I asked David Liddiment to let me take over two institutions I felt needed saving in the middle 90s - Eurovision and Top of the Pops.

He let me have Eurovision and, sure enough, I managed to get the UK a winner in 1997 but more than that I sent the ratings soaring upwards and stopped Yentob cancelling UK involvement.

The BBC, however, decided to revive Top of the Pops themselves and the sad demise of it shows what happens when BBC executives rule a world they do not understand.

I'm afraid the same has now happened to Eurovision. They sat around a table, realised the last time it worked was when they brought in a music expert outsider, and appointed Andrew. But he's not a pop music person. He's a theatrical person.

I love him dearly. We've been friends for 45 years and remain so.

But I don't think he's the right person. Never mind. Let's keep our fingers crossed and wait and see.

Lord Webber does know how to write very popular and memorable songs, though.

I have just seen the official video by Sir Andrew and it is a disgrace, so I refuse to even put a link up to it.
The idea that somebody at the BBC still thinks that we have an empire after all the dreadful insults delivered on our young people abroad during the troubles and that this pompous man can sit there in front of a flag as Land of Hope and Glory plays in the background acting as the "Royal bard" is beyond jokey entertainment it is pure nausea.

Heaven help us as a nation of liscence payers.

The answer for those frustrated by UK Eurovision rejection is the route I took last year - enter for another country.

But after Norway, Iceland and France all rejected my entry (What's A Girl To Do? - search for it on You Tube), I decided not to bother this year.

We just have re -read the rules and the UK have broken many of them already, I agree, enter for another country, it`s that simple.

The major rule break is that "everyone is entitled to send in a song for their country" and there are clear instructions on how to do this.
What has happened here, is that this rule has been broken by a big brother arrogant voice and corporation, declaring, "don`t bother, we`ve sorted it out".

This is an illegal move, as the receival date for demos of songs etc, has not been reached yet and the BBC can move this cut off point forward, they are a public broadcasting service and cannot do this cheating behaviour. Everybody is entitled to enter a song at this stage.

Ignore their move and announcement and bombard the royal bard with demos.

Ask any Eurovision fan why the UK won in 1997 and the answer is 2 words - Jonathan King. We remember the years before, of building up better and better entries, of giving away free sample cds (which are still cherished by fans and change hands at huge cost), of high standard songs.

Is Stalin around these days? History seems to have been rewritten, leaving King's name out. I'm sure he doesn't care but it explains why we have done so badly since he stopped.

i dont really understand the rules of this contest but from what i am reading on this message board i dont think that i will support the uk next year

I thought the UK won in 1997 because Kimberley Rew wrote a good song which was well performed by Katrina and the Waves, and voted for by the public.

Surely if Fred Bloggs had been in control of the contest that would all still have happened.

You're absolutely right Denise and I think that is the answer - what encourages people like Kim to write and enter Eurovision?

The answer must be the atmosphere surrounding the contest, the previous entries, the excitement of it - and the creation of that is the crucial ingredient.

My decision was that it was unlikely any one person can or will write a hit to order (when did Andrew - or myself for example - last write a hit? Indeed, when did Kim, before Love Shine A Light? The answer there was Walking On Sunshine, years earlier).

So I opened up the contest to as many as possible and encouraged everyone to enter.

And called people and asked and begged - for example the three Steves on Just A Little Bit, the year before, where we only came 8th but got a global No1.

I think that was my contribution. The Beeb's approach, to narrow it down, is the opposite one. It may work; it may not.

Funnily enough I think Peter Kay would have been a better choice than Andrew - Peter appears to work in a similar way to me (find a hit or create a hit - as with Tony Christe and Gary Barlow).

Just as a slightly offbeat thought .. wondering about good and quirky songwriters ..

whatever happened to B A Robertson?
He wrote some very enjoyable songs.

I could imagine him coming up with a winning Euro entry.

Mart (whoever he is), is correct, the BBC have broken their own rules using "public broadcasting" (two very key words) , by not consulting their paying public, on the changes being made to a long running show.

They have also used public money to make an advert for an up and coming show, which also breaks their own original charter of rules.

If Sky TV had made this move, it would be completely within their rights to do so,(as they are self funded) but the BBC do not have the right to select for a public contest at this stage, in the form of a songwriter in this way, although they do have the right to make a selective programmed show.

Anita wrote:
...i dont think that i will support the uk next year

Me neither.

I don't think Lloyd Webber is a good choice at all but what winds me up most about this is the way it's being done. I hated those two series hosted by Graham Norton searching for cast members for Webber productions. I was violently opposed to them... why were the BBC giving Webber endless free publicity for productions he could cast with an unknown winner who I'm sure could be paid less than a more experienced one? A month or so ago, I cheered when Webber said they wouldn't do another one next year... and now we know why.

Turning the Song For Europe into a drossy TV show with that particular format is a lousy idea and I think it's wrong that TV Licence payers will be giving Lloyd Webber pocket money for this when he has more money than anyone could ever imagine. The way the BBC are acting and treating all of this, breaking the rules and denying everyone the right to submit an entry...

I think the time has come for me to boycott not just the Eurovision but the TV Licence as well. I'm sick of my money being squandered on endless bad TV and going into the pockets of over paid people.

Cheat!! That

we can all just wait and rub our hands in glee, when all that effort results in finishing 20th thanks to 10 points from Ireland and 6 from Malta and the BBC blaming it on Iraq/Politics (ignoring the fact Israel got in the first 10)

Well , a shockingly long thread as I expected on this site on this subject and to think that people allegedly do not care about Eurovision anymore?

If we are going through a selection process in the UK, the public deserve the right to pick the song and not only the singer.

Hello Tipsheet Gurus.

I have read the words that you have written with interest and feel that if the BBC are going down this route with the wonderful Sir Andrew, should not a lyricist be appointed also via the same method as the auditions for the singers and performers?

I do hope that I have not intruded , but I do think that I have a valid point.

I think ALW will end up with something like "You stayed away too long" which was a Don Black composition on the tipsheet that JK kindly put in to the 1997 song for europe.

I loved what a guy on the radio said earlier, "what`s he going to do? Write a load of songs and pick one by the best writer?"

Despite all our combined wordiness on this subject, that one liner sums up the arrogance of this decision.

Does this move smack of desperation?