Eurovision Song Contest 1968

The Eurovision Song Contest 1968 was the 13th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in London, United Kingdom, following the country's first victory at the 1967 contest with the song "Puppet on a String" by Sandie Shaw. Despite having won for the first time the year before, it was actually the third time that the United Kingdom had hosted the competition, having previously done so in 1960 and 1963, both of which also took place in London. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), the contest was held at Royal Albert Hall on 6 April 1968, and was hosted by Katie Boyle for the third time. It was notably also the first time that the contest was broadcast in colour.

Eurovision Song Contest 1968
Dates
Final	6 April 1968
Host
Venue	Royal Albert Hall London, United Kingdom
Presenter(s)	Katie Boyle
Musical director	Norrie Paramor
Directed by	Stewart Morris
Executive supervisor	Clifford Brown
Executive producer	Tom Sloan
Host broadcaster	British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
Website	eurovision.tv/event/london-1968
Participants
Number of entries	17
Debuting countries	None
Returning countries	None
Non-returning countries	None
Participation map      Participating countries     Countries that participated in the past but not in 1968
Vote
Voting system	Ten-member juries distributed ten points among their favourite songs.
Winning song	Spain "La La La"
1967 ← Eurovision Song Contest → 1969

Seventeen countries participated in the contest, the same countries that had participated the previous year.

The winner was Spain with the song "La La La" by Massiel, and written/composed by Manuel de la Calva and Ramón Arcusa. This was Spain's first victory - and their first ever top five placing - in the contest.

Location

 

Royal Albert Hall, London - host venue of the 1968 contest.

The contest was held at the Royal Albert Hall in London. The Royal Albert Hall is known for hosting the world's leading artists from several performance genres, sports, award ceremonies, the annual summer Proms concerts and other events since its opening in 1871, and has become one of the United Kingdom's most treasured and distinctive buildings. At the time of the contest in 1968, the hall had a capacity of 7,000 seats.^[1]

Participating countries

Further information: List of countries in the Eurovision Song Contest

All countries that had participated in 1967 also participated in 1968.^[2]

Originally Spanish broadcaster Televisión Española (TVE) entered Joan Manuel Serrat to sing "La La La", but his demand to sing in Catalan was an affront to the Francoist State dictatorship. Therefore, Massiel, who was on tour in Mexico, was brought in as a late replacement. In just two weeks, she had to rush back to Spain, learn the song, record it in several languages, travel to Paris to get a dress and go to London for rehearsals. She sang the song in the contest in Castilian Spanish with the new arrangement made to fit her. In her winning reprise, she performed part of her song in English, in addition to the original version, becoming the first winner to do so.^[2][3]

Participants of the Eurovision Song Contest 1968^[4][5][6][7]

Country	Broadcaster	Artist	Song	Language	Songwriter(s)	Conductor
Austria	ORF	Karel Gott	"Tausend Fenster"	German	Walter Brandin Udo Jürgens	Robert Opratko
Belgium	RTB	Claude Lombard	"Quand tu reviendras"	French	Roland Dero Jo Van Wetter	Henri Segers
Finland	YLE	Kristina Hautala	"Kun kello käy"	Finnish	Esko Linnavalli Juha Vainio	Ossi Runne
France	ORTF	Isabelle Aubret	"La Source"	French	Guy Bonnet Henri Dijan Daniël Faure	Alain Goraguer
Germany	HR^[a]	Wencke Myhre	"Ein Hoch der Liebe"	German	Horst Jankowski Carl J. Schäuble	Horst Jankowski
Ireland	RTÉ	Pat McGeegan	"Chance of a Lifetime"	English	John Kennedy	Noel Kelehan
Italy	RAI	Sergio Endrigo	"Marianne"	Italian	Sergio Endrigo	Giancarlo Chiaramello
Luxembourg	CLT	Chris Baldo and Sophie Garel	"Nous vivrons d'amour"	French	Jacques Demarny Carlos Leresche	André Borly
Monaco	TMC	Line and Willy	"À chacun sa chanson"	French	Jean-Claude Olivier Roland Valade	Michel Colombier
Netherlands	NTS	Ronnie Tober	"Morgen"	Dutch	Joop Stokkermans Theo Strengers	Dolf van der Linden
Norway	NRK	Odd Børre	"Stress"	Norwegian	Tor Hultin Ola B. Johannessen	Øivind Bergh
Portugal	RTP	Carlos Mendes	"Verão"	Portuguese	José Alberto Diogo Pedro Osório	Joaquim Luís Gomes
Spain	TVE	Massiel	"La La La"	Spanish	Ramón Arcusa Manuel de la Calva	Rafael Ibarbia
Sweden	SR	Claes-Göran Hederström	"Det börjar verka kärlek, banne mej"	Swedish	Peter Himmelstrand	Mats Olsson
Switzerland	SRG SSR	Gianni Mascolo	"Guardando il sole"	Italian	Sanzio Chiesa Aldo D'Addario	Mario Robbiani
United Kingdom	BBC	Cliff Richard	"Congratulations"	English	Phil Coulter Bill Martin	Norrie Paramor
Yugoslavia	JRT	Lući Kapurso and Hamo Hajdarhodžić	"Jedan dan" (Један дан)	Serbo-Croatian	Đelo Jusić Stipica Kalogjera Stijepo Stražičić	Miljenko Prohaska

