• Dates – Grand Final: Saturday, 07 May 1977 – 21:00 CEST
• Host – Venue & Location: Wembley Conference Centre, London, 🇬🇧 United Kindom
• Presenter (s): Angela Rippon
• Musical Director: Ronnie Hazlehurst
• Director: Stewart Morris
• Executive Producer: Bill Cotton
• Executive Supervisor: Frank Naef / Clifford Brown
• Multicamera Director: —
• Host broadcaster: British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
• Opening Act: An aerial tour of the four constituent countries of the United Kingdom
• Interval Act: Acker Bilk and his Paramount Jazz Men
• Participants – Number of entries: 18 [🇧🇪 Belgium (20ª), 🇩🇪 Germany (20ª), 🇮🇹 Italy (20ª), 🇳🇱 The Netherlands (20ª), 🇨🇭 Switzerland (20ª), 🇬🇧 United Kindom (18ª), 🇲🇨 Monaco (17ª), 🇪🇸 Spain (15ª), 🇮🇪 Ireland (11ª), 🇱🇺 Luxembourg (19ª), 🇫🇮 Finland (14ª), 🇳🇴 Norway (15ª), 🇵🇹 Portugal (11ª), 🇮🇱 Israel (3ª), 🇫🇷 France (20ª), 🇦🇹 Austria (16ª), 🇬🇷 Greece (2ª), 🇸🇪 Sweden (16ª)]
• Debuting countries: — 
• Return: 🇸🇪 Sweden (15ª)
• Non-returning countries:  Yugoslavia (15ª)
• Vote – Voting system: Each country awarded 12, 10, 8-1 points to their 10 favourite songs.
• Nil Points: —
• Winning song: “L’oiseau et l’enfant” – Marie Myriam – 🇫🇷 France (5ª)

About. The Eurovision Song Contest 1977 was the first contest which was troubled by a strike and was only organised five weeks after the planned date.

Technicians on strike!. This 1977 Eurovision Song Contest took place at the Wembley Conference Centre in London. The event was postponed for five weeks because of the fact that the cameramen and technicians were on strike. The song contest was supposed to take place on the 2nd of April, but it did not take place until 7th May. 18 countries took part this year. Sweden returned, and Yugoslavia withdrew from the contest. Tunisia was supposed to participate as well, performing in 4th position, but the country later withdrew its entry. The rule of performing in one’s national language was brought back to the song contest although Germany and Belgium were allowed to perform in English because their entries had already been chosen before the rules changed. The German group Silver Convention had been hugely popular all over the world in the mid 70s with songs like “Fly Robin Fly” and “Get Up And Boogie”. There were high hopes that their 1977 entry “Telegram”, would score the first victory for Germany, however the song only ended up in 8th position. Anita Skorgan sang her first entry “Casanova” for Norway this year. She would return in 1979 and also try several more times to represent her home country, but always lost out in the Norwegian national heats. Austria gave a innovative performance of “Boom Boom Boomerang” by the group Schmetterlinge. The song was performed with the artists wearing masks on the back of their heads.

About the winner. France won the contest for the fifth, and to date, the last time with the song “L’Oiseau Et L’Enfant” performed by Marie Myriam. France’s victory was a record in Eurovision Song Contest history. The record was equalled by Luxembourg in 1983, and beaten by Ireland in 1994. The United Kingdom entry “Rock Bottom” by Lynsey de Paul and Mike Moran came second. It was the 11th consecutive time that a British entry came top 4.

Facts and figures. At the start of the show presenter Angela Rippon struggled to find the camera and can be seen looking around for the correct one; There were no postcards between each entry in 1977 due to the strike so instead viewers at home were treated to shots of the audience, with some looking more excited than others!.

