Final 5 March 1966 Conductor Jean Roderès | Presenter(s) Josiane Chen Executive supervisor Clifford Brown | |
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Venue Villa Louvigny
Luxembourg City, Luxembourg Host broadcaster Compagnie Luxembourgeoise de Télédiffusion (CLT) | ||
The Eurovision Song Contest 1966 was the 11th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It was held on 5 March 1966 in Luxembourg, Luxembourg, following the country's win at the previous 1965 edition. The host venue was Grand Auditorium de RTL in Villa Louvigny. The presenter was Josiane Chen.
Contents
- Location
- Format
- Participating countries
- Conductors
- Returning artists
- Results
- 5 points
- International broadcasts and voting
- References
The winner was Austria with the song "Merci, Chérie" performed and composed by Udo Jürgens, and written by Jürgens and Thomas Hörbiger. This would remain Austria's only win in the contest until their second win in 2014. The rule stating that a country could only sing in any of its national languages was originally created in this year, possibly due to the 1965 edition's Swedish entry which was sung in English.
Location
The 1966 Eurovision Song Contest was hosted in Luxembourg City. The venue chosen to host the 1966 contest was the Villa Louvigny, which also hosted the Eurovision Song Contest 1962. The building served as the headquarters of Compagnie Luxembourgeoise de Télédiffusion, the forerunner of RTL Group. It is located in Municipal Park, in the Ville Haute quarter of the centre of the city.
Format
During the voting process, the presenter (Josiane Chen) accidentally greeted United Kingdom by saying "Good night, London". She then realized her mistake and said "Good evening, London", after Michael Aspel, who was the spokesperson for the United Kingdom, at that time, responded by saying "Good morning, Luxembourg".
1966 marked the year the first ever black singer graced the Eurovision stage, Milly Scott representing the Netherlands. She was also the first singer to use a portable microphone. This was the last contest that Denmark participated in until 1978, more than a decade later.
It was also one of the first contests in which an entry was not accompanied by an orchestra. The Italian entry "Dio, come ti amo" performed by Domenico Modugno had been rearranged since its performance at the Sanremo Music Festival and officially broke the EBU rule that stated the arrangement should be finalised well in advance. During the Saturday afternoon rehearsal Modugno performed the new arrangement with three of his own musicians as opposed to the orchestra, which went over the three minute time limit. Following his rehearsal Modungo was confronted by the show's producers about exceeding the time limit and was asked to use the original arrangement with the orchestra. Modungo was so dissatisfied with the orchestra that he threatened to withdraw from the Contest. Both the producers and EBU scrutineer Clifford Brown felt it was too short notice to fly Gigliola Cinquetti to Luxembourg to represent Italy, so the EBU gave in and allowed Modungo to use his own ensemble instead of the orchestra. Despite websites and the official programme listing Angelo Giacomazzi as the conductor, Giacomazzi actually played the piano for the entry.
Participating countries
All countries which participated in the 1965 contest returned for a second consecutive year. There were no new nations, nor any returning, nor withdrawals.
Conductors
Each performance had a conductor who was maestro of the orchestra.
Returning artists
Two artists returned for a third time in this year's contest. Udo Jürgens from Austria whose previous participations were in 1964 and 1965; and Domenico Modugno from Italy, who last participated in 1958 and 1959.
Results
1.^ The song also contains phrases in French.5 points
Below is a summary of all 5 points in the final:
International broadcasts and voting
The table below shows the order in which votes were cast during the 1966 contest along with the spokesperson who was responsible for announcing the votes for their respective country. Each national broadcaster also sent a commentator to the contest, in order to provide coverage of the contest in their own native language. Details of the commentators and the broadcasting station for which they represented are also included in the table below.