The Eurovision Song Contest 1982 was the 27th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Harrogate, United Kingdom, following the country’s victory at the 1981 contest with the song “Making Your Mind Up” by Bucks Fizz. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), the contest was held at the Harrogate International Centre on 24 April 1982 and was hosted by English TV presenter and newsreader Jan Leeming.

Eighteen countries took part in the contest with Greece deciding not to enter this year. Due the downsizing of their national broadcasters, France lost the rights to participating at the contest and so was also forced to withdraw.

The winner was Germany with the song “Ein bißchen Frieden” by Nicole. This was the first time that Germany had won the contest after having competed every year since the contest’s inception. Germany received 1.61 times as many points as runner-up Israel, which was a record under the current scoring system until 2009, when Norway received 1.78 times as many points as Iceland. The song also cemented Ralph Siegel and Bernd Meinunger, the song’s composers, into German Eurovision tradition, writing 18 Eurovision songs between them before and after “Ein bißchen Frieden”, 13 of which were for Germany.

Harrogate International Centre, Harrogate – host venue of the 1982 contest.

1.Location. Harrogate is a spa town in North Yorkshire, England. Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, the town is a tourist destination and its visitor attractions include its spa waters and RHS Harlow Carr gardens. Nearby is the Yorkshire Dales national park and the Nidderdale AONB. Harrogate grew out of two smaller settlements, High Harrogate and Low Harrogate, in the 17th century. The town became known as ‘The English Spa’ in the Georgian Era, after its waters were discovered in the 16th century. In the 17th and 18th centuries its ‘chalybeate’ waters (containing iron) were a popular health treatment, and the influx of wealthy but sickly visitors contributed significantly to the wealth of the town.

The Harrogate International Centre was chosen as the host venue for the contest. The grand convention and exhibition centre opened short time prior to the contest, and was the first big event held in the main 2000-seat auditorium.

2.Format. The opening of the contest showed a map of Europe, with the translation “Where is Harrogate?” popping up on-screen from the languages of the various countries. The question was always in the language in which the respective country’s song was performed, with the exception of Ireland. The Irish entry was sung in English, but the translation of the question in the map was in Irish. Then the map zoomed into Harrogate’s location in Yorkshire, followed by an introduction video spotlighting the town.

The tradition of previous year’s winners handing over the prize to current winners was not followed by Bucks Fizz, winners in 1981.

Irish band Chips lost out in their national finals, which, had they been successful, would have led to the unique situation of two bands in the same Eurovision with the same name (the other being Sweden).

This year, before the postcard of a specific country (with the exceptions of Israel, who had no commentator, and Yugoslavia, whose commentators were in their own country), the camera would zoom into the commentary box of that country’s broadcaster, where the commentator/s would give a hand gesture, e.g. wave. The postcard would start with the country’s flag on the screen and an excerpt of the country’s national anthem (though in the case of the UK, the song played was “Land of Hope and Glory” instead of “God Save the Queen”, while the Israeli postcard began with an excerpt of “Hava Nagila”^[2] instead of “Hatikvah”). The postcards themselves, utilizing state-of-the-art video technology (for its time) were a montage of footage of the artist in Harrogate town or at the International Flower Festival. Some of the postcards also incorporated footage from the preview videos submitted by each organization, the first time the contest had utilised the clips in the broadcast. Only the preview videos were used where it was not a performance of the song from the national final. After the conclusion of the video clip, Jan Leeming introduced the conductor and then the artist for each nation.

2.1.Participating countries. There were 18 participating countries this year. No year since has had this few participants in the final of the competition.

Greece was due to participate in the contest with the song “Sarantapente kopelies” performed by Themis Adamantidis. Although drawn to perform in second place, ERT withdrew the entry a few weeks before the contest.

In November 1981, France’s national broadcaster, TF1, declined to enter the Eurovision Song Contest for 1982, with the head of entertainment, Pierre Bouteiller, saying, “The absence of talent and the mediocrity of the songs is where annoyance sets in. [Eurovision is] a monument to insanity [sometimes translated as “drivel”].” Antenne 2 became the new broadcaster for Eurovision after public outcry, returning the country to the contest in 1983.

