The United Kingdom held a national preselection to choose the song that would go to the

Eurovision Song Contest 1978 The Eurovision Song Contest 1978 was the 23rd edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Paris, France, following the country's victory at the with the song " L'Oiseau et l'Enfant" by Marie Myriam. Organised by the Europea ...

. It was held on Friday 31 March 1978 at the

Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London. One of the UK's most treasured and distinctive buildings, it is held in trust for the nation and managed by a registered charity which receives no govern ...

and presented by

Terry Wogan Sir Michael Terence Wogan (; 3 August 1938 – 31 January 2016) was an Irish radio and television broadcaster who worked for the BBC in the UK for most of his career. Between 1993 and his semi-retirement in December 2009, his BBC Radio 2 weekd ...

. The songs were backed by the

Alyn Ainsworth Alyn Ainsworth (24 August 1924 – 4 October 1990)
was a British musician, singer and conductor of light e ...

Orchestra. The Eurovision Song Contest was broadcast on 22 April 1978, with

providing the BBC Television commentary and Ray Moore (broadcaster), Ray Moore providing the

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 15 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the station broadcasts a wide range of content. ...

commentary.

Colin Berry Colin Derrick Berry (born 29 January 1946) is a British radio disc jockey, presenter and newsreader, best known for his many years at BBC Radio 2. Career Early years Berry began his radio career reading news on Radio Caroline in 1965. Before ...

returned to present the UK jury results.

Before Eurovision

A Song for Europe 1978

Fourteen regional juries voted on the songs: Bristol, Bangor, Leeds, Norwich, Newcastle, Aberdeen, Birmingham, Manchester, Belfast, Cardiff, Plymouth, Glasgow, Southampton and London. Each jury voted internally and ranked the songs 1–12, awarding 12 points for their highest scoring song, down to 1 point for the lowest scoring entry.

Final

"The Bad Old Days" won the national and came 11th in the contest. Broadcast on Good Friday, a national holiday in the UK, ''A Song for Europe'' was watched by 13.7 million viewers and was the 16th-most watched programme of the week - the show's highest ever rating.''Television's Greatest Hits'', Network Books,

Paul Gambaccini Paul Matthew Gambaccini (born April 2, 1949) is an American-British radio and television presenter and author in the United Kingdom. He has dual United States and British nationality, having become a British citizen in 2005. Known as "The Grea ...

and Rod Taylor, 1993. Both groups 'Co-Co' and 'Sunshine' had participated in the '' A Song for Europe 1976'' contest, albeit with different line-ups. 'Co-Co' would return to the ''

A Song for Europe A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes'' ...

'' contest in 1980 with another line-up, under the name 'The Main Event'.

Cheryl Baker Rita Maria Stroud (''née'' Crudgington; born 8 March 1954), known professionally as Cheryl Baker, is an English singer and television presenter. She was a member of 1980s pop group Bucks Fizz, who won the 1981 Eurovision Song Contest and now p ...

of 'Co-Co' would eventually win the '' Eurovision Song Contest 1981'' with the group ' Bucks Fizz'.

UK Discography

*Christian - ''Shine It On'': Polydor 2059012. *Brown Sugar - ''Oh No, Look What You've Done'': State STAT77. *Fruit Eating Bears - ''Door in My Face'': DJM DJS10857. *Jacquie Sullivan - ''Moments'': Air CHS2219. *Sunshine - ''Too Much In Love'': State STAT76. *Ronnie France - ''Lonely Nights'': Pye 7N46062. *The Jarvis Brothers - ''One Glance'': EMI EMI2777. *Co-Co - ''The Bad Old Days'': Ariola/Hansa AHA513. *Bob James - ''We Got It Bad'': Polydor 2059016. *Midnight - ''Don't Bother to Knock'': Ariola/Hansa AHA514. *Babe Rainbow - ''Don't Let Me Stand in Your Way'': Mercury 6007113. *Labi Siffre - ''Solid Love'': EMI EMI2750. Only the winning song reached the UK singles chart.

At Eurovision

Voting

References

{{Eurovision Song Contest 1978

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd go ...

Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 1978

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 ...