The 1985 edition of A Song for Europe was held at the BBC Television Centre in Studio 1 on 9 April, hosted by a suited

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 theme music (as it has been in previous years) was

Te Deum The "Te Deum" (, ; from its incipit, , ) is a Latin Christian hymn traditionally ascribed to AD 387 authorship, but with antecedents that place it much earlier. It is central to the Ambrosian hymnal, which spread throughout the Latin Chur ...

. The BBC Concert Orchestra under the direction of John Coleman as conductor accompanied all the songs, but despite performing live, the orchestra was off-screen, behind the set.

Before Eurovision

A Song for Europe

In all, 333 songs were originally submitted to the Music Publisher's Association, with 8 songs chosen. Songwriters could only submit a maximum of two songs to the MPA, but the identity of the writers was not disclosed to the MPA judges. Due to the poor reception of the UK entry in the previous year's Eurovision Song Contest, the BBC wanted to revert to the method used to select the UK entry used from 1964-1975 and approached both Bonnie Tyler and when she was unavailable,

Lena Zavaroni Lena Hilda Zavaroni (4 November 1963 – 1 October 1999) was a Scottish singer and a television show host. At ten years of age, with her album ''Ma! (He's Making Eyes at Me)'', she was the youngest person in history to have an album in the top ...

to represent the UK and perform all the shortlisted songs in the UK heat. The MPA rebuffed the BBC's concept, wanting the composers and authors the option of choosing their own performers. A compromise rule was introduced, stating that no groups (more than 2 performers) were allowed to take part and writers would be limited to two entries each, however this rule was only in place for this one year. The songs were selected by around 90 people, DJs, producers and publishers. Notable songwriters and performers included Paul Curtis who had had entries in the Eurovision final as well as a large number of previous entries in various UK heats, including writing the winning song in ''

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

''. Despite the rule limiting song-writers to two entries, both his songs written with Graham Sacher reached the final eight. Together, Curtis and Sacher had won the '' A Song for Europe 1984'' contest. 1970s glam rock singer

Alvin Stardust Bernard William Jewry (27 September 1942 – 23 October 2014), known professionally as Shane Fenton and later as Alvin Stardust, was an English rock singer and stage actor. Performing first as Shane Fenton in the 1960s, Jewry had a moderately s ...

(who had recently enjoyed a comeback in the charts) appeared as a performer as did

Fiona Kennedy Fiona Kennedy Clark, OBE, DL is a Scottish singer, actress, and broadcaster, and the daughter of Scottish and Gaelic singers Calum Kennedy and Anne Gillies. As a child, she appeared with her parents as they performed as a family, and this dev ...

who was at the time a presenter of TV's ''

Record Breakers ''Record Breakers'' was a British children's TV show, themed around world records and produced by the BBC. It was broadcast on BBC1 from 15 December 1972 to 21 December 2001. It was originally presented by Roy Castle with Guinness World Record ...

''. Annabel was Annabel Layton who competed at '' A Song for Europe 1981'' contest as part of Unity. Des Dyer had been the lead singer of the group 'Casablanca' who'd placed 3rd in the '' A Song for Europe 1983'' contest. He would later be one of the UK's backing singers at the '' Eurovision Song Contest 1988''.

Final

The show opened with a group of dancers, dancing to old Eurovision songs: " Making Your Mind Up", "

Waterloo Waterloo most commonly refers to: * Battle of Waterloo, a battle on 18 June 1815 in which Napoleon met his final defeat * Waterloo, Belgium, where the battle took place. Waterloo may also refer to: Other places Antarctica *King George Island (S ...

", " Puppet on a String", " Save Your Kisses for Me", "

Boom Bang-a-Bang "Boom Bang-a-Bang" is a song recorded by Scottish singer Lulu. The song was written by Alan Moorhouse and Peter Warne. It was the at the Eurovision Song Contest 1969, held in Madrid. It was the joint winner with three other entries: Salomé ...

" and "

Congratulations Congratulations may refer to: Film and television *'' Congratulations: 50 Years of the Eurovision Song Contest'', 2005 television programme to commemorate its fiftieth anniversary Music Albums * ''Congratulations'' (album), an album by ...

". The artists were introduced on stage with captions on screen, followed by presenter

. The songs had been first previewed in the previous week on the ''

Wogan ''Wogan'' is a British television talk show which was broadcast on BBC1 from 1982 until 1992, presented by Terry Wogan. It was usually broadcast live from the BBC Television Theatre in Shepherd's Bush, London, until 1991. It was then broadcast ...

'' TV show. Nine regional juries located in Birmingham, Cardiff, Manchester, Belfast, Glasgow, London, Norwich, Plymouth and Bristol voted for the songs. Each jury region awarded 15, 12, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6 and 5 points to the songs.

UK Discography

*Vikki - ''Love Is...'': PRT 7P326 (7" Single)/12P326 (12" Single). *Peter Beckett - ''I'm Crying'': MCA MCA959. *Alvin Stardust - ''(The) Clock On The Wall'': Chrysalis ALVIN1 (Single withdrawn)/ALV3 (EP Release). *James Oliver - ''What We Say With Our Eyes'': Ritz RITZ100. *Des Dyer - ''Voice Of America''^: Splash CPS1005. *Annabell - ''Let Me Love You One More Time'': Magnet MAG278. *Kerri Wells - ''Dancing In The Night'': Magnet MAG279. *Redway & Kennedy - ''So Do I'': MCA MCA960. ^Released in 1986 with alternative lyrics. Original track released only in Germany (TELDEC 6.14369).
(Tracks listed by their label details which in some cases didn't correspond with the contest entrants.)

At Eurovision

The UK entered Vikki and "Love Is..." in the

1985 Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest 1985 was the 30th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Gothenburg, Sweden, following the country's victory at the with the song "Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley" by Herreys. Organised by the Europ ...

, finishing in fourth place, gaining 100 points overall. Although the song did not receive any country's twelve points, it still managed to score with every jury but one (Cyprus). The British jury awarded their twelve points to the eventual winners, Norway's

Bobbysocks! Bobbysocks is a Norwegian pop duo consisting of Norwegian Hanne Krogh and Swedish-Norwegian Elisabeth Andreassen. They won the Eurovision Song Contest 1985 with the song "La det swinge" ("Let it swing"). Elisabeth went by the surname Andreasson ...

with "

La det swinge "La det swinge" (; "Let it swing") is a Norwegian-language song by the pop duo Bobbysocks!. It was the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 1985 and 's first victory in the contest. The song is a tribute to dancing to old rock 'n' roll heard on ...

". The final was broadcast on BBC 1 with

providing the commentary, Wogan actually commentated from

BBC TV Centre Television Centre (TVC) is a building complex in White City, West London, that was the headquarters of BBC Television between 1960 and 2013. After a refurbishment, the complex reopened in 2017 with three studios in use for TV production, opera ...

in London as he was suffering from flu and was unable to fly to

Gothenburg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...

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. ...

again decided not to broadcast the contest, but the contest was broadcast on British Forces Radio with commentary provided by Richard Nankivell.

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 ...

served as spokesperson for the UK jury.

Voting

References

{{Eurovision Song Contest 1985

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 1985

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 ...