• Dates – Grand Final: Saturday, 21 March 1970 – 20:00 CET
• Host – Venue & Location: RAI Congrescentrum (RAI Theatre, RAI Amsterdam Convention Centre, RAI Amsterdam), Amsterdam, 🇳🇱 The Netherlands
• Presenter (s): Willy Dobbe
• Musical Director: Dolf van der Linden
• Director: Theo Ordeman
• Executive Producer: Warner van Kampen
• Executive Supervisor: Clifford Brown
• Multicamera Director: Theo Ordeman
• Host broadcaster: Nederlandse Omroep Stichting (NOS)
• Interval Act: The Don Lurio Dancers
• Participants – Number of entries: 12 [🇧🇪 Belgium (15ª), 🇫🇷 France (15ª), 🇩🇪 Germany (15ª), 🇮🇹 Italy (15ª), 🇳🇱 The Netherlands (15ª), 🇨🇭 Switzerland (15ª), 🇬🇧United Kindom (13ª), 🇲🇨Monaco (12ª), 🇪🇸 Spain (10ª),  Yugoslavia (10ª), 🇮🇪 Ireland (6ª), 🇱🇺 Luxembourg (14ª)]
• Debuting countries: —
• Return: —
• Non-returning countries: 🇫🇮 Finland (9ª), 🇳🇴 Norway (10ª), 🇵🇹 Portugal (6ª), 🇸🇪 Sweden (11ª)
• Vote – Voting system: Ten-member juries distributed ten points among their favourite songs.
• Nil Points: 🇱🇺 Luxembourg (1ª)
• Winning song: “All Kinds of Everything” – Dana – 🇮🇪 Ireland (1ª)

About. The Netherlands hosted the Eurovision Song Contest once again in 1970. The contest took place in the capital, Amsterdam, however only 12 delegations made the trip to the Dutch capital due to what was referred to as “the voting scandal” of the year before.

Where to go?. There were plenty of host countries to choose from as a result of the four-way tie in 1969; the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, France and Spain. Eventually, Amsterdam was chosen to host the fifteenth Eurovision Song Contest by the drawing of lots. For the second year in a row, the number of participants went down. Finland, Norway, Sweden and Portugal were all dissatisfied about the voting in the 1969 contest when 4 countries were declared winners and withdrew from the contest. To ensure that a similar incident did not happen again a tie rule was created. The rule stated that if two or more songs gained the same number of points, each song had to be performed once more. After these performances, the juries (with the exception of the countries that had tied) had to select their favourite song. This had to be done by the showing of hands. If entries still were to tie, both of them would share the first position. 

Irish eyes were smiling. Ireland had its first victory in the history of the Eurovision Song Contest with Dana’s “All Kinds Of Everything”. The teenager went on to score a major international hit with her entry.

Facts & figures. Brazil, the Soviet Union, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Chile broadcast the contest live by satellite; Of the singers who competed on the stage this year a number were already established performers. Notably, the United Kingdom sent Mary Hopkin while David Alexandre Winter represented Luxembourg; The contest also featured an appearance of the then unknown Julio Iglesias, singing for Spain.

o/r	country	Participant (s)	song – translate – language	Points	rank
01	🇳🇱 The Netherlands NOS	The Hearts Of Soul (Patricia and Hearts of Soul)	Waterman (Aquarius) Dutch	007	07
02	🇨🇭 Switzerland SSR SRG	Henri Dès	Retour (Return) French	008	04
03	🇮🇹 Italy RAI	Gianni Morandi	Occhi di ragazza (Eyes of a Girl) Italian	005	08
04	Yugoslavia JRT	Eva Sršen (Ева Сршен)	Pridi, dala ti bom cvet (Come, I’ll Give You a Flower) Slovene	004	11
05	🇧🇪 Belgium RTB	Jean Vallée	Viens l’oublier (Come, Forget Him) French	005	08
06	🇫🇷 France ORTF	Guy Bonnet	Marie-Blanche French	008	04
07	🇬🇧United Kindom BBC	Mary Hopkin	Knock, knock who’s there? English	026	02
08	🇱🇺 Luxembourg CLT	David-Alexandre Winter	Je suis tombé du ciel (I Fell From Heaven) French	000	12
09	🇪🇸 Spain TVE	Julio Iglesias	Gwendolyne Spanish	008	04
10	🇲🇨Monaco TMC	Dominique Dussault	Marlène French	005	08
11	🇩🇪 Germany ARD	Katja Ebstein	Wunder gibt es immer wieder (Wonders always happen) German	012	03
12	🇮🇪 Ireland RTÉ	Dana	All kind of everything English	032	01

Missed participation

• 🇵🇹 Portugal: “Onde Vais Rio Que Eu Canto” (Portuguese) – Sérgio Borges. Austria (who had not taken part in 1969), Finland, Norway, Portugal and Sweden boycotted this contest as they were not pleased with the result of 1969 and the voting structure. Portugal did however host a National final, being won by Sérgio Borges.

