After living in England for the last four years, one thing (amongst many others) that was completely new to me when I came here was the Eurovision Song Contest that takes place annually in Europe. The contest is held in the country of the winner from the previous year, and this year the contest will take place in Helsinki, Finland with 42 countries taking part. The way the winner is determined during the final night is by call-in votes and you can't vote for the country that you're calling from.
Related: Eurovision 2008 - Andy Abraham (X Factor) to represent UK with "Even If" - watch video
Eurovision is one of the wackiest singing/talent contests out there and so far every year believe it or not, I've been glued to the TV when it's on. BBC Radio Two Veteran DJ Terry Wogan commentates during the show and sometimes over the performances which is pretty funny. It's good to know that from his point of view, Eurovision is not taken too seriously in England and I'm under the impression that most people (not all) have the England "never wins" mentality anyway.
Now, with all of that being said, the selection night took place last weekend and the acts that were competing in the BBC Making Your Mind Up show were: Big Brovaz, Cyndi, Brian Harvey, Justin Hawkins and Beverlei Brown (Hawkins & Brown), Liz McClarnon and Scooch. The winner, via phone-in voting by the British public was Scooch. So this means that Scooch will now represent England in the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest with their song, "Flying The Flag (For You)". Hmmm.
I thought for sure Justin Hawkins and Beverlei Brown would win. The main reason I thought that was because Justin Hawkins has a high profile in England as he fronted the Spinal Tap like band The Darkness and out of all the other contestants seems to be in the press more. Also, during Red Nose Day festivities for Comic Relief, the night before the Making Your Mind Up competition, Justin Hawkins appeared on a special Top Gear of the Pops, singing with Jeremy Clarkson (drums), Richard Hammond (bass) and James May (keyboards) which was interesting to say the least.
So with him making that TV appearance I thought for sure it would tip him to win. I can even remember the Justin Hawkins/Beverlei Brown song that they performed - "They Don't Make 'Em Like They Used To" over all the others. I thought that if it wasn't them, though, Big Brovaz would have been a good bet. But I was wrong. So wrong.
Scooch was the winner. Unfortunately. Even Daz last year was better than Scooch. I'm not even going to look up more information on them to include here because it's just too ridiculous.
Are there Scooch fans out there?
If you don't know much about them and really want to know more, here is a link to Scooch on Wikipedia.
The 2007 Eurovision Song Contest will be taking place in Helsinki, Finland with the final night on May 12th.
Eurovision Song Contest Official Website
By: Jenny May
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thank god u stated it was england and not the uk that scooch are representing , as this is diabolical!!! no wonder ENGLAND never gets any votes . its funny how its england but if the group where scottish it would be uk THANKFULY WE ARE NOT ASSOCIATED I MUST OFF BEEN SLEEPING WHEN WE GOT OUR INDEPENDANCE YOURS DISGRUNTLY THE SCOTTISH HAGGIS
lol!
As an old time aviator I think Scooch is just great, particularly the marshalling bats business at the end.
HOWEVER this is a EUROPEAN contest and I believe they will pick up significantly more votes if instead of the Union Jacks on their trollies which they display at the end, they showed the European UNION Star motif , on at least two trollies , if not all four.
Hi Peter,
Thank you for your comment.
It's always good to hear another point of view!
- Jenny