Eurovision Song Contest 1960

The Eurovision Song Contest 1960 was the fifth edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest, held on Tuesday 29 March 1960 at the Royal Festival Hall in London, United Kingdom, and hosted by British television presenter and actress Catherine Boyle. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), the United Kingdom was offered the rights to stage the contest after the Netherlands, which had won the 1959 contest, declined the opportunity after having organised the event in 1958.

Eurovision Song Contest 1960
Dates
Final	29 March 1960
Host
Venue	Royal Festival Hall London, United Kingdom
Presenter(s)	Catherine Boyle
Musical director	Eric Robinson
Directed by	Innes Lloyd
Executive producer	Harry Carlisle
Host broadcaster	British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
Website	eurovision.tv/event/london-1960
Participants
Number of entries	13
Debuting countries	Norway
Returning countries	Luxembourg
Non-returning countries	None
Participation map      Participating countries
Vote
Voting system	Ten-member juries in each country; each member gave one vote to their favourite song
Winning song	France "Tom Pillibi"
1959 ← Eurovision Song Contest → 1961

Luxembourg returned to the competition after an absence of one year, and Norway made its first contest appearance, bringing the total number of participating countries to thirteen.

The winner was France with the song "Tom Pillibi", performed by Jacqueline Boyer, composed by André Popp and written by Pierre Cour. This marked France's second contest victory, having also won in 1958. The United Kingdom placed second for the second consecutive year and Monaco earned their first top three finish by placing third.

Location

Royal Festival Hall, London – host venue of the 1960 contest

The contest took place in London, United Kingdom. Although the Netherlands had won the 1959 contest in Cannes, the Dutch broadcaster Nederlandse Televisie Stichting (NTS) declined to stage the event for a second time in three years, after hosting the 1958 edition in Hilversum. The rights to staging the contest subsequently passed to the United Kingdom's British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), following the UK's second place finish in the previous year's event, a decision which was announced in October 1959.^[1][2]

The Royal Festival Hall was chosen to stage the 1960 contest. Situated on the South Bank of the River Thames, the venue was first opened in 1951 and was originally conceived for use during that year's Festival of Britain; it is now part of the Southbank Centre, a complex of several artistic venues.^[2][3][4]

Participating countries

Further information: List of countries in the Eurovision Song Contest

Eurovision Song Contest 1960 – Participation summaries by country
Austria Belgium Denmark France Germany Italy Luxembourg Monaco Netherlands Norway Sweden Switzerland United Kingdom

The number of entries grew to thirteen for this edition, with the eleven competing countries from the 1959 contest being joined by Luxembourg, returning after a one year absence, and Norway, making its first appearance.^[1][2][5]

Fud Leclerc made his third appearance at the contest for Belgium, having represented the country in 1956 with "Messieurs les noyés de la Seine" (one of the two Belgian entries in that year's contest) and in 1958 with "Ma petite chatte".^[6] The song from Luxembourg was the first contest entry to be performed in Luxembourgish, and one of only three entries to be performed in the language (alongside the country's entries from 1992 and 1993).^[7][8]

Participants of the Eurovision Song Contest 1960^[7][9]

Country	Broadcaster	Artist	Song	Language	Songwriter(s)	Conductor
Austria	ORF	Harry Winter	"Du hast mich so fasziniert"	German	Robert Gilbert Robert Stolz	Robert Stolz
Belgium	INR	Fud Leclerc	"Mon amour pour toi"	French	Robert Montal Jack Say	Henri Segers
Denmark	DR	Katy Bødtger	"Det var en yndig tid"	Danish	Sven Buemann Vilfred Kjær	Kai Mortensen
France	RTF	Jacqueline Boyer	"Tom Pillibi"	French	Pierre Cour André Popp	Franck Pourcel
Germany	HR[a]	Wyn Hoop	"Bonne nuit ma chérie"	German	Franz Josef Breuer Kurt Schwabach	Franz Josef Breuer
Italy	RAI	Renato Rascel	"Romantica"	Italian	Renato Rascel Dino Verde	Cinico Angelini
Luxembourg	CLT	Camillo Felgen	"So laang we's du do bast"	Luxembourgish	Henri Moots Jean Roderès	Eric Robinson
Monaco	TMC	François Deguelt	"Ce soir-là"	French	Pierre Dorsey Hubert Giraud	Raymond Lefèvre
Netherlands	NTS	Rudi Carrell	"Wat een geluk"	Dutch	Willy van Hemert Dick Schallies	Dolf van der Linden
Norway	NRK	Nora Brockstedt	"Voi-voi"	Norwegian	George Elgaaen	Øivind Bergh
Sweden	SR	Siw Malmkvist	"Alla andra får varann"	Swedish	Åke Gerhard Ulf Källqvist	Thore Ehrling
Switzerland	SRG SSR	Anita Traversi	"Cielo e terra"	Italian	Mario Robbiani	Cédric Dumont
United Kingdom	BBC	Bryan Johnson	"Looking High, High, High"	English	John Watson	Eric Robinson