o/r	country	participant (s)	song – Translate – language	Points	rank
01	🇮🇪 Ireland RTÉ	The Swarbriggs Plus Two	It’s nice to be in love again English	119	01
02	🇲🇨 Monaco TMC	Michèle Torr	Une petite française (A little French girl) French	096	04
03	🇳🇱 The Netherlands NOS	Heddy Lester	De mallemolen (The merry-go-round) Dutch	035	12
04	🇦🇹 Austria ÖRF	Schmetterlinge	Boom boom boomerang German[a]	011	17
05	🇳🇴 Norway NRK	Anita Skorgan	Casanova Norwegian	018	14
06	🇩🇪 Germany ARD	Silver Convention	Telegram English	055	08
07	🇱🇺 Luxembourg CLT	Anne-Marie B.	Frère Jacques (Brother John) French	017	16
08	🇵🇹 Portugal RTP	Os Amigos	Portugal no coração (Portugal in my heart) Portuguese	018	14
09	🇬🇧 United Kindom BBC	Lynsey de Paul and Mike Moran	Rock bottom English	121	02
10	🇬🇷 Greece ERT	Pascalis, Marianna, Robert & Bessy (Πασχάλης Αρβανιτίδης, Ρόμπερτ Ουΐλλιαμς, Μπέσσυ Αργυράκη και Μαριάννα Τόλη; Pascalis Arvanitidis, Robert Williams, Marianna Toli, Bessy Argyraki)	Mathima solfege (Μάθημα σολφέζ, Music lesson) Greek	092	05
11	🇮🇱 Israel IBA	Ilanit (חנה)	Ahava hi shir lishnayim (אהבה היא שיר לשניים, Love is a song for two) Hebrew	049	11
12	🇨🇭 Switzerland SSR SRG	Pepe Lienhard Band	Swiss lady (Schweizerin) German	071	06
13	🇸🇪 Sweden SR	Forbes	Beatles Swedish	002	18
14	🇪🇸 Spain TVE	Micky	Enséñame a cantar (Teach me to sing) Spanish	052	09
15	🇮🇹 Italy RAI	Mia Martini	Libera (Free) Italian	033	13
16	🇫🇮 Finland YLE	Monica Aspelund	Lapponia (Lappland) Finnish	050	10
17	🇧🇪 Belgium BRT	Dream Express	A million in one, two, three (Un million en 1, 2, 3) English	069	07
18	🇫🇷 France TF1	Marie Myriam	L’oiseau et l’enfant (The bird and the child) French	136	01

Missed participation:

•  Tunisia: “?” () – ?. At one point before the contest Tunisia was going to participate but they withdrew. Had Tunisia gone ahead they would have appeared fourth on stage.

Participation map

Participating countries   Countries that participated in the past but not in 1977

ESC 1977 Scoreboard Ι Detailed voting results:

The Eurovision Song Contest 1977 was the 22nd edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in London, United Kingdom, following the country’s victory at the 1976 contest with the song “Save Your Kisses for Me” by Brotherhood of Man. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), the contest was held at the Wembley Conference Centre on 7 May 1977, marking the first time the event took place in the month of May since the first contest in 1956. The contest was hosted by English journalist Angela Rippon.

Eighteen countries participated in the contest; Sweden returned after its absence from the previous edition, while Yugoslavia decided not to enter.

The winner was France with the song “L’oiseau et l’enfant”, performed by Marie Myriam, written by Joe Gracy, and composed by Jean-Paul Cara. The United Kingdom, Ireland, Monaco and Greece rounded out the top five. Greece’s fifth place finish was their best result up to that point. France’ fifth win was also a record at the time, and one that France held onto for six years, until being equalled by Luxembourg in 1983.

1.Location. London is the capital city of England and the United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in Europe by most measures. London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history goes back to its founding by the Romans, who named it Londinium.

Wembley Conference Centre was chosen to host the contest. The venue was the first purpose-built conference centre in the United Kingdom, and opened on 31 January 1977 – making it a newly built venue at the time. It was demolished in 2006.

2.Format. The language rule was brought back in this contest, four years after it had been dropped in 1973. However Germany and Belgium were allowed to sing in English, because they had already chosen the songs they were going to perform before the rule was reintroduced.

This was most possibly the Eurovision with the most scoring mistakes, as the scrutineer Clifford Brown had to stop the host Angela Rippon several times to correct the scores. For the first time in the contest’s history, the flags of the competing nations were displayed on the scoreboard next to the country’s name.

