More countries pull out... we can't afford the £80,000 entry fee, they whine.

My God if countries now can't afford £80K, the world is indeed in financial trouble (something I've never believed - it's all a media "great story").

Tell you what - sell me the Eurovision rights for £1 and I'll take it over and make millions.

I did seriously offer the BBC to buy the hosting off them in 1998 when the tabloids whinged about the cost. "You're joking", they replied, "we'll make a fortune from it".

Let alone restaurants, hotels and shops in Birmingham. Car hire, sponsors, goody bags - it's a goldmine. Always was, always will be.

Well if there had been no Eurovision, ABBA probably wouldn't have become famous in 1974, publishing royalties that flowed from that would have been minimal, and then who knows, the JK9000 Roller might have been Vauxhall Cavalier instead !

But seriously, the Eurovision Song Contest has been a monumental joke for over thirty years and it's about time it was put to bed. Also, without the slightly inebriated humour of El Tel, it's not even funny any more.

It's a TV show. Millions love it. What more reason to keep it? Tweak it - yes.

As Eurovision is (supposedly) a song contest, I always thought it would be better suited to radio, where you can judge the song rather than the performance.

Apart from Abba, what other lasting stars has it ever produced? Didn't Johnny Logan win it 3 times - and where is his career these days? (big in Scandinavia, apparently).

Seriously, never watch it (it goes on for days !) and never will, but its mildly inoffensive and the masses need something, dont they?

You forgot Brotherhood of Man and Buck's Fizz.

Scruffy Man from Dorking wrote:
You forgot Brotherhood of Man and Buck's Fizz.

Hadn't both had chart hits prior to Eurovision?
I know the line-up to Brotherhood of Man was different, but I remember a hit of their before Eurovision.

In The Know wrote:


Hadn't both had chart hits prior to Eurovision?
I know the line-up to Brotherhood of Man was different, but I remember a hit of their before Eurovision.

Bucks Fizz didn't exist before Eurovision.

Brotherhood of Man last had a hit about 5 years before Eurovision, and as you say that was under a different line up. I think it's pretty safe to say Eurovision was responsible for their success post 1975.