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United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 1957

{{Short description|none}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2014}}

{{Use British English|date=April 2014}}

{{ESC National Year

| Year = 1957

| Broadcaster = British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

| Country = United Kingdom

| Selection process = Song: Festival of British Popular Songs
Artist: Internal selection

| Selection date = 12 February 1957

| Song = All

| Artist = Patricia Bredin

| Writer = {{unbulleted list|Reynell Wreford|Alan Stranks}}

| Final result = 7th, 6 votes

}}

The United Kingdom was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1957 with the song "All", composed by Reynell Wreford, with lyrics by Alan Stranks, and performed by Patricia Bredin. The British participating broadcaster, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), selected its entry through a national final, the second edition of Festival of British Popular Songs and, subsequently, the performer internally once the national final was over. This was the first-ever entry from the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest, and the first-ever entry performed in English in the contest.

Before Eurovision

= ''Festival of British Popular Songs 1957 '' =

The United Kingdom was represented in the Eurovision Song Contest for the first time in {{escyr|1957}}. The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) did not participate in the inaugural contest in {{Escyr|1956}}, as it had created its own contest, the Festival of British Popular Songs, aspects of which influenced the 1957 Eurovision contest.{{cite web|url=https://eurovision.tv/story/shining-a-light-on-the-united-kingdom-60-years-at-eurovision|title=Shining a light on the United Kingdom: 60 Years at Eurovision|date=11 January 2017|access-date=24 May 2019|website=eurovision.tv}}

The Festival of British Popular Songs 1957 served as the selection for the United Kingdom's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 1957.{{Cite news |last=Gander |first=L. Marsland |date=1 October 1956 |title=Liberace v. Brains Trust |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-telegraph-liberace-v-brains-t/168319548/ |access-date=18 March 2025 |work=The Daily Telegraph |page=8 |via=Newspapers.com |issue=31560 |issn=0307-1235 |oclc=1367795010}} All British music publishing companies were invited to submit each one song for the national selection.{{Sfn|Roxburgh|2012|p=102}} Around 70 to 80 songs were reportedly submitted.{{Cite news |last=Payne |first=Jack |date=11 January 1957 |title=Nobody travels to a hunt ball on a horse |work=Daily Mail |page=6 |via=Gale Primary Sources |issue=18,889 |issn=0307-7578 |oclc=1368484171}}{{Sfn|Roxburgh|2012|p=103}} A jury consisting of Jack Payne, Harry S. Pepper, Cyril Stapleton, Walter Ridley and Frank Lee met in December 1956 to select the competing entries of the live shows.{{Cite news |last=Waldman |first=Ronald |date=18 January 1957 |title=British Songs: a Television Contest |url=https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/page/7d2b8be1e606480da268d5fcc7865d13?page=3 |access-date=20 December 2024 |work=Radio Times |page=3 |via=BBC Genome Project |volume=134 |issue=1732 |oclc=1367288387}} The interpreting artists were chosen separately by the BBC production team.{{Sfn|Roxburgh|2012|p=102}}

The Festival of British Popular Songs 1957 consisted of three semi finals and a grand final.{{sfn|Roxburgh|2012|p=102}} All shows took place in the King's Theatre, Hammersmith (West London).{{Sfn|Roxburgh|2012|p=105}} They were produced by Francis Essex. The presenter was David Jacobs, who would host many other British national finals the following years.{{cite web |last=Roxburgh |first=Gordon |title=Festival of British Popular Songs 1957 |url=http://www.songs4europe.com/1957/ |access-date=7 December 2024 |website=songs4europe.com}} Since the Festival of British Popular Songs 1956 was judged to be lacking effectiveness because it stretched over several months, it was decided that the 1957 edition would consist of weekly shows.

Six songs competed in each semi-final. The songs were scored by ten regional juries, each consisting of twelve members of the general public.{{Sfn|Roxburgh|2012|p=115}} Each juror awarded one vote to their favourite song.{{Sfn|Roxburgh|2012|p=115}} Two songs in each heat advanced to the national final.

