One of my triumphs in my career was winning Eurovision (as the Boss in 1997 - it took me three years!) after which the BBC kindly allowed me to choose the city to host the 1998 show and I chose Birmingham after my first choice - Belfast - was rejected for security reasons. As a result the city had a great month with thousands of visitors and global broadcasters bringing millions of pounds to the restaurants, hotels, transport and retailers. Watching the Games open reminded me of that - and seeing Tom Daley open them reminded me of Frankie Boyles' joke that he looked as though he'd been created "from Jonathan King's imagination" which I took not as an insult but as a compliment.

I can't believe that the bbc would let you choose the venue. I wonder who makes the choice next year. My vote would be for either Leeds or Manchester. Leeds is the city of culture next year and the First Direct arena rivals the o2 in capacity. Leeds has never hosted Eurovision, a commonwealth games, or a World cup game, so it is about time they had their time in the spotlight.

As for Manchester, it has the UK's biggest indoor arena, in the Manchester Arena, and hosting the event there would send a message to the world that we are not going to be defeated by terrorism.

robbiex wrote:
I can't believe that the bbc would let you choose the venue. I wonder who makes the choice next year. My vote would be for either Leeds or Manchester. Leeds is the city of culture next year and the First Direct arena rivals the o2 in capacity. Leeds has never hosted Eurovision, a commonwealth games, or a World cup game, so it is about time they had their time in the spotlight.

As for Manchester, it has the UK's biggest indoor arena, in the Manchester Arena, and hosting the event there would send a message to the world that we are not going to be defeated by terrorism.

It all depends on the brown envelopes and how political the organiser's want it to be. Eurovision gets more political each years hence the crappie odds for Ukraine.

I still think London will get it. I have no idea what's so attractive about London.