Mention The Eurovision Song Contest to most people and you will probably be
met by a sneer or a patronising smile of the type newscasters adopt when they
read the words "and finally…". Yet millions adore it, watch it, have parties
based around it and regard it as the ultimate guilty pleasure. It is now the
most-watched entertainment programme on the planet.

Eurovision updates us on the important things of life; media, music,
cultures, populism, costumes, hairstyles. The voting patterns not only reflect
but anticipate political alliances and tensions. It is taken seriously enough
for Iran to recall its ambassador to Azerbaijan last year, in protest at the
accommodation shown by the Baku for Eurovision’s gay followers. The winning
single can earn billions. It is a phenomenal live technical achievement. I think
it is the crucial event of the year.

I didn’t always like it. As a teenager, I liked The Allisons’ 1961 UK entry
Are You Sure? It got to No2 in the British chart and also made #2 in Eurovision.
As a Sixties pop star I’d dated our 1967 winner Sandie Shaw (‘Puppet On A
String’) and our 1969 champ Lulu (‘Boom Bang-A-Bang’) but I most enjoyed the
1974 contest as my secretary Carole had picked up the publishing for the Swedish
entry, a song called Waterloo by Abba. We publish them still.

This global TV show, with 126 million viewers every year, ought to break
talent. Even if acts like Bucks Fizz and Brotherhood of Man didn't climb the
heights of musical art, I argued, they would at least be noticed everywhere -
and, if they deserved it (as Abba did) it could kickstart a career. Celine Dion,
looking absurd in her unfashionable outfit, won for Switzerland in 1988. Check
her out on YouTube. It boggles the eyes - but her superb voice is clearly
anticipating her future stardom. The number of entries has mushroomed along with
the number of European countries, but Eurovision has evolved - and is stronger
than ever.

That makes it all the more puzzling why Britain, which is as good as making
popular music as France is at making wine, should struggle so much now. Three
times this century we’ve come last. Our entry this year is Bonnie Tyler - a good
singer with, unfortunately, an average song. Considering the efforts other
countries put into their search for an entry (Sweden now consults foreign voting
panels, to sample international appeal) we don’t stand much chance. Not would we
expect to, under a system where the BBC finds a song and hopes for the best.

But we have been in the doldrums before. In 1993 the BBC named David
Liddiment as its Head of Light Entertainment and over breakfast in his home city
of Manchester I asked him to let me take charge of two flagging shows that
urgently needed revival - Top of the Pops and Eurovision. We had then had 14
years of flagging ratings. I'd heard that the BBC1 Controller at the time, Alan
Yentob, hated Eurovision and wanted to drop it. David asked me to save it.

In my first year, 1995, we tried to find a hit that would attract the young
and different cultures. We were delighted whenLove City Groove by a mixed race
band reached No7 in the UK charts and became the most played track in Eurovision
week on Kiss-FM. Whilst it only came tenth it boosted interest in the
competition, to the fury of Yentob. Although he congratulated me in his office
on the great ratings, a fuming Yentob is not a pretty sight.

In 1996 I set out to win and put together the track which I still, to this
day, consider the ultimate Eurovision entry.Just A Little Bit by Gina G went to
No1, became a huge global hit - including in America - but finished 8th in the
contest. I quit, disillusioned. But Mike Leggo, a friend who had taken over
Light Entertainment, persuaded me to stay.

We looked at where we'd gone wrong. Gina G was not a great performer; TV is
a visual medium. We needed more than just an instantly catchy song; it had to
have a charismatic singer. We found Katrina, who I'd supported with Walking On
Sunshine. In 1997 her song - Love Shine A Light - won by the biggest margin in
Eurovision history. But in 2003, Britain had made history yet again with
Jemini’s Cry Baby. It was the first song no points by anyone, and we have made
pretty poor progress since.

You can argue that it doesn’t matter: that for Britain is always engaged in
- and winning - a global music contest. For five of the last six years, the
world’s best selling albums have come from our shores. We’re the country of
Adele, the Mumford Brothers and One Direction (who made four of America’s top
five albums of 2012). We’re also the country of X-Factor talent contests, which
throw up improbable talents like Susan Boyle. And before you laugh, herI Dreamed
A Dream was the world’s best-selling album in 2009. She wasn’t just a British
novelty, but a worldwide phenomenon - the type that Britain produces all the
time.

It’s fashionable, now, to dismiss the contest as a camp celebration of
Eurotrash. But the most unexpected people adore it; when I was running it I was doing a
daily national show on Talk Radio. Guests who, during commercial breaks,
admitted how much they loved it included Ken Livingstone and Tony Benn. It
continues to be a launchpad for new talent. Last year another friend, who runs
Popbitch and is a Eurovision fan, sent me a track which had been entered into
the Swedish semi final and sounded like a hit to both of us. I stuck £100 on
Sweden before they had even selected it as their entry. The £700 I won will pay
for my weekend in Malmo, as Loreen won by a landslide with ‘Euphoria’.

It is an event like no other. The host city erupts with joy. I shall enjoy
the silly, frothy, superficial celebration of eccentricity, novelty and being a
member of the human race. I shall laugh a lot, drink a bit, gasp a great deal
and hopefully make £2,200 (no clear winner, no hit entries this year but Germany
looks OK at 22-1). But I would enjoy it all the more if the UK fielded an entry
which projected even just a bit of what our brilliant young musicians can do.

Jonathan King was Executive Producer of the British Eurovision contest
1995-2000.