== Semi-finals ==

The first semi-final took place on 22 January 1957 at 19:45 GMT.{{cite news |date=18 January 1957 |title=Tuesday Television – 22 January |url=https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/page/7d2b8be1e606480da268d5fcc7865d13?page=26 |access-date=18 December 2024 |work=Radio Times |location=London, United Kingdom |page=26 |via=BBC Genome Project |volume=134 |issue=1732 |oclc=1367288387}} The artists were accompanied by the Bill McGuffie Quintet and an orchestra under the musical direction of Eric Robinson.{{Sfn|Roxburgh|2012|p=108}} For the interval, Dennis Lotis performed "Everybody Fall in Love With Someone", the winning song of the Festival of British Popular Songs 1956.{{Sfn|Roxburgh|2012|p=115}} The ten regional juries in the first semi-final were from the cities of Birmingham, Aberdeen, Cardiff, Newcastle, Belfast, Manchester, Bangor, Bristol, Glasgow and London.{{Sfn|Roxburgh|2012|p=116}} The broadcast was watched by 6.8 million viewers in the United Kingdom.{{Sfn|Roxburgh|2012|p=116}}

class="sortable wikitable" style="margin: 1em auto 1em auto; text-align:left"

|+Semi-final 1 – 22 January 1957{{Sfn|Roxburgh|2012|pp=109–116}}{{Cite web |last=Spence |first=Ewan |date=25 February 2016 |title=Selecting a song for Eurovision |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/aboutthebbc/entries/685c2440-f255-4bde-b132-9c8bf8660109 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160818145320/https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/aboutthebbc/entries/685c2440-f255-4bde-b132-9c8bf8660109 |archive-date=18 August 2016 |access-date=9 December 2024 |website=About the BBC Blog}}

! colspan="2" | First performance

! colspan="2" | Second performance

! rowspan="2" | Song

! rowspan="2" | Songwriter(s)

! rowspan="2" | Place

{{Abbr|R/O|Running order}}

!Artist 1

!{{Abbr|R/O|Running order}}

!Artist 2

1

|The Keynotes

|5

|Lita Roza and Dennis Lotis

|"April Heart"

|John Watson

|Eliminated

style="font-weight:bold; background:navajowhite"

|2

| style="text-align:left;" |Dennis Lotis

|8

|The Keynotes

|"Seven"

|{{Hlist|Peter Hart|Christopher Richardson}}

|2

3

|Marion Ryan

| colspan="2" {{N/A|No second performance}}

|"The Teenage Waltz"

|Tony Osbourne

|Eliminated

4

| John Hanson

|6

|Janie Marden

|"There's a Place Called Paradise"

|{{Hlist|Judy Reynolds|Harry New}}

|Eliminated

7

|Marion Ryan

|10

|John Hanson

|"Turn Around and Face the Sun"

|{{Hlist|Cliff Adams|Robert Brown|George Elrick}}

|Eliminated

style="font-weight:bold; background:navajowhite"

|9

|Lita Roza

|colspan="2" {{N/A|No second performance}}

| "The Way It Goes"

|Tony Osbourne

|1

The second semi-final took place on 29 January 1957 at 21:00 GMT.{{cite news |date=25 January 1957 |title=Tuesday Television – 29 January |url=https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/page/51a1949c0f90494a9c7a8224dbcc44de?page=26 |access-date=18 December 2024 |work=Radio Times |location=London, United Kingdom |page=26 |via=BBC Genome Project |volume=134 |issue=1733 |oclc=1367288387}} The artists were accompanied by the Frank Weir Quintet as well as by an orchestra conducted by Stanley Black.{{Sfn|Roxburgh|2012|p=120}} For the interval act, the Frank Weir Quartet performed "The Way It Goes", the winning song from the first heat.{{Sfn|Roxburgh|2012|p=126}} The ten regional juries in the second semi-final were from the cities of Manchester, Leeds, Edinburgh, Swansea, Bangor, Plymouth, Bristol, Belfast, Nottingham and London.{{Sfn|Roxburgh|2012|p=127}} 7.1 million viewer in the United Kingdom watched the program.{{Sfn|Roxburgh|2012|p=127}}

class="sortable wikitable" style="margin: 1em auto 1em auto; text-align:left"

|+Semi-final 2 – 29 January 1957{{Sfn|Roxburgh|2012|pp=120–127}}

! colspan="2" | First performance

! colspan="2" | Second performance

! rowspan="2" | Song

! rowspan="2" | Songwriter(s)

! rowspan="2" | Place

{{Abbr|R/O|Running order}}

!Artist 1

!{{Abbr|R/O|Running order}}

!Artist 2

1

|Bryan Johnson

|3

|Lorrae Desmond

|"You Can't Take It With You"

|{{Hlist|Harold Elton Box|Desmond Cox|Ralph Butler}}

|Eliminated

style="font-weight:bold; background:navajowhite"

|2

|Edna Savage

|10

|Jill Day

|"Once"

|Barbara Killalee

|1

4

|Bryan Johnson

|11

|Lorrae Desmond

|"Red Wine and Ruby Lips"

|{{Hlist|Derek New|Geoffrey Venis}}

|Eliminated

style="font-weight:bold; background:navajowhite"

|5

|Ronnie Hilton

|7

|Frank Horrox

|"For Your Love"