3.Participating countries. Tunisia was set to participate in the contest and had been drawn to participate in fourth place, but later withdrew.^[1] Yugoslavia decided not to enter this contest and would not return to the contest until 1981, while Sweden returned to the competition, having missed out the year before. This made for eighteen participating nations.

The Belgian act Dream Express had created some controversy in the press with reports that the three female members would wear transparent tops; this did not materialise for the actual event. The British conductor Ronnie Hazlehurst used an umbrella and wore a bowler hat during the UK entry.

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

3.2.Returning artists.

Artist	Country	Previous year(s)
Michèle Torr	🇲🇨 Monaco	1966 (for 🇱🇺 Luxembourg)
Beatrix Neundlinger and Günter Grosslercher (as part of Schmetterlinge)	🇦🇹 Austria	1972 (as part of The Milestones)
Patricia Maessen, Bianca Maessen, and Stella Maessen (as part of Dream Express)	🇧🇪 Belgium	1970 (for 🇳🇱 The Netherlands as Hearts of Soul)
Ilanit	🇮🇱 Israel	1973
Fernando Tordo (as part of Os Amigos)	🇵🇹 Portugal	1973
Paulo de Carvalho (as part of Os Amigos)	🇵🇹 Portugal	1974
The Swarbriggs	🇮🇪 Ireland	1975

3.3.Participants and results. The following tables reflect the final official scores, verified after the contest transmission. During the voting sequence of the live show, several errors were made in the announcement of the scores, which were then adjusted after the broadcast. Both Greece and France duplicated scores, awarding the same points to multiple countries. From the Greek scores, The UK, Netherlands, Austria and Finland all had 1 point deducted after the contest and from the French scores, Austria, Germany, Israel, Italy and Belgium all had 1 point deducted. None of the adjustments affected the placing of any of the songs.

3.4.All the national selections for Eurovision Song Contest 1977: 

• National Selections in 1977:

COUNTRY	EVENT	WINNER
🇧🇪 Belgium	Eurosong 1977	Dream Express – “A Million in One, Two, Three”
🇫🇮 Finland	(Finnish Selection 1977)	Monica Aspelund – “Lapponia”
🇫🇷 France	(French Selection 1977)	Marie Myriam – “L’oiseau et l’enfant“
🇮🇪 Ireland	(Irish Selection 1977)	The Swarbriggs Plus Two – “It’s Nice to Be in Love Again”
🇳🇱 The Netherlands	Nationaal Songfestival 1977	Heddy Lester – “De mallemolen“
🇳🇴 Norway	Melodi Grand Prix 1977	Anita Skorgan – “Casanova”
🇵🇹 Portugal	Grande Prémio TV da Canção 1977	Os Amigos – “Portugal no coração“
🇸🇪 Sweden	Melodifestival 1977	Forbes – “Beatles”
🇨🇭 Switzerland	Concours Eurovision 1977	Pepe Lienhard Band – “Swiss Lady”
🇬🇧 United Kindom	A Song for Europe 1977	Lynsey de Paul & Mike Moran – “Rock Bottom”

• Internal Selections in 1977:

3.5.Connections:

 

4.Voting.

Voting results

		Total score
C o n t e s t a n t s	🇮🇪 Ireland	119		8	1	5	12	5	8	1	12	10	12	8	12	4	8		3	10
	🇲🇨 Monaco	96	5			8	1	6	1	6	7	12	2	6	10	8	12	5	2	5
	🇳🇱 The Netherlands	35	3	3							1	1	1	7		1			10	8
	🇦🇹 Austria	11		5			2					3						1
	🇳🇴 Norway	18							3	2	2				1		5		5
	🇩🇪 Germany	55	1	1	3	2			2	8	8	8	5		5	5	6			1
	🇱🇺 Luxembourg	17	2													7		8
	🇵🇹 Portugal	18		2	2			1						4			3			6
	🇬🇧 United Kindom	121		12	7	12	7	10	12	12			8		8	3	2	4	12	12
	🇬🇷 Greece	92		10	10	4	4	4	6	10	5		3	1	7	12	1	6	6	3
	🇮🇱 Israel	49	7	7	5	3	5							10	3	6			1	2
	🇨🇭 Switzerland	71	6			10	10		5	4	4	6	4				4	10	8
	🇸🇪 Sweden	2						2
	🇪🇸 Spain	52			6	1		7	7		3	4		3			7	7	7
	🇮🇹 Italy	33	8	6				3		3				2		2		2		7
	🇫🇮 Finland	50	12		4	6	8					2	7	5	2					4
	🇧🇪 Belgium	69	4		12		6	8	4	7	10	5	6		4			3
	🇫🇷 France	136	10	4	8	7	3	12	10	5	6	7	10	12	6	10	10	12	4

