Eurovision 1985: When Europe voted for a pair of swingers and a vibrating bra, Germany had Wind and the hostess stripped live on air

After the tinier-than-usual Contests of 1982 and 1984, Sweden pulled out all the stops to host a her-yooge Contest in Gothenburg in 1985. The Scandinavium, which has hosted the World Figure Skating Championships twice, is capable of holding about 12,000 spectators - and the very big stage meant 8,000 excitable people could be squeezed into the arena on the night. It certainly gave the 30th Contest, where 1956 winner Lys Assia was an invited spectator, bags of atmosphere - sackloads more than had been evident in Harrogate, at least. The fun was also added to by having a presenter who, Boom Bang a Blog thinks anyway, has yet to be eclipsed as the most effortlessly entertaining Keeper of the Scoreboard. Jazz singer Lill Lindfors was one half of the duo which brought Sweden its only silver medal so far, in Luxembourg in 1966, and she began the evening with an exuberant number about how the house she resides in is built from bricks of music (with a clarinet for a chimney). This very practical example of architecture clearly gave Lill more than her fair share of vim and cheekiness as she was the first Eurovision hostess who realised how huge, but insanley camp and daft, the Contest is and treated the task in hand accordingly. She's absolutely brilliant from beginning to end, especially the bit were... oh, we won't spoil that just yet.

Brilliant as it would be to have a blog entry all about Lill (hmm, there's an idea), it's better to get back to the goings-on in Gothenburg. Here we go.

Your swinging facts about 1985:

(a) Although it didn't hold the lead until the end of the voting, Norway overcame its musical jinxes in '85 and won the whole shebang with La Det Swinge. At that year's Norwegian heat, long-time UK conductor Ronnie Hazlehurst was invited to sit on a judging panel. When the confident presenter said to him: "Don't you think La Det Swinge could win?", the Yorkshireman (Lancastrian! Sorry...) gave a firm shake of the head before delivering an emphatic "no". However, this is from the man who wrote the theme tune to Blankety Blank and never conducted a Eurovision winner.

Winners 1985: Bobbysocks perform La Det Swinge for Norway. How on earth did they run like that in those heels?

Bobbysocks were formed of Hanne Krogh, who represented Norway in Dublin 14 years earlier, and Elisabeth Andreassen, one half of Chips who represented Sweden in Harrogate three years earlier. La Det Swinge - which hovered around the UK Top 40 in its anglified version, Let It Swing - is a bit like ABBA's I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do cranked up a gear with a bevvy of extra saxophonists thrown in for good measure.

There are other countries with abysmal Eurovision records (Finland and Portugal for starters), but their failings have always been conveniently shielded by Norway's public face as all that is bad about the Contest.

This meant that, as Bobbysocks began to look like champs, it seemed everyone watching, whatever their nationality, felt a tug of underdog-glory and became an honorary Norwegian for one night only. The UK jury spokesman even made a point of saying how pleased and proud the good folk of Britain were to direct their douze Oslo way and the seven other nations which delivered La Det Swinge top marks seemed unable to shield their glee when giving the good news.

Although the schlager-meets-very tame rock 'n' roll sound of the eventual winner was too dated to make an impact in mid-80s Europe, it understandably became a mammoth hit in Norway and the country soon felt the sort of excitement about hosting the following show that hadn't been seen since the aftermath of Ireland's first victory in 1970.

(b) Bookies would have given you long odds about a Norwegian victory, but in the days running up to the show, you could only get decent odds on Germany not winning.

Halfway through the show there was an outbreak of Wind in the Scandinavium.

This is another occasion where Boom Bang a Blog has to throw its hands in the air and confess to not understanding the appeal of a song which almost won the whole thing. Fur Alle is a very dreary little number with not much to grab either your imagination or your tappy toes. Despite this, Wind clung to the lead for a good three quarters of the voting sequence. Those Bobbysocks-ers continued to nibble away at its lead and the girls finally managed to put daylight between themselves and the chasing pack when the UK jury gave just one point to the German song.

(c) As has been mentioned, Elisabeth Andreasson of Bobbysocks was one half of the duo Chips who represented Sweden in 1982. Her fellow French Fry, Kikki Danielsson, was also present in Gothenburg, albeit singing for the home team on her own. This was also an occasion when the title of song loses a lot in translation. As was proudly displayed in the onscreen caption which accompanied the opening of Kikki's performance, the song is called Bra Vibrationer.

