Eurovision 1960

The 5th Eurovision of 1960 was a big success a few things are changed year by year and improved
The Eurovision Song Contest 1960 was the fifth in the series, and was held on 29 March 1960 in London. France's win this year was their second in the contest. In terms of production values, the 1960 event was certainly the most polished so far. Thirteen countries - the biggest line-up yet - took part at the events staged in the (then) relatively new Royal Festival Hall on the South Bank (it had been built for the Festival of Britain in 1951). Each act was formally introduced to the 2000-strong audience inside the venue and the millions watching at home by a woman whose name would become forever linked with Eurovision - Miss Katie Boyle - or 'Catherine Boyle', as the far posher Auntie Beeb of the early sixties introduced her. The producer of the show was one Innes Lloyd. Six years later he would be appointed producer of Doctor Who, where he was instrumental in the creation of the Cybermen and the concept of regenerating one Doctor into another.The British entry - performed first in the running order - was Looking High, High, High by Bryan Johnson, the brother of Teddy who had represented Britain (with his wife Pearl) the year before. The song was written by a full-time schoolteacher - who needs Andrew Lloyd Webber? The winning song, Tom Pillibi, was about a right rascal of a man who had castles in Scotland and Montenegro - as rascals do. Jacqueline Boyer remains a music icon in France to this day and hers was the first winning song to make any sort of impact on the Europena charts. Despite being sung entirely in French, it made number 33 in the UK - with greater success in the Francophonic countries. An English version was recorded by none other than Julie Andrews and, ooh yeah, and the BBC presented Jacqueline with a silver vase as a well done for winning.Norway made its debut in London. The song Voi Voi, performed by Nora Brockstedt, finished fourth - something of a false dawn for a nation which would spend much of the next 30 years propping up the scoreboard. Nora, now in her early 80s, is still recording and still performing, rather like Norway's answer to a folksy Jane McDonald