Format

The Royal Festival Hall auditorium (pictured in 2017)

The contest was organised and broadcast by the BBC, with Harry Carlisle serving as producer, Innes Lloyd as director, Richard Levin as designer, and Eric Robinson as musical director, leading the orchestra during the event.^[11][12] Each country was allowed to nominate their own musical director to lead the orchestra during the performance of their country's entry, with the host musical director, Eric Robinson, also conducting for those countries which did not nominate their own conductor.^[7]

As had been the case since the 1957 contest, each country, participating through a single EBU member broadcaster, was represented by one song performed by up to two people on stage. The results of the event were determined through jury voting, with each country's jury containing ten individuals who each gave one vote to their favourite song, with no abstentions allowed and with jurors unable to vote for their own country.^[1][13] A new innovation for this year's event was to allow the national juries to listen to the final rehearsal of each country, which was also recorded to allow jury members to listen to the entries ahead of the live contest.^[2][14]

The draw to determine the order in which each country would perform was conducted on 28 March in the presence of the performers. Performance and technical rehearsals involving the artists and orchestra were held on 28 and 29 March ahead of the live transmission.^[2]

Contest overview

Jacqueline Boyer, the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 1960

The contest was held on 29 March 1960 at 21:00 (GMT) and lasted 1 hour and 20 minutes.^[7][15] The contest was presented by British television presenter and actress Catherine Boyle, the first of four contests in which she participated as host.^[7][16] Boyle presided over the opening of the contest and the voting process, while the various national broadcasters that carried the show provided commentary between each act, with the United Kingdom's commentator David Jacobs also being heard by the assembled audience of over 2,500 people in the hall.^[2][14]

The winner was France represented by the song "Tom Pillibi", composed by André Popp, written by Pierre Cour and performed by Jacqueline Boyer.^[17] Boyer is the daughter of Jacques Pills, who had represented Monaco in the previous year's contest and placed last with "Mon ami Pierrot".^[5][7] France's victory was their second in the contest, following their win in 1958, and brought them level on number of victories with the Netherlands.^[1][18] The United Kingdom gained their second consecutive second place finish, while Monaco considerably improved upon their debut performance the previous year with a third place finish.^[19][20]

It was originally planned for the top three songs to be performed again following the voting, as had occurred in the 1959 contest, however this was ultimately scrapped and only the winning song received its traditional reprise performance.^[13] The winning artist was presented with a silver gilt vase, which was awarded by Teddy Scholten; this marked the first time that the previous year's winning artist awarded the prize to the next contest winner, which has since become Eurovision tradition.^[5][21]

Results of the Eurovision Song Contest 1960^[7][22]

R/O	Country	Artist	Song	Points	Place
1	United Kingdom	Bryan Johnson	"Looking High, High, High"	25	2
2	Sweden	Siw Malmkvist	"Alla andra får varann"	4	10
3	Luxembourg	Camillo Felgen	"So laang we's du do bast"	1	13
4	Denmark	Katy Bødtger	"Det var en yndig tid"	4	10
5	Belgium	Fud Leclerc	"Mon amour pour toi"	9	6
6	Norway	Nora Brockstedt	"Voi-voi"	11	4
7	Austria	Harry Winter	"Du hast mich so fasziniert"	6	7
8	Monaco	François Deguelt	"Ce soir-là"	15	3
9	Switzerland	Anita Traversi	"Cielo e terra"	5	8
10	Netherlands	Rudi Carrell	"Wat een geluk"	2	12
11	Germany	Wyn Hoop	"Bonne nuit ma chérie"	11	4
12	Italy	Renato Rascel	"Romantica"	5	8
13	France	Jacqueline Boyer	"Tom Pillibi"	32	1

Spokespersons

Each country nominated a spokesperson who was responsible for announcing the votes for their respective country via telephone.^[23] Known spokespersons at the 1960 contest are listed below.