Returning artists

Bold indicates a previous winner.

Artist	Country	Previous year(s)
Isabelle Aubret	France	1962

Format

1968 was the first time that the Eurovision Song Contest was broadcast in colour.^[1] The countries that broadcast it in colour were France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland, Sweden and the United Kingdom, although in the UK it was broadcast as an encore presentation in colour on BBC Two the next day. All of Eastern Europe as well as Tunisia broadcast the contest as well.

Prior to the contest, the bookmakers were sure of another British victory, as the English singer Cliff Richard, who was already dominating the music charts at that time, was hotly tipped as the favourite to win, but in the end he lost out to Spain's song by a margin of just one point.

Contest overview

Results of the Eurovision Song Contest 1968^[9]

R/O	Country	Artist	Song	Points	Place
1	Portugal	Carlos Mendes	"Verão"	5	11
2	Netherlands	Ronnie Tober	"Morgen"	1	16
3	Belgium	Claude Lombard	"Quand tu reviendras"	8	7
4	Austria	Karel Gott	"Tausend Fenster"	2	13
5	Luxembourg	Chris Baldo and Sophie Garel	"Nous vivrons d'amour"	5	11
6	Switzerland	Gianni Mascolo	"Guardando il sole"	2	13
7	Monaco	Line and Willy	"À chacun sa chanson"	8	7
8	Sweden	Claes-Göran Hederström	"Det börjar verka kärlek, banne mej"	15	5
9	Finland	Kristina Hautala	"Kun kello käy"	1	16
10	France	Isabelle Aubret	"La Source"	20	3
11	Italy	Sergio Endrigo	"Marianne"	7	10
12	United Kingdom	Cliff Richard	"Congratulations"	28	2
13	Norway	Odd Børre	"Stress"	2	13
14	Ireland	Pat McGeegan	"Chance of a Lifetime"	18	4
15	Spain	Massiel	"La La La"	29	1
16	Germany	Wencke Myhre	"Ein Hoch der Liebe"	11	6
17	Yugoslavia	Lući Kapurso and Hamo Hajdarhodžić	"Jedan dan"	8	7

Spokespersons

Each country nominated a spokesperson who was responsible for announcing the votes for their respective country via telephone. Known spokespersons at the 1968 contest are listed below.

•   Finland – Poppe Berg [fi]^[10]
•   Sweden – Edvard Matz [sv]^[11]
•   United Kingdom – Michael Aspel^[5]

Detailed voting results

Due to a misunderstanding by the hostess, Katie Boyle, Switzerland were erroneously awarded 3 points by Yugoslavia, instead of 2. The scrutineer asked for the Yugoslav votes from TV Skopje to be announced a second time.

Detailed voting results^[12][13]

		Total score	Portugal	Netherlands	Belgium	Austria	Luxembourg	Switzerland	Monaco	Sweden	Finland	France	Italy	United Kingdom	Norway	Ireland	Spain	Germany	Yugoslavia
Contestants	Portugal	5													2		3
	Netherlands	1											1
	Belgium	8	1								1	1	3	1			1
	Austria	2																2
	Luxembourg	5		1		1			1			1		1
	Switzerland	2																	2
	Monaco	8		2			1				3			1		1
	Sweden	15	1	1							1			2	6	4
	Finland	1													1
	France	20		3	6	2	3	3		1			2
	Italy	7	1					2									2		2
	United Kingdom	28	1	2	2		1	4	5	3	2	4	1			1		2
	Norway	2					1										1
	Ireland	18	1	1	1	4	1			4									6
	Spain	29	4			2	1		4		3	4	3		1	1		6
	Germany	11					1	1		2				5			2
	Yugoslavia	8	1		1	1	1									3	1

Broadcasts

Each participating broadcaster was required to relay the contest via its networks. Non-participating EBU member broadcasters were also able to relay the contest as "passive participants". Broadcasters were able to send commentators to provide coverage of the contest in their own native language and to relay information about the artists and songs to their television viewers.^[14]