|{{Hlist|Robert Kingston|Ronald Bridges|Ralph Ruvin}}

|2

6

|Jill Day

|8

|Edna Savage and Ronnie Hilton

|"A Girl, a Boy and a Bike"

|Peter Hart

|Eliminated

9

|Frank Weir

| colspan="2" {{N/A|No second performance}}

|"Lonely Wind"

|Gordon Ross

|Eliminated

The third semi-final took place on 5 February 1957 at 19:45 GMT.{{cite news |date=1 February 1957 |title=Tuesday Television – 5 February |url=https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/page/cf2b4a012b1641449d026e6c986a9b6a?page=26 |access-date=18 December 2024 |work=Radio Times |location=London, United Kingdom |page=26 |via=BBC Genome Project |volume=134 |issue=1734 |oclc=1367288387}} The artists were accompanied by the Malcolm Lockyer Quartet as well as by an orchestra under the musical direction of Frank Chacksfield.{{Sfn|Roxburgh|2012|p=131}} The ten regional juries in semi-final 3 were from the cities of Swansea, Glasgow, Plymouth, Leeds, Belfast, Birmingham, Bristol, Aberdeen, Cardiff and London.{{Sfn|Roxburgh|2012|p=137}} The program was watched by 7.1 million viewers.{{Sfn|Roxburgh|2012|p=138}} The song "Don't Cry Little Doll" was subject to controversy since the songwriters had sold the copyright to a different music publisher before and it was not clear whether the song had been published before.{{Sfn|Roxburgh|2012|p=138}} Finally, it turned out that the song had only been on a test pressing and the BBC allowed the song to compete in the final.{{Sfn|Roxburgh|2012|p=138}}

class="sortable wikitable" style="margin: 1em auto 1em auto; text-align:left"

|+Semi-final 3 – 5 February 1957{{Sfn|Roxburgh|2012|pp=131–137}}

! colspan="2" | First performance

! colspan="2" | Second performance

! rowspan="2" | Song

! rowspan="2" | Songwriter(s)

! rowspan="2" | Place

{{Abbr|R/O|Running order}}

!Artist 1

!{{Abbr|R/O|Running order}}

!Artist 2

1

|The Ken-Tones

|11

|Shirley Eaton and Bill Maynard

|"Choose a Cosy Corner"

|{{Hlist|John Dunbar|Leslie Herbert Osborne}}

|Eliminated

2

|Lee Lawrence

|7

|Carole Carr

|"How Right You Were"

|{{Hlist|Harold Geller|Richard Frank|Dr T. Richardson}}

|Eliminated

3

|Shirley Eaton

|9

|Patricia Bredin

|"Hurdy Gurdy Joe"

|Tommie Connor

|Eliminated

style="font-weight:bold; background:navajowhite"

|4

|The Ken-Tones

|8

|Bill Maynard

|"Don't Cry Little Doll"

|{{Hlist|Ron Grainer|David Dearlove}}

|2

style="font-weight:bold; background:navajowhite"

|5

|Patricia Bredin

|10

|Malcolm Lockyer

|"All"

|{{Hlist|Reynell Wreford|Alan Stranks}}

|1

6

|George Mitchell Singers

| colspan="2" {{N/A|No second performance}}

|"The Sycamore Tree"

|Hubert Gregg

|Eliminated

== Final ==

The final of the Festival of British Popular Songs 1957 was held on 12 February 1957 at 19:45 GMT.{{Cite news |date=8 February 1957 |title=February 12 – Tuesday Television |url=https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/page/5c71dddbf1714bba99b63f9cae453cc8?page=26 |access-date=21 December 2024 |work=Radio Times |page=26 |via=BBC Genome Project |volume=134 |issue=1735 |oclc=1367288387}} The artists were accompanied by an orchestra under the musical direction of three different conductors: The performances of "Don't Cry Little Doll" and "All" were conducted by Frank Chacksfield, "Once" and "For Your Love" were conducted by Stanley Black, "Seven" and "The Way It Goes" by Eric Robinson so that all songs in the final were conducted by the same conductor as in their respective semi-final.{{Sfn|Roxburgh|2012|pp=141–147}}

The regional juries for the final were from the cities of Belfast, Newcastle, Bangor, Edinburgh, Nottingham, Cardiff, Birmingham, Glasgow, Manchester and London.{{Sfn|Roxburgh|2012|p=148}} A cup was presented to the winning composer, Reynell Wreford.{{Sfn|Roxburgh|2012|p=148}} The broadcast was watched by 7.5 million viewers in the United Kingdom.{{Sfn|Roxburgh|2012|p=149}}

class="sortable wikitable" style="margin: 1em auto 1em auto; text-align:left"

|+ Final – 12 February 1957{{Sfn|Roxburgh|2012|pp=142–148}}

colspan="2" | First performance

! colspan="2" | Second performance

! rowspan="2" | Song

! rowspan="2" | Songwriter(s)