Participation map

Participating countries Countries that participated in the past but not in 1970

ESC 1970 Scoreboard Ι Detailed voting results:

The Eurovision Song Contest 1970 was the 15th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest and took place in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Nederlandse Omroep Stichting (NOS), the international songwriting competition was held at the RAI Congrescentrum on 21 March 1970, and was hosted by Dutch television presenter Willy Dobbe.

Due to there being four winners in the previous contest, a question was raised as to which nation would host the 1970 contest. With Spain having hosted in 1969 and the United Kingdom in 1968, only France and the Netherlands were in consideration. A draw of ballots between these two countries resulted in the Netherlands being chosen as the host country.

Twelve countries participated in the contest this year. This was the lowest number of participants since the 1959 edition. The reason was that Finland, Norway, Portugal, Sweden and Austria all boycotted the 1970 edition in protest of the four-way tie result that had occurred in 1969.

The winner of the competition was Ireland with the song “All Kinds of Everything”, performed by Dana, and written by Derry Lindsay and Jackie Smith. This was Ireland’s first of their eventual record seven victories in the Eurovision Song Contest. The United Kingdom finished in second place for the seventh time, while Germany ended up in third place – the best result for the country at the time. This was also the only time that Luxembourg received nul points.

1.Location. The Congrescentrum, venue of the 1970 contest, is a semi-permanent exhibit at the Ferdinand Bolstraat to Amsterdam and was opened on 31 October 1922. This building was replaced in 1961 by the current RAI building on Europe’s Square. The current congress and event center on Europe Square, was designed by Alexander Bodon and opened on 2 February 1961.

2.Format. The Dutch producers were forced to pad out the show as only 12 nations decided to make the trip to Amsterdam. The result was a format that has endured almost to the present day. An extended opening sequence (filmed in Amsterdam) set the scene, while every entry was introduced by a short video ‘postcard’ featuring each of the participating artists, ostensibly in their own nation. However, the ‘postcards’ for Switzerland, Luxembourg and Monaco were all filmed on location in Paris (as was the French postcard). The long introduction film (over four minutes long) was followed by what probably is one of the shortest ever introductions by any presenter. Willy Dobbe only welcomed the viewers in English, French and Dutch, finishing her introduction after only 24 seconds. On screen captions introduced each entry, with the song titles listed all in lower case and the names of the artist and composers/authors all in capitals.

The set design was devised by Roland de Groot; a simple design was composed of a number of curved horizontal bars and silver baubles which could be moved in a variety of different ways.

To avoid an incident like in 1969, a tie rule was created. It stated that, if two or more songs gained the same number of votes and were tied for first place, each song would have to be performed again. After which each national jury (other than the juries of the countries concerned) would have a show of hands of which they thought was the best. If the countries tied again, then they would share first place.

3.Participating countries. Austria (who had not taken part in 1969), Finland, Norway, Portugal and Sweden boycotted this contest as they were not pleased with the result of 1969 and the voting structure. Portugal did however host a national final, being won by Sérgio Borges.

Of the participating singers, a number were already established performers. Notably, the United Kingdom sent Welsh singer and Apple recording artist Mary Hopkin, while David Alexandre Winter represented Luxembourg. The contest is also notable for the appearance of the then unknown Julio Iglesias, singing for Spain.

3.1.Voting and aftermath. In the run-up to the contest, the United Kingdom were favourites to win and also the favourite with the 50-piece orchestra. So sure of victory, the UK delegation had organised a winner’s party to be thrown after the contest. In the end, the only two countries in the running were the UK and Ireland, albeit the latter holding the lead throughout the voting. Ireland took the victory with 32 points, 6 points ahead of the UK, with Germany a distant third. Luxembourg failed to score any points at all – their only time ever to do so.

