Eurovision 1981: Try to look as if you don't care less. But if you want to see some more...

Before we delve into the ins and outs of the 26th Eurovision Song Contest (A Bluffer's Guide is almost halfway through its epic journey - how did we get here so quickly?), you must have a squiff at the slideshow below, provided by a Boom Bang a Blog reader who very humbly wishes to be known only as 'Peter'. As a schoolboy caught up in the excitement of Ireland hosting for the second time, young Peter made it his mission to meet as many entrants as he could at the hotel where the majority of the delegations were staying, armed only with his autograph book.

We're not going to tell you who's who on each of these pictures just yet, we'd like you to guess! Leave your answers in the comments section on how many entrants you recognise and whoever gets the most correct (Peter is not allowed to enter) will be the envy of Boom Bang a Bloggers everywhere. We can give you a hint - neither the UK or Israeli delegations stayed in the main hotel for security reasons.

Your skirt-rippingly exciting details about Eurovision 1981:

(a) Just five years after Brotherhood of Man triumphed in The Hague, the United Kingdom won Eurovision again in 1981 - out shortest ever wait between outright wins. And, arguably, Bucks Fizz winning the title by a whisker would see the zenith of the event's popularity in Britain. The Contest quickly became a feeble joke (if it hadn't done so already) to most people in Blighty after Cheryl, Jay, Mike and Bobby shook their tushes throughout the last hurrah to the BBC's dominance of the competition. To top it off, Velcro sales shot through the roof as mums and nans everywhere were asked to rustle up a long skirt that could be ripped away from budding Bakers and Astons to reveal a shorter one beneath. It's undoubtedly our greatest ever contribution to this Contest of song.

Winners 1981: Bucks Fizz perform Making Your Mind Up for the United Kingdom

When A Song For Europe 1981 was held, the favourites to fly the flag in Dublin were in fact Liquid Gold, who had just had a massive hit with the rather daft Dance Yourself Dizzy. But when an unknown quartet named after a mixture of champagne and fresh orange juice began their slick routine in the brightly lit BBC Television Centre, it's a surprise the other seven acts didn't ask for their lift home to be brought forward to the moment just before the regional juries announced their votes.

Bucks Fizz were formed for Eurovision - and as you can probably hear - the members were selected more for their looks than their singing ability. Look a bit closer, they're practically the same height as each other and have almost identical shades of blonde locks so as not to distract from the primary coloured shennanigans going on at waist level.

The UK only won Eurovision '81 by four points, the Fizz earning 136 to Germany's 132. Not just that, but only the Dutch and Israeli juries gave it the full 12 points, making Making Your Mind Up the Eurovision winner with the fewest number of top votes ever. It did well in that the song got votes from every single jury, a feat its nearest rivals couldn't repeat. Making Your Mind Up also tends to be loathed by those for whom Eurovision is an enduring passion, mainly because it's a very simple, fun pop song with mass appeal. Some fans do try to kid themselves that this event should be won by brilliantly performed moody numbers to which deeper meanings can be applied. To them, 'fun' is a dirty Eurovision word.

Afraid Boom Bang a Blog can't adhere to that starchy view. I will always remember with fondness my big sister forcing me to stand between her and her mate in our back garden as they sang making Your Mind Up. At the "see some... more!" moment I had to pull the cardigans away they had tied around their waists, revealing the top half of the longer skirt they were wearing beneath. Not quite what the Bucks Fizz choreographer had envisaged for Dublin, but there you have it, the four-year-old me's earliest memory of Eurovision, even though I had absolutely no idea at the time where this dance originated.

A song about a poor little blind boy. Not that Germany was trying to manipulate the juries.

(b) But if you do like deep and moody, then you're probably rather peeved that Germany didn't win Eurovision 1981. Coming from the same team that wrote the German entries of 1979 and 1980, the Teutonic team were determined to bring Deutschland its first Contest victory and Lena Valaitis, their Lithuanian-born singer, arrived in Dublin as the hotter than hot favourite to do just that.

Johnny Blue is a rather downbeat folksy-sounding number all about a blind boy who was constantly taunted by local boys asking him what colour the sun was (children can be so cruel...). Johnny rose above the bullies by learning the guitar and becoming a world renowned musician whom thousands paid to see. This uber-strumming talent of the lyric's chief protagonist was, of course, demonstrated throughout by someone playing the mouth organ.

