Recently in Eurovision in the UK Category

Down girls, they're spoken for...

A gaggle of us gathered in Liverpool yesterday afternoon for another of our regular meet-ups to discuss Life, the Universe and Eurovision. Thanks to some pre-publicity we had some newcomers (hello Jeff and Scott) and the conversation soon turned to talking about which songs we liked best from those chosen at this weekend's national finals. I can only apologise for the quality of the photo, I had the camera on the wrong setting and it looks like everyone has just returned from eight months in Lanzarote to have a nice chat in a sauna.

Anyway, the upshot of the day was that whatever song somebody loathed with a passion, someone else rather liked. We've always been good at agreeing. There was beer and giggles too.

There'll be other meet-ups before the big night in May. We'll keep you posted on dates if you care to join in.

"Welcome one, welcome all. To paraphrase a football song, Eurovision's coming home." So began Terry Wogan's commentary for the first British Eurovision in 16 years. It doesn't make sense of course. Eurovision's home is Lugano in Switzerland, where it all began in 1956 - or Geneva, the headquarters of the European Broadcasting Union - or even Dublin, the city which had hosted six of the 43 Eurovisions prior to this point. But not really anywhere in the UK. However, there was no denying that the events which took place inside Birmingham's National Indoor Arena on May 9, 1998, constituted the most anticipated Contest of recent years. Two of the 25 entrants were making headlines across the Continent in the weeks leading up to the event - and one of them would go on to win the competition.

It also marked the end of the United Kingdom's run as one of the most successful countries taking part in the competition. After 1998, there were very few glimmers of hope to be found as Blighty sank further and further down the scoreboard. But we won't worry about that here. Come with us now on a trip to the Midlands, where the British Broadcasting Corporation decided to be as non-jingoistic as possible and employ an Irishman and a Swede to host its last Eurovision to date, the winning singer won a unique glass bowl by Susan Nixon, the postcard films were a work of quiet genius and everybody laughed at a middle-aged Dutch lady.

It was announced by the BBC this morning that successful record producer Pete Waterman, the man who steered Kylie, Rick Astley and Steps - among others - to chart success will be behind this year's British entry to the Eurovision Song Contest.

Although the smart money (based on tabloid and supposed insider rumour) before the official press release was let loose into the ether had either Gary Barlow, Cathy Dennis or even Elton John pencilled in for the job, there is already some confusion over whether Pete will actually be writing the song, or collaborating with another composer/s and putting some studio expertise and polish on their work. It sounds a bit like the way Andrew Lloyd Webber worked with American songwriter Diane Warren on It's My Time last year.

UPDATE: Sorry, everyone. The BBC won't be revealing any news until 'early on Friday morning' now. I do hope the composer isn't getting cold feet...


First Andy Murray gets through to the final of the Australian Open and then someone on BBC Eurovision's twittering team announces that today's the day we learn the details of the UK selection for the 2010 Contest. What a sterling morning's work for Le Royaume Uni.

Past experience has led Boom Bang a Blog never to get all that excited about these announcements. Don't forget, the year we could have had Morrissey, we ended up with Scooch. However, with Your Country Needs You looking a certainty for this year's selection process once more - it's likely the identity of a well-known composer who's agreed to take on Mission Oslo will be the thrust of the imminent press release.

BBaB has its fingers crossed for Gary Barlow or Cathy Dennis. BBaB is also hoping and praying that the job hasn't gone to a former Big Brother contestant who knows how to hum quite well, or someone who last had a hit before Britain went decimal.

As soon as it's announced, we'll bring you full details and a personal reaction. Time's a ticking down...

I will never forget watching the 1997 Eurovision Song Contest. I was in my second year at Glasgow University, staying in a tenement flat not too far from the Botanic Gardens or the famous Byres Road (you really should try and do the pub crawl) which had rooms as big as ballrooms that were just as difficult to heat. Two days before the Contest was screened, Labour had swept to power after 18 years in the shadows and Tony Blair looked like the sort of bloke who could make Britannia cool again. With such a momentous seachange for Britain, it's understandable that the goings on between acts from 25 nations across the Irish Sea in Dublin's Point Theatre weren't going to register much on neither media radar nor national consciousness. But somehow, it did.

Topping off a week when, for Britain's non-Tory populous, things really could only get better - they only went and did. As though it was written fresh on the statute book in the burgeoning daylight of May 2, as though everyone had decreed it so to welcome in a new age, as though the rest of Europe suddenly realised we weren't so bad after all on this sceptred isle. On May 3, 1997, the United Kingdom won the Eurovision Song Contest.

And it's still the only one I've ever watched on my own.

What are you doing on here on Christmas Eve? Haven't you got presents to wrap and X-Boxes to queue for? However, Boom Bang a Blog is delighted to welcome you all on the day that somehow manages to feel more Christmassy than December 25 itself and to thank you all for your votes in the poll to find the Greatest UK Eurovision Winner of all time.

I know you have giblets to remove, turkeys to pluck and excitable children to pacify, so let's get cracking with the result. They're in the 'Continue Reading' bit.

There is but a few weeks left of 2009 - and to make sure Boom Bang a Blog does something worthwhile in the time, we're asking you, the reader, to do something monumentous.

We're asking you to rank the champs, to place gold over gold - and to decide once and for all which is the greatest UK winner of the Eurovision Song Contest. Ever.

According to this report in the Metro today, former Never Mind the Buzzcocks host, most amusing comedian and accomplished musician Bill Bailey would love to represent the UK at Eurovision.

He submitted a song for the 2009 competition (which would have been pointless, as it was made clear very early on that Andrew Lloyd Webber was writing it) called Put the Light Out Mr Hodges, an eco-anthem about climate change. The BBC rejected it, calling it "too silly" (at least they've learned since Scooch).

He need only have read the Bluffer's Guide to Eurovision 1990 to realise he was onto nothing with that theme. However, his comment about his song being better than the load of old nonsense the UK usually sends and comes last with is a bit pointless now. Blighty was top five in Moscow.

I saw Bill perform one of the funniest live shows I have ever seen at the Edinburgh Festival in 2000. He is, let's make no bones about it, one of the funniest men in Britain. But Bill, just as I would not take a chainsaw to the musical instruments you cherish so dear, please don't enter this Contest just because you want to make it an extension of your act.

However, if you really must - can you please use your considerable musical acumen to compose a song that isn't a mickey take?

One thing I don't do very often on Boom Bang a Blog is give my own website about the Contest, Whoops Dragovic, a push. That's mainly because it's been going a lot longer (it's 10 next year) and it's a bit fruitier than the stuff you'll find in here.

However, please feel free to pop over throughout December, as Whoops Dragovic is the home of a Eurovision Advent Calendar.

It's become a bit of a tradition on Whoops (this is the third year there's been one) and as long as you're not offended by the occasional bawdy Eurovision-related interlude, I hope you'll enjoy it as much as your visits to Boom Bang a Blog. You'll find the advent calendar here, with a different curiosity every day until Crimbo Eve.

Merry Christmas!

It has been reported in at least one British tabloid today that Take Thatter Gary Barlow (secret husband of Deidre) will write (or co-write) the UK entry for the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest in Oslo.

Mind you, the same report suggests he's writing it for former Blue member Duncan James, but since he'll be in a West End musical on the same dates that Eurovision is taking place and a casting company has already been inviting people to audition for Your Country Needs You II, there are no guarantees that this particular piece of speculation will realise itself in reality.

But if it is true, and Gary is reading this - something like Shine would be brilliant Gary, something like Love Ain't Here Anymore less so...