Eurovision 1966: Austrian man wins on third consecutive attempt, a Swedish swineherd takes silver and the UK flop with a man in a kilt

Your 1966 fabulous facts.

(a) Udo Jurgens won the 1966 Contest with 31 points - also his age at the time he won. That total was almost twice as many points as the Swedish duo which claimed the runner-up spot.

It was a continuation of Udo's upward trend that began in Copenhagen in 1964 where he finished sixth with Warum nar Warum?. British entrant Matt Monro liked the song so much he had his manager, Don Black, put English lyrics to it. As Walk Away, it reached number four in the UK charts and the US Top 30.

In Naples in 1965 he finished fourth with Sag ihr, ich lass sie grüßen (catchy...) before making it to the top of the podium with the simple piano song Merci, Cherie. It translates as Thank You, Darling.

Udo is one of the few Contest winners to go on to have a stellar career. A legendary hitmaker in the German-speaking nations, a concert he held in Vienna in 1992 attracted 220,000 spectators, which still ranks as one of the biggest attendances for a live show, ever. He also had a huge hit with Germany's World Cup song of 1978, Beunos Dias, Argentina. He's still performing today at the age of 74, and the Jurgens song most British people will be familiar with is Reach For the Stars. Not the S Club 7 tune it's only possible to dance to while inebriated, but Shirley Bassey's UK number one hit from 1961.

(b) In second place was Sweden with the song Nygammal Vals, which either translates as New Old-Fashioned Waltz or The Hip Swineherder (Swedish sounds like a fascinating language to learn).

These two can come the pub with Boom Bang a Blog any time. And the flautist.

It was performed by the popular (in Scandinavia) jazz singer Lill Lindfors and Svante Thuresson (the one with the beard). Nineteen years later, Lill would host the Contest when it was held in Gothenburg, proving herself to be an extremely funny, self-deprecating lady, whom many fans still single out as the best presenter ever. You get a flavour of her cheeky minxishness in this performance - just look at her eyes while she's singing.

(c) Just one point behind the woman who would go on to host the 1985 Contest was the lady who would present the show in 1986.

She's going straight back to the library to work on that very serious essay once she's finished this song.

Norway's Ase Kleveland looked less like an extra from The Liver Birds when she took on her next Eurovision-related job, but this very serious guitar-based number was Norway's best placing to date - and would remain so until the night Lill took charge of the scoreboard in Gothenburg, but we're getting ahead of you Eurobluffers here.

(d) As Boom Bang a Blog has already mentioned in a previous entry, 1966 saw Eurovision's first ever black entrant. Milly Scott sang the amigo-inspired Fernando en Phillipo for the Netherlands but only got two points - one each from Ireland and the UK.

(e) Denmark took a long break from Eurovision following the 1966 Contest. They wouldn't be back until 1978.

(f) And, oh, BBC, what were you thinking..? After sending a bona fide pop star to Naples to claim silver, what did Auntie decide to follow it up with? Yes, that's right, opera-trained Kenneth McKellar in full Scots regalia. To date, 1966 is the only time that the UK has had the plum draw of being the last song on stage in the running order - a surefire way to stick in the juries' minds, especially with an uptempo pop number. So what did we send? This... (oh, I can barely look).

Kenneth McKellar is A Man Without Love. He hasn't got very many points, either.

Kenneth's Song For Europe heat appears to have been wiped from the archives, which is a real shame, as one of the songs the public could plump for was Comes the Time, co-written by Ron Grainer, the man who composed the Doctor Who theme tune - and theatre director and raconteur Ned Sherrin. This needs to be heard - and quickly.

With the UK voting last - and unable to vote for itself, Kenneth was on a miserable three points before the penultimate jury of the night, Ireland, was called. Possibly recognising a fellow Celt, they awarded Kenneth the full five points, giving him eight points and ninth place. It would be 31 years before an Irish jury gave the British song maximum points again, but we're sure that's got nothing to do with politics (ahem).

Ninth place! The UK's worst ever showing after a seven-year run of either second or fourth-place finishers. What could the BBC possibly do to find a song that could bring that elusive Eurovision trophy home?

If only they could find a pop singer. A singer who was going through troubled times and needed a new project to provide an upswing in luck. A singer who never wore shoes on stage. A singer they could marry up with a song about that universal subject of marionettes, with a sound so equally universal it would appeal to almost every jury listening on the night.

But... where oh where would they find an act like that in time for Eurovision 1967?

Until next time.