Eurovision Song Contest 1968
| Eurovision Song Contest 1968 |
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| Dates | |
| Final date | 6 April 1968 |
| Host | |
| Venue | Royal Albert Hall London, UK |
| Presenter(s) | Katie Boyle |
| Conductor | Norrie Paramor |
| Director | Stewart Morris |
| Host broadcaster | BBC |
| Interval act | Impressions from London |
| Participants | |
| Number of entries | 17 |
| Debuting countries | None |
| Returning countries | None |
| Withdrawing countries | None |
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Participation map
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| Vote | |
| Voting system | Each country had 10 jury members who each cast one vote for their favourite song. |
| Nul points | None |
| Winning song |  Spain"La, la, la" |
| Eurovision Song Contest | |
◄1967 .svg){kind=small} 1969► |
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The Eurovision Song Contest 1968 was the 13th Eurovision Song Contest. The contest was won by the Spanish song "La, la, la", performed by Massiel.
Originally Spain entered Joan Manuel Serrat to sing "La La La", however his demand to sing in Catalan was an affront to Francoist Spain. Serrat was withdrawn by Spain and replaced by Massiel who sang the same song in Spanish. (It was not until 2004, when Andorra made its first entry, that Catalan was heard in the ESC.)
1968 was the first time that the Eurovision Song Contest was broadcast in colour. The countries that broadcast it in colour were France, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden and the United Kingdom as an encore presentation on BBC2 the next day.
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[edit] Individual Entries
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[edit] Results
| Draw | Country | Language | Artist | Song | English translation | Place | Votes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 |  Portugal |
Portuguese | Carlos Mendes | "Verão" | Summer | 11 | 5 |
| 02 |  Netherlands |
Dutch | Ronnie Tober | "Morgen" | Tomorrow | 16 | 1 |
| 03 |  Belgium |
French | Claude Lombard | "Quand tu reviendras" | When will you come back | 7 | 8 |
| 04 |  Austria |
German | Karel Gott | "Tausend Fenster" | One thousand windows | 13 | 2 |
| 05 |  Luxembourg |
French | Chris Baldo & Sophie Garel | "Nous vivrons d'amour" | We will live by love | 11 | 5 |
| 06 |  Switzerland |
Italian | Gianni Mascolo | "Guardando il sole" | Looking into the sun | 13 | 2 |
| 07 |  Monaco |
French | Line & Willy | "À chacun sa chanson" | To everyone his song | 7 | 8 |
| 08 |  Sweden |
Swedish | Claes-Göran Hederström | "Det börjar verka kärlek, banne mej" | It's beginning to look like love, damn it | 5 | 15 |
| 09 |  Finland |
Finnish | Kristina Hautala | "Kun kello käy" | When time goes by | 16 | 1 |
| 10 |  France |
French | Isabelle Aubret | "La source" | The source | 3 | 20 |
| 11 |  Italy |
Italian | Sergio Endrigo | "Marianne" | – | 10 | 7 |
| 12 |  United Kingdom |
English | Cliff Richard | "Congratulations" | – | 2 | 28 |
| 13 |  Norway |
Norwegian | Odd Børre | "Stress" | – | 13 | 2 |
| 14 |  Ireland |
English | Pat McGeegan | "Chance of a Lifetime" | – | 4 | 18 |
| 15 | Spain |
Spanish | Massiel | "La, la, la" | – | 1 | 29 |
| 16 |  Germany |
German | Wencke Myhre | "Ein Hoch der Liebe" | A toast to love | 6 | 11 |
| 17 |  Yugoslavia |
Serbo-Croatian | Dubrovački trubaduri | "Jedan dan" | One day | 7 | 8 |
[edit] Score sheet
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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 | – | ||
[edit] Allegations of vote rigging
In May 2008, a documentary by Spanish film-maker Montse Fernández Villa, "1968. Yo viví el mayo español", centered on the effects of May 1968 in Francoist Spain,[1] and alleged that the 1968 Eurovision Song Contest was rigged by the Spanish dictator Francisco Franco, who would have sent state television officials across Europe offering cash and promising to buy television series and contract unknown artists.[2] The allegation was based on a testimony by journalist José María Íñigo, a TVE employee at the time, who claimed the rigging was common knowledge, and suggested that Spanish record label representatives offered to release albums by Bulgarian and Czech artists (neither Bulgaria nor Czechoslovakia were members of the European Broadcasting Union at the time).[3]
The documentary claimed that the contest should in fact have been won by the United Kingdom's entry – "Congratulations" performed by Cliff Richard – which finished second by 1 vote.[4][5] The story was featured on UK Channel 4 News, when Jon Snow interviewed Paddy O'Connell and John Kennedy O'Connor to discuss the scandal.[6]
Massiel, the performer of the winning entry, was outraged by the allegations, and claimed that if there had been fixes, "other singers, who were more keen on Franco's regime, would have benefited". José María Iñigo, author of the statement in the documentary, personally apologized to Massiel and said that he had repeated a widespread rumour. Both Massiel and Iñigo accused television channel La Sexta, broadcaster of the documentary, of manufacturing the scandal.[7] Despite this clarification, the Australian produced documentary The Secret History of Eurovision repeated the allegations in 2011, although ommitting to provide any details to substantiate the claim.
