Author Andy Roberts takes an affectionate meander down memory lane to commemorate the United Kingdom’s 50-year association with the Eurovision Song Contest.
- Interviews with Sir Cliff Richard, Brotherhood of Man, Bucks Fizz and Katrina Leskanich
- Features on Sandie Shaw and Scooch
- A look at the UK's fortunes from debut in 1957 to the golden anniversary contest in Helsinki in 2007
- A sideways glance at the 48 nations who have shared the Eurovision experience with the UK
- A section for the tipster - can you really have a good idea of the Eurovision winner before you have even heard the song?
- A debate with the BBC and the European Broadcasting Union focusing on the problem of bloc (or neighbour) voting
- A look at who likes us in Eurovision? And who do we like?
- Fans from all over the world voting on their favourite UK entries and Eurovision tunes of all time
Not forgetting, of course, the contributions of a band of Swedish folk rockers turned glam who won the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest in Brighton...
"Abba's popularity, to this day, is undiminished and the quartet is revered by young and old alike. Of course it was never like that in the early days. Admitting in the school playground to a fondness for Abba was just about as naff, or as gay, as you could possibly get.
It was far more comfortable to nail your colours to the mast of one of the more vibrant and thrusting punk and new wave pubescent offerings around at the time from the likes of the Sex Pistols and Blondie.
Abba was definitely fringe but the staunch band of Swedish glam enthusiasts at Northampton School For Boys, all three of us, consoled ourselves on our exclusion from the mainstream by maintaining that the music of Abba would live on a lot longer than that of their cooler contemporaries.
Yes we were shouted down but then the daft punk extremists in particular weren't able to recognise a melody or harmony if it clouted them round the ears.
And we were ultimately proved right. Mamma Mia, the musical and the film, has proved a worldwide sensation while tribute band Bjorn Again has enjoyed a career spanning 25 years and must surely sprout its own Rebjorn Again tribute before too long. The beauty of Abba, Agnetha Faltskog aside, has even launched a university thesis or two.
Waterloo changed the face of Eurovision and Abba went on to change the face of popular music. A point worth making the next time you hear someone complacently deriding the Eurovision Song Contest as a complete waste of time and space?"
