It's that time of year again...

Oh the joys to be had in May!

Morris men and maypoles...

blossom and sunshine...

asparagus, Jersey Royals and watercress...

warm evenings and dewy mornings...

and this...

Ah yes!  Eurovision!

I remember the days when Eurovision night was one of just three nights in the year when we were allowed to stay up beyond our normal bedtime (the others being Christmas Eve (for Midnight Mass) and Christmas Day (probably for 'The Morecambe and Wise Show').  I think the first one I ever watched was the 1972 contest.  Our entry (ie the United Kingdom's) was 'Beg, Steal or Borrow' by The New Seekers...

Clever of them to come up with the idea of matching hairdos for the lead singers.

Those were the days when you watched 'It's Cliff Richard' on a Saturday evening (after boiled egg and soldiers for tea and a short time hiding behind the sofa whilst 'Dr Who' was on) and sent in a postal vote for the song you wanted to represent the country.  This system seemed to work quite well - we used to consistently come in the top places.  I liked this song and was probably quite aggrieved that in spite of my staying up to watch, we 'only' came second.

1972 may have been the first contest I watched, but earlier songs still whirr around my head given a quick musical nudge.

There was the sweet Dana, with 'All Kinds of Everything' which took first place in 1970, for Ireland...

...beating Mary Hopkins' 'Knock, Knock, Who's There?' into second place.

A year earlier, Lulu had been one of four equal winners...

The United Kingdom had also won in 1967 with the memorable 'Puppet on a String'.

1973 saw the first of the non-English song I can remember.

1974 was, of course, the all-time peak of Eurovision success, as it was the contest that introduced Abba to most of us.  I love Abba, but at the time I was decidedly miffed that Olivia Newton-John (who used to be on Cliff Richard's Saturday evening show and was very pretty!) had been pushed into 4th place!

Do they still force the acts to goof around for the camera as they introduce the song, I wonder?

I think my interest in Eurovision took a bad knock that year, though the flame was briefly re-ignited when Brotherhood of Man came along with the so-bound-to-win-with-its-killer-punchline 'Save your Kisses for Me'.  And this one had a dance routine even I could manage (well, sort of...)

Since then we might have won twice more (with Bucks Fizz's 'Making your Mind Up' and Katrina and the Waves's 'Love Shine a Light') but in general it's been a dismal story.  Some of the song title don't help...

1983 'I'm Never Giving Up' (Well maybe you should) - 6th place
2000 'Don't Play that Song Again' (Don't worry - we won't) - 16th place
2001 'No Dream Impossible' (The Eurovision-winning one was) - 15th place
2003 'Cry Baby' (Scoring 'Nul points' probably did bring on the tears) -Last!
2010 'That Sounds Good to Me' (But not to everyone else) - 25th place
2011 'I Can' - Positive thinking is all very well, but it only got us 11th place

Will  'The Hump' do it for us this year?

I'll leave you with this - (possibly) my favourite Eurovision winner...