The Eurovision Song Contest 1977 was the first contest which was troubled by a strike and was only organised five weeks after the planned date.
Technicians on strike!
This 1977 Eurovision Song Contest took place at the Wembley Conference Centre in London. The event was postponed for five weeks because of the fact that the cameramen and technicians were on strike. The song contest was supposed to take place on the 2nd of April, but it did not take place until 7th May. 18 countries took part this year. Sweden returned, and Yugoslavia withdrew from the contest. Tunisia was supposed to participate as well, performing in 4th position, but the country later withdrew its entry.
The rule of performing in one's national language was brought back to the song contest although Germany and Belgium were allowed to perform in English because their entries had already been chosen before the rules changed. The German group Silver Convention had been hugely popular all over the world in the mid 70s with songs like Fly Robin Fly and Get Up And Boogie. There were high hopes that their 1977 entry Telegram, would score the first victory for Germany, however the song only ended up in 8th position. Anita Skorgan sang her first entry Casanova for Norway this year. She would return in 1979 and also try several more times to represent her home country, but always lost out in the Norwegian national heats. Austria gave a innovative performance of Boom Boom Boomerang by the group Schmetterlinge. The song was performed with the artists wearing masks on the back of their heads.
About the winner
France won the contest for the fifth, and to date, the last time with the song L'Oiseau Et L'Enfant performed by Marie Myriam. France's victory was a record in Eurovision Song Contest history. The record was equalled by Luxembourg in 1983, and beaten by Ireland in 1994. The United Kingdom entry Rock Bottom by Lynsey de Paul and Mike Moran came second. It was the 11th consecutive time that a British entry came top 4.
Facts and figures
- At the start of the show presenter Angela Rippon struggled to find the camera and can be seen looking around for the correct one.
- There were no postcards between each entry in 1977 due to the strike so instead viewers at home were treated to shots of the audience, with some looking more excited than others!