Country:	:	United Kingdom
City	:	Brighton
Date	:	Saturday 6 April 1974
Location	:	The Dome, Brighton, United Kingdom
Broadcaster	:	BBC
Host	:	Catherine (Katie) Boyle
Executive Producer	:	Bill Cotton
EBU Scrutineer	:	Clifford Brown
Director	:	Michael Hurll
Winner	:	ABBA from Sweden
Interval Act	:	The Wombles

The Eurovision Song Contest 1974 was the 19th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in the english seaside resort Brighton, United Kingdom and was organized by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), who agreed to host the event after Luxembourg, having won in both 1972 and 1973, declined to host it for a second successive year on the grounds of expense. The contest was held at the Brighton Dome on Saturday 6 April 1974 and was hosted by Katie Boyle for the fourth and final time (having hosted the 1960, 1963 and 1968 editions).

Seventeen countries took part in the contest, with France being absent and Greece competing for the first time this year.

The winner was Sweden with the song „Waterloo“ famously performed by the Swedish group ABBA, who would later go on to become one of the best-selling acts in pop music history and arguably one of the biggest musical successes to come out of the Eurovision Song Contest.

Location

The contest was held in the seaside resort of Brighton on the south coast of the United Kingdom. At the time, Brighton was a separate town; it is now the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove (formed from the previous towns of Brighton, Hove, Portslade and several other villages) on the south coast of Great Britain.

The venue which hosted the event was the Brighton Dome, an arts venue that contains the Concert Hall, the Corn Exchange and the Pavilion Theatre. All three venues are linked to the rest of the Royal Pavilion Estate by a tunnel to the Royal Pavilion in Pavilion Gardens and through shared corridors to Brighton Museum; the entire complex was built for the Prince Regent (later George IV) and completed in 1805.

Format
A two-night preview programme, Auftakt für Brighton (Prelude for Brighton), was coordinated by the German national broadcaster ARD, broadcast at the end of March and was hosted by the journalist Karin Tietze-Ludwig. It was the first „preview“-type programme to be broadcast in many European countries simultaneously (traditionally each national broadcaster puts together its own preview programme). The UK did not broadcast the programmes, instead airing its own preview shows introduced by David Vine on BBC1 on 24 and 31 March. The French entry was broadcast by all the nations showing the previews, even though the song was withdrawn from the Eurovision final itself. The programme was also notable in being the European television debut for the winners, ABBA, who were credited in previews as „The Abba“.

Each song was introduced by a ‚postcard‘ featuring a montage of film material, beginning with library footage of the participating nation provided by the various national tourist organizations. This was then intercut with various clips of the artists in rehearsal, conducting their press conference with the media or posing for photographs in and around the Brighton Pavilion complex. It was the first time the contest had broadcast rehearsal footage or behind the scenes footage from the run-up to the grand final.

Participating countries

Seventeen nations took part in this year’s contest. Greece made their début in the contest, while France withdrew during the week of the contest after the sudden death of French President Georges Pompidou.

Conductors

Each performance had a conductor who conducted the orchestra.

•  Finland – Ossi Runne
•  United Kingdom – Nick Ingman
•  Spain – Rafael Ibarbia 
•  Norway – Frode Thingnæs
•  Greece – Giorgos Katsaros
•  Israel – Yoni Rechter
•  Yugoslavia – Zvonimir Skerl
•  Sweden – Sven-Olof Walldoff
•  Luxembourg – Charles Blackwell
•  Monaco – Raymond Donnez
•  Belgium – Pierre Chiffre
•  Netherlands – Harry van Hoof
•  Ireland – Colman Pearce
•  Germany – Werner Scharfenberger 
•   Switzerland – Pepe Ederer
•  Portugal – José Calvário
•  Italy – Gianfranco Monaldi 

Jean-Claude Petit was scheduled to conduct the French entry prior to France’s withdrawal.

Returning artists

Bold indicates a previous winner

Artist	Country	Previous year(s)
Gigliola Cinquetti	Italy	1964
Romuald	Monaco	1964, 1969 (for  Luxembourg)
Bendik Singers	Norway	1973

