• Dates – Grand Final: Saturday, 05 March 1966 – 20:00 CET
• Host – Venue & Location: Grand Auditorium de RTL, Villa Louvigny, Luxembourg, 🇱🇺 Luxembourg
• Presenter (s): Josiane Shen
• Musical Director: Jean Roderès
• Director: Jos Pauly, René Steichen
• Executive Producer: Clifford Brown
• Executive Supervisor: —
• Multicamera Director: —
• Host broadcaster: Compagnie Luxembourgeoise de Télédiffusion (CLT)
• Interval Act: Les Haricots Rouges 
• Participants – Number of entries: 18 [🇧🇪 Belgium (11ª), 🇫🇷 France (11ª), 🇩🇪 Germany (11ª), 🇮🇹 Italy (11ª), 🇳🇱 The Netherlands (11ª), 🇨🇭 Switzerland (11ª), 🇦🇹 Austria (10ª), 🇩🇰 Denmark (10ª), 🇬🇧 United Kindom (9ª), 🇲🇨 Monaco (8ª), 🇱🇺 Luxembourg (10ª), 🇳🇴 Norway (7ª), 🇫🇮 Finland (6ª), 🇪🇸 Spain (6ª),  Yugoslavia (6ª), 🇵🇹 Portugal (3ª), 🇮🇪 Ireland (2ª), 🇸🇪 Sweden (8ª)]
• Debuting countries: —
• Return: —
• Non-returning countries: —
• Vote – Voting system: Ten-member juries awarded points (5, 3 and 1) to their three favourite songs.
• Nil Points: 🇮🇹 Italy (1ª), Monaco (1ª).
• Winning song: “Merci, Chérie” – Udo Jürgens – 🇦🇹 Austria (1ª)

About. Once again, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg had the honour of staging Europe’s most important musical contest and for the first time, a song in German managed to win the trophy.

New rules introduced. The capital city of Luxembourg was the home of the 11th Eurovision Song Contest. The rules for the contest were changed and national juries could include music experts again. The major change was that a rule was introduced stipulating that songs had to be performed in one of the official languages of the participating country. During the dress rehearsal, the Italian participant Domenico Modugno was not satisfied with the orchestra and left the stage in anger. It was uncertain if he was going to perform during the live show, but he sang his song “Dio Come Ti Amo” after all. The song later became a huge success in South America for Gigliola Cinquetti, the winner of the 1964 Eurovision Song Contest.

Austria wins. The Austrian participant Udo Jürgens participated in the Eurovision Song Contest for the third consecutive time and finally, he managed to score the first ever victory for his native country with the song “Merci Chérie”. Udo later became one of the most-loved artists in the German-speaking countries.

Facts & figures. Future song contest hosts Lill Lindfors and Åse Kleveland took part in this contest as singers, finishing 2nd and 3rd respectively. In her performance, Åse ignored tradition and was the first woman not to wear a dress in the Eurovision Song Contest; Dutch representative Milly Scott became the first black singer to take part in the contest.

o/r	country	participant (s)	song – translate – language	Points	runk
01	🇩🇪 Germany ARD	Margot Eskens	Die zeiger der uhr (The hands of the clock) German	007	10
02	🇩🇰 Denmark DR	Ulla Pia	Stop, mens legen er go (Stop while the going’s good) Danish	004	14
03	🇧🇪 Belgium RTB	Tonia	Un peu de poivre, un peu de sel (A bit of pepper, a bit of salt) French	014	04
04	🇱🇺 Luxembourg CLT	Michèle Torr	Ce soir je t’attendais (Tonight, I waited for you) French	007	10
05	Yugoslavia JRT	Berta Ambrož  (Берта Амброж)	Brez besed (Without words) Slovene	009	07
06	🇳🇴 Norway NRK	Åse Kleveland	Intet er nytt under solen (Nothing is new under the sun) Norwegian	015	03
07	🇫🇮 Finland YLE	Ann-Christine Nyström	Playboy Finnish	007	10
08	🇵🇹 Portugal RTP	Madalena Iglésias	Ele e ela (He and she) Portuguese	006	13
09	🇦🇹 Austria ÖRF	Udo Jürgens	Merci chérie (Thank you, darling) German [a]	031	01
10	🇸🇪 Sweden SR	Lill Lindfors & Svante Thuresson	Nygammal vals (New, yet familiar, waltz) Swedish	016	02
11	🇪🇸 Spain TVE	Raphael	Yo soy aquél (I’m that one) Spanish	009	07
12	🇨🇭 Switzerland SSR SRG	Madeleine Pascal	Ne vois-tu pas? (Don’t you see?) French	012	06
13	🇲🇨 Monaco TMC	Tereza (Tereza Kesovija)	Bien plus fort (Much Stronger) French	000	17
14	🇮🇹 Italy RAI	Domenico Modugno	Dio, come ti amo (God, how I love you) Italian	000	17
15	🇫🇷 France ORTF	Dominique Walter	Chez nous (By us) French	001	16
16	🇳🇱 The Netherlands NOS	Milly Scott	Fernando en Philippo (Fernando and Filippo) Dutch	000	15
17	🇮🇪 Ireland RÉ	Dickie Rock	Come back to stay English	014	04
18	🇬🇧 United Kindom BBC	Kenneth McKellar	A man without love English	008	09