4.1.12 points. Below is a summary of all 12 points in the final:

N.	Contestant	Nation(s) giving 12 points
6	🇬🇧 United Kindom	🇦🇹 Austria, 🇧🇪 Belgium, 🇫🇷 France, 🇱🇺 Luxembourg, 🇲🇨 Monaco, 🇵🇹 Portugal
4	🇮🇪 Ireland	🇮🇱 Israel, 🇳🇴 Norway, 🇸🇪 Sweden, 🇬🇧United Kindom
3	🇫🇷 France	🇫🇮 Finland, 🇩🇪 Germany, 🇨🇭 Switzerland
2	🇲🇨 Monaco	🇬🇷 Greece, 🇮🇹 Italy
1	🇧🇪 Belgium	🇳🇱 The Netherlands
	🇫🇮 Finland	🇮🇪 Ireland
	🇬🇷 Greece	🇪🇸 Spain

4.2.Spokespersons. Listed below is the order in which votes were cast during the 1977 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	FS1	Ernst Grissemann	–
	Hitradio Ö3	Hubert Gaisbauer
🇧🇪 Belgium	BRT TV1	Dutch: Luc Appermont	–
	RTB1	French: Patrick Duhamel	–
	BRT Radio 1	Dutch: Nand Baert and Herwig Haes
	RTB La Première	French: André Zaleski
🇫🇮 Finland	YLE TV1	Erkki Toivanen	–
	Yleisohjelma	Matti Paalosmaa
🇫🇷 France	TF1	Georges de Caunes	–
	France Inter	Gérard Klein
🇩🇪 Germany	Deutsches Fernsehen	Werner Veigel	–
	Deutschlandfunk/Bayern 2	Wolf Mittler
🇬🇷 Greece	EIRT	Mako Georgiadou	–
	Proto Programma	Dimitris Konstantaras
🇮🇪 Ireland	RTÉ	Mike Murphy
	RTÉ Radio	Liam Devally
🇮🇱 Israel	Israeli Television	No commentator
🇮🇹 Italy	Rete 1 and Rai Radio 1	Silvio Noto
🇱🇺 Luxembourg	RTL Télé Luxembourg	Jacques Navadic
	RTL	André Torrent
🇲🇨 Monaco	Télé Monte Carlo	Georges de Caunes
🇳🇱 The Netherlands	Nederland 2	Ati Dijckmeester	–
🇳🇴 Norway	NRK	John Andreassen	–
	NRK P1	Erik Heyerdahl
🇵🇹 Portugal	I Programa	Júlio Isidro
	RDP Programa 1	Amadeu Meireles
🇪🇸 Spain	Primera Cadena	Miguel de los Santos	–
🇸🇪 Sweden	SR TV1	Ulf Elfving	–
	SR P3	Ursula Richter and Åke Strömmer	–
🇨🇭 Switzerland	TV DRS	German: Theodor Haller	–
	TSR	French: Georges Hardy	–
	TSI	Italian: Giovanni Bertini
	RSR 1	French: Robert Burnier	–
🇬🇧United Kindom	BBC1	Pete Murray	–
	BBC Radio 2	Terry Wogan	–