Ireland won the contest with “All Kinds of Everything”, penned by Derry Lindsay and Jackie Smith, and sung by another unknown, Dana, an 18-year-old schoolgirl from Derry, Northern Ireland. Scottish songwriter Bill Martin, who was responsible for the winning song’s publishing, has on numerous subsequent occasions claimed that he and his song writing partner Phil Coulter (the team behind both Puppet on a String and Congratulations) actually wrote the song themselves, but were prevented from using their names on the credit. Coulter has never repeated the claim and there is nothing public to substantiate Martin’s story and it was only made after both Lindsay and Smith had died. The song became a million-seller and the singer an international star. As the contest was held in the Netherlands this year, and the country was one of the four winners in 1969, Dana received her awards from the Dutch winner Lenny Kuhr.

Mary Hopkin scored a few more hits but downscaled her music career in 1971 after getting married. She later commented on her appearance at the contest as humiliating and said that she hated the song she had to sing. Spanish entrant Julio Iglesias went on to achieve worldwide success in the decades that followed, becoming one of the top-selling singers of all time. Dana, meanwhile, continued to score hit singles throughout the 1970s with songs such as “Fairytale” and “It’s Gonna be a Cold Cold Christmas”. In the 1990s she became a politician, running for the Irish presidential election in 1997 and 2011, and becoming an MEP in 1999.

Of the other performers, Stella Maessen (of Hearts of Soul), Jean Vallée, Guy Bonnet and Katja Ebstein all took part in the Eurovision Song Contest again, the latter twice more. The following year, Austria, Finland, Norway, Portugal and Sweden all returned to the contest.

3.2.Conductors. Each performance had a conductor who led the orchestral accompaniment.

3.3.Participants and results. For the first time, no artists from previous contests returned.

3.4.All the national selections for Eurovision Song Contest 1970: 

• National Selections in 1970:

COUNTRY	EVENT	WINNER
🇧🇪 Belgium	Eurosong 1970	Jean Vallée – “Viens l’oublier“
🇫🇷 France	(French Selection 1970)	Guy Bonnet – “Marie-Blanche”
🇩🇪 Germany	Ein Lied für Amsterdam	Katja Ebstein – “Wunder gibt es immer wieder”
🇮🇪 Ireland	(Irish Selection 1970)	Dana – “All Kinds of Everything”
🇳🇱 The Netherlands	Nationaal Songfestival 1970	Hearts of Soul (Dream Express, Patricia and Hearts of Soul) – “Waterman“
🇵🇹 Portugal	Grande Prémio TV da Canção 1970	Sérgio Borges – “Onde vais rio que eu canto”
🇪🇸 Spain	(Spanish Selection 1970)	Julio Iglesias – “Gwendolyne”
🇬🇧United Kindom	A Song for Europe 1970 (song selection) [a]	Mary Hopkin – “Knock, Knock Who’s There?”
Yugoslavia	Jugovizija 1970	Eva Sršen – “Pridi, dala ti bom cvet“

• Internal Selections in 1970: 

3.5.Connections:

 

4.Voting. Each participating country had 10 jury members, and each jury member could award one point to one song. 

Voting results

		Total score
C o n t e s t a n t s	🇳🇱 The Netherlands	7			3	3			1
	🇨🇭 Switzerland	8	2					2	1				2	1
	🇮🇹 Italy	5				1					2		2
	Yugoslavia	4							4
	🇧🇪 Belgium	5						3		1				1
	🇫🇷 France	8			1	2						2		3
	🇬🇧United Kindom	26	3	2	2	4		2		2		4	4	3
	🇱🇺 Luxembourg	0
	🇪🇸 Spain	8			3					2		3
	🇲🇨 Monaco	5		1			1	2			1
	🇩🇪 Germany	12		1	1					3	4	1		2
	🇮🇪 Ireland	32	5	6			9	1	4	2	3		2

