC too, in 1959 and 1961.
Hans van Willigenburg from the Netherlands was involved in both 1976 and 1980,
having some chats with some of the artists in the greenroom.
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Presenters
(most in one show)
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The
1999 contest in Jerusalem was presented by three presenters: two female (Dafna
Dekel, Sigal Shahmon) and one male (Yigal Ravid). It looked
like the trio presentation was going to be repeated in 2005 for a long while,
but only a few weeks before the actual contest plans changed.
The first
contest in 1956 was presented by a man only, Lohengrin Filipello, but in the years
that followed it was always a woman only. This changed in Paris 1978 when Léon
Zitrone was the first male presenter in 22 years. He wasn't presenting alone though,
but accompanied by a lady and thus this was the first contest with a presenting
duo. The duo formula (always a man and a woman) was repeated in 1979 and has become
more or less standard since 1988 (with the exceptions of 1993 and 1995). 1999
saw the first trio presentation.
A side remark though: in several years
the artists in the green room were interviewed during the live
broadcast by someone
else than the main presenter(s). Hans van Willigenburg from the
Netherlands did
this job twice, in 1976 and 1980. In 2003 the two presenters of the
special internet
webcast appeared a few times during the show, and since 2004 previous
year's winning artists had some
short talks with the artists in the green room, which seemed to become
a new tradition, that might have come to a quick end with the victory
of Lordi though.
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Presenters/singers
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Several
presenters already had some ESC experience as a singer: Åse
Kleveland (sang
in 1966 for Norway, presented in 1986), Lill Lindfors (sang in 1966 for
Sweden,
presented in 1985), Gigliola Cinquetti (sang in 1964 and 1974 for
Italy, presented
in 1991), Renars Kaupers (lead singer of Brainstorm, for Latvia in
2000, presented
in 2003), Dafna Dekel (sang in 1992 for Israel, presented in 1999),
Corry Brokken
(sang in 1956, 1957 and 1958 for the Netherlands, presented in 1976),
Sakis Rouvas sang in 2004 for Greece, presented in 2006) and Yardena
Arazi (Israel 1976 and 1988) presenter in 1979). Two times furthermore
has the
winner of the previous year done the presentation: Toto Cutugno in 1991
(Italy)
and Marie N (Marija Naumova) in 2003.
Yardena Arazi from Israel is the
only presenter (1979) who later returned as a singer (1988). |
Earliest
/ latest date
|
The
earliest date for an ESC was 3 March, in 1957, when the contest was held in Frankfurt.
In 1999 the contest was held in Jerusalem on 29 May, the latest date ever.
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Contests
not held on Saturday
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The
contest has taken place on a Saturday night since 1963. Before it has been on
other weekdays as well: the first one in 1956 was on a Thursday; in 1957 it was
held on a Sunday. The next two years the ESC took place on a Wednesday, whereas
the 1960 contest was on a Friday. The 1961 contest was the first one to take place
on a Saturday, but in 1962 for once it was held on a Sunday again.
Both
the 1961 and 1962 contest were held on 18 March, a unique gap of exactly one year
between two consecutive contests. If the contest will stay on Saturday, which
is extremely likely, this will never happen again. In leap years though, with
a semi on Thursday, at least the final could take place on the date of the previous
year's semifinal. |
Most
common ESC date
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The
ESC has taken place the most on 9 May, although just one more time than
many other dates: three times, in 1987, 1992 and 1998.
The 2008 contest will beheld on 24 May, so that date will join 9 May as most common date. Apart from the very first contest in 1956 also the 2003 contest was held on 24 May.
Except for the
first contest, held on 24 May, until 1977 the ESC was usually held in March, sometimes
in April. 1984 was the first year the contest was held in May for the second time
in succession. Since then it has only twice been in April (both April 30, both
times in Dublin, 1988 and 1994).
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EBU
Scrutineer
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The
EBU scutineer that has coordinated most votings has been Frank Naef from
Switzerland. He did this job 15 times, from 1978 to 1992.
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Biggest
live audience
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The
2001 contest held in Copenhagen, Denmark had a record audience of 39,000
people able to assist the show live in Parken Stadium. Second by a
big distance is the Globe concert hall in Stockholm, which had an audience of
13,000 in 2000.
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Biggest
stage
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The
biggest stage ever used for ESC was probably the one in Spektrum, Oslo in
1996. The set actually consisted of four different stages, three of them
used for performances, one of them used as a 'blue room' used only by the presenter
Ingvild Bryn, doing the voting. The blue room was nothing but a huge blue screen
on which for television viewers a virtual set, including the scoreboard, was projected
using chromakey technology. The stage was approximately 2400 square metres big
(60 x 40 metres).
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Stage
designer
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Stage
designer Roland de Graaff from the Netherlands probably was responsible
for the design of the most Eurovision stages: four of them. He designed the 1970,
1976 and 1980 stages, when the contest was hosted by the Netherlands, and the
1984 stage, used in Luxembourg.
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Longest
time before the first song being performed
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The
introduction to the 1989 contest in Lausanne, Switzerland, was th longest
ever. After the "Te deum" (the Eurovision melody) was played it took
20 minutes and 20 seconds until the first note of the Italian entry, the
first participating song of the night,was heard. The introduction video lasted seven minutes,
showing the beauty of Switzerland. Then Céline Dion (who won in 1988) sang a piece
of her winning song and her new single Where does my heart beat now?.
Then there was the usual welcoming by
both presenters, in all four Swiss languages plus some words in English
and Japanese. At last also the orchestra played a special tune before
eventually
Italy was introduced in Italian and the first "postcard" was shown.
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