Singing Bra Vibrationer, it's Sweden's answer to Barbara Windsor

Sadly, this song is not an homage to a Carry On-style contraption which would have Sid James yuk-yuk-yukking in glee, it is in fact the Swedish translation of the phrase Good Vibrations. Saying that, it doesn't sound like anything from the Brian Wilson songbook either. Kikki got by far the biggest roar of the night (understandably) and there was a moment towards the end of the vote when it looked like Sweden may sneak two victories in a row, before its Scandinavian neighbours got a firm grasp on the trophy.

(d) The seemingly middle-aged woman whom Terry Wogan is holding aloft in this photograph is the surprise winner of A Song For Europe 1985. Surprising, in that the BBC must have thought that the biggest name to enter the domestic heat in years was a surefire shoe-in for Sweden.

It was apparently mooted in '85 that the Corporation return to the system of picking a big name to sing all the songs in the heat and that Lena Zavaroni (hardly a big name by 1985, but we'll let that pass) was approached to take on the job. The Songwriters Union had a problem with that, so the existing format remained. It also gave '70s pop icon Alvin Stardust a great chance to fly the flag for Royaume Uni with the '50s-flavoured The Clock on the Wall. With hindsight, the retro styling of the song that won in Gothenburg means Alvin would still have had a fighting chance against the rest of the '85 opposition but, in a curious move, the regional juries dotted about the UK went for something a bit different.

That chair was from a second-hand shop, you know.

Vikki Watson was the first act up in that year's national final. Her song, Love Is... sounds like a reserve theme tune for Just Good Friends and there was a bit of a problem when someone noticed similarities with the Secret Service song, Ten O'Clock Postman. Despite all that, this rather drippy and forgettable little number made it through the British heats to receive marks from all but one jury in Sweden (although it never got a douze and faced the tough task of following Bobbysocks) to get 100 points and fourth place, just three points behind Kikki from Sweden and only five behind runners-up Germany.

This was a rare post-Bucks Fizz top five placing for the UK from a song which Boom Bang a Blog would be very surprised anyone outside of ESC fan circles remembers today. Vikki herself has gone on to great things however, but these days is better known as Aeone and lives and records in Los Angeles. She must have felt a little lonely on her trip to the Contest, however, Terry Wogan had a very bad cold when the Contest was transmitted so was unable to fly to Sweden and had to do his commentary from BBC Television Centre.

(e) The act with the longest name to ever compete at Eurovision represented Luxembourg in 1985. The reason for the lengthy run of letters seems to have more to do with bringing together a collection of known singers who were determined that their contribution be recognised by name, rather than anyone having trouble formulating the right moniker. Hence the catchily titled Margo, Franck Olivier,
Diane Solomon, Ireen Sheer, Chris & Malcolm Roberts performed the Ralph Siegel and Bernd Meinunger number Children, Kinder, Enfants.

Anybody trying to get top billing here will get beatings.

Whoever was responsible for etching the name on the 1985 trophy must have breathed a sigh of relief that this stalled at the blocks and only managed 37 points and 13th place.

(f) The other favourite to triumph in 1985, along with Germany, was returning nation Israel, whose record at the Contest was proving so impressive it was very rare for them to have a duff year. Adding to the non-duffness was the selection of 1978 winner Izhar Cohen to perform that year's song, another slice of energetic stuff called Ole, Ole.


Izhar sucks up to the Spanish jury with Ole, Ole. No wonder he didn't win

He finished fifth, something of a letdown for Israel at this stage in their Euro career, but certainly no disaster.

(g) And we're saving the best moment of 1985 until last. We've already mentioned what super fun presenter Lill Lindfors was with her warmly naughty style - including her protestations at making a Swede say '30th' and delivering a special hello to her mum - but she really came into her own in the moment she arrived back on stage to call in the juries' scores. Have a shufty at this.

Nothing short of brilliant.

This incident wasn't scripted, never rehearsed, and Lill had kept her trick secret until the night itself, saying as she sat down by the scoreboard: "I just wanted to wake you all up a little."

In a move which, sadly, rams home the goody-two-shoes perception that many have of the Contest, EBU scrutineer Frank Naef was unimpressed and Ms Lindfors' stunt allegedly gave his wife the vapours.

That may explain why, in 1986, Eurovision was landed with the dullest presenter it will probably ever have.