Eurovision Song Contest 1977



The Eurovision Song Contest 1977 was the 22nd edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest, and was held in London, United Kingdom on 7 May 1977. The presenter was Angela Rippon.

The contest was won by Marie Myriam, representing France, with the song "L'oiseau et l'enfant" (The Bird and the Child). This was France's fifth victory, a record at the time (since equalled by Luxembourg and the United Kingdom, and surpassed by Ireland and Sweden). It was also France's second victory on English soil, as well as its most recent victory to date.

Location
Located on the River Thames, London is the capital city of England and the United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the Europe by most measures. London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its founding by the Romans, who named it Londinium. Wembley Conference Centre, which opened in 1977, was the first purpose-built conference centre in the United Kingdom. The centre was chosen as host venue for the song contest, which was presented by Angela Rippon.

Format
The language rule was brought back in this contest, four years after it had been dropped in 1973. However Germany and Belgium were allowed to sing in English, because they had already chosen the songs they were going to perform before the rule was reintroduced.

As noted in The Eurovision Song Contest - The Official History by author and historian John Kennedy O'Connor, the contest was originally planned to be held on 2 April 1977, but because of a strike of BBC cameramen and technicians, it had to be postponed for a month.

Participating countries
At one point before the contest Tunisia was going to participate but it withdrew. Had Tunisia gone ahead they would have appeared fourth on stage. Yugoslavia also withdrew, and did not return until 1981.

The Belgian act Dream Express had created some controversy in the press with reports that the three female members would wear transparent tops; this did not materialise for the actual event.

The British conductor Ronnie Hazlehurst used an umbrella and wore a bowler hat.

Conductors
Each performance had a conductor who maestro the orchestra.


 * - Noel Kelehan
 * - Yvon Rioland
 * - Harry van Hoof
 * - Christian Kolonovits
 * - Carsten Klouman
 * - Ronnie Hazlehurst
 * - Johnny Arthey
 * - Jose Calvario
 * - Ronnie Hazlehurst
 * - George Hatzinassios
 * - Eldad Shrim
 * - Peter Jacques
 * - Anders Berglund
 * - Rafael Ibarbia
 * - Maurizio Fabrizio
 * - Ossi Runne
 * - Alyn Ainsworth
 * - Raymond Donnez

Returning artists
Several artists returned to the 1977 Contest. Beatrix Neundlinger and Günter Grosslercher from the group Schmetterlinge both represented Austria in 1972 as part of the band The Milestones. Patricia Maessen, Bianca Maessen, and Stella Maessen had previously represented the Netherlands in 1970 as part of the group Hearts of Soul, in 1977 they represented Belgium under the band name Dream Express.

Ireland's participant The Swarbriggs returned after their previous appearance back in 1975. Ilanit from Israel returned after previously representing the nation in 1973. Michèle Torr, Luxembourg's 1966 entrant participated for Monaco. And finally Fernando Tordo and Paulo de Carvalho (part of Os Amigos) returned once more after they previously represented the nation as solo acts back in 1973 and 1974 respectively.

Results
Notes:
 * a. Contains some words in English.

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

International broadcasts and voting
The table below shows the order in which votes were cast during the 1977 contest along with the spokesperson who was responsible for announcing the votes for their respective country.

Voting and spokespersons

 * 1) 🇮🇪 Ireland - Brendan Balfe
 * 2) 🇲🇨 Monaco - Carole Chabrier
 * 3) 🇳🇱 Netherlands - Ralph Inbar
 * 4) 🇦🇹 Austria - Jenny Pippal
 * 5) 🇳🇴 Norway - Sverre Christophersen
 * 6) 🇩🇪 Germany - Max Schautzer
 * 7) 🇱🇺 Luxembourg - Jacques Harvey
 * 8) 🇵🇹 Portugal – Ana Zanatti
 * 9) 🇬🇧 United Kingdom - Colin Berry
 * 10) 🇬🇷 Greece - Naki Agathou
 * 11) 🇮🇱 Israel - Yitzhak Shim'oni
 * 12) 🇨🇭 Switzerland - Michel Stocker
 * 13) 🇸🇪 Sweden - Sven Lindahl
 * 14) 🇪🇸 Spain - Isabel Tenaille
 * 15) 🇮🇹 Italy - Mariolina Cannuli
 * 16) 🇫🇮 Finland - Kaarina Pönniö
 * 17) 🇧🇪 Belgium - Anne Ploegaerts
 * 18) 🇫🇷 France - Michel Drucker