! rowspan="2" | Votes

! rowspan="2" | Place

{{Abbr|R/O|Running order}}

!Artist 1

!{{Abbr|R/O|Running order}}

!Artist 2

1

| The Ken-Tones

|5

| Bill Maynard

| "Don't Cry Little Doll"

|{{Hlist|Ron Grainer|David Dearlove}}

| 14

| 4

2 |2

|Pauline Shepherd

|6

| Carole Carr

| "Once"

| Barbara Killalee

|23

| 2

3

| Denis Lotis

| 9

| The Keynotes

| "Seven"

| {{Hlist|Peter Hart|Christopher Richardson}}

| 13

| 5

style="font-weight:bold; background:gold;"

| 4

| Malcolm Lockyer

| 8

| Patricia Bredin

| "All"

| {{Hlist|Reynell Wreford|Alan Stranks}}

| 39

|1

7

| Ronnie Hilton

|11

| Alan Bristow

| "For Your Love"

| {{Hlist|Robert Kingston|Ronald Bridges|Ralph Ruvin}}

| 13

| 5

10

| Lita Roza

| colspan="2" {{N/A|No second performance}}

| "The Way It Goes"

| Tony Osborne

| 18

| 3

= Recordings =

Patricia Bredin never recorded the winning song "All" but a recording of the song was released by English singer Robert Earl.{{Sfn|Roxburgh|2012|p=149}} In addition, an instrumental version by Victor Sylvester as a single reached number 14 in the sheet music charts.{{Sfn|Roxburgh|2012|pp=149–150}}

At Eurovision

{{More citations needed|1=section|date=April 2025}}

Patricia Bredin delivered an operatic performance of "All", performing third that night following {{Esccnty|Luxembourg|y=1957}} and preceding {{Esccnty|Italy|y=1957}} with "{{lang|it|Corde della mia chitarra|i=no}}". The conductor was Eric Robinson. At a length of 1:52 minutes, it was the shortest entry in the history of the contest until Finland in 2015 as well as the first song to be performed in English.{{Cite book |last=Bishop |first=Andy |title=UK in Eurovision. The Highs and Lows |publisher=Wymer |year=2023 |isbn=9781915246264 |location=Bedford |pages=11–12 |oclc=1351463039}} The song also turned out to perform right before Italy's "{{lang|it|Corde della mia chitarra|i=no}}", the longest entry in the history of the contest at 5:09 minutes.

At the close of voting, the United Kingdom had received six votes and finished seventh among the ten countries, despite votes from five of the nine other countries. It would take the United Kingdom until {{Escyr|1978}} not to finish in the first half of the scoreboard again.

= Voting =

Each participating broadcaster assembled a ten-member jury panel. Every juror could give one vote to their favourite song.

{{col-begin}}

{{col-2}}

class="wikitable"
+ Votes awarded to the United Kingdom{{cite web |title=Results of the Final of Frankfurt 1957 |url=https://eurovision.tv/event/frankfurt-1957/final/results/united-kingdom |publisher=Eurovision Song Contest |access-date=27 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210327153149/https://eurovision.tv/event/frankfurt-1957/final/results/united-kingdom |archive-date=27 March 2021 |url-status=live}}
scope="col" width="20%" | Score

! scope="col" | Country

scope="row" | 2 votes

| {{Esc|Switzerland}}

scope="row" | 1 vote

| {{Unbulleted list|{{Esc|Austria}}|{{Esc|Belgium}}|{{Esc|Luxembourg}}|{{Esc|Netherlands}}}}

{{col-2}}

class="wikitable"
+ Votes awarded by the United Kingdom
scope="col" width="20%" | Score

! scope="col" | Country

scope="row" | 2 votes

| {{Unbulleted list|{{Esc|Austria|y=1957}}|{{Esc|Denmark|y=1957}}|{{Esc|France|1830|y=1957}}|{{Esc|Italy|y=1957}}}}

scope="row" | 1 vote

| {{Unbulleted list|{{Esc|Luxembourg|y=1957}}|{{Esc|Netherlands|y=1957}}}}

{{col-end}}

References

{{reflist}}

Bibliography

  • {{cite book |last=Roxburgh |first=Gordon |title=Songs for Europe: The United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest |date=2012 |publisher=Telos Publishing |location=Prestatyn, United Kingdom |isbn=978-1-84583-065-6 |volume=One: The 1950s and 1960s}}

{{United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest}}

{{Eurovision Song Contest 1957}}

1957

Category:Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 1957

Eurovision

Eurovision