My Eurovision History

So why am I soooooooo into Eurovision...?

Sometimes that is still a question I ask myself...

I have very few 'early' Eurovision memories, however EVERY year, WITHOUT fail, Mum, Dad and myself would sit down 2 Sundays a year watching the Eurovision Previews shows on the BBC, usually hosted by Ken Bruce or Gloria Hunniford DLT od Diddy Davd Hamilton. We would give every song a score out of ten and would then refer back to it on the actual night. Saying that I cannot really remember watching any of the Eurovision shows at all until I got into double figures.

My first vague memory of watching the contest and remembering watching it is 1988. I remember the UK entry of that year (Go, sung by Scott Fitzgerald) was written by Julie (Bruce's daughter). Unfortunately we were (again) pipped at the post by Switzerland's entry sung by a then unknown (and very badly dressed) Celine Dion. I can remember that near the end of the voting, the camera actually panned to Bruce sitting in the audience.

Probably the first year I really remember and became interested in eurovision was 1992. We sent Michael Ball that year - I think the BBC decided to make a bloody good effort, and let's be honest, "One step out of time" is a cracking song. Of course the next year, my interest was heightened further due to the song being sung by Sonia. I say interest, but she did go to the same secondary school as me:oP

1994 I made a real effort to understand and really get into Eurovision. As it happened, I was able to record the Eurovision previews onto video (this then turned out to be the last time the BBC had previews on their main channel) I also recorded the actual final from Radio 2 for the first time. I had some real favourites that year. I decided to support the Romanian entry "Dincolo di Nori" sung by Dan Bittman. It was a really strange song, possibly as it was their virgin entry to the finals proper. A good song, possibly not a 'eurovision song' though.

The rest is kind of history. I was addicted.

Now I have every final (apart from the obvious two) on dvd and have audios or cds of every song ever seeing on the eurovision stage. Thanks to my Hotbird and Astra dish, I have been able to record many of the national finals around Europe and for those that I am unable to see, I have youtube to thank for that :o) 

So in 2010 I decided to dedicate a blog to my Eurovision passion, then called De Vogels Van Holland, in honour of learning about the history of the contest but in the summer of 2016 is was revamped as ESC armchair. My aim is two-fold. Firstly it is my platform to share my opinions and let other fans know what I think about the contest as it progresses. Secondly, I hope it is a simple and friendly enough site that casual watchers of the show, first time watchers or even the non-fans, can keep up to date with the calendar of Eurovision and maybe find something or someone you might just like.
I hope you 'enjoy'... and if you do not 'enjoy' then at least 'appreciate'