Will you get douze points? Take our fiendish Eurovision quiz

From Wogan to Conchita Wurst ... it could only be Eurovision. Composite: Rex/Getty

After last year’s hiatus, the Eurovision song contest is finally back on Saturday night at 8pm on BBC One, with all the glitz, glamour and camp delight that entails. To get you in the mood, take our fiendish Eurovision quiz. Can you avoid the dreaded nul points? Let us know how you do in the comments below …

1. Good evening, Europe! This is London calling! Can you spot the winner of the last contest to be held, in 2019? His name was Duncan Laurence

   1. 

      This one?

   2. 

      This one?

   3. 

      This one?

   4. 

      Or this?

2. Which of these acclaimed international stars has competed in Eurovision? Madonna, Celine Dion, Vanessa Paradis or Kate Bush?

   1. 

      Madonna

   2. 

      Celine Dion

   3. 

      Vanessa Paradis

   4. 

      Kate Bush

3. When was the very first Eurovision song contest held?

   1. 24 May 1956

   2. 12 March 1958

   3. 29 March 1960

   4. 23 November 1963

4. 

   James Newman is the UK entry in 2021. But what is his song called?

   1. Firefly

   2. Flames

   3. Embers

   4. Dragonfire

5. For many years Norway was cursed as the only country to have scored the dreaded "nul points" on four separate occasions. But in 2015, another country equalled this dismal record. Who?

   1. United Kingdom

   2. Netherlands

   3. Austria

   4. Germany

6. 

   Which country sent a bunch of grannies to represent it in 2012?

   1. Russia

   2. Albania

   3. Armenia

   4. Azerbaijan

7. 

   “Be it a mug, a goblet, a cup, a glass, or flute, raise it and toast the memory of the man who was and always will be the voice of Eurovision … the late great, Sir Terry Wogan." In the UK, during which song is it a tradition to toast Terry?

   1. Third

   2. Fifth

   3. Seventh

   4. Ninth

8. 

   Waterloo by Abba is arguably Eurovision's most famous winning song. Which year did it win?

   1. 1971

   2. 1972

   3. 1973

   4. 1974

9. In the year that Abba won with Waterloo, the French entry was withdrawn from the contest. Why?

   1. The death of the French president, Georges Pompidou

   2. A dispute with the EBU over the competition being hosted in the UK

   3. French broadcasters were concerned the entry could be seen as propaganda for a referendum campaign taking place

   4. Because the song had been associated with signalling an attempt at a military coup

10. 

    Bucks Fizz won the contest in 1981 with Making Your Mind Up. How many number one singles did the original Bucks Fizz line-up have in the UK in the 1980s?

    1. None

    2. One

    3. Two

    4. Three

11. Which original member of Eurovision-winning band Bucks Fizz stood in the 2019 UK general election to be an MP for the Brexit Party?

    1. Jay Aston

    2. Cheryl Baker

    3. Bobby G

    4. Mike Nolan

12. 

    Verka Serduchka has become a Eurovision icon. But which country did they represent in 2007?

    1. Belarus

    2. Ukraine

    3. Austria

    4. Poland

13. Which is the most eastern city to have ever hosted the Eurovision final?

    1. Helsinki

    2. Tashkent

    3. Baku

    4. Moscow

14. 

    In what year did Australia first compete in the Eurovision song contest?

    1. 1997

    2. 2009

    3. 2015

    4. 2017

15. Australia isn't the only country not from Europe to have competed in the contest. Which African nation competed for its one and only time in 1980?

    1. Morocco

    2. Algeria

    3. Egypt

    4. South Africa

16. Which of these – among Europe's smallest competing countries – has won the Eurovision song contest?

    1. Malta

    2. San Marino

    3. Cyprus

    4. Luxembourg

17. 

    By the time he represented the UK in 1968 with Congratulations, Cliff Richard had already scored more than forty Top 40 hits in the UK. Where did Congratulations finish in the Eurovision song contest that year?

    1. 1st

    2. 2nd

    3. 3rd

    4. 4th

18. Which country had its entry for this year disqualified?

    1. Belarus

    2. Ukraine

    3. Armenia

    4. Bulgaria

19. The United Kingdom has hosted the contest in five different cities. Which of these has not had the honour of holding the final?

    1. Brighton

    2. Birmingham

    3. Glasgow

    4. Harrogate

20. 

    This lot won Eurovision in 2006 for Finland with Hard Rock Hallelujah. What were they called?

