It’s 9 May 1998. All Saints are top of the charts, New Labour has been in power for a year and David Beckham has yet to be sent off against Argentina at the World Cup. Life is good.
Fast forward 24 years and you could be forgiven for forgetting that, amid the haze of the late 90s, it was also the last time Britain hosted the Eurovision song contest, hot on the heels of Katrina and the Waves’ success with Love Shine a Light 12 months earlier in Dublin.
Before 1998, the UK had hosted the competition in London four times (1960, 1963, 1968 and 1977) and once each in Edinburgh (1972), Brighton (1974) and Harrogate (1982). And with this year’s winner, Ukraine, unable to host due to the Russian invasion, Eurovision could be returning to Britain.
“Welcome one, welcome all. To paraphrase a football song, Eurovision’s coming home.” In 1998, those were the opening words of the late Terry Wogan, who hosted the evening with Ulrika Jonsson at Birmingham’s National Indoor Arena (NIA).
The UK may have been hosting the contest for a record-breaking eighth time but, remarkably, it was the first time in 16 years. The longest previous gap between Eurovisions in Britain was a mere five years between 1977 and 1982.
Bizarrely, despite the NIA having a capacity of 12,700, the BBC decided to fill less than half of the venue. Only 4,000 Eurovision fanatics were in attendance on the night, paying £60 for their tickets.
Hosted on Europe Day, it was an altogether more modest affair than the long, drawn-out shows we have become accustomed to in recent times. Just 25 artists competed for the coveted prize, compared with the 40 acts who took to the stage in Turin earlier this year.
However, it wouldn’t be Eurovision without controversy stealing the headlines. During the scoring, Spain originally gave its 12 points to Israel and 10 to Norway. But it was later announced that the Spanish broadcaster had got it wrong and Germany should have got the top mark – 12 points – instead of receiving zero.
For Britain’s entry, Imaani – perhaps better known for her vocals on a version of Freak Like Me two years later – it was a case of what might have been. Her song Where Are You? eventually finished a respectable second behind Israel’s Dana International with the Hebrew-language hit Diva.
The second-place finish would remain Britain’s highest-ranked performance at Eurovision until Sam Ryder achieved the same feat in 2022. In the intervening years, the UK racked up five last-place finishes, including two – Jemini in 2003 and James Newman in 2021 – that received no points.
The show is available on YouTube and, despite feeling a little dated, it is fair to say the BBC pulled off a near-flawless production – certainly when held up against some of the cringefests we have seen more recently.
If the UK does host the famous old contest once again in 2023, Terry and Ulrika will surely be a tough act to follow.