[edit] Returning artists
| Artist | Country | Previous year(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Isabelle Aubret | France |
1962 (winner) |
[edit] Commentators
Portugal – Fialho Gouveia (RTP)
Netherlands – Elles Berger (Nederland 1)[8]
Belgium – Janine Lambotte (RTB), Herman Verelst (BRT)
Austria – Emil Kollpacher (ORF)
Luxembourg – Jacques Navadic (Télé-Luxembourg)
Switzerland - Theodor Haller (TV DRS), Georges Hardy (TSR), Giovanni Bertini (TSI)
Monaco – Pierre Tchernia (Télé Monte Carlo)
Sweden – Christina Hansegård (Sveriges Radio-TV)[9]
Finland – Aarno Walli (TV-ohjelma 2)[10]
France – Pierre Tchernia (Première Chaîne ORTF)[11]
Italy – Renato Tagliani (Secondo Programma)
United Kingdom – No commentator (BBC1), Pete Murray (BBC Radio 1)[12]
Norway – Roald Øyen (NRK)[13][14], Erik Heyerdahl (NRK P1)
Ireland – Frank Hall (RTÉ Television), Noel Andrews (RTÉ Radio 1)
Spain – Federico Gallo (TVE1)[15]
Germany - Hans-Joachim Rauschenbach (ARD Deutsches Fernsehen)[16]
Yugoslavia - Miloje Orlović (Televizija Beograd), Mladen Delić (Televizija Zagreb), Tomaž Terček (Televizija Ljubljana)
The contest was brodcast also in 
Romania ,
the Soviet Union, 
East Germany, 
Bulgaria ,
Poland , 
Hungary , 
Czechoslovakia and in 
Tunisia
[edit] Spokespersons
- Portugal – Maria Manuela Furtado
- Netherlands – Willem Duys
- Belgium – André Hagon
- Austria – TBC
- Luxembourg – TBC
- Switzerland – Alexandre Burger
- Monaco – TBC
- Sweden – Edvard Matz[17]
- Finland – Poppe Berg[18]
- France – TBC
- Italy – Mike Bongiorno
- United Kingdom – Michael Aspel
- Norway – Sverre Christophersen[19]
- Ireland – Gay Byrne
- Spain – Joaquín Prat
- Germany – Hans-Otto Grünefeldt
- Yugoslavia – TBC
[edit] National jury members
- Spain – Ana María Badell, Jesús María de Arozamena, Natalia Figueroa, Feliciano Muñoz Rivilla, Mara Recatero, José María Forqué, María Rosa Zumarra, Pilar Miró, Juan van Halen, Rafael Cano
[edit] References
- ^ "Massiel sí, Madelman no: así fue el Mayo del 68 en España" (in Spanish). Público. 3 May 2008. http://www.publico.es/culturas/077345/massiel/si/madelman/no/asi/mayo/68/espana. Retrieved 3 December 2009.
- ^ "TVE 'compró' los votos para que Massiel ganará Eurovisión" (in Spanish). 20 minutos. 5 May 2008. http://www.20minutos.es/noticia/375057/tongo/eurovision/massiel/. Retrieved 3 December 2009.
- ^ "Vea el vídeo donde José Maríá Iñigo 'descubre' a Massiel" (in Spanish). 20 minutos. 5 May 2008. http://www.20minutos.es/noticia/375709/massiel/eurovision/franco/. Retrieved 3 December 2009.
- ^ "Congratulations... 40 years late". BBC News. 5 May 2008. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/7384130.stm. Retrieved 2 May 2010.
- ^ Govan, Fiona (4 May 2008). "How Franco cheated Cliff out of Eurovision title Sir Cliff Richard was cheated of victory in the Eurovision Song Contest of 1968 by General Franco's fascist regime which rigged the contest to boost Spain's image, a documentary has claimed.". The Daily Telegraph (London). http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/celebritynews/1926993/Franco-'rigged-Eurovisison-to-stop-Cliff-Richard-winning'.html. Retrieved 2 May 2010.
- ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiF3Ylj6oRM&feature=channel_page
- ^ "Massiel e Iñigo acusan a La Sexta de "urdir todo para favorecer a Chiquilicuatre"" (in Spanish). El Mundo. 6 May 2008. http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2008/05/05/television/1210021065.html. Retrieved 3 December 2009.
- ^ "Nederlandse televisiecommentatoren bij het Eurovisie Songfestival" (in Dutch). Eurovision Artists. http://www.eurovisionartists.nl/index.htm?content/esf480.asp.
- ^ Leif Thorsson. Melodifestivalen genom tiderna ["Melodifestivalen through time"] (2006), p. 74. Stockholm: Premium Publishing AB. ISBN 91-89136-29-2
- ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0313355/fullcredits#cast
- ^ http://songcontest.free.fr/bdd/cec1968.htm
- ^ http://www.songs4europe.com/53.html
- ^ http://www.nrk.no/debatt/index.phpshowtopic=87458&pid=1343226&mode=threaded&start=
- ^ Dyrseth, Seppo (OGAE Norway)
- ^ http://eurosongcontest.phpbb3.es/viewtopic.php?f=57&t=20310&start=45
- ^ Rau, Oliver (OGAE Germany)
- ^ http://www.infosajten.com/esc/esc/swedishspokesmen.html
- ^ http://www.viisukuppila.fi/phpBB3/yleista/topic1578.html?sid=4004772ec986da0c3795a6f5dd54f0d4
- ^ Dyrseth, Seppo (OGAE Norway)
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