Participation map

Participating countries  

ESC 1966 Scoreboard Ι Detailed voting results:

The Eurovision Song Contest 1966 was the 11th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg, following the country’s victory at the 1965 contest with the song “Poupée de cire, poupée de son” by France Gall. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Compagnie Luxembourgeoise de Télédiffusion (CLT), the contest was held at the Villa Louvigny on Saturday 5 March 1966 and was hosted by Luxembourgish television presenter Josiane Chen.

Eighteen countries participated in the contest, the same that had competed the year before.

The winner was Austria with the song “Merci, Chérie”, performed and composed by Udo Jürgens, and written by Jürgens and Thomas Hörbiger.^[1] This was Udo Jürgens third consecutive entry in the contest, finally managing to score a victory for his native country Austria. Austria would not go on to win again until the 2014 edition. This was also the first winning song to be performed in German. The contest is also noted for its historic results for several countries. Austria who came first, Sweden who came second, Norway who came third and Belgium who came fourth all achieved their best results up until then, some of which would stand for several decades. In contrast traditional Eurovision heavyweights up to that point such as France, United Kingdom and Italy all achieved their worst result by far up till that point, with the general public in the aforementioned countries meeting these results with a degree of consternation.

The rule stating that a country could only sing in any of its national languages was originally created this year, possibly due to the 1965 edition’s Swedish entry which was sung in English.

1.Location. The 1966 Eurovision Song Contest was hosted in Luxembourg City. The venue chosen to host the 1966 contest was the Villa Louvigny, which was also the venue for the 1962 edition. The building served as the headquarters of Compagnie Luxembourgeoise de Télédiffusion, the forerunner of RTL Group. It is located in Municipal Park, in the Ville Hautequarter of the centre of the city.

2.Format. A new change in rules was introduced this year, allowing music experts to be present in the juries again. 1966 also marked the year the first ever black singer graced the Eurovision stage, Milly Scott representing the Netherlands. She was also the first singer to use a portable microphone.

This year’s voting was also characterised with numerous cases of “neighbourly” or “bloc” voting – a problem that would plague the contest in many future decades. Sweden for example received all its 16 points, bar one, from its Nordic neighbours – as did Finland. Denmark likewise received all its points from Nordic nations. The voting of the Nordic countries was met with booing from the Luxembourg audience. Portugal and its sole neighbour Spain exchanged maximum five points, with Switzerland and Austria – also two countries neighbouring each other – doing likewise. France was spared the indignity of no points from its micro-state neighbour Monaco. Ireland awarded maximum points to its culturally closest neighbour the United Kingdom with Netherlands doing the same for Belgium.

During the voting process, the presenter (Josiane Chen) accidentally greeted United Kingdom by saying “Good night London”. She then realized her mistake and said “Good evening, London”. Afterwards Michael Aspel, who was the spokesperson for the United Kingdom at the time, responded by saying “Good morning, Luxembourg” prompting laughter from Josiane and the audience.

3.Participating countries. All countries who had participated in the 1965 contest returned for a second consecutive year.

3.1.Conductors. Each performance had a conductor who was maestro of the orchestra.

3.2.Returning artists.

Artist	Country	Previous year(s)
Domenico Modugno	🇮🇹 Italy	1958, 1959
Udo Jürgens	🇦🇹 Austria	1964, 1965

3.3.Participants and results.