The Participants

#	Representing country	Performer(s)	Song title, writer(s) and composer(s)	Points	Place
01	FinlandYLE	Carita	Äla Mene Pois (keep Me Warm)	004	13
02	United KingdomBBC	Olivia Newton-John	Long Live Love	014	04
03	SpainTVE	Peret	Canta Y Se Feliz	010	09
04	NorwayNRK	Anne-Karine Ström and the Bendik Singers	The First Day Of Love	003	14
05	GreeceERT	Marinella	Krassi, Thalassa Ke T’agori Mou	007	11
06	IsraelIBA	Poogy	Natati La Khaiai	011	07
07	YugoslaviaJRT	Korni	Generacija 42	006	12
08	SwedenSR	ABBA	Waterloo	024	01
09	LuxembourgCLT	Ireen Sheer	Bye, Bye, I Love You	014	04
10	MonacoTMC	Romuald	Celui Qui Reste Et Celui Qui S’en Va	014	04
11	BelgiumRTB	Jacques Hustin	Fleur De Liberté	010	09
12	The NetherlandsNOS	Mouth and MacNeal	I See A Star	015	03
13	IrelandRTÉ	Tina	Cross Your Heart	011	07
14	GermanyARD	Cindy und Bert	Die Sommermelodie	003	14
15	SwitzerlandSSR SRG	Piera Martell	Mein Ruf Nach Dir	003	14
16	PortugalRTP	Paulo de Carvalho	E Depois Do Adeus	003	14
17	ItalyRAI	Gigliola Cinquetti	Si	018	02

Scoreboard

Participant																		Points	Place
Finland					1	2										1		4	13
United Kingdom	1	1	2	1	1		3							1			4	14	4
Spain			1					1	3	2	2				1			10	9
Norway	1								1				1					3	14
Greece											1		2		4			7	11
Israel					1		3				2		1		2	2		11	7
Yugoslavia	1	1					2				1	1						6	12
Sweden		5	2		1	2		1		2	1	1		5	3		1	24	1
Luxembourg	1		1	1	3	2	2		1			1					2	14	4
Monaco	2		2		1	1		2		1	1	2	1	1				14	4
Belgium				5				3		2								10	9
The Netherlands	1	1	1	2	1	1				1	1		3				3	15	3
Ireland						1		2	1	2		2	2			1		11	7
Germany	1			1										1				3	14
Switzerland	1		1													1		3	14
Portugal												1		2				3	14
Italy	1	2			1	1		1	4		1	2				5		18	2

Incidents
United Kingdom song
The United Kingdom was represented in the contest by the (British-born) Australian pop singer Olivia Newton-John, who finished in fourth place with the song „Long Live Love“. As noted by author and historian John Kennedy O’Connor in his book The Eurovision Song Contest – The Official History, Newton-John personally disliked the song and preferred others from the UK heat, but „Long Live Love“ was chosen as the UK’s entry by a public postal vote.

French withdraw
France had been drawn to sing at No. 14 (after Ireland and before Germany) with the song „La vie à vingt-cinq ans“ („Life at 25“) by Dani, but as a mark of respect following the death of the French President Georges Pompidou during Eurovision week, French broadcaster ORTF made the decision to withdraw the entry. Given that President Pompidou’s memorial service (he had been buried in a private ceremony on 4 April), which was attended by numerous international dignitaries, was held on the same day as the contest, it was deemed inappropriate for the French to take part. Dani was seen by viewers in the audience at the point the French song should have been performed. For the same reason, the French singer Anne-Marie David, who had won the first place for Luxembourg in 1973, could not come to Brighton to hand the prize to the 1974 winner. In her absence, the Director General of the BBC and President of the EBU, Sir Charles Curran, presented the Grand Prix to the winners.

Greek replacement
In 1974, during the dictatorship in Greece, rock band Nostradamos won the first Eurovision participation contest ran by the state broadcaster ERT to represent Greece at Eurovision. However, due to a scandal, the band was not allowed to compete at Eurovision, and Greek laiko singer Marinella was sent instead.

Italian broadcast
Italy did not broadcast the televised contest on the state television channel RAI because the contest coincided with the intense political campaigning for the 1974 Italian referendum on divorce, which was held a month later in May. RAI felt that Gigliola Cinquetti’s song, which was entitled „Sì“, and repeatedly featured the word „si“ (yes), could risk the accusation of being a subliminal message and a form of propaganda to influence the Italian voting public to vote „yes“ in the referendum. The song was not played on most Italian state TV and radio stations until the referendum had been held.

Portuguese revolution
Portugal’s entry „E depois do adeus“ was used as the first of the two signals to launch the Carnation Revolution against the Estado Novo regime. Played on a Portuguese radio station late in the evening of 24 April 1974, the broadcasting of the song alerted the rebel, largely left-wing captains and soldiers to prepare to begin the successful military coup. The second song to be broadcast, marking the actual start of military operations of the coup, was „Grândola, Vila Morena“ by Zeca Afonso (but with no Eurovision Song Contest connection). John Kennedy O’Connor described „E depois do adeus“ as „the only Eurovision entry to have actually started a revolution“ (which is quite ironic, given that the song finished last in the contest), while Des Mangan suggests that other Portuguese entries – he mentions „Se Eu Te Pudesse Abraçar“ (1998) – would not be likely to inspire coups.