TheEurovision Song Contest 1968 was the 13th edition of theEurovision Song Contest, held on 6 April 1968 at theRoyal Albert Hall inLondon, United Kingdom, and presented byKatie Boyle. It was organised by theEuropean Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster theBritish Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), who staged the event after winning the1967 contest for theUnited Kingdom with the song "Puppet on a String" bySandie Shaw. Despite being the UK's first win at the contest, it was actually the third time that the BBC had hosted the competition, having previously done so in1960 and1963, both of which also took place in London and were presented by Katie Boyle. It was the first time the event was broadcast in colour. Broadcasters from seventeen countries participated in the contest, the same countries that had participated the previous year.
The winner wasSpain with the song "La La La" byMassiel, and written/composed by Manuel de la Calva and Ramón Arcusa. This was Spain's first victory - and their first ever top five placing - in the contest.
Royal Albert Hall, London - host venue of the 1968 contest.
TheBritish Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) staged the 1968 contest inLondon, after winning the1967 contest for theUnited Kingdom with the song "Puppet on a String" bySandie Shaw. The venue selected was theRoyal Albert Hall. This concert hall is known for hosting the world's leading artists from several performance genres, sports, award ceremonies, the annual summerProms concerts and other events since its opening in 1871, and has become one of the United Kingdom's most treasured and distinctive buildings. At the time of the contest in 1968, the venue had a capacity of 7,000 seats.[1]
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Eurovision Song Contest 1968 – Participation summaries by country
Broadcasters from seventeen countries participated in the 1968 contest, the same countries that had participated in 1967.[2]
The contest featured one representative who had previously performed as lead artists for the same country.Isabelle Aubret had won Eurovision forFrance in 1962.
Originally Spanish broadcasterTelevisión Española (TVE) enteredJoan Manuel Serrat to sing "La La La", but after he demanded to sing the song in Catalan at the contest, Massiel, who was on tour in Mexico, was brought in as a late replacement. In just two weeks, she had to rush back to Spain, learn the song, record it in several languages, travel to Paris to get a dress and go to London for rehearsals. She sang the song in the contest in Spanish with a new arrangement made to fit her. In her winning reprise, she performed part of her song in English, in addition to the original version, becoming the first winner to do so.[2][3] The Norwegian national selection,Melodi Grand Prix 1968, ended with the song "Jeg har aldri vært så glad i noen som deg" winning performed by bothKirsti Sparboe andOdd Børre. However the composer,Kari Diesen withdrew the song due to receiving multiple accusations of plagiarism of the song "Summer Holiday" byCliff Richard.[4][5]Norsk rikskringkasting (NRK) internally selected the runner-up song in the selection, "Stress" to participate in the contest instead, and Odd Børre was chosen as the singer.
1968 was the first time that the Eurovision Song Contest was broadcast in colour.[1] The countries that broadcast it in colour were France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland, Sweden and the United Kingdom, although in the UK it was broadcast as an encore presentation in colour onBBC Two the next day. Many Eastern European countries as well as Tunisia broadcast the contest.
Prior to the contest, the bookmakers were sure of another British victory, as the English singerCliff Richard, who was already dominating the music charts at that time, was hotly tipped as the favourite to win, but in the end he lost out to Spain's song by a margin of just one vote.
Each participating broadcaster appointed a spokesperson who was responsible for announcing the votes for its respective country via telephone. Known spokespersons at the 1968 contest are listed below.
Due to a misunderstanding by the hostess, Katie Boyle, Switzerland was erroneously awarded 3 votes by Yugoslavia, instead of 2. The scrutineer asked for the Yugoslav votes to be announced a second time.
Each participating broadcaster was required to relay the contest via its networks. Non-participating EBU member broadcasters were also able to relay the contest as "passive participants". Broadcasters were able to send commentators to provide coverage of the contest in their own native language and to relay information about the artists and songs to their television viewers.[15] In addition to the participating countries, the contest was also reportedly broadcast in Tunisia, and in Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania and the Soviet Union viaIntervision, with an estimated global audience of between 150 and 200 million.[16][17][18]
Known details on the broadcasts in each country, including the specific broadcasting stations and commentators are shown in the tables below.
Broadcasters and commentators in participating countries
^abRené-Roger (9 April 1968). "La chanson espagnole triomphe devant 200 millions de spectateurs" [Spanish song triumphs in front of 200 million spectators].La Croix (in French). p. 3.ISSN0242-6056.OCLC1367977519.
^abcRoxburgh, Gordon (2012).Songs for Europe: The United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest. Volume One: The 1950s and 1960s. Prestatyn:Telos Publishing. pp. 454–470.ISBN978-1-84583-065-6.
^Thorsson, Leif; Verhage, Martin (2006).Melodifestivalen genom tiderna : de svenska uttagningarna och internationella finalerna [Melodifestivalen through the ages: the Swedish selections and international final] (in Swedish). Stockholm: Premium Publishing. pp. 74–75.ISBN91-89136-29-2.
^ab"Programmes radio – lundi 8 avril" [Radio programmes – Saturday 8 April].Radio TV – Je vois tout (in French). Vol. 46, no. 14. Lausanne, Switzerland. 4 April 1968. pp. 56–57. Retrieved3 January 2023 – via Scriptorium.
^ab"Eurovision Song Contest – BBC1".Radio Times. London, United Kingdom. 6 April 1968.Archived from the original on 3 January 2023. Retrieved3 January 2023 – via BBC Genome Project.
^"as Radio 2 – BBC Radio 1".Radio Times. London, United Kingdom. 6 April 1968.Archived from the original on 3 January 2025. Retrieved2 January 2025 – via BBC Genome Project.
^Roxburgh, Gordon (2014).Songs for Europe: The United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest. Volume Two: The 1970s. Prestatyn:Telos Publishing. pp. 370–372.ISBN978-1-84583-093-9.
^"Sobota" [Saturday].Týdeník Československé televize (in Czech). No. 14.Prague, Czechoslovakia. 1 April 1968. p. 8. Retrieved9 March 2025 – viaArcanum Newspapers.
^"TV – szombat IV.6" [TV – Saturday IV.6].Rádió– és Televízióújság (in Hungarian). Vol. 13, no. 14.Budapest, Hungary. 1 April 1968. p. 13. Retrieved15 February 2025 – via Nemzeti Archívum.
^"Eurovíziós dalfesztivál" [Eurovision Song Contest].Magyar Ifjúság [hu] (in Hungarian). Vol. 12, no. 14.Budapest, Hungary. 3 April 1968. p. 15. Retrieved27 April 2025 – viaArcanum Newspapers.A többit majd meglátjuk, hiszen a Magyar Televízió is átveszi az adást: egyenes adásban számol be a londoni könynyűzenei eseményről. A kommentátor Kalmár András lesz. [We'll see the rest later, as Hungarian Television will also take over the broadcast: it will report live on the London light music event. The commentator will be András Kalmár.]
