| Country: | : | Luxembourg |
| City | : | Luxembourg |
| Date | : | Saturday 5 March 1966 |
| Venue | : |  Grand Auditorium de RTL, Villa Louvigny,Luxembourg, Luxembourg |
| Host | : | Josiane Chen |
| Executive Supervisor | : | Clifford Brown |
| Winner | : |  Udo Jürgens from Austria |
| Broadcaster | : | CLT |
| Interval Act | : | Les Haricots Rouges |
The Eurovision Song Contest 1966 was the 11th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg, following the country’s victory at the 1965 contest with the song „Poupée de cire, poupée de son“ by France Gall. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Compagnie Luxembourgeoise de Télédiffusion (CLT), the contest was held at the Villa Louvigny on Saturday 5 March 1966 and was hosted by Luxembourgish television presenter Josiane Chen.
Eighteen countries participated in the contest, the same that had competed the year before.
The winner was Austria with the song „Merci, Chérie“, performed and composed by Udo Jürgens, and written by Jürgens and Thomas Hörbiger. This was Udo Jürgens third consecutive entry in the contest, finally managing to score a victory for his native country Austria. Austria would not go on to win again until the 2014 edition. This was also the first winning song to be performed in German. The contest is also noted for its historic results for several countries. Austria who came first, Sweden who came second, Norway who came third and Belgium who came fourth all achieved their best results up until then, some of which would stand for several decades. In contrast traditional Eurovision heavyweights up to that point such as France, United Kingdom and Italy all achieved their worst result by far up till that point, with the general public in the aforementioned countries meeting these results with a degree of consternation.
The rule stating that a country could only sing in any of its national languages was originally created this year, possibly due to the 1965 edition’s Swedish entry which was sung in English.
Location
The 1966 Eurovision Song Contest was hosted in Luxembourg City. The venue chosen to host the 1966 contest was the Villa Louvigny, which was also the venue for the 1962 edition. The building served as the headquarters of Compagnie Luxembourgeoise de Télédiffusion, the forerunner of RTL Group. It is located in Municipal Park, in the Ville Haute quarter of the centre of the city.
Format
A new change in rules was introduced this year, allowing music experts to be present in the juries again. 1966 also marked the year the first ever black singer graced the Eurovision stage, Milly Scott representing the Netherlands. She was also the first singer to use a portable microphone.
This year’s voting was also characterised with numerous cases of „neighbourly“ or „bloc“ voting – a problem that would plague the contest in many future decades. Sweden for example received all its 16 points, bar one, from its Nordic neighbours – as did Finland. Denmark likewise received all its points from Nordic nations. The voting of the Nordic countries was met with booing from the Luxembourg audience. Portugal and its sole neighbour Spain exchanged maximum five points, with Switzerland and Austria – also two countries neighbouring each other – doing likewise. France was spared the indignity of no points from its micro-state neighbour Monaco. Ireland awarded maximum points to its culturally closest neighbour the United Kingdom with Netherlands doing the same for Belgium.
During the voting process, the presenter (Josiane Chen) accidentally greeted United Kingdom by saying „Good night London“. She then realized her mistake and said „Good evening, London“. Afterwards Michael Aspel, who was the spokesperson for the United Kingdom at the time, responded by saying „Good morning, Luxembourg“ prompting laughter from Josiane and the audience.
Participating countries
All countries who had participated in the 1965 contest returned for a second consecutive year.
Conductors
Each performance had a conductor who was maestro of the orchestra.