Germany had the advantage of performing last. After coming second in The Hague in 1980 and second in Dublin in 1981, Ralph Siegel and Bernd Meinunger took the first win for Germany. The winner, Nicole, beat the nearest competition by 61 points and over 13 million West Germans watched her victory on television. Germany was the commanding leader for nearly the entire voting process.

Nicole went on to sing the reprise of her song in English, French and Dutch, as well as German, to the delight of the invited audience in Harrogate Conference Centre who stood up to applaud her. The English version (also produced by Siegel and Robert Jung [de]) of her Eurovision winner, A Little Peace, subsequently shot to No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart.

3.Conductors. Each performance had a conductor who conducted the orchestra.

3.1.Returning artists.

3.2.Participants and results.

3.3.All the national selections for Eurovision Song Contest 1982:

• National Selections in 1982:

COUNTRY	EVENT	WINNER
🇦🇹 Austria	(Austrian Selection 1982)	Mess – “Sonntag“
🇧🇪 Belgium	Eurosong 1982	Stella – “Si tu aimes ma musique“
🇩🇰 Denmark	Melodi Grand Prix 1982	Brixx – “Video-video”
🇫🇮 Finland	Euroviisukarsinta 1982	Kojo – “Nuku pommiin“
🇩🇪 Germany	Ein Lied für Harrogate	Nicole – “Ein bißchen Frieden“
🇮🇪 Ireland	(Irish Selection 1982)	The Duskeys – “Here Today Gone Tomorrow”
🇮🇱 Israel	Kdam Eurovision 1982	Avi Toledano – “Hora” (הורה)
🇳🇱 The Netherlands	Nationaal Songfestival 1982	Bill van Dijk – “Jij en ik“
🇳🇴 Norway	Melodi Grand Prix 1982	Jahn Teigen & Anita Skorgan – “Adieu”
🇵🇹 Portugal	Festival da Canção 1982	Doce – “Bem bom“
🇸🇪 Sweden	Melodifestival 1982	Chips – “Dag efter dag“
🇨🇭 Switzerland	Concours Eurovision 1982	Arlette Zola – “Amour on t’aime“
🇹🇷 Turkey	Şarkı Yarışması 1982	Neco – “Hani?“
🇬🇧 United Kindom	A Song for Europe 1982	Bardo – “One Step Further”
Yugoslavia	Jugovizija 1982	Aska – “Halo, halo” (Хало, хало)

• Internal Selections in 1982:

3.4.Connections:

4.Voting. Each country had a jury who awarded 12, 10, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 point(s) for their top ten songs.

Voting results

		Total score
C o n t e s t a n t s	🇵🇹 Portugal	32		7		4	5	2	1		6						1	4	2
	🇱🇺 Luxembourg	78	6		7	6	3	7				2	8	5	4		5	7	10	8
	🇳🇴 Norway	40		6						4	4	6	2	2					6	10
	🇬🇧 United Kindom	76	4	12	6		10	4	5	3		12		1	2	6	2	1	7	1
	🇹🇷 Turkey	20		8	3			1	3			3						2
	🇫🇮 Finland	0
	🇨🇭 Switzerland	97	2	2	4	12	2			6	2	10	12		7	10	10	10	8
	🇨🇾 Cyprus	85	5	4	12	3		8	8			5	3	7		5	7	12		6
	🇸🇪 Sweden	67	7	3	8	5		3	4			8	5	4	8	2		5	3	2
	🇦🇹 Austria	57				10	7			7			6	8	6	4	4		5
	🇧🇪 Belgium	96	8	5	5	2	6	5	2	8	7	4		10	10	7	6	3	4	4
	🇪🇸 Spain	52		1			8	6	7	10			4			1	8			7
	🇩🇰 Denmark	5	3								1								1
	Yugoslavia	21					4			1	12		1		3
	🇮🇱 Israel	100	10	10	1	1		12	10	2	10	7	7	6	1	3		8		12
	🇳🇱 The Netherlands	8									3									5
	🇮🇪 Ireland	49	1		2	7	1		6	5	5			3	5	8	3			3
	🇩🇪 Germany	161	12		10	8	12	10	12	12	8	1	10	12	12	12	12	6	12