    1. Loki

    2. Lordi

    3. Kinda

    4. Kooki

Solutions

1:A - That's Duncan. He won for the Netherlands. Your other options were all also in the 2019 contest: John Lundvik of Sweden, Victor Crone of Estonia, and Luca Hänni of Switzerland., 2:B - Celine Dion didn't just compete, that's a photo of her winning the whole damn thing for Switzerland in 1988. Madonna has performed at Eurovision – she was a special guest in 2019, which attracted mixed reviews., 3:A - Seven countries participated in the first ever contest which took place in Lugano, Switzerland. While it had a lot of recognisable elements of the current contest format, it also had some things that would be alien to the modern viewer. It lasted less than two hours, for a start., 4:C - Newman was due to perform for the UK at 2020’s event, and he has previously won a Brit award in 2014 for best British single, as co-writer of Rudimental’s hit Waiting All Night. He also has writing credits with artists including Little Mix, Jess Glynne, Kesha, Olly Murs and more. Don't tell us in the comments that you've never heard of these people, because it isn't big or clever :-), 5:C - To add insult to injury the 2015 show was being hosted in … Vienna, Austria. Oh Vienna., 6:A - Russia inexplicably decided that dressing some ladies up as Buranovskiye Babushki – The Grannies from Buranovo – and giving them the song Party For Everybody would lead to success. Dear reader, it did not., 7:D - The tradition comes from Sir Terry Wogan warning his successor as the UK's commentator Graham Norton "not to have anything to drink until that point". The rule, you may be pleased to know, does not apply to those watching the show. Or those live blogging it for the Guardian., 8:D - Abba triumphed in 1974, bizarrely with the extremely low total of just 24 points, due to a completely different one-off jury voting system in use., 9:A - It was the death of Pompidou. Italy did not broadcast Eurovision that year because of concerns that the entry Sì by Gigliola Cinquetti was an endorsement for voting "yes" in a referendum on divorce happening at the same time. It was Portugal's entry, E Depois do Adeus, which genuinely appears to have been used as part of a signal to start a revolution when it was played on the radio., 10:D - Making Your Mind Up (1981), The Land of Make Believe (1981) and My Camera Never Lies (1982) were all UK number ones., 11:A - Aston stood for election in Kensington where she didn't exactly get "nul points", but her 384 votes saw her placed fifth. , 12:B - The comic creation of Andriy Mykhailovych Danylko, Verka was a TV star in her native Ukraine before bursting on to the Eurovsion scene and instantly becoming a huge fan favourite with Dancing Lasha Tumbai., 13:C - Baku hosted in 2012 after Azerbaijan won the 2011 contest., 14:C - Its first entry was in 2015 with Tonight Again by Guy Sebastian. Originally intended as a one-off appearance in the finals, Australia has subsequently competed every year, including a second-place finish in 2016. If it ever wins, it is expected that a neutral country in Europe would co-host the event with Australia the following year., 15:A - Morocco entered the song Bitaqat Hub in 1980, which was sung in Arabic and performed by Samira Bensaïd. It came second last on the night, and perhaps scarred by the experience, the country has never competed again., 16:D - It is Luxembourg. It hasn't competed since 1993, but astonishingly has punched well above its weight and has managed to bag the title no fewer than five times., 17:B - Cliff came second, one point behind the Spanish entry from Massiel entitled La, La, La. I will wager that there is only one of these songs you can sing off the top of your head. There's been persistent rumours of voting skullduggery down the years, and in 2008 Cliff said to us: "I've lived with this number two thing for so many years, it would be wonderful if someone official from the contest turned around and said: 'Cliff, you won that darn thing after all.'", 18:A - Organisers disqualified Belarus, ruling that its entry song – by a band whose lyrics have been deemed in the past to mock anti-government protests – is in breach of competition guidelines., 19:C - The other three have hosted the contest. It has been held in Scotland, but organisers opted for Edinburgh in 1972., 20:B - They later set a world record for a mass participation karaoke singalong of the winning song, which includes the puntastic phrase "It's the arockalypse" among its evangelical Christian messaging

Scores

1. 18 and above.

   So close to a perfect score, but basically you are Cliff Richard coming 2nd in 1968

2. 20 and above.

   "Douze points!" – well, vingt points, but you get the point. Well done.

3. 14 and above.

   Excellent Eurovision knowledge – c'est une magnifique victoire

4. 8 and above.

   Good effort

5. 0 and above.

   "Nul points!" – you are the Norway of this quiz

6. 1 and above.

   This is the kind of score that is going to get you relegated to the semi-final for next year

• If you do think there has been an egregious error in one of the questions or answers, please feel free to email martin.belam@theguardian.com. But remember, the quizmaster’s word is always final and you don’t want him to get stroppy now, do you?