Known details on the broadcasts in each country, including the specific broadcasting stations and commentators are shown in the tables below. In addition to the participating countries, the contest was also reportedly broadcast in Tunisia, and in Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania and the Soviet Union via Intervision.^[5][1]

Broadcasters and commentators in participating countries

Country	Broadcaster	Channel(s)	Commentator(s)	Ref(s)
Austria	ORF	FS1	Unknown	^[15]
Belgium	RTB	RTB	Paule Herreman	^[16]^[17]
	BRT	BRT	Unknown	^[17]
Finland	YLE	TV-ohjelma 1	Aarno Walli [fi]	^[10]^[18]
		Ruotsinkielinen ulaohjelma	Unknown
France	ORTF	Deuxième Chaîne	Pierre Tchernia	^[16]^[19]^[20]
		France Inter	Unknown
Germany	ARD	Deutsches Fernsehen	Unknown	^[16]^[19]
Ireland	RTÉ	RTÉ	Brendan O'Reilly	^[21]^[22]
		RTÉ Radio	Unknown
Italy	RAI	Secondo Programma	Renato Tagliani [it]	^[23]^[24]
Luxembourg	CLT	Télé-Luxembourg	Unknown	^[16]
Monaco	Télé Monte-Carlo		Unknown	^[25]
Netherlands	NTS	Nederland 1	Elles Berger [nl]	^[17]
Norway	NRK	NRK Fjernsynet, NRK^[b]	Roald Øyen	^[26]
Portugal	RTP	RTP	Unknown	^[27]
Spain	TVE	TVE 1	Federico Gallo [es]	^[28]^[29]
	Radio Peninsular [es]		José María Íñigo	^[28]^[30]
Sweden	SR	Sveriges TV	Christina Hansegård [sv]	^[11]^[18]^[26]
Switzerland	SRG SSR	TV DRS	Theodor Haller [de]	^[19]^[31]^[32]^[33]
		TSR	Georges Hardy [fr]
		TSI	Unknown
		DRS 1^[c]	Albert Werner
United Kingdom	BBC	BBC1^[d]	No commentary	^[5]^[34]
		BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 2	Pete Murray	^[5]^[36]^[37]
Yugoslavia	JRT	Televizija Ljubljana	Unknown	^[38]^[39]
		Televizija Zagreb	Unknown

Broadcasters and commentators in non-participating countries

Country	Broadcaster	Channel(s)	Commentator(s)	Ref(s)
Hungary	MTV	MTV	Unknown	^[40]
Malta	MBA	MTS, National Network	Unknown	^[41]^[42]
Romania	TVR	TVR	Unknown	^[43]

Notes

1. On behalf of the German public broadcasting consortium ARD^[8]
2. Deferred broadcast on NRK at 22:30 CET (21:30 UTC)^[26]
3. Delayed broadcast on 8 April at 22:30 CET (21:30 UTC)^[32]
4. Re-broadcast in colour on BBC2 on 7 April at 16:30 BST (15:30 UTC)^[34][35]