3.4.All the national selections for Eurovision Song Contest 1966: 

• National Selections in 1966:

COUNTRY	EVENT	WINNER
🇧🇪 Belgium	Eurosong 1966 (song selection) [b]	Tonia – “Un peu de poivre, un peu de sel”
🇩🇰 Denmark	Melodi Grand Prix 1966	Ulla Pia – “Stop – mens legen er go’“
🇫🇮 Finland	(Finnish Selection 1966)	Ann-Christine Nyström – “Playboy”
🇮🇪 Ireland	(Irish Selection 1966)	Dickie Rock – “Come Back to Stay”
🇮🇹 Italy	Sanremo 1966	Domenico Modugno – “Dio, come ti amo“
🇳🇱 The Netherlands	Nationaal Songfestival 1966	Milly Scott – “Fernando en Filippo“
🇳🇴 Norway	Melodi Grand Prix 1966	Åse Kleveland – “Intet er nytt under solen“
🇵🇹 Portugal	Grande Prémio TV da Canção 1966	Madalena Iglésias – “Ele e ela“
🇸🇪 Sweden	Svensk Sångfestival 1966	Lill Lindfors & Svante Thuresson – “Nygammal vals“
🇨🇭 Switzerland	Concours Eurovision 1966	Madeleine Pascal – “Ne vois-tu pas ?“
🇬🇧 United Kindom	A Song for Europe 1966 (song selection) [c]	Kenneth McKellar – “A Man Without Love”
Yugoslavia	Jugovizija 1966	Berta Ambrož – “Brez besed“

• Internal Selections in 1966: 

3.5.Connections:

4.Voting.

Voting results

		Total score
C o n t e s t a n t s	🇩🇪 Germany	7			1									5		1
	🇩🇰 Denmark	4						1	3
	🇧🇪 Belgium	14	5							3		1						5
	🇱🇺 Luxembourg	7									1	5					1
	Yugoslavia	9	3						1											5
	🇳🇴 Norway	15	1								3	3	3			5
	🇫🇮 Finland	7		3				3										1
	🇵🇹 Portugal	6		1									5
	🇦🇹 Austria	31			5	5	5			1			1	3	5	3	3
	🇸🇪 Sweden	16		5				5	5					1
	🇪🇸 Spain	9					1			5										3
	🇨🇭 Switzerland	12				1					5				3				3
	🇲🇨 Monaco	0
	🇮🇹 Italy	0
	🇫🇷 France	1													1
	🇳🇱 The Netherlands	2																	1	1
	🇮🇪 Ireland	14			3		3										5	3
	🇬🇧 United Kindom	8				3													5

4.1.5 points. Below is a summary of all 5 points in the final:

N.	Contestant	Nation(s) giving 5 points
4	🇦🇹 Austria	🇧🇪 Belgium [a], 🇱🇺 Luxembourg, 🇲🇨 Monaco,  Yugoslavia
3	🇸🇪 Sweden	🇩🇰 Denmark, 🇫🇮 Finland, 🇳🇴 Norway
2	🇧🇪 Belgium	🇩🇪 Germany, 🇳🇱 The Netherlands
1	🇩🇪 Germany	🇨🇭 Switzerland
	🇮🇪 Ireland	🇫🇷 France
	🇱🇺 Luxembourg	🇸🇪 Sweden
	🇳🇴 Norway	🇮🇹 Italy
	🇵🇹 Portugal	🇪🇸 Spain
	🇪🇸 Spain	🇵🇹 Portugal
	🇨🇭 Switzerland	🇦🇹 Austria
	🇬🇧 United Kindom	🇮🇪 Ireland
	Yugoslavia	🇬🇧 United Kindom

4.2.Spokespersons. Listed below is the order in which votes were cast during the 1966 contest along with the spokesperson who was responsible for announcing the votes for their respective country.

5.Broadcasts. Each national broadcaster also sent a commentator to the contest, in order to provide coverage of the contest in their own native language.

Broadcasters and commentators in participating countries

Country	Broadcaster(s)	Commentator(s)	–
🇦🇹 Austria	ÖRF	Willy Kralik
🇧🇪 Belgium	RTB	French: Paule Herreman
	BRT	Dutch: Herman Verelst
🇩🇰 Denmark	DR TV	Skat Nørrevig
🇫🇮 Finland	TV-ohjelma 1, Yleisohjelma	Aarno Walli
🇫🇷 France	Première Chaîne ORTF	François Deguelt	–
🇩🇪 Germany	Deutsches Fernsehen	Hans-Joachim Rauschenbach
🇮🇪 Ireland	Telefís Éireann	Brendan O’Reilly
	Radió Éireann	Kevin Roche
🇮🇹 Italy	Secondo Programma	Piero Angela
🇱🇺 Luxembourg	Télé-Luxembourg	Jacques Navadic	–
🇲🇨 Monaco	Télé Monte Carlo	François Deguelt
🇳🇱 The Netherlands	Nederland 1	Teddy Scholten	–
🇳🇴 Norway	NRK, NRK P1	Sverre Christophersen
🇵🇹 Portugal	RTP	Henrique Mendes
🇪🇸 Spain	TVE	Federico Gallo
🇸🇪 Sweden	Sveriges TV, SR P1	Sven Lindahl	–
🇨🇭 Switzerland	TV DRS	German: Theodor Haller
	TSR	French: Georges Hardy
	TSI	Italian: Giovanni Bertini
🇬🇧 United Kindom	BBC1	David Jacobs	–
	BBC Light Programme	John Dunn
Yugoslavia	Televizija Beograd	Serbo-Croatian: Miloje Orlović
	Televizija Zagreb	Serbo-Croatian: Mladen Delić
	Televizija Ljubljana	Slovene: Tomaž Terček

