The Eurovision Song Contest 1970 was the 15th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, held on 21 March 1970 at the RAI International Congress Centre in Amsterdam, Netherlands, and presented by Willy Dobbe. It was organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster (NOS), who staged the event after winning the for the in a joint victory with , , and the . As the 1969 contest was held in Spain, and the in the United Kingdom, a draw of ballots between the French and the Dutch broadcasters resulted in NOS being chosen as the host broadcaster.

Broadcasters from twelve countries participated in the contest this year, the lowest number of participants since . , , , and all boycotted the 1970 edition, officially because they felt that the contest marginalised smaller countries and was no longer good television entertainment, though it is rumoured that they, along with which had already opted not to take part in 1969, were protesting the four-way tie result that had occurred that year.O'Connor, John Kennedy. The Eurovision Song Contest – The Official History. Carlton Books, UK. 2007

The winner was with the song "All Kinds of Everything", performed by Dana, and written by Derry Lindsay and Jackie Smith. This was Ireland's first of their eventual record seven victories in the contest. The finished in second place for a record-extending seventh time, while ended up in third placethe best result for the country at the time. This was also the only time that received nul points.

Location

Following the unprecedented four-way tie for first place in the Eurovision Song Contest 1969, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) faced the challenge of selecting a single host for the 1970 edition. Because the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and (TVE) had already hosted the contest in 1968 and 1969 respectively, both broadcasters declined to stage the upcoming event. To break the deadlock between the remaining two winners, and the , a drawing of lots was conducted on 18 April 1969 during an EBU meeting at the Krasnapolsky Hotel in Amsterdam.

The draw was won by the Dutch broadcaster (NTS), which later merged into the (NOS) on 29 May 1969. Amsterdam was subsequently selected as the host city, with the contest staged at the RAI International Congress Centre. Opened in 1965, the venue's main auditorium (now known as the RAI Theatre) offered a seating capacity that could accommodate 1,500 spectators.

Participants

(which had not taken part in 1969), , , , and boycotted this contest as they were not pleased with the result of 1969 and the voting structure.

For the first time, no lead artists from previous contests returned. However, María Jesús Aguirre and Mercedes Valimaña, members of , who provided backing vocals for , returned as backing singers for Spain.

+ Eurovision Song Contest 1970 participants Country Broadcaster Artist Song Language Songwriter(s) Conductor RTB Jean Vallée "" French Jean Vallée Jack Say ORTF Guy Bonnet "Marie-Blanche" French Franck Pourcel HR "" German Christian Bruhn RTÉ Dana "All Kinds of Everything" English Dolf van der Linden RAI Gianni Morandi "" Italian CLT David Alexandre Winter "" French Raymond Lefèvre TMC "Marlène" French Jimmy Walter NOS Patricia and Hearts of Soul "" Dutch Pieter Goemans Dolf van der Linden TVE Julio Iglesias "Gwendolyne" Spanish Julio Iglesias Augusto Algueró SRG SSR Henri Dès "" French Henri Dès Bernard Gérard BBC Mary Hopkin "Knock, Knock (Who's There?)" English Johnny Arthey JRT Eva Sršen "" Slovene Mojmir Sepe

Format Following the confirmation of the twelve competing countries, the draw to determine the running order of the contest was held on 15 January 1970.

The Dutch producers were forced to pad out the show as only 12 nations decided to make the trip to Amsterdam. The result was a format that has endured almost to the present day. An extended opening sequence (filmed in Amsterdam) set the scene, while every entry was introduced by a short video 'postcard' featuring each of the participating artists, ostensibly in their own nation. However, the 'postcards' for Switzerland, Luxembourg, and Monaco were all filmed on location in Paris (as was the French postcard). The long introduction film (over four minutes long) was followed by what probably is one of the shortest ever introductions by any presenter. Willy Dobbe only welcomed the viewers in English, French, and Dutch, finishing her introduction after only 24 seconds. On-screen captions introduced each entry, with the song titles listed all in lowercase and the names of the artist and composers/authors all in capitals.

The set design was devised by Roland de Groot; a simple design was composed of a number of curved horizontal bars and silver baubles which could be moved in a variety of different ways.

To avoid an incident like in 1969, a tie-breaking rule was created. It stated that, if two or more songs gained the same number of votes and were tied for first place, each song would have to be performed again. After which each national jury (other than the juries of the countries concerned) would have a show of hands of which they thought was the best. If the countries tied again, then they would share first place.

Contest overview

Ireland won the contest with "All Kinds of Everything", penned by Derry Lindsay and Jackie Smith, and sung by another unknown, Dana, a 19-year-old schoolgirl from Derry, Northern Ireland. As the contest was held in the Netherlands this year, and the country was one of the four winners in 1969, Dana received her awards from the Dutch winner Lenny Kuhr.

+ Results of the Eurovision Song Contest 1970 Country Artist Song Votes Place 1 Patricia and Hearts of Soul "" 7 7 2 "" 8 4 3 "" 5 8 4 "" 4 11 5 "" 5 8 6 "Marie-Blanche" 8 4 7 "Knock, Knock (Who's There?)" 26 2 8 "" 0 12 9 "Gwendolyne" 8 4 10 "Marlène" 5 8 11 "" 12 3 12 Dana "All Kinds of Everything" 32 1

Spokespersons Each participating broadcaster appointed a spokesperson who was responsible for announcing the votes for their respective country via telephone. Known spokespersons at the 1970 contest are listed below.

John Skehan Ramón Rivera Colin Ward-Lewis

Detailed voting results

+ Detailed voting results scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" rowspan="12" Netherlands 7 3 3 1 Switzerland 8 2 2 1 2 1 Italy 5 1 2 2 Yugoslavia 4 4 Belgium 5 3 1 1 France 8 1 2 2 3 United Kingdom 26 3 2 2 4 2 2 4 4 3 Luxembourg 0 Spain 8 3 2 3 Monaco 5 1 1 2 1 Germany 12 1 1 3 4 1 2 Ireland 32 5 6 9 1 4 2 3 2

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.

In addition to the participating countries, the contest was reported to have been broadcast by EBU member broadcasters in Greece, Iceland, Israel, and Tunisia; in Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and the Soviet Union via Intervision; and in Argentina, Brazil, and Chile. An estimated global audience of 400 million viewers was reported to have watched the contest. It was also known to broadcast on radio in countries including Ireland, Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Known details on the broadcasts in each country, including the specific broadcasting stations and commentators are shown in the tables below.

+ Broadcasters and commentators in participating countries Country Broadcaster Channel(s) Commentator(s) RTB RTB, RTB 1 BRT BRT Rudi Sinia ORTF Pierre Tchernia ARD AFN AFN-TV RTÉ RTÉ Valerie McGovern RTÉ Radio Kevin Roche RAI CLT NOS Pim Jacobs TVE TVE 1 José Luis Uribarri RNE RNE Centro Emisor del Atlántico SRG SSR TV DRS TSR TSI Radio Beromünster Albert Werner Robert Burnier BBC BBC1 David Gell BBC Radio 1 Tony Brandon BFBS BFBS Radio John Russell JRT , Oliver Mlakar Sandi Čolnik

+ Broadcasters and commentators in non-participating countries Country Broadcaster Channel(s) Commentator(s) Cacho Fontana ORF FS1 Ernst Grissemann TV Brasília rowspan="3" TV Paraná TV Rádio Clube TVN Raúl Matas ČST and Ivan Úradníček MTV MTV RÚV IBA Israeli Television MBA MTS Victor Aquilina TP TVR

Notes

References

External links