•  Netherlands – Siebe van der Zee [nl]^[24]
•  Sweden – Tage Danielsson^[14]
•  United Kingdom – Nick Burrell-Davis^[13]

Detailed voting results

The announcement of the results from each country was conducted in reverse order to the order in which each country performed.^[13]

Detailed voting results of the Eurovision Song Contest 1960^[13][25][26]

		Total score	France	Italy	Germany	Netherlands	Switzerland	Monaco	Austria	Norway	Belgium	Denmark	Luxembourg	Sweden	United Kingdom
Contestants	United Kingdom	25		2	1	5	4	1	3	2	1		5	1
	Sweden	4	2	1		1
	Luxembourg	1		1
	Denmark	4								2			1		1
	Belgium	9		3	1				1					4
	Norway	11	1			1	4		1		1	2			1
	Austria	6		1							1	2			2
	Monaco	15	3		7		1					2	1		1
	Switzerland	5		1					2	1			1
	Netherlands	2		1							1
	Germany	11	4					2	2		2			1
	Italy	5				1		2			1		1
	France	32			1	2	1	5	1	5	3	4	1	4	5

Broadcasts

Broadcasters competing in the event were required to relay the contest via its networks; non-participating EBU member broadcasters were also able to relay the contest. Broadcasters were able to send commentators to provide coverage of the contest in their own native language and to relay information about the artists and songs to their television viewers.^[27]

Known details on the broadcasts in each country, including the specific broadcasting stations and commentators are shown in the tables below.

Broadcasters and commentators in participating countries

Country	Broadcaster	Channel(s)	Commentator(s)	Ref(s)
Austria	ORF	ORF		[28]
Belgium	INR	INR	Georges Désir [fr]	[7][29]
	NIR	NIR	Nic Bal [nl]	[30]
Denmark	DR	Danmarks Radio TV, Program 2	Sejr Volmer-Sørensen	[31]
France	RTF	RTF	Pierre Tchernia	[7][32]
Germany	ARD	Deutsches Fernsehen	Wolf Mittler	[33][34]
Italy	RAI	Programma Nazionale, Secondo Programma	Giorgio Porro	[35][36]
Luxembourg	CLT	Télé-Luxembourg		[37]
Netherlands	NTS	NTS	Piet te Nuyl Jr.	[34][38]
	NRU	Hilversum 2		[38][39]
Norway	NRK	NRK Fjernsynet, NRK	Erik Diesen	[40][41]
Sweden	SR	Sveriges TV, SR P2	Jan Gabrielsson [sv]	[42]
Switzerland	SRG SSR	TV DRS, DRS 1	Theodor Haller [de]	[7][43][44]
		TSR, RSR 1		[43][44]
		TSI, RSI		[45]
United Kingdom	BBC	BBC Television Service	David Jacobs	[15]

Broadcasters and commentators in non-participating countries

Country	Broadcaster	Channel(s)	Commentator(s)	Ref(s)
Finland	YLE	Suomen Televisio	Aarno Walli [fi]	[2][46][47]
Netherlands Antilles	RNW[b]			[48]

Notes and references

Notes

1. On behalf of the German public broadcasting consortium ARD^[10]
2. Delayed broadcast in Curaçao in a shortened format on 2 April 1960 at 19:20 (ADT)^[48]

