h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: The Eurovision Song Contest 1956 - present - A22080368
Author: bewilderingcazzaw - U6872388

All about the annual music event which has become something of an institution across Europe.

Hi bc - good to see you back in Peer Review

This is an epic, and I'll read it in detail when I get a moment.

Two things:

We already have a ESC entry, but it's minimal compared to this - see A174142. I'm not sure whether this should just be a straight replacement rather than an update (Eds?)

Also, you've covered it very much from a UK viewers perspective - maybe this should be reflected in the title?

Icy

This is a good piece of work, but I think it would make more sense to combine it with the existing Edited Entry - there's definitely some overlap.

Alex

I reckon this is really good, and could replace the existing entry entirely, providing it covers the same ground. A quick comparison suggests that the language rules and public voting are missing.

It could do with some links. A lot of those countries must be covered in the guide.

Did the UK and Ireland not always give each other high marks? And of course the UK and France did the opposite. Political voting is not just voting for your neighbours though, I seem to remember someone (Yugoslavia in 1989 perhaps) getting the post-war sympathy vote.

Re the Jemini disaster, was it ever proven whether the organisers deliberately sabotaged the sound? It always struck me as odd that they were so badly out of tune, unless they couldn't hear themselves.

The title "We are the winners" is I think a reference to a comedy entry from last year - probably worth saying so as a footnote.

I'd like to see some mention of the expected music style, i.e. deliberately bad and very cheesy, with an obligatory key-change in the middle to relieve the monotony. I think some countries have deviated somewhat recently and started to take the p**s - hence the aforementioned comedy songs and Lordi's win last year.

I agree with Dave - it's a great read

Nitpicks:

Sounds like a pretty poor estimate to me. Is this the best they can do?

I didn't know it was carried outside Europe. Where else do they watch it?

You don't mention the other two

Three countries, two years - are we missing one?

"revealed she was actually only 13"

I'd put and in italics throughout, and song titles in single quotes ' throughout

I love this quote!

"given the number of Eurovision fans"

Icy

I enjoyed this a lot, Eurovision nut that I am . If this *is* going to be from a 'british' perspective can I request some Terryisms?

I think Lordi definitely needs a mention unless I missed it.

I had a few other points, but I'll have to come back later!

Firstly, song titles need to be in single quote marks.

Secondly, I'd suggest making the title 'The Eurovision Song Contest 1956 - 2006' or 'The Eurovision Song Contest: The First 50 Years' because 'present' is dependent on when you're reading the entry. Unless, of course, you plan on updating every year, in which case it's fine.

"With its reputation for camp songs, nonsensical lyrics, political voting and less than complimentary commentary from Terry Wogan". The TW commentary only applies in the UK. In other countries it would not have a reputation for that.


"with an estimated 100-600m people tuning in" I agree, is there a better estimate?

"This feature" -> "This entry"?

"all-singing-all-dancing" -> "all-singing, all-dancing"

"The voting system reverted to the more traditional ‘countries giving between one and 12 points to their favourites’ in 1976." I'm not sure you need the speech marks.

"Long-time participants Germany, Yugoslavia and Belgium scored their only ever victories, in 1982 and 1986 respectively," That's three winning countries but only two years. Was there a draw?
"(Ball later went on to say he would rather “stick pins in his eyes” than take part in Eurovision again)" That needs to be in single quote marks please.

"Controversy reigned in 1998, meanwhile, with Israeli entrant Dana International, after it became apparent she was actually a post-op transsexual who was born plain old Yaron Cohen in Tel Aviv. She went on to give the country its third victory.

The decade’s other main controversy came in 1991"

I think it's a little strange that you mention the first controversy second. Is there a reason for that?


"hating the UK on account of the Iraq war" -> perhaps "hating the UK on account of its involvement in the Iraq War"?

"and indeed there are some who are suggesting it is still a contributory factor to the UK’s lack of success in the contest recently" - recently is also a term that will vary depending on when it's being read - perhaps "in subsequent years"?

"Last year’s winners Finland" - Ditto. "2006 winners Finland"

"Given that this was the first year of the ‘semi-final’" - could you explain what the semi-final was?

One final thing: perhaps it would be worth mentioning that the competition winners get to hold the next year's event in their country?

Great entry!

Also, your footnotes don't all have capital letters and full-stops.

This is an excellent entry. Why do you call it 1956 - present? Why not just "The European Song Contest"?

Some house rule stuff:

Your dates should be in the format 1 May, 2007.

Footnotes should come before the final full stop of a sentence, or before a comma, not after a comma.

Footnotes should themselves end with a full stop, just before the .

G

"Why not just "The European Song Contest"?"

If you call it that, G, it will get out of date pretty quickly, though.

I did of course mean to type "Eurovision" rather than "European". But if it is "1956 - present", then it will be immediately out of date anyway.

The Update process is very fast now, anyway. If it was a case of adding a paragraph or two every year, I think we would be able to handle that

True. My suggestion was to make it 1956-2006, but updating it would work.

Possibly: "Fifty Years of Eurovision"?

Are you coming back to this, bewilderingcazzaw? It *is* a great Entry



GB

That would work, yes.

I am curious about how the songs are chosen. Does each television station who is a member run a competition or do they use scouts to just pick someone?

I watched the competition in Australia where it is a major source of wonder.

I can only imagine, it helps if you're a friend or relative of the producer.

Wow, not been in PR for ages and find a gem!

Really enjoyed this, with my hat on I would add to the comments made above that

* there needs to be some reference to language. Presenters traditionally present in English and French (and sometimes native tongue as well). And wasn't there a rule that songs had to be in native tongue until very recently? (this IMHO is what will stop the UK ever winning again - we no longer have the advantage of singing in English) Performers sometimes re-recorded their songs in other languages for marketing, which is how Nicole (Germany, 1983 I think) was able to sing her winning song in other languages (very impressively) when she did her reprise.

* there *really* needs to be a reference to the winner-hosts-next-year rule. This nearly bankrupted Ireland, although I'm not sure I buy the theory that the country then deliberately entered rubbish songs to avoid the cost of hosting it again. However, Ireland produced some of the best half-time entertainment we've ever seen: "Don't Go" by Hothouse Flowers, and of course the sensational premiere of traditional arms-free Irish dancing. Well, it might not have been the premiere; but it was international exposure and it certainly had an impact.

* it's worth mentioning the increased use of telephone voting in recent years, a big change from panel voting. And I think you need to explain the semi-final, and the Rules (ie, even though Jemini were rubbish and came last, the UK wasn't relegated, because they pay too much money).

Can somebody remind me why Dana being a post-op transsexual was controversial? Am I just too broad-minded?

But this really is a great entry, well done

Mol

This is an excellent entry, very detailed and thorough but it reads really well. Still working on it?