Final 7 May 1977 Executive supervisor Clifford Brown | Director Stewart Morris | |
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Venue Wembley Conference CentreLondon, United Kingdom | ||
The Eurovision Song Contest 1977 was the 22nd edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest, and was held in London, United Kingdom on 7 May 1977. The presenter was Angela Rippon.
Contents
- Location
- Format
- Participating countries
- Conductors
- Returning artists
- Results
- 12 points
- International broadcasts and voting
- Voting and spokespersons
- References
The contest was won by Marie Myriam, representing France, with the song "L'oiseau et l'enfant" (The Bird and the Child). This was France's fifth victory, a record at the time (since equalled by Luxembourg and the United Kingdom, and surpassed by Ireland and Sweden). It was also France's second victory on English soil, as well as its most recent victory to date.
Location
Located on the River Thames, London is the capital city of England and the United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the Europe by most measures. London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its founding by the Romans, who named it Londinium. Wembley Conference Centre, which opened in 1977, was the first purpose-built conference centre in the United Kingdom. The centre was chosen as host venue for the song contest, which was presented by Angela Rippon.
Format
The language rule was brought back in this contest, four years after it had been dropped in 1973. However Germany and Belgium were allowed to sing in English, because they had already chosen the songs they were going to perform before the rule was reintroduced.
As noted in The Eurovision Song Contest - The Official History by author and historian John Kennedy O'Connor, the contest was originally planned to be held on 2 April 1977, but because of a strike of BBC cameramen and technicians, it had to be postponed for a month.
Participating countries
At one point before the contest Tunisia was going to participate but it withdrew. Had Tunisia gone ahead they would have appeared fourth on stage. Yugoslavia also withdrew, and did not return until 1981.
The Belgian act Dream Express had created some controversy in the press with reports that the three female members would wear transparent tops; this did not materialise for the actual event.
The British conductor Ronnie Hazlehurst used an umbrella and wore a bowler hat during the UK entry.
Conductors
Each performance had a conductor who maestro the orchestra.
Returning artists
Several artists returned to the 1977 Contest. Beatrix Neundlinger and Günter Grosslercher from the group Schmetterlinge both represented Austria in 1972 as part of the band The Milestones. Patricia Maessen, Bianca Maessen, and Stella Maessen had previously represented the Netherlands in 1970 as part of the group Hearts of Soul, in 1977 they represented Belgium under the band name Dream Express.
Ireland's participant The Swarbriggs returned after their previous appearance back in 1975. Ilanit from Israel returned after previously representing the nation in 1973. Michèle Torr, Luxembourg's 1966 entrant participated for Monaco. And finally Fernando Tordo and Paulo de Carvalho (part of Os Amigos) returned once more after they previously represented the nation as solo acts back in 1973 and 1974 respectively.
Results
Notes:
a. ^ Contains some words in English.12 points
Below is a summary of all 12 points in the final:
International broadcasts and voting
The table below shows the order in which votes were cast during the 1977 contest along with the spokesperson who was responsible for announcing the votes for their respective country.
Voting and spokespersons
Each national broadcaster also sent a commentator to the contest, in order to provide coverage of the contest in their own native language.