References

1. "London 1960 – Eurovision Song Contest". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 31 May 2022. Retrieved 19 June 2022.
2. Roxburgh, Gordon (2012). Songs for Europe: The United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest. Vol. One: The 1950s and 1960s. Prestatyn, United Kingdom: Telos Publishing. pp. 213–214. ISBN 978-1-84583-065-6.
3. "Royal Festival Hall". Royal Opera House. Archived from the original on 14 June 2020. Retrieved 19 June 2022.
4. "Our venues | Southbank Centre". Southbank Centre. Archived from the original on 20 May 2022. Retrieved 19 June 2022.
5. O'Connor, John Kennedy (2010). The Eurovision Song Contest: The Official History (2nd ed.). London, United Kingdom: Carlton Books. pp. 16–17. ISBN 978-1-84732-521-1.
6. "Belgium – Country Profile". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 15 May 2022. Retrieved 19 June 2022.
7. Roxburgh, Gordon (2012). Songs for Europe: The United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest. Vol. One: The 1950s and 1960s. Prestatyn, United Kingdom: Telos Publishing. pp. 214–219. ISBN 978-1-84583-065-6.
8. Van Lith, Nick (21 December 2015). "Xtra's Pick of the 50s and 60s". ESCXtra. Retrieved 11 July 2024.
9. "Participants of London 1960". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 5 February 2023. Retrieved 10 June 2023.
10. "Alle deutschen ESC-Acts und ihre Titel". www.eurovision.de (in German). ARD. Archived from the original on 12 June 2023. Retrieved 12 June 2023.
11. Roxburgh, Gordon (2012). Songs for Europe: The United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest. Vol. One: The 1950s and 1960s. Prestatyn, United Kingdom: Telos Publishing. p. 223. ISBN 978-1-84583-065-6.
12. O'Connor, John Kennedy (2010). The Eurovision Song Contest: The Official History (2nd ed.). London, United Kingdom: Carlton Books. p. 217. ISBN 978-1-84732-521-1.
13. Roxburgh, Gordon (2012). Songs for Europe: The United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest. Vol. One: The 1950s and 1960s. Prestatyn, United Kingdom: Telos Publishing. pp. 219–222. ISBN 978-1-84583-065-6.
14. Thorsson, Leif; Verhage, Martin (2006). Melodifestivalen genom tiderna : de svenska uttagningarna och internationella finalerna [Melodifestivalen through the ages: the Swedish selections and international finals] (in Swedish). Stockholm: Premium Publishing. pp. 26–27. ISBN 91-89136-29-2.
15. "Eurovision Song Contest Grand Prix 1960". Radio Times. 27 March 1960. Retrieved 15 June 2022 – via BBC Genome Project.
16. Zwart, Josianne (21 March 2018). "Katie Boyle, iconic Eurovision Song Contest host, dies at 91". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 22 March 2018. Retrieved 19 June 2022.
17. "Jacqueline Boyer – France – London 1960". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 12 May 2018. Retrieved 13 September 2022.
18. "Winners – Eurovision Song Contest". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 5 June 2022. Retrieved 19 June 2022.
19. "United Kingdom – Country Profile". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 17 May 2022. Retrieved 19 June 2022.
20. "Monaco – Country Profile". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 23 November 2021. Retrieved 19 June 2022.
21. O'Connor, John Kennedy (2010). The Eurovision Song Contest: The Official History (2nd ed.). London, United Kingdom: Carlton Books. p. 216. ISBN 978-1-84732-521-1.
22. "Final of London 1960 – Eurovision Song Contest". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 27 March 2021. Retrieved 27 March 2021.
23. "How it works – Eurovision Song Contest". European Broadcasting Union. 18 May 2019. Archived from the original on 31 May 2022. Retrieved 4 June 2022.
24. "Toch geen geluk voor Rudi" [No luck for Rudi after all]. Nieuwe Leidsche Courant (in Dutch). 30 March 1960. p. 7. Retrieved 14 June 2021. De Nederlandse jury, gepresideerd door Siebe van der Zee [...] [The Dutch jury, chaired by Siebe van der Zee [...]]
25. "Results of the Final of London 1960". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 27 March 2021. Retrieved 27 March 2021.
26. "Eurovision Song Contest 1960 – Scoreboard". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 22 July 2015. Retrieved 14 June 2021.
27. "The Rules of the Contest". European Broadcasting Union. 31 October 2018. Archived from the original on 4 October 2022. Retrieved 13 December 2022.
28. "Televizijski program – Torek, 29. 3" [Television programme – Tuesday 29/03]. Slovenski vestnik (in Slovenian). Klagenfurt (Celovec), Austria. 25 March 1960. p. 7. Retrieved 21 May 2024 – via Digital Library of Slovenia.
