Belgium was represented by

Bob Benny Bob Benny (18 May 1926 – 29 March 2011), born Emilius Wagemans, was a Belgian singer and musical theatre performer, who participated in the Eurovision Song Contests of 1959 and 1961. Early career Benny began his singing career at the end of W ...

, with the song "September, gouden roos", at the

1961 Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest 1961 was the 6th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. Once again, the contest was held in the French seaside city of Cannes, having also hosted the . Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and ho ...

, which took place on 18 March in

Cannes Cannes ( , , ; oc, Canas) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a communes of France, commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions I ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. The song was chosen in the national final on 29 February. Benny had previously represented Belgium in the 1959 contest. Future Belgian entrant

Jacques Raymond Jacques Raymond (born Jozef Remon on 13 October 1938) is a Belgian singer. He represented Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest 1963 with the Dutch song "Waarom?". In the Eurovision Song Contest 1971, 1971 Eurovision Song Contest, he teamed u ...

(

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Cov ...

and

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses ( February 25, July 22 and August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 10, and August 6). The world population increased by 2.1% this year, the highest increase in history. Events Ja ...

) finished runner-up in the final.

Before Eurovision

Finale van de Belgische Bijdrage tot het Songfestival

''Finale van de Belgische Bijdrage tot het Songfestival'' was the national final format developed by BRT in order to select Belgium's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 1961. The competition was held on 29 February 1961 at the Amerikaans Theater in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

and hosted by Aimée De Smet.

Competing entries

BRT BRT may refer to: Transportation * Block register territory, a method for dispatching trains * British Rail Telecommunications * Brookhaven Rail Terminal * Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company, a former transit holding company in New York City * Bro ...

opened a submission period for artists and composers to submit their songs. 381 entries were submitted, from which the broadcaster selected 6 for the contest. Among the participants were Louis Neefs and Rina Pia; however, they withdrew their songs from the contest due to the fact that they thought that their songs were "not that good to perform". Ultimately, they were replaced with Luc Van Hoeselt and Enny Denita.

Final

The national final was held on 29 February 1961 at 21:00 CET at the Amerikaans Theater in Brussels and hosted by Aimée De Smet. Six songs took part with the winner being chosen by an "expert" jury. It is not known by what system the songs were scored.

At Eurovision

On the night of the final

performed 11th in the running order, following

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

and preceding

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. At the close of the voting "September, gouden roos" had received only 1 point (from

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

), placing Belgium joint last (with

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

) of the 16 competing entries. The Belgian jury split its 10 points between Norway (5),

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

(4) and the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

(1).

Voting

Every country had a jury of ten people. Every jury member could give one point to his or her favourite song.

Trivia

* According to Dutch newspaper ''Het vrije volk'', conductor

Francis Bay Francis Bay (27 December 1914 – 24 April 2005) was a Belgian conductor. Born as Frans Bayezt, he conducted many Belgian entries in the Eurovision Song Contest and had his own Big band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of mus ...

was not happy that Belgium didn't receive a single point from the Dutch juries, while the French-speaking countries were "forming a block" according to him. He proposed to set up a voting block with the Netherlands and the Scandinavian countries.

References

{{Eurovision Song Contest 1961

1961 Events January * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba ( Cuba–United States relations are restored in 2015). ** Aero Flight 311 ...

Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 1961

Eurovision The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...