Country United Kingdom Selected entrant Patricia Bredin | Selection process A Song For Europe Selected song "All" | |
Selection date(s) Semi-finals
22 January 1957
29 January 1957
5 February 1957
Final
12 February 1957 Selected songwriter(s) Reynell Wreford
Alan Stranks | ||
The United Kingdom took part in the Eurovision Song Contest for the first time in 1957. The country was represented by Patricia Bredin with the song "All" written by Reynell Wreford and Alan Stranks. The entry was chosen during a national final called A Song for Europe. The United Kingdom actually wanted to take part in the first Eurovision Song Contest in 1956, but was disqualified because the entries were submitted too late.
Contents
A Song for Europe 1957
The national final was held over four stages - three semi finals and a grand final. All shows were presented by David Jacobs, who would host many other British national finals the following years. Seven singers presented one song each in the first two semi finals, in the third semi final, five songs took part. Most of the song titles in the heats got lost and so did the results. The tables below contain the information that is still known. Two songs in each heat went forward to the national final, where every song was presented twice by two different artists and with a different arrangement. Except of the song "Once", the first performance was by the singer who performed it in the semi final, the second performance was with one exception by artists who had not taken part in the heats. At the end of the show, a jury voted for the best song, which was "All". After the show, the BBC has internally chosen Patricia Bredin to perform the song in Frankfurt.
Commercial success
Patricia Bredin has never recorded the song and it was therefore also never released as a single. Neither reached any of the songs the UK single charts despite the popularity of some of the contestants.
At Eurovision
At the Eurovision Song Contest, Patricia Bredin delivered an operatic performance of "All", performing third that night following Luxembourg with "Amours mortes (tant de peine)" and preceding Italy with "Corde della mia chitarra". At the close of voting, the United Kingdom had received six points and finished seventh among the ten countries. However, the United Kingdom had received points from five of the nine other countries, which means more than half of them. It would take the United Kingdom until 1978 not to finish in the first half of the scoreboard again.
Voting
Every country had a jury of ten people. Every jury member could give one point to his or her favourite song.