29. "Fernsehen – Dienstag, 29. März" [Television – Tuesday, March 29th] (PDF). St. Vither Zeitung [de] (in German). St. Vith, Belgium. 29 March 1960. p. 4. Retrieved 4 November 2024 – via State Archives of Belgium.
30. "Televisiekijkers voor U... – dinsdag 29 maart" [Television viewers for you... – Tuesday 29 March]. De Gazet van Aalst (in Flemish). Aalst, Belgium. 26 March 1960. p. 2. Retrieved 22 June 2022.
31. "Alle tiders programoversigter – Tirsdag den 29. marts 1960" [All-time programme overviews – Tuesday 29 March 1960] (in Danish). DR. Retrieved 22 May 2024.
32. "Les programmes de television" [Television programmes]. La République Nouvelle (in French). Bourg-en-Bresse, France. 29 March 1960. p. 3. Retrieved 19 September 2024 – via Archives départementales de l'Ain [fr].
33. "Deutsches Fernsehen – Dienstag, den 29. März 1960" [German television – Tuesday 29 March 1960]. Neckar-Bote (in German). Heidelberg, West Germany. 26 March 1960. p. 4. Retrieved 23 June 2024 – via Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek.
34. "Televisie – Dinsdag" [Television – Tuesday]. Vrije geluiden (in Dutch). Vol. 30, no. 13. 26 March 1960. p. 37. OCLC 72761986. Retrieved 18 September 2024 – via Delpher.
35. "TV | martedì 29 marzo" [TV | Tuesday 29 March]. Radiocorriere TV (in Italian). Vol. 37, no. 13. 27 March – 2 April 1960. p. 30. Retrieved 31 May 2024.
36. "Radio | martedì | Secondo Programma" [Radio | Tuesday | Second Programme]. Radiocorriere TV (in Italian). Vol. 37, no. 13. 27 March – 2 April 1960. p. 28–29. Retrieved 31 May 2024.
37. "Télé-Luxembourg". Luxemburger Wort (in German and French). Luxembourg City, Luxembourg. 28 March 1960. p. 6. Retrieved 6 November 2022 – via National Library of Luxembourg.
38. "Rudi Carell als tiende" [Rudi Carell tenth]. Het Binnenhof [nl] (in Dutch). The Hague, Netherlands. 28 March 1960. p. 2. Retrieved 15 June 2022 – via Delpher. Van London uit verzorgt Piet te Nuyl het commentaar bij de uitzenging. [From London Piet te Nuyl provides commentary for the broadcast.]
39. "Avondprogramma – 29 maart 1960 dinsdag" [Evening programme – 29 March 1960 Tuesday]. Vrije geluiden (in Dutch). Vol. 30, no. 13. 26 March 1960. p. 35. OCLC 72761986. Retrieved 18 September 2024 – via Delpher.
40. "Radioprogrammet / Fjernsynet" [The radio programmes / Television]. Drammens Tidende (in Norwegian). Drammen, Norway. 29 March 1960. p. 4. Retrieved 15 June 2022 – via National Library of Norway.
41. "TV". Drammens Tidende (in Norwegian). Drammen, Norway. 30 March 1960. p. 11. Retrieved 15 June 2022 – via National Library of Norway. Erik Diesen som ga de norske kommentarene fra London, gjorde sine saker bra [...] [Erik Diesen, who gave the Norwegian commentary from London, did his job well [...]]
42. "Radioprogramma – TV tirsdag" [Radio programme – TV Tuesday]. Svenska Dagbladet (in Swedish). Stockholm, Sweden. 29 March 1960. p. 34.
43. "TV". Radio Je vois tout – télévision (in French). No. 12. Lausanne, Switzerland: Héliographia SA. 24 March 1960. pp. 22–23. Retrieved 15 June 2022 – via Scriptorium Digital Library.
44. "Programmes des Émissions Suisses et Étrangères". Radio Je vois tout – télévision (in French). No. 12. Lausanne, Switzerland: Héliographia SA. 24 March 1960. pp. 33–35. Retrieved 15 June 2022 – via Scriptorium Digital Library.
45. "Spettacoli" [Shows]. Gazzetta Ticinese [it] (in Italian). Lugano, Switzerland. 29 March 1960. p. 2. Retrieved 3 July 2024 – via Sistema bibliotecario ticinese [it].
46. "Radio-ohjelma" [Radio schedule]. Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish). Helsinki, Finland. 29 March 1960. p. 37. Retrieved 7 November 2022.
47. Pajala, Mari (2013). Badenoch, Alexander; Fickers, Andreas; Henrich-Franke, Christian (eds.). "Intervision Song Contests and Finnish Television between East and West". Airy Curtains in the European Ether: Broadcasting and the Cold War. Baden-Baden, Germany: Nomos: 215–270. doi:10.5771/9783845236070-215. ISBN 9783845236070 – via Academia.edu. Walli was closely involved in YLE's ESC productions; among other things he [...] provided the commentary for all the 1960s ESCs on Finnish television.
48. "Radio en Televisie – Radio Nederland Wereldomroep – Zaterdag" [Radio and Television – Radio Netherlands Worldwide – Saturday]. Amigoe di Curaçao (in Dutch). Willemstad, Curaçao. 2 April 1960. p. 4. Retrieved 17 July 2024 – via Delpher.

External links

• Official website

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