References

1. René-Roger (9 April 1968). "La chanson espagnole triomphe devant 200 millions de spectateurs". La Croix (in French). p. 3. ISSN 0242-6056. OCLC 1367977519.
2. "Eurovision Song Contest 1968". EBU. Retrieved 16 June 2012.
3. "Winners of the 1960s - What happened to them?". EBU. 23 July 2011. Retrieved 20 October 2021.
4. "Participants of London 1968". European Broadcasting Union. from the original on 23 March 2023. Retrieved 7 July 2023.
5. Roxburgh, Gordon (2012). Songs for Europe: The United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest. Volume One: The 1950s and 1960s. Prestatyn: Telos Publishing. pp. 454–470. ISBN 978-1-84583-065-6.
6. "1968 – 13th edition". diggiloo.net. from the original on 8 August 2022. Retrieved 7 July 2023.
7. "Detailed overview: conductors in 1968". And the conductor is... Retrieved 7 July 2023.
8. "Alle deutschen ESC-Acts und ihre Titel" [All German ESC acts and their songs]. www.eurovision.de (in German). ARD. from the original on 12 June 2023. Retrieved 12 June 2023.
9. "Final of London 1968". European Broadcasting Union. from the original on 8 April 2021. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
10. "Jatkoajalla Euroviisut". Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish). 6 April 1968. p. 37. Retrieved 23 December 2022.
11. Thorsson, Leif; Verhage, Martin (2006). Melodifestivalen genom tiderna : de svenska uttagningarna och internationella finalerna (in Swedish). Stockholm: Premium Publishing. pp. 74–75. ISBN 91-89136-29-2.
12. "Results of the Final of London 1968". European Broadcasting Union. from the original on 8 April 2021. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
13. . European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 9 July 2015. Retrieved 14 June 2021.
14. "The Rules of the Contest". European Broadcasting Union. 31 October 2018. from the original on 4 October 2022. Retrieved 19 December 2022.
15. "Austria – London 1968". European Broadcasting Union. from the original on 13 May 2018. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
16. "Radio-Télévision". Luxemburger Wort (in German and French). Luxembourg City, Luxembourg. 5 April 1968. p. 23. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
17. "Radio en tv programma". Trouw (in Dutch). Meppel, Netherlands. 6 April 1968. p. 4. Retrieved 3 January 2023 – via Delpher.
18. "Radio ja televisio". Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish). 6 April 1968. p. 37. Retrieved 23 December 2022.
19. "TV – samedi 6 avril". Radio TV - Je vois tout (in French). Lausanne, Switzerland: Héliographia SA. 4 April 1968. pp. 78–79. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
20. "Programmes radio – samedi 6 avril". Radio TV - Je vois tout (in French). Lausanne, Switzerland: Héliographia SA. 4 April 1968. pp. 53–54. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
21. "Television and Radio". The Irish Times. 6 April 1968. p. 18. Retrieved 22 December 2022.
22. Gray, Ken (11 April 1968). "Pop and bedazzlement". The Irish Times. p. 12. Retrieved 22 December 2022.
23. "Oggi alla televisione". La Stampa (in Italian). Turin, Italy. 6 April 1968. p. 6. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
24. "Sabato, 6 aprile". Radiocorriere TV (in Italian). April 1968. p. 98. Retrieved 23 January 2023.
25. "Monaco – London 1968". European Broadcasting Union. from the original on 13 May 2018. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
26. "TV radio". Oppland Arbeiderblad (in Norwegian). Gjøvik, Norway. 6 April 1968. pp. 26–27. Retrieved 3 January 2023 – via National Library of Norway.
27. "Boletim do dia". Diário de Lisboa (in Portuguese). Lisbon, Portugal. 6 April 1968. p. 30. Retrieved 3 January 2023 – via Casa Comum.
28. "Programas de Radio y TV". La Vanguardia (in Spanish). 6 April 1968. p. 59. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
29. HerGar, Paula (28 March 2018). "Todos los comentaristas de la historia de España en Eurovisión (y una única mujer en solitario)" (in Spanish). Los 40. from the original on 26 September 2021. Retrieved 14 December 2022.
30. . European Broadcasting Union. 5 May 2018. Archived from the original on 5 May 2018. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
31. "Fernsehen". Die Tat (in German). Zürich, Switzerland. 6 April 1968. p. 23. Retrieved 3 January 2023 – via e-newspaperarchives.ch.
32. "Programmes radio – lundi 8 avril". Radio TV - Je vois tout (in French). Lausanne, Switzerland: Héliographia SA. 4 April 1968. pp. 56–57. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
33. "Settimana dal 6 al 12 4. 1968". Eco di Locarno (in Italian). Locarno, Switzerland. 6 April 1968. p. 13. Retrieved 3 January 2023 – via Sistema bibliotecario ticinese [it].
34. "Eurovision Song Contest – BBC1". Radio Times. 6 April 1968. Retrieved 3 January 2023 – via BBC Genome Project.
35. "Eurovision Song Contest – BBC2". Radio Times. 6 April 1968. Retrieved 3 January 2023 – via BBC Genome Project.
36. "Eurovision Song Contest – BBC Radio 2". Radio Times. 6 April 1968. Retrieved 3 January 2023 – via BBC Genome Project.
37. "Schedule – BBC Radio 1 – 6 April 1968". Radio Times. 6 April 1968. Retrieved 10 January 2023 – via BBC Genome Project.
38. "Televizija – sobota – 6. aprila" (PDF). Glas (in Slovenian). Kranj, SR Slovenia, Yugoslavia. 6 April 1968. p. 22. (PDF) from the original on 3 January 2023. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
39. "Televizija – Subota 6. travnja". Slobodna Dalmacija (in Serbo-Croatian). Split, SR Croatia, Yugoslavia. 6 April 1968. p. 8. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
40. "TV – szombat IV.6". Rádió- és Televízió-újság (in Hungarian). 1 April 1968. p. 13. from the original on 3 January 2023. Retrieved 3 January 2023 – via MTVA Archívum.
41. "Your Listening and Viewing". Times of Malta. 6 April 1968. p. 6.
42. Barry, Fred (6 April 1968). "Eurovision Song Contest – Tonight's 17-Nation Event". Times of Malta. p. 13.
43. "TV – sîmbătă 6 aprilie". Radio TV (in Romanian). p. 15. from the original on 3 January 2023. Retrieved 3 January 2023.

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