4.1.Spokespersons. Listed below is the order in which votes were cast during the 1970 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)	–
🇧🇪 Belgium	RTB	French: Claude Delacroix	–
	BRT	Dutch: Herman Verelst
	RTB La Première	French: TBC
	BRT Radio 1	Dutch: Nand Baert
🇫🇷 France	Deuxième Chaîne ORTF	Pierre Tchernia	–
🇩🇪 Germany	Deutsches Fernsehen	Marie-Louise Steinbauer
	Deutschlandfunk/Bayern 2	Wolf Mittler
🇮🇪 Ireland	RTÉ	Valerie McGovern
	RTÉ Radio	Kevin Roche
🇮🇹 Italy	Secondo Programma	Renato Tagliani
🇱🇺 Luxembourg	Télé-Luxembourg	Jacques Navadic	–
	RTL	Camillo Felgen
🇲🇨 Monaco	Télé Monte Carlo	Pierre Tchernia
🇳🇱 The Netherlands	Nederland 1	Pim Jacobs	–
🇪🇸 Spain	Primera Cadena	José Luis Uribarri
	Primer Programa RNE	Miguel de los Santos
🇨🇭 Switzerland	TV DRS	German: Theodor Haller
	TSR	French: Georges Hardy
	TSI	Italian: Giovanni Bertini
🇬🇧United Kindom	BBC1	David Gell	–
	BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 2	Tony Brandon	–
	BFBS Radio	John Russell	–
Yugoslavia	Televizija Beograd	Serbo-Croatian: Milovan Ilić
	Televizija Zagreb	Serbo-Croatian: Oliver Mlakar
	Televizija Ljubljana	Slovene: Tomaž Terček

Broadcasters and commentators in non-participating countries

Country	Broadcaster(s)	Commentator(s)	–
🇦🇹 Austria	FS1	Ernst Grissemann
Brazil	TV Tupi	Unknown	–
🇧🇬 Bulgaria	Bulgarian Television	Unknown	[3]
Chile	Televisión Nacional	Raúl Matas	–
🇨🇿 Czechoslovakia	ČST	Unknown	–
🇬🇷 Greece	EIRT	Unknown	–
🇭🇺 Hungary	RTV	Unknown	–
🇮🇸 Iceland	Sjónvarpið	Unknown	–
🇮🇱 Israel	Israeli Television	Unknown	–
🇳🇴 Norway	NRK	No commentary
🇵🇱 Poland	TVP	No commentary	–
🇵🇹 Portugal	I Programa	Henrique Mendes
🇷🇴 Romania	TVR	Unknown	–
🇵🇱 Soviet Union	CT USSR	Igor Kirillov	–
Tunisia	RTT	Unknown	–

7.Notes.

• [a] Mary Hopkin was internally selected to represent United Kingdom at Eurovision 1970. Hopkin presented one song a week for six weeks on the BBC1 TV series It’s Cliff Richard!, and performed all six songs on A Song for Europe 1970. The public could vote via postcards, and the result was announced one week later.

8.Trivial / Fun facts.

• Austria, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Portugal and Sweden boycotted the 1970 contest as they were not pleased with the result of 1969 and the voting structure. At Eurovision 1969 4 countries had been declared winner: Netherlands, Spain, France and United Kingdom, meaning that 25% of the participants won in 1969. Many countries demanded a change of the voting system after this incident but the EBU didn’t change anything.
• Brazil, the Soviet Union, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Chile broadcast the contest live by satellite.
• Only 12 delegations came to the Dutch capital due to what was referred to as “the voting scandal” in the year before.
• The contest also featured an appearance of the then-unknown Julio Iglesias, singing for Spain.

← Eurovision Song Contest 1969 • Eurovision Song Contest 1970 • Eurovision Song Contest 1971 →
Countries (in order of appearance)
Final	The Netherlands ⦁ Switzerland ⦁ Italy ⦁ Yugoslavia ⦁ Belgium ⦁ France ⦁ United Kingdom ⦁ Luxembourg ⦁ Spain ⦁ Monaco • Germany ⦁ Ireland (winner)
Artists (in order of appearance)
Final	Patricia and Hearts of Soul ⦁ Henri Dès ⦁ Gianni Morandi ⦁ Eva Sršen ⦁ Jean Vallée ⦁ Guy Bonnet ⦁ Mary Hopkin ⦁ David Alexandre Winter ⦁ Julio Iglesias • Dominique Dussault ⦁ Katja Ebstein • Dana (winner)
Songs (in order of appearance)
Final	“Waterman“ ⦁ “Retour” ⦁ “Occhi di ragazza” ⦁ “Pridi, dala ti bom cvet” ⦁ “Viens l’oublier” ⦁ “Marie-Blanche” ⦁ “Knock, Knock Who’s There?” ⦁ “Je suis tombé du ciel” • “Gwendolyne” ⦁ “Marlène” ⦁ “Wunder gibt es immer wieder” ⦁ “All Kinds of Everything” (winner)
Non-participating entries: Portugal: Sérgio Borges – “Onde vais rio que eu canto”