BIRTHDAY: Margot Eskens from Germany is 80 today You must have been thinking that I’m only picking the birthdays of recent performers. That is, in part, true. I know many of you have no knowledge of contests before 2000, but there was 44 of them. And, dear reader, […]
BIRTHDAY: Odd Børre from Norway is 80 today Time to look back. A long way back. Back before some of you might even have been born. But fear not, it’s in beautiful colour. If you didn’t know, the first contest in colour was in 1968. A time when […]
BIRTHDAY: Margo representing Luxembourg is 58 today I know you love a song that crosses the boundaries of our different tastes, and is something that can do no wrong. Today must fit that bill if any song can. It has almost everything. Three songwriters, of which two are […]
BIRTHDAY: Duarte Mendes from Portugal is 72 today Is Eurovision political? Is there a fine line between a political song and one that celebrates history. Where do you draw this line? Some countries have had more turbulent histories than others, and some very recently. Back in 1975, revolution […]
BIRTHDAY: Kate Gulbrandsen from Norway is 54 today We have another opener today. I always comment on how difficult it it to open a show, even if you get more access to the free bar. But you’ll never quite know how the audience will be warmed up before […]
BIRTHDAY: Jane Bogaert from Switzerland is 52 today It’s a scary fact that there will be participants in our favourite TV show who were born after 2000. Does that make you feel old? It does me. Having these people who never knew the 20th Century scares me so […]
BIRTHDAY: Jessica Mauboy from Australia is 30 today Eurovision is all about Europe. No, not quite – it includes the Mediterranean nations too. Oh, wait, there are a whole load of associate members who would be in the EBU if it wasn’t for some irksome geography. Hmmm, but […]
BIRTHDAY: Michelle from the Netherlands is 38 today Imagine the dilemma. You’re taking part in Europe’s favourite TV show. It covers dozens of languages, and you want to make yourself stand out from the crowd. You family name might not be very easy to some parts of Europe, […]
BIRTHDAY: Emma from the UK is 45 today Eurovision is mainly a young person’s game. Yes, even with the Junior version of our favourite TV show, the majority of performers at the senior even are in their teens and twenties. It must be the optimism of youth. In […]
BIRTHDAY: Ira Losco from Malta is 38 today The returning performer – oh how we love them. Except for Alexander Rybak. You must have your favourite returning performer. Or maybe there’s a performer you’d like to see come back. Like Rodolfo Chikilicuatre for example. Today’s birthday girl Ira […]