Eurovision 1989: Yugoslavia wins, a child sings for France and the interval act almost shoots an arrow into his head

Ohhhhhhh.... Your woah-oh-oh-oh 1989 facts:

Winners 1989: Riva perform Rock Me for Yugoslavia.

(a) The group Riva took the honours at the 34th Eurovision Song Contest. If Emilija Kokic and her pals, at least one of whom was rather beardy, had won with the same song four years later, it would have been hailed as a victory for Croatia and this remains the sole success for Yugoslavia as a unified state.

It was by no means a fluke. The Slavs had been threatening to take the trophy ever since Daniel's fourth place in Munich in 1983, finishing fourth again in 1987 and sixth in Dublin in 1988. The song Rock Me had an advantage over all the other songs present in Lausanne's Paliais de Beaulieu in that it was performed last in the running order. In fact, Yugoslavia had been drawn last in 1988 as well - and second-to-last in 1987, some extremely fortuitous draws that the UK would have killed for during a decade when it was more often than not stuck out in the early doors end of the programme.

It must be said, though, when you compare the other stuff that was on offer for the juries in Switzerland that year, this was the one occasion when the judges went so far against the musical zeitgeist that you begin to wonder if any of them were sobre by the time Riva eventually took to the stage at the end of a very, very long night. For a song called Rock Me, it breaks all trade description laws by having absolutely no rock in it whatsoever and wouldn't sound out of place in a Tweenies Live! setlist. And just wait until you see the English lyrics. I can feel your toes curling already...

Despite being one of the few songs which contrasts between a studious piano supremo and the seamier attractions of rawk, this is still a bizarre, cheap and nasty little song which is difficult to love, Rock Me - not to be confused with the equally tame ABBA album track of the same name - was not a hit across Europe and even though the victory was big news in Yugoslavia, for some reason, Riva didn't turn up in Zagreb the following year to hand over the trophy. They hadn't split by that point - that happened in 1991, but it was fair to say Western pop culture didn't mourn Riva's passing too heavily.

Never was a song more aptly titled. It's performed by a woman and five men, you know.

(b) And one group who would probably mark the date Riva split with a big glittery circle on the calendar before throwing a Stewie Griffin-style sexy party was the UK representative in Switzerland, Live Report. The sextet was led by Ray Caruana, a man with a fine voice and Maltese heritage. By this stage, the UK song was selected in a Friday night Song For Europe show then completely neglected by everyone, the BBC and record-buying public included, until Eurovision night itself - and even then, the British entry was lucky if anyone knew who they were before the caption bearing their name appeared at the start of the performance. This was despite a rather daft publicity stunt from the group which suggested that the be-hatted bespectacled lady playing the keyboard for the Report was Annie Lennox in disguise. It wasn't the very serious Eurythmic at all, but a lady called Maggie Jay.

However, Europe's bookies were not so dismissive and had Ray and his chums as the runaway favourites in the weeks running up to the continent-wide broadcast. For some reason, Live Report were called Midnight Blue and Why Do I Always Get It Wrong had the far catchier title of No More Sad Songs inbetween being shortlisted for the UK heats and winning it and it has never quite been made clear why the change was made. Performed seventh out of the 22 entries, the song got a great response but faltered at the start of the voting, never quite gaining on Riva's initial lead and finishing seven points behind Yugoslavia. Ray was very vocal the next day about the lack of home support for the British song - and that Live Report had been beaten by what he thought was a complete pile of pants.

Still, Ray can be comforted by this thought. John Peel was in the audience in Lausanne that year and he thought Live Report were rather smashing.

The Sanatogen was on standby in the Danish dressing room

(c) Just as Britain took silver for the second year running in 1989, the Danes did the double bronze in Switzerland. Birthe Kjaer had made many attempts to represent Denmark in the past and this was the year she finally made it.

For someone who had been singing and performing for as long as Birthe had (it would be rude to estimate), this was one of the rare moments when an entrant really enjoyed being out on stage and looked like a pleasant mix of chuffed and relaxed while out on stage. Her song was a very retro slice of schlager but presented with such enthusiasm that the juries lapped it up.