(c) No wonder Bucks Fizz won in '81 as a fair few of the songs in the 20-strong line-up were going for the miserable/dramatic vote. The French entry which finished third has an intro which sounds scarily like the theme tune to current affairs programme World in Action, the show which made Monday night duller for many a schoolkid growing up in Britain in the '80s who just wanted to watch Gwen Taylor getting wound up by Keith Barron in Duty Free.

Not the theme tune from World in Action, the French entry in 1981.

Can you imagine anyone dancing to this at a cheesey pop '80s night?

(d) The host nation always makes a big effort to do well, as the national selection is caught in the groundswell of pride from winning the previous year. In 1981, it meant a rare foray into the world of uptempo pop for Ireland and some of the most ridiculous lyrics ever heard in the Contest.

Remember kids. If you read your horoscopes, you're no better than Satan.

Sheeba were three Irish lasses who appeared to have been dressed in a green bin liner each, then ordered to run through a hedge on their way to the stage. The costumes were, in fact, rather endearing but there was no excusing the words coming out of these ladies' mouths.

The message behind Horoscopes was that anyone who read their stars every day were, basically, the scum of the earth and desperately in need of a reality check. It's a surprise Sheeba didn't produce photos of Russell Grant and Mystic Meg during the performance and rip them to bits before stamping on the pieces. Sheeba's sugar-coated patronising venom was rather worryingly welcomed by those watching, however, and it ended the night in fifth place on 105 points.

Wonder if the trio read their horoscopes in The Irish Times on the day of the Contest to see how well they'd do..?

(e) Denmark didn't do especially well in '81, but they should have done. The song is, to be honest, a very distant second to Ein Lied Kann Eine Brucke Sein in Boom Bang a Blog's top 10 of favourite Eurovision songs.

This deserved so much better - Boom Bang a Blog's second favourite Eurovision song ever.

In the same year that Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder hit number one in the UK with Ebony and Ivory, Kroller Eller Ej was a song on the same theme. Translated as loving children whether their hair is straight or curly, it was a tune clinging to the just-about contemporary disco sound and not unlike Kelly Marie's Feels Like I'm in Love. Tommy and Debs could take solace in that they were very nearly Scandinavia's most successful entry of the evening, with Sweden sneaking one place ahead of them.

(f) One Scandinavian country which didn't do at all well in Dublin was Norway. Finn Kalvik's cracking little number went on just before Bucks Fizz, which can't have helped, but he still ended the evening on the dreaded 'nul points' even though all the signs seemd to be in his favour.

The most undeserved nul points ever. This should have been Top 10.

Finn had recorded Aldri i Livet with ABBA. On the studio version, backing vocals were provided by Agnetha and Anni-Frid, the single was produced by Benny, and Bjorn possibly made the tea while they were working on the final mix. Stig Anderson, Finn's manager as well as ABBA's, was even in Dublin to cheer him on - but whereas in 1974 he had watched his team scoop victory, that wasn't the case seven years on. There is nothing bad about Aldri i Livet, in fact, there are far, far worse songs on show in 1981, but for some reason, no jury placed it as high as tenth on their list, leaving Finn listless and pointless as the night drew to a close.

(g) Morocco had debuted in The Hague in 1980, but never came back to Eurovision. Cyprus put in its first apperance in Dublin in 1981 and has been involved almost every year since.

Cyprus make their debut - and it's really rather good.

In fact, Monika is - with one major exception more than 20 years later - the strongest song the Cypriots have ever sent to Eurovision. It finished sixth - but the jury in Nicosia didn't like Bucks Fizz - they only gave Making Your Mind Up four points.

(h) And it would be wrong not to give Finland a mention. This is Reggae OK performed by Riki Sorsa, who may or may not have modelled his hair and face on Rod Stewart, while his wardrobe is pure Timothy Claypole.

It's as though Bob Marley never left us. Reggae OK from Finland.

This song was written by an Englishman. Just goes to show we're not all natural born composers on these fair isles.

(i) And if you're British, you'll want to see the voting. With two juries to go, the UK, Germany and Switzerland were locked on 120 points each.

Thank you Switzerland! Phewee, that was a close one...

History would tell you that this was the point where the UK's lead was overhauled at the last minute by a country making a concerted thrust to the finish, but this was one year where history seemed to forget itself. Huzzah!

And so, Eurovision was going back to Britain for the seventh time. Every time the BBC were hosts by right, the Corporation had pulled out all the stops to make the return leg a glitzy production which showed off the skills, talent and facilities at its disposal.

Where would they hold Eurovision '82? The Royal Albert Hall? Wembley Arena? The NEC?

Or... what about a really small convention centre in Yorkshire?