Broadcasters and commentators in non-participating countries

Country	Broadcaster(s)	Commentator(s)	–
🇨🇿 Czechoslovakia	ČST	Unknown	–
East Germany	Deutscher Fernsehfunk	Unknown	–
🇭🇺 Hungary	RTV	Unknown	–
Morocco	TVM	Unknown	–
🇵🇱 Poland	TVP	Unknown	–
🇷🇴 Romania	TVR	Unknown	–
Soviet Union	CT USSR	Igor Kirillov	–

6.Incidents.

6.1.Italian song arrangement. This was one of the first contests in which an entry was not accompanied by an orchestra. The Italian entry “Dio, come ti amo” performed by Domenico Modugno had been rearranged since its performance at the Sanremo Music Festival and officially broke the EBU rule that stated the arrangement should be finalised well in advance. During the Saturday afternoon rehearsal Modugno performed the new arrangement with three of his own musicians as opposed to the orchestra, which went over the three-minute time limit. Following his rehearsal Modugno was confronted by the show’s producers about exceeding the time limit and was asked to use the original arrangement with the orchestra. Modugno was so dissatisfied with the orchestra that he threatened to withdraw from the contest. Both the producers and EBU scrutineer Clifford Brown felt it was too short notice to fly Gigliola Cinquetti to Luxembourg to represent Italy, so the EBU gave in and allowed Modugno to use his own ensemble instead of the orchestra. Despite websites and the official programme listing Angelo Giacomazzi as the conductor, Giacomazzi actually played the piano for the entry.

7.Notes.

• [a] The song also contains phrases in French.
• [b] Tonia was internally selected to represent Belgium at Eurovision 1966. The song “Un peu de poivre, un peu de sel” that Tonia performed at Eurovision was selected through a national final with four songs.
• [c] Kenneth McKellar was internally selected to represent United Kingdom at Eurovision 1966. McKellar performed all six songs on the show A Song for Europe 1966, and the public could vote via postcards. The result was announced one week later.

7.Trivial / Fun facts.

• Dutch representative Milly Scott became the first black singer to take part in the contest.
• For the first time, a song in German managed to get the trophy.

← Eurovision Song Contest 1965 • Eurovision Song Contest 1966 • Eurovision Song Contest 1967 →
Countries (in order of appearance)
Final	Germany ⦁ Denmark ⦁ Belgium ⦁ Luxembourg ⦁ Yugoslavia ⦁ Norway ⦁ Finland ⦁ Portugal ⦁ Austria (winner) ⦁ Sweden • Spain ⦁ Switzerland ⦁ Monaco ⦁ Italy ⦁ France ⦁ The Netherlands • Ireland • United Kingdom
Artists (in order of appearance)
Final	Margot Eskens ⦁ Ulla Pia ⦁ Tonia ⦁ Michèle Torr ⦁ Berta Ambrož ⦁ Åse Kleveland ⦁ Ann-Christine Nyström ⦁ Madalena Iglésias ⦁ Udo Jürgens (winner) ⦁ Lill Lindfors and Svante Thuresson • Raphael • Madeleine Pascal ⦁ Téréza ⦁ Domenico Modugno ⦁ Dominique Walter ⦁ Milly Scott ⦁ Dickie Rock • Kenneth McKellar
Songs (in order of appearance)
Final	“Die Zeiger der Uhr” ⦁ “Stop – mens legen er go’” ⦁ “Un peu de poivre, un peu de sel” ⦁ “Ce soir je t’attendais” ⦁ “Brez besed” ⦁ “Intet er nytt under solen” ⦁ “Playboy” ⦁ “Ele e ela” ⦁ “Merci, Chérie” (winner) ⦁ “Nygammal vals” ⦁ “Yo soy aquél” • “Ne vois-tu pas ?” ⦁ “Bien plus fort” ⦁ “Dio, come ti amo” ⦁ “Chez nous” ⦁ “Fernando en Filippo” ⦁ “Come Back to Stay” • “A Man Without Love”