#BIRTHDAY: Ovidijus Vyšniauskas from Lithuania is 66 today Not so long ago, eyebrows were raised when our favourite TV show was extended to 25 countries. Can you imagine that? A one-night spectacular with 25 songs. That would be seen as piffling these days. Of course, where there are […]
#BIRTHDAY: Kostas Bigalis from Greece is 70 today Do you remember the 1990s? It was the decade of change, when our favourite TV show went from being something nice and cosy and light entertainment, to something far more bloodbath-like. And Ireland won a lot. In one of those […]
#BIRTHDAY: Evridiki from Cyprus is 55 today You have to admire those that keep coming back time after time. The first couple of times, you sing a song written by your fiancé/husband. The third time, you don’t. It’s a story as old as time. Today’s birthday girl Ευρυδίκη […]
#BIRTHDAY: William Mangion from Malta is 64 today There are some special contests where things change. 1971 was one instance (previews started). 2004 was another (semi-finals). But perhaps one of the most important was 1993. The EBU had started to embrace those further east places that wanted to […]
#BIRTHDAY: Sigga from Iceland is 60 today It’s repeat offender time again. You know the sort – They have a good/bad/indifferent result when they take part a first time. They get the bug and come back again. Repeat as necessary. Today’s birthday girl Sigga (née Sigríður Beinteinsdóttir) appeared […]
#BIRTHDAY: Petra Frey from Austria is 44 today Sometimes when we’re picking a birthday song, it makes us feel old. I’ve been watching contests since 19xx so have seen a few acts in my time. And some of them are a lot older now than I thought they […]
#BIRTHDAY: Sara Tavares from Portugal is 44 today We’re another month nearer to our favourite TV show. Countries are starting to pick songs, and we’re all looking forward to going to Turin and seeing what it has to offer. Will it be all out fun like Rotterdam or […]
#BIRTHDAY: Youddiph from Russia is 49 today Début entries? Don’t you love them? That new country comes along with high hopes of success. They maybe can’t believe they’re mixing it with some of these countries that have participated since 1893. Of course, there was an experiment in 1993 […]
#BIRTHDAY: Friderika Bayer from Hungary is 50 today It’s always tricky to be your country’s début entry. Now before you correct me, it is debatable whether today’s birthday girl was her country’s first entrant. But let’s go with it for now. Picture that first time your country was […]
#BIRTHDAY: Alejandro Abad from Spain is 59 today You know that our favourite TV show is a contest for songwriters? They should – arguably – be getting top billing on their songs, as they’re the ones who’ve carefully crafted a masterpiece for our listening pleasure. But songwriters have […]