The 1960s
Sandie Shaw performs 'Puppet on a String' in Vienna.
The Eurovision Song Contest grew more glamourous and exciting in the 1960s as more countries became involved and
European superstars, including Cliff Richard and Nana Mouskouri, took the stage. The list of participating countries grew to 16 by the end of the decade, peaking at 18 in 1955 and 1966. This also resulted in more popular hits, like Congratulations and the barefootsung Puppet On A String, both representing the United Kingdom. The latter winning song by Sandie Shaw won with one of the largest margins ever witnessed in the history of the Eurovision Song Contest. The song gathered more than twice as many votes as the runner-up, Ireland. But not only the juries were charmed by Sandie Shaw's song, it became a huge success all over Europe and is nowadays remembered as one of the big successes that arose from the Eurovision Song Contest.
Starting in 1962 one Saturday every year became the day when families sit down to cheer for their own country, watch and finally see which song is voted to win the Grand Prix. The growing competition between participants led to the record-breaking four winners in 1969 when France, the Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom all got 18 points. Since there was no solution for this situation, all four countries were declared winners. Luckily, there were enough medals available for the winning singers - the medals were intended for the winning singer and three winning songwriters.
However, having four winners caused lots of criticism from the media and several TV stations reconsidered participating in the following Eurovision Song Contest. The 1969 Eurovision Song Contest had still attracted 16 countries, but the number went down to only 12 in the 1970 contest.
For the first time in history, the Eurovision Song Contest was broadcast not only by the European Broadcasting Union, but also by Intervision, its eastern European counterpart in 1965 which lead to the great popularity of the contest in these countries.
The Eurovision Song Contest also saw technical improvements this decade. France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom broadcast the 1968 contest in colour, despite the fact that very few TV viewers owned colour TV sets. However, colour was here to stay and all song contests since then have been broadcast primarily in colour
European superstars, including Cliff Richard and Nana Mouskouri, took the stage. The list of participating countries grew to 16 by the end of the decade, peaking at 18 in 1955 and 1966. This also resulted in more popular hits, like Congratulations and the barefootsung Puppet On A String, both representing the United Kingdom. The latter winning song by Sandie Shaw won with one of the largest margins ever witnessed in the history of the Eurovision Song Contest. The song gathered more than twice as many votes as the runner-up, Ireland. But not only the juries were charmed by Sandie Shaw's song, it became a huge success all over Europe and is nowadays remembered as one of the big successes that arose from the Eurovision Song Contest.
Starting in 1962 one Saturday every year became the day when families sit down to cheer for their own country, watch and finally see which song is voted to win the Grand Prix. The growing competition between participants led to the record-breaking four winners in 1969 when France, the Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom all got 18 points. Since there was no solution for this situation, all four countries were declared winners. Luckily, there were enough medals available for the winning singers - the medals were intended for the winning singer and three winning songwriters.
However, having four winners caused lots of criticism from the media and several TV stations reconsidered participating in the following Eurovision Song Contest. The 1969 Eurovision Song Contest had still attracted 16 countries, but the number went down to only 12 in the 1970 contest.
For the first time in history, the Eurovision Song Contest was broadcast not only by the European Broadcasting Union, but also by Intervision, its eastern European counterpart in 1965 which lead to the great popularity of the contest in these countries.
The Eurovision Song Contest also saw technical improvements this decade. France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom broadcast the 1968 contest in colour, despite the fact that very few TV viewers owned colour TV sets. However, colour was here to stay and all song contests since then have been broadcast primarily in colour