If only they'd entered the Eurovision 'The Backing Singers Are Taking This Really Seriously' Contest

(d) Just one point behind Denmark was their neighbour, Sweden, with arguably the most contemporary song of the night and one which would have encouraged current composers of pop to enter the competition if it had done better. En Dag - you'll never guess - translates as One Day and is a thrusting anthem, presumably about lost love or forgiving those who have done us wrong and living in peace forever. Something like that, anyway.

It was a strong contender, but perhaps held back in the final vote by the rather embarrassing level of gusto Tommy Nilsson's backing singers throw into their performance. It registers high on the Overly Earnest Scale. 1989 was a good year for Scandinavia though, with two songs in the top five, Finland doing surprisingly better than usual and finishing seventh, with poor old Norway skulking about towards the bottom of the pile in a rare bad year for them post-Bobbysocks.

Thomas had changed his number five times but somehow his tailor still found him

(e) Austria were expected to do well for the first Contest in 23 years when Eurovision day dawned in Lausanne. In the end, Thomas Forstner and Nur Ein Lied (Only a Song) finished a very creditable fifth - practically a win for the Austrians at this stage in their Euro career. Herr Forstner had been a successful choirboy in his youth and his emergence into Austrian pop culture saw him getting the same sort of teenybop adulation that various quarters of Westlife get today.

He would return to Eurovision not long after this top-five showing. He probably still wishes he hadn't.


What's the French for Bonnie Langford?

(f) Finishing in eighth place was an eight-year-old French girl called Nathalie Paque. The second child performer of the night (you'll hear about the other one next), it was this proliferation of pre-pubescents that finally made the Eurovision organisers put come stricter age rules in place. From 1990, entrants could not take part if they were younger than 16 (although they could enter if they were 15 and their 16th birthday took place on a date later on in the year the Contest they were performing in was held).

The rules may have been introduced to protect kids from the potential powderkeg of nerves, tension and ego that is Eurovision rehearsals week - or there may have been concerns that child performer would get hefty sympathy votes regardless of the quality of their song. Either way, Nathalie and her powerful ballad was the last fun-size artiste to appear at the grown-up Eurovision to date.

Bet he got teased at school the Monday after the show

(g) Then there's this other lad from Israel, known as Gili. Or Galit, we're not entirely sure. Anyway, Mr G made a significant contribution to the Israeli entry of 1989, in his on-trend chinos and sailor-style stripey t-shirt. A rumour began circulating in some quarters on the day of Eurovision 1989 that the event had had to be pre-recorded for reasons undisclosed, the results had been leaked to some particularly probing journos and that Israel were the winners.

It wasn't true, and never could have been. Israel performed second in the running order in 1989 and we all know what happens to songs sung there, don't we?

(h) This unhealthy-looking chap in the flyaway pants is Daniel, from Iceland. When he won his homeland heats, the organisers were magnanimous enough to present him with a cactus. He must have been prickled pink.

Aah well, at least he had his cactus

Pity he never got something a bit cuddlier, though. That would have been nice to cling to in the nights following the Contest as Iceland, in just their fourth Eurovision appearance, finished last with nul points.

(i) Ireland were always doing well at Eurovision, except this year.

Kiev Connolly and the Missing Points... sorry, Passengers

This hastily/nervily performed number only managed 18th place with a score of just 21 points. But if there's one thing the Irish are good at, it's bouncing back from a bad Eurovision result in style the following year. You'll see.

(j) There's not much to write about this one, but you have to see the Cypriot entry.

It'll never last. I give it three minutes.

How on earth this song brought the word 'wedding' to the choreographer's mind is beyond belief. The newlyweds did manage 11th place though, which isn't half bad for Cyprus.

(k) It was decided not to bring you further footage of Celine Dion as she opened the 1989 Contest, as you may have just had your tea. And as the 1989 show looked just a little bit too much like the production in Dublin the previous year to make it worth writing lots of words about, this is the one bit of the show (that wasn't an entry) we'll have a shufty at. It's the interval act and the man shooting bolts is one Guy Tell. The clip we've found on YouTube is the full 10 minutes, but please be patient and watch it until the end.

What a great way to ease the tension before the voting. Fire arrows at people.

The bit where the arrow goes through the apple placed on his head? That didn't happen on the live show (Guy missed). He'd had a successful rehearsal earlier that day which was filmed and primed to be slotted into the live broadcast.

You know, just in case something rather more unfortunate happened...