Each national broadcaster also sent a commentator to the contest, in order to provide coverage of the contest in their own native language.

Television commentators

 * 🇮🇪 Ireland - Mike Murphy (RTÉ Television)
 * 🇲🇨 Monaco - Georges de Caunes (Télé Monte Carlo)
 * 🇳🇱 Netherlands - Ati Dijckmeester (Nederland 2)
 * 🇦🇹 Austria - Ernst Grissemann (FS1)
 * 🇳🇴 Norway - John Andreassen (NRK)
 * 🇩🇪 Germany - Werner Veigel (ARD Deutsches Fernsehen)
 * 🇱🇺 Luxembourg - Jacques Navadic (RTL Télé Luxembourg)
 * 🇵🇹 Portugal – Ana Zanatti (RTP1)
 * 🇬🇧 United Kingdom - Pete Murray (BBC1)
 * 🇬🇷 Greece - Mako Georgiadou (ERT)
 * 🇮🇱 Israel - No commentator (Israeli Television)
 * 🇨🇭 Switzerland - Theodor Haller (TV DRS), Georges Hardy (TSR), Giovanni Bertini (TSI)
 * 🇸🇪 Sweden - Ulf Elfving (SR TV1)
 * 🇪🇸 Spain - Miguel de los Santos (TVE1)
 * 🇮🇹 Italy - Silvio Noto (Rete 1)
 * 🇫🇮 Finland - Erkki Toivanen (YLE TV1)
 * 🇧🇪 Belgium - Luc Appermont (BRT TV1), Patrick Duhamel (RTB1)
 * 🇫🇷 France - Georges de Caunes (TF1)
 * 🇩🇰 Denmark (Non-participating country) - Claus Toksvig (DR TV)
 * 🇬🇱 Greenland (Non-participating country) - TBC
 * 🇮🇸 Iceland (Non-participating country) - No commentator (RÚV)
 * 🇹🇷 Turkey (Non-participating country) - Bülend Özveren (Ankara Television)
 * Yugoslavia (Non-participating country) - Oliver Mlakar

Radio commentators

 * 🇮🇪 Ireland - Liam Devally (RTÉ Radio 1)
 * 🇲🇨 Monaco - N/A
 * 🇳🇱 Netherlands - N/A
 * 🇦🇹 Austria - Hubert Gaisbauer (Hitradio Ö3)
 * 🇳🇴 Norway - Erik Heyerdahl (NRK P1)
 * 🇩🇪 Germany - Wolf Mittler (Deutschlandfunk/Bayern 2)
 * 🇱🇺 Luxembourg - André Torrent (RTL Radio)
 * 🇵🇹 Portugal - Amadeu Meireles (RDP Antena 1)
 * 🇬🇧 United Kingdom - Terry Wogan (BBC Radio 2)
 * 🇬🇷 Greece - Dimitris Konstantaras (Proto Programma)
 * 🇮🇱 Israel - N/A
 * 🇨🇭 Switzerland - TBC
 * 🇸🇪 Sweden - Ursula Richter & Åke Strömmer (SR P3)
 * - N/A
 * 🇮🇹 Italy - Silvio Noto (RAI Radiouno)
 * 🇫🇮 Finland - N/A
 * 🇧🇪 Belgium - Nand Baert & Herwig Haes (BRT Radio 1), André Zaleski (RTBF La Première)
 * 🇫🇷 France - Gérard Klein (France Inter)