Eurovision 1962: Does the year end in an even number? Then it's France's turn to win

So, here's Eurovision 1962 in conveniently lettered facts:

(a) This was the first year the juries ranked their songs, rather than spreading 10 votes out between all the acts on show. Despite them having 15 songs to choose from, they were only allowed to select a top three; with three points for a jury's preferred song, two for its second choice and one for the ditty they had in third place.

It was as a direct result of this innovation that Eurovision's most infamous contribution to popular culture was born.

(b) Inevitably, four songs out of the 16 never got within sniffing distance of any jury's top three. Therefore, Eurovision's first ever 'nul points' were achieved in 1962. The four nations suffering this embarrassment in front of millions of viewers were Belgium, Spain, Austria - the three of them performing consecutively in the running order - along with two-times Contest champions thus far, The Netherlands.

It is purely through cruel chance of the draw that Fud Leclerc, the second act on stage, became the very first Eurovision entrant to go home with the same number of points on the scoreboard that he started with - absolutely none.

Fud Leclerc performs Tom Nom for Belgium. Eurovision's first ever 'nul points'.

(c) The British entry in Luxembourg was performed by Ronnie Carroll, former husband of That Was The Week That Was star Millicent Martin. It was called Ring-a-Ding Girl and was a severe slippage in standards compared to the credible chart success of Are You Sure? twelve months previously. Written by the same team behind 1959's Sing Little Birdie it sounded out of date even in the pre-Beatles era, bit still managed to finish in equal fourth place with 10 points.

It tied with a song from Yugoslavia about cigarettes. Fancy.

(d) Although France hadn't quibbled about hosting in 1959 and 1961, the prospect of hosting its third Eurovision in 1963 was a bit too much for the accountants at French telly to handle.

So, who do you turn to when you can't host a Song Contest? That's right; the BBC. And the UK snatched up the chance to bring Eurovision back to Britain. They had a brand spanking new Television Centre just open for business in the heart of London and this was a heaven-sent opportunity to show off to their broadcasting colleagues across Europe exactly what their very expensive box of tricks could do.

(e) Oh, just one more thing from 1962. It's the interval act. Someone really should have had a quiet word with him beforehand.