United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 1957
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Eurovision Song Contest 1957 | ||||
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Participating broadcaster | British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) | |||
Country | United Kingdom | |||
National selection | ||||
Selection process | Song: Festival of British Popular Songs Artist: Internal selection | |||
Selection date(s) | Semi-finals 22 January 1957 29 January 1957 5 February 1957 Final 12 February 1957 | |||
Selected artist(s) | Patricia Bredin | |||
Selected song | "All" | |||
Selected songwriter(s) |
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Finals performance | ||||
Final result | 7th, 6 points | |||
United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest | ||||
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The United Kingdom was represented in the Eurovision Song Contest 1957 with the song "All", composed by Reynell Wreford, with lyrics by Alan Stranks, and performed by Patricia Bredin. The British participating broadcaster, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), selected its entry through a national final, the second edition of Festival of British Popular Songs and, subsequently, the performer internally once the national final was over. This was the first-ever entry from the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest, and the first-ever entry performed in English in the contest.
Before Eurovision
[edit]Festival of British Popular Songs 1957
[edit]Festival of British Popular Songs 1957 | |
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Host | |
Venue | King's Theatre, London |
Presenter(s) | David Jacobs |
Host broadcaster | British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) |
Participants | |
Number of entries | 7 (1st semi final) 7 (2nd semi final) 5 (3rd semi final) 11 (final) |
Vote | |
Winning song | "All" by Malcolm Lockyer Quartet and Patricia Bredin |
The United Kingdom was represented in the Eurovision Song Contest for the first time in 1957. The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) did not participate in the inaugural contest in 1956, as it had created its own contest, the Festival of British Popular Songs, aspects of which influenced the 1957 Eurovision contest.[1]
The Festival of British Popular Songs 1957 served as the selection for the United Kingdom's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 1957.[2] A number of music publishing companies were invited to submit each one song for the national selection.[2] Around 70 to 80 songs were reportedly submitted.[3] A jury consisting of Jack Payne, Harry S. Pepper, Cyril Stapleton, Walter Ridley and Frank Lee met in December 1956 to select the competing entries of the live shows.[4] The interpreting artists were chosen separately by the BBC production team.[2]
The Festival of British Popular Songs 1957 consisted of three semi finals and a grand final.[2] All shows took place in the King's Theatre, Hammersmith (West London).[5] The presenter was David Jacobs, who would host many other British national finals the following years.[6]
Six songs competed in each semi-final.[6] The songs were scored by ten twelve-member juries, representing Birmingham, Aberdeen, Cardiff, Newcastle, Belfast, Manchester, Bangor, Bristol, Glasgow, and London. Each juror awarded one point to their favourite song. Two songs in each heat advanced to the national final, where every song was presented twice by two different artists and with a different arrangement. With the exception of the song "Once", the first performance was by the singer who performed it in the semi-final, and the second performance was by an artist who had not taken part in the heats. After the show, the BBC internally chose Patricia Bredin to perform the song in Frankfurt.
Semi-finals
[edit]The first semi-final took place on 22 January 1957 at 19:45 GMT.[7] The artists were accompanied by the Bill McGuffie Quintet and an orchestra under the musical direction of Eric Robinson.[7]
Draw | Artist | Song | Result |
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1 | Lita Roza | "The Way It Goes" | Advanced |
2 | Denis Lotis | "Seven" | Advanced |
3 | Marian Ryan | Unknown | Eliminated |
4 | John Hanson | Unknown | Eliminated |
5 | Janie Marden | Unknown | Eliminated |
6 | The Keynotes | Unknown | Eliminated |
7 | Bill McGuffie Quartet | Unknown | Eliminated |
Draw | Artist | Song | Result |
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1 | Jill Day | Unknown | Eliminated |
2 | Ronnie Hilton | "For Your Love" | Advanced |
3 | Edna Savage | Unknown | Eliminated |
4 | Bryan Johnson | Unknown | Eliminated |
5 | Lorrae Desmond | Unknown | Eliminated |
6 | Frank Horrox | Unknown | Eliminated |
7 | Frank Weir Quartet | "Once" | Advanced |
Draw | Artist | Song | Result |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Carole Carr | Unknown | Eliminated |
2 | Shirley Eaton | Unknown | Eliminated |
3 | Bill Maynard | Unknown | Eliminated |
4 | The Keynotes | "Don't Cry Little Doll" | Advanced |
5 | Malcolm Lockyer Quartet | "All" | Advanced |
Final
[edit]Draw | First singer | Second singer | Song | Songwriter(s) | Points | Place |
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1 | The Keynotes | Bill Maynard | "Don't Cry Little Doll" | Ron Grainer, David Dearlove | 14 | 4 |
2 | Pauline Shepherd | Carole Carr | "Once" | Barbara Killalee | 23 | 2 |
3 | Denis Lotis | The Keynotes | "Seven" | Peter Hart, Christopher Richardson | 13 | 5 |
4 | Malcolm Lockyer Quartet | Patricia Bredin | "All" | Reynell Wreford, Alan Stranks | 39 | 1 |
5 | Ronnie Hilton | Alan Bristow | "For Your Love" | Robert Kingston, Ronald Bridges, Ralph Ruvin | 13 | 5 |
6 | Lita Roza | Stan Roderick | "The Way It Goes" | Tony Osborne | 18 | 3 |
Commercial success
[edit]None of the competing songs reached the UK Singles Chart despite the popularity of some of the contestants. Hull born actress and occasional singer Patricia Bredin never recorded the winning song, the ballad "All", and it was therefore also never released as a single.[8] The only known studio recording of the song was released the same year by English singer Robert Earl. This version was later included on the compilation album "If You Can Dream" by Vocalion Records together with all other tracks from his first 17 singles.
At Eurovision
[edit]Patricia Bredin delivered an operatic performance of "All", performing third that night following Luxembourg and preceding Italy with "Corde della mia chitarra". The conductor was Eric Robinson. At a length of 1:52 minutes, it was the shortest entry in the history of the contest until Finland in 2015 as well as being the first song to be performed in English. The song also turned out to perform right before Italy's "Corde della mia chitarra", the longest entry in the history of the contest at 5:09 minutes.
At the close of voting, the United Kingdom had received six points and finished seventh among the ten countries, despite points from five of the nine other countries. It would take the United Kingdom until 1978 not to finish in the first half of the scoreboard again.
Voting
[edit]Each participating broadcaster assembled a ten-member jury panel. Every juror could give one point to their favourite song.
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References
[edit]- ^ "Shining a light on the United Kingdom: 60 Years at Eurovision". eurovision.tv. 11 January 2017. Retrieved 24 May 2019.
- ^ a b c d Roxburgh 2012, p. 102.
- ^ Roxburgh 2012, p. 103.
- ^ Roxburgh 2012, pp. 102, 108.
- ^ Roxburgh 2012, p. 105.
- ^ a b Roxburgh, Gordon. "Festival of British Popular Songs 1957". songs4europe.com. Retrieved 7 December 2024.
- ^ a b Roxburgh 2012, p. 108.
- ^ "1957 - Diggiloo Thrush". Diggiloo.net. Retrieved 30 June 2023.
- ^ a b "Results of the Final of Frankfurt 1957". Eurovision Song Contest. Archived from the original on 27 March 2021. Retrieved 27 March 2021.
Bibliography
[edit]- Roxburgh, Gordon (2012). Songs for Europe: The United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest. Vol. One: The 1950s and 1960s. Prestatyn, United Kingdom: Telos Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84583-065-6.