Broadcasters and commentators in non-participating countries

Country	Broadcaster(s)	Commentator(s)	–
Algeria	ENTV	Un­known	–
🇧🇬 Bulgaria	BT	Un­known	–
🇨🇿 Czechoslovakia	ČST	Un­known	–
🇩🇰 Denmark	DR TV	Claus Toksvig	–
🇩🇰 Greenland	KNR		–
Hong Kong	TVB Pearl (delayed broadcast on 9 May 1977)	Un­known	–
	RTV RTV-2 (delayed broadcast on 9 May 1977)	Un­known	–
🇭🇺 Hungary	RTV	Un­known	–
🇮🇸 Iceland	Sjónvarpið	No commentator	–
Jordan	JRTV	Un­known	–
Morocco	TVM	Un­known	–
🇵🇱 Poland	TVP	Un­known	–
🇷🇴 Romania	TVR	Un­known	–
Soviet Union	ST SSSR II Programma (recorded telecast)	[b]	–
Tunisia	RTT	Un­known	–
🇹🇷 Turkey	Ankara Television	Bülend Özveren	–
Yugoslavia	TVB 2	Serbo-Croatian: Milovan Ilić	–
	TVZ 1	Serbo-Croatian: Oliver Mlakar
	TVL 1	Slovene: Tomaž Terček

6.Incidents.

6.1.Strike at BBC. As noted in The Eurovision Song Contest – The Official History by author and historian John Kennedy O’Connor, the contest was originally planned to be held on 2 April 1977, but because of a strike of the BBC cameramen and its technicians, it got postponed for a month. As a result, this is the first Eurovision Song Contest to be staged in May since the inaugural edition.

6.2.Postcards. Due to strikes by the BBC camera staff, and lack of time to organise the contest, there were no postcards for the viewers in between the songs. However, various shots of the contests audience were shown, with the various countries’ commentators informing the viewers of the upcoming songs. The intended postcards had been devised using footage of the artists in London during a party hosted by the BBC at a London nightclub. When the postcards were seen for the first time by the participant heads of delegation at the Friday dress rehearsal the day before the grand final, the delegation from NRK Norway objected to the way their young artist was portrayed. However, as it was not possible for the BBC to edit or revise footage, all the postcards had to be dropped from the broadcast. Footage from the party still formed the interval act broadcast prior to the voting sequence.

7.Notes.

• [a] Contains some words in English.
• [b] Broadcast as an informational program presented by Alexander Kavyerznyev; only showed the performances, voting segment, and winning performance.

8.Trivial / Fun facts.

• Austria gave an innovative performance with the artists wearing masks on the back of their heads.
• Anita Skorgan tried several more times to represent her home country, but always lost out in the Norwegian national heats.
• Anita Skorgan sang her first entry Casanova for Norway this year. She would return in 1979.

← Eurovision Song Contest 1976 • Eurovision Song Contest 1977 • Eurovision Song Contest 1978 →
Countries (in order of appearance)
Final	Ireland ⦁ Monaco ⦁ The Netherlands ⦁ Austria ⦁ Norway ⦁ Germany ⦁ Luxembourg ⦁ Portugal ⦁ United Kingdom ⦁ Greece • Israel ⦁ Switzerland ⦁ Sweden ⦁ Spain • Italy • Finland • Belgium • France (winner)
Artists (in order of appearance)
Final	The Swarbriggs Plus Two ⦁ Michèle Torr ⦁ Heddy Lester ⦁ Schmetterlinge ⦁ Anita Skorgan ⦁ Silver Convention ⦁ Anne-Marie B ⦁ Os Amigos ⦁ Lynsey de Paul and Mike Moran ⦁ Pascalis, Marianna, Robert and Bessy • Ilanit⦁ Pepe Lienhard Band ⦁ Forbes ⦁ Micky • Mia Martini • Monica Aspelund • Dream Express • Marie Myriam (winner)
Songs (in order of appearance)
Final	“It’s Nice to Be in Love Again” ⦁ “Une petite française” ⦁ “De mallemolen” ⦁ “Boom Boom Boomerang” ⦁ “Casanova” ⦁ “Telegram” ⦁ “Frère Jacques“ ⦁ “Portugal no coração“ ⦁ “Rock Bottom” ⦁ “Mathima solfege” (Μάθημα σολφέζ) ⦁ “Ahava Hi Shir Lishnayim” (אהבה היא שיר לשניים) • “Swiss Lady” ⦁ “Beatles” ⦁ “Enséñame a cantar“ ⦁ “Libera” • “Lapponia” ⦁ “A Million in One, Two, Three” • “L’oiseau et l’enfant“ (winner)