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| United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 1980 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eurovision Song Contest 1980 | ||||
| Participating broadcaster | British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) | |||
| Country |  United Kingdom | |||
| Selection process | A Song for Europe 1980 | |||
| Selection date | 26 March 1980 | |||
| Competing entry | ||||
| Song | "Love Enough for Two" | |||
| Artist | Prima Donna | |||
| Songwriters |
| |||
| Placement | ||||
| Final result | 3rd, 106 points | |||
| Participation chronology | ||||
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The United Kingdom was represented at theEurovision Song Contest 1980 with the song "Love Enough for Two", written byStephanie de Sykes and Stuart Slater, and performed by the groupPrima Donna. The British participating broadcaster, theBritish Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), selected its entry through a national final.
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A Song for Europe 1980 was held on 26 March 1980 at theBBC Television Theatre inLondon and was hosted byTerry Wogan. TheBBC Concert Orchestra under the direction ofJohn Coleman as conductor accompanied all the songs, but all the music was pre-recorded. 12 songs were chosen by the Music Publisher's Association.
Following his second place in the 1979 contest, songwriter Richard Gillinson was asked to submit a song to replace the disqualified entry "Tell Me" bythe New Seekers, which was eliminated two weeks before the final after the group began promoting the track before the contest.[1] Gillinson's song "Surrender" was performed by the same artist who presented his 1979 song, Kim Clark. The lead vocal of "Tell Me" was taken by New Seeker Nicola Kerr, who had been one of the 'Plus Two' who had finished 3rd forIreland in 1977.
The twelve songs were voted on by 14 regional juries, who awarded 1-12 points to each song. Each of the 11 jurors awarded 1-5 points to each song, the total scores being added up, with the song earning the most points being awarded 12 points, the second placed song earned 11, the third 10 and so on, down to 1 point for the song with the fewest votes.
The jury spokesperson could be seen on screen awarding the votes, sometimes with the jury members in vision. These were broadcast from the BBC's 14 regional news studios.
Owing to a tie break and with the live show quickly running out of time, a clearly flustered Terry Wogan, unsure of what to do in this unprecedented circumstance, returned to the 14 juries who were hastily asked to pick their favourite between songs two and five.
| Draw | Artist | Song | Songwriter(s) | Points | Tiebreak | Place |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Scramble | "Don't Throw Your Love Away" | Peter Morris | 97 | — | 6 |
| 2 | Maggie Moone | "Happy Everything" | Geoff Stephens,Don Black | 131 | 6 | 2 |
| 3 | Plain Sailing | "Easy" | Colin Stewart, Alan Stewart, Paul Stewart, Robert Freeman | 111 | — | 4 |
| 4 | Sonja Jones | "Here We'll Stay" | Tony Colton,Jean Roussell | 56 | — | 11 |
| 5 | Prima Donna | "Love Enough for Two" | Stephanie de Sykes, Stuart Slater | 131 | 8 | 1 |
| 6 | Jacqui Scott | "Symphony for You" | Johnny Goodison,Keith Mansfield | 67 | — | 8 |
| 7 | Duke and the Aces | "Love Is Alive" | Paul Curtis | 94 | — | 7 |
| 8 | Roy Winston | "Everything's All Right" | Roy Winston | 58 | — | 10 |
| 9 | Midnite | "Love Comes, Love Grows" | Gary Sulsh, Stuart Leathwood | 62 | — | 9 |
| 10 | The Main Event | "Gonna Do My Best" | Terry Bradford | 45 | — | 12 |
| 11 | Pussyfoot | "I Want to Be Me" | Mick Flinn, Mark Stevens | 111 | — | 4 |
| 12 | Kim Clark | "Surrender" | Richard Gillinson | 129 | — | 3 |
| Draw | Song | Aberdeen | Newcastle | Plymouth | Leeds | Southampton | Bangor | London | Cardiff | Birmingham | Glasgow | Belfast | Bristol | Norwich | Manchester | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Don't Throw Your Love Away" | 10 | 7 | 5 | 8 | 3 | 6 | 5 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 5 | 7 | 3 | 97 |
| 2 | "Happy Everything" | 11 | 8 | 8 | 11 | 8 | 10 | 10 | 12 | 12 | 6 | 10 | 12 | 8 | 5 | 131 |
| 3 | "Easy" | 6 | 5 | 12 | 10 | 12 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 9 | 6 | 11 | 111 |
| 4 | "Here We'll Stay" | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 10 | 3 | 2 | 8 | 8 | 5 | 4 | 56 |
| 5 | "Love Enough for Two" | 8 | 12 | 9 | 12 | 9 | 12 | 12 | 11 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 11 | 6 | 131 |
| 6 | "Symphony for You" | 5 | 10 | 10 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 11 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 67 |
| 7 | "Love Is Alive" | 7 | 11 | 11 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 2 | 9 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 10 | 7 | 94 |
| 8 | "Everything's All Right" | 2 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 10 | 2 | 8 | 58 |
| 9 | "Love Comes, Love Grows" | 4 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 8 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 9 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 62 |
| 10 | "Gonna Do My Best" | 3 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 9 | 45 |
| 11 | "I Want to Be Me" | 9 | 1 | 7 | 5 | 11 | 1 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 11 | 12 | 11 | 12 | 12 | 111 |
| 12 | "Surrender" | 12 | 9 | 4 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 9 | 5 | 11 | 12 | 11 | 7 | 9 | 10 | 129 |
| Tie-Break[1] | ||||||||||||||||
| 2 | "Happy Everything" | X | X | X | X | X | X | 6 | ||||||||
| 5 | "Love Enough for Two" | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | 8 | ||||||
| Regional jury spokespersons[1] | ||||||||||||||||
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At the Eurovision itself, "Love Enough for Two" scored 106 points and was positioned third overall. The event took place inthe Hague in the Netherlands and was won by Ireland's "What's Another Year?" byJohnny Logan.[2]
Terry Wogan provided theBBC television commentary, whilstSteve Jones provided theBBC Radio 2 commentary. Regular Eurovision radio commentatorRay Moore served as spokesperson for the UK jury. This was the start for Wogan's continuous television commentary which he would do every year until2008.[citation needed]
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