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

N.	Contestant	Nation(s) giving 12 points
9	🇩🇪 Germany	🇨🇾 Cyprus, 🇩🇰 Denmark, 🇮🇪 Ireland, 🇮🇱 Israel, 🇵🇹 Portugal, 🇪🇸 Spain, 🇨🇭 Switzerland, 🇹🇷 Turkey,  Yugoslavia
2	🇨🇾 Cyprus	🇳🇱 The Netherlands, 🇳🇴 Norway
	🇮🇱 Israel	🇫🇮 Finland, 🇩🇪 Germany
	🇨🇭 Switzerland	🇧🇪 Belgium, 🇬🇧 United Kindom
	🇬🇧 United Kindom	🇦🇹 Austria, 🇱🇺 Luxembourg
1	Yugoslavia	🇸🇪 Sweden

4.2.Spokespersons. Listed below is the order in which votes were cast during the 1982 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	FS2	Ernst Grissemann	–
	Hitradio Ö3	Walter Richard Langer
🇧🇪 Belgium	RTBF1	French: Jacques Mercier	–
	BRT TV1	Dutch: Luc Appermont	–
	RTBF La Première	French: Marc Danval
	BRT Radio 1	Dutch: Herwig Haes
🇨🇾 Cyprus	RIK	Fryni Papadopoulou	–
	RIK Deftero	Neophytos Taliotis
🇩🇰 Denmark	DR TV	Jørgen de Mylius	–
	DR P3	Karen Thisted
🇫🇮 Finland	YLE TV1	Erkki Toivanen	–
	YLE Rinnakkaisohjelma	TBC
🇩🇪 Germany	Deutsches Fernsehen	Ado Schlier	–
	Deutschlandfunk/hr3	Roger Horné
🇮🇪 Ireland	RTÉ 1	Larry Gogan
	RTÉ Radio 1	Pat Kenny
🇮🇱 Israel	Israeli Television	No commentator
	Reshet Gimel	Daniel Pe’er
🇱🇺 Luxembourg	RTL Télé Luxembourg	Marylène Bergmann	–
	RTL	André Torrent
🇳🇱 The Netherlands	Nederland 2	Pim Jacobs	–
🇳🇴 Norway	NRK	Bjørn Scheele	–
	NRK P1	Erik Heyerdahl
🇵🇹 Portugal	RTP1	José Fialho Gouveia	–
	RDP Programa 2	TBC
🇪🇸 Spain	TVE1	Miguel de los Santos	–
🇸🇪 Sweden	SVT TV1	Ulf Elfving	–
	SR P3	Kent Finell	–
🇨🇭 Switzerland	TV DRS	German: Theodor Haller	–
	TSR	French: Georges Hardy	–
	TSI	Italian: Giovanni Bertini
🇹🇷 Turkey	Ankara Television	Ümit Tunçağ
🇬🇧 United Kindom	BBC1	Terry Wogan	–
	BBC Radio 2	Ray Moore	–
Yugoslavia	TVB 2	Serbo-Croatian: Mladen Popović
	TVZ 1	Serbo-Croatian: Oliver Mlakar
	TVL 1	Slovene: Tomaž Terček

Broadcasters and commentators in non-participating countries

Country	Broadcaster(s)	Commentator(s)	–
Hong Kong	TVB Pearl (delayed broadcast on 28 April 1982)	Un­known	–
🇫🇷 France	RTL	André Torrent
🇬🇷 Greece	ERT	Mako Georgiadou

6.Notes.

7.Trivial / Fun facts.

• Finland’s entrant, Kojo, also sang about peace. His song – a protest against nuclear bombs- however received 0 points.