Germany – Willy Berking
Denmark – Arne Lamberth
Belgium – Jean Roderès
Luxembourg – Jean Roderès
Yugoslavia – Mojmir Sepe
Norway – Øivind Bergh
Finland – Ossi Runne
Portugal – Jorge Costa Pinto 
Austria – Hans Hammerschmid 
Sweden – Gert-Ove Andersson
Spain – Rafael Ibarbia 
Switzerland – Jean Roderès
Monaco – Alain Goraguer
Italy – Angelo Giacomazzi
France – Franck Pourcel
Netherlands – Dolf van der Linden
Ireland – Noel Kelehan
United Kingdom – Harry Rabinowitz
Returning artists
| Artist | Country | Previous year(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Domenico Modugno | Italy | 1958, 1959 |
| Udo Jürgens | Austria | 1964, 1965 |
The Participants
| # | Representing country | Performer(s) | Song title, writer(s) and composer(s) | Points | Place |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Germany ARD | Margot Eskens | Die Zeiger Der Uhr | 007 | 10 |
| 02 | Denmark DR | Ulla Pia | Stop, Ja Stop – Ja Stop, Mens Legen Er Go | 004 | 14 |
| 03 | Belgium RTB | Tonia | Un Peu De Poivre, Un Peu De Sel | 014 | 04 |
| 04 | Luxembourg CLT | Michèle Torr | Ce Soir Je T’attendais | 007 | 10 |
| 05 | Yugoslavia JRT | Berta Ambroz | Brez Besed | 009 | 07 |
| 06 | Norway NRK | Åse Kleveland | Intet Er Nytt Under Solen | 015 | 03 |
| 07 | Finland YLE | Ann-Christine Nyström | Play-boy | 007 | 10 |
| 08 | Portugal RTP | Madalena Iglesias | Ele E Ela | 006 | 13 |
| 09 | Austria ORF | Udo Jürgens | Merci Chérie | 031 | 01 |
| 10 | Sweden SR | Lill Lindfors and Svante Thuresson | Nygammal Vals Eller Hip Man Svinaherde | 016 | 02 |
| 11 | Spain TVE | Raphael | Yo Soy Aquél | 009 | 07 |
| 12 | Switzerland SSR SRG | Madeleine Pascal | Ne Vois-tu Pas? | 012 | 06 |
| 13 | Monaco TMC | Tereza | Bien Plus Fort | 000 | 17 |
| 14 | Italy RAI | Domenico Modugno | Dio Come Ti Amo | 000 | 17 |
| 15 | France ORTF | Dominique Walter | Chez Nous | 001 | 16 |
| 16 | The Netherlands NOS | Milly Scott | Fernando En Philippo | 002 | 15 |
| 17 | Ireland RÉ | Dickie Rock | Come Back To Stay | 014 | 04 |
| 18 | United Kingdom BBC | Kenneth McKellar | A Man Without Love | 008 | 09 |
Scoreboard
| Participant | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Points | Place |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Germany | 1 | 1 | 5 | 7 | 10 | |||||||||||||||
| Denmark | 3 | 1 | 4 | 14 | ||||||||||||||||
| Belgium | 5 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 14 | 4 | ||||||||||||||
| Luxembourg | 1 | 1 | 5 | 7 | 10 | |||||||||||||||
| Yugoslavia | 1 | 3 | 5 | 9 | 7 | |||||||||||||||
| Norway | 3 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 15 | 3 | |||||||||||||
| Finland | 3 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 10 | |||||||||||||||
| Portugal | 1 | 5 | 6 | 13 | ||||||||||||||||
| Austria | 5 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 31 | 1 | |||||||||
| Sweden | 5 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 16 | 2 | ||||||||||||||
| Spain | 5 | 3 | 1 | 9 | 7 | |||||||||||||||
| Switzerland | 5 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 12 | 6 | ||||||||||||||
| Monaco | – | 17 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Italy | – | 17 | ||||||||||||||||||
| France | 1 | 1 | 16 | |||||||||||||||||
| The Netherlands | 1 | 1 | 2 | 15 | ||||||||||||||||
| Ireland | 3 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 14 | 4 | ||||||||||||||
| United Kingdom | 5 | 3 | 8 | 9 |
Facts & figures
- Future song contest hosts Lill Lindfors and Åse Kleveland took part in this contest as singers, finishing 2nd and 3rd respectively. In her performance, Åse ignored tradition and was the first woman not to wear a dress in the Eurovision Song Contest;
- Dutch representative Milly Scott became the first black singer to take part in the contest.