SANDIE’S A SHAW THING

© reserved; collection National Portrait Gallery – LINK HERE

In 1967 twenty year old SANDIE SHAW took to the stage in VIENNA securing the UK’s first EUROVISION SONG CONTEST win. Wearing a 60’s statement dress and performing barefoot she won singing PUPPET ON A STRING…

PUPPET ON A STRING – Take a minute and listen to this timeless classic!

Hello – welcome to my Eurovision blog. I hope you enjoyed listening to ‘Puppet on a String‘ to get you in the Eurovision mood. You will have heard of Eurovision, but do you know much about its history?

A man named Marcel Bezencon, the Swiss director-general of the European Broadcasting Union, came up with the idea of a singing contest to unite countries after the second world war.

The word itself, EUROVISION was first used by a British Journalist in 1951.

The very first contest was held in Switzerland in May 1956. Voting was done by closed-door. No one knew what the votes where only the singer was announced. In that same year the European Broadcasting Union allowed Swiss nationals to vote on Luxembourg’s behalf.

Singer Lys Assia won for Switzerland.…………perhaps that’s why this win is often viewed with suspicion!

…the UK did not take part until the following year in 1957. (Many think they missed the deadline for the first ever contest in 1956…eeek!)

In that same year, a tradition was established that all mandatory announcements must be delivered in English and French – this is why all hosts converse in both languages. Well, where would we be without our ‘Douce Points’

Fast Forward to this year…

16th May this year (2026) EUROVISION is once again in Vienna – a city known for its rich musical history and vibrant cultural scene.

Fingers crossed the UK entrant Look mum no computer with the song Eins, Zwei, Drie will rise to the EUROVISION occasion and bring home the bacon just like SANDIE SHAW did in Vienna in 1967.

In the build up to its 70^th year let’s talk all things Eurovision, starting this week with the last time the UK hosted EUROVISION.

SAM RYDER represented The UK with his song SPACEMAN in 2022. He came a very valiant second.

If you want a reminder of his performance take a look here

Kalush Orchestra, the Ukrainian representation with their song STEFANIA won the EUROVISION SONG CONTEST that year.

Due to the war on Ukraine the UK as runner up hosted the competition in Liverpool the following year.

Photo credit

Not one to shy away from a party, we dove right in to celebrate Eurovision especially as it was being hosted in Liverpool. Decorations, LIVERPOOL GIN and that’s my husband Dave in the Graham Norton mask! You might spot a British and Ukrainian flag in the photo’s. We had a Ukrainian girl staying with us at the time so it was nice to celebrate both countries. We are a EUROVISION FAN FAM!

I wanted to show you these cakes that I made (love a muffin with some frosted cream icing). Notice the edible wafers and in particular the ones that say UNITED BY MUSIC. In 2023 the BBC used the phrase ‘united by music’ as hosts of the Eurovision Song Contest in Liverpool. I LOVE THIS!

UNITED BY MUSIC has since been adopted by the European Broadcasting Union as the official motto for all future competitions. Well done UK.

If you didn’t manage to get tickets for this years contest in Vienna, there is a EUROVISION LIVE TOUR happening. Follow this link for tickets Live Tour 2026

Gosh we are only just getting started. I’m sure by May we will have covered lots and I look forward to your Eurovision stories. Next week we will look into, who is Sam Battle, aka Look Mum No Computer and why was he picked to represent the UK. Let me know your thoughts

For now I leave you with a Eurovision corker – cheesy, catchy and surrounded by controversy during Eurovision 2024.