The Eurovision Song Contest 1972 was the 17th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Edinburgh, United Kingdom and was organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), who agreed to stage the event after Monaco, who won in 1971, were unable to meet the demands of hosting the event and could not find a suitable venue. The contest was held at the Usher Hall on 25 March 1972 and was hosted by Scottish ballet dancer Moira Shearer.
| Eurovision Song Contest 1972 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Dates | |
| Final | 25 March 1972 |
| Host | |
| Venue | Usher Hall Edinburgh, United Kingdom |
| Presenter(s) | Moira Shearer |
| Musical director | Malcolm Lockyer |
| Directed by | Terry Hughes |
| Executive supervisor | Clifford Brown |
| Executive producer | Bill Cotton |
| Host broadcaster | British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) |
| Website | eurovision |
| Participants | |
| Number of entries | 18 |
| Debuting countries | None |
| Returning countries | None |
| Non-returning countries | None |
| |
| Vote | |
| Voting system | Two-member juries (one aged 16 to 25 and the other 25 to 55) rated songs between one and five points. |
| Winning song |  Luxembourg"Après toi" |
Eighteen countries took part in the contest, the same countries as the previous year.
The winner was Luxembourg with the song "Après toi", performed by Vicky Leandros, with lyrics by Yves Dessca, and music composed by Mario Panas (which was the writing pseudonym of Vicky's father Leo Leandros). "Après toi" became the winner with the lowest percentage of the total vote, winning with just 8.30% of the points available. Yves Dessca also wrote "Un banc, un arbre, une rue" that had won the previous edition, and became the second person to win the contest twice, the first person to win for two different countries and the first person to win two years in a row.[1] Germany finished in third place for the third consecutive year, equalling their highest placement from the previous two editions.
Location
editThis section needs additional citations for verification. (February 2022) |
Following Séverine's win for Monaco at the 1971 contest in Dublin, Ireland with the song "Un banc, un arbre, une rue", the principality were unable to meet the demands of hosting the event. Rainier III of Monaco received a letter from the European Broadcasting Union about hosting the 1972 contest in the principality, but he was unable to provide a venue, the props and the remainder of the requirements. Therefore the BBC from the United Kingdom stepped in, and chose to stage the contest in Edinburgh, making it the first of five times that the BBC had chosen a venue outside London with the 1974, 1982, 1998 and 2023 contests held in Brighton, Harrogate, Birmingham and Liverpool respectively. It is also the only time that the contest has been held in Scotland. It is the only UK hosted Eurovision Song Contest to have been held outside England as of 2024.
The Usher Hall, the venue for the 1972 contest, is a concert hall, situated on Lothian Road, in the west end of the city. It has hosted concerts and events since its construction in 1914 and can hold approximately 2,900[2] people in its recently restored auditorium, which is well loved by performers due to its acoustics. The Hall is flanked by The Royal Lyceum Theatre on the right and The Traverse Theatre on the left. Historic Scotland has registered the Hall with Category A listed building status.
Participating countries
edit| Eurovision Song Contest 1972 – Participation summaries by country | |
|---|---|
The same countries that participated in the 1971 contest were present this year.
Returning artists
edit| Artist | Country | Previous year(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Tereza Kesovija |  Yugoslavia | 1966 (for  Monaco) |
| Vicky Leandros | Luxembourg | 1967 |
| Carlos Mendes |  Portugal | 1968 |
| Family Four |  Sweden | 1971 |
Contest overview
edit| R/O | Country | Artist | Song | Points | Place |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Germany | Mary Roos | "Nur die Liebe läßt uns leben" | 107 | 3 |
| 2 |  France | Betty Mars | "Comé-comédie" | 81 | 11 |
| 3 |  Ireland | Sandie Jones | "Ceol an Ghrá" | 72 | 15 |
| 4 |  Spain | Jaime Morey | "Amanece" | 83 | 10 |
| 5 |  United Kingdom | The New Seekers | "Beg, Steal or Borrow" | 114 | 2 |
| 6 |  Norway | Grethe Kausland and Benny Borg | "Småting" | 73 | 14 |
| 7 | Portugal | Carlos Mendes | "A festa da vida" | 90 | 7 |
| 8 |  Switzerland | Véronique Müller | "C'est la chanson de mon amour" | 88 | 8 |
| 9 |  Malta | Helen and Joseph | "L-imħabba" | 48 | 18 |
| 10 |  Finland | Päivi Paunu and Kim Floor | "Muistathan" | 78 | 12 |
| 11 |  Austria | The Milestones | "Falter im Wind" | 100 | 5 |
| 12 |  Italy | Nicola Di Bari | "I giorni dell'arcobaleno" | 92 | 6 |
| 13 | Yugoslavia | Tereza | "Muzika i ti" | 87 | 9 |
| 14 | Sweden | The Family Four | "Härliga sommardag" | 75 | 13 |
| 15 | Monaco | Anne-Marie Godart and Peter MacLane | "Comme on s'aime" | 65 | 16 |
| 16 |  Belgium | Serge and Christine Ghisoland | "À la folie ou pas du tout" | 55 | 17 |
| 17 | Luxembourg | Vicky Leandros | "Après toi" | 128 | 1 |
| 18 |  Netherlands | Sandra and Andres | "Als het om de liefde gaat" | 106 | 4 |
Detailed voting results
editEach country had two jury members, one aged between 16 and 25 and one aged between 26 and 55. They each awarded 1 to 5 points for each song, other than the song of their own country. They cast their votes immediately after each song was performed and the votes were then collected and counted. For the public voting sequence after the interval act, the jury members were shown on the stage's screen with each lifting a signboard with the number between 1 and 5 for each song, as a visual verification of the scores they had awarded earlier.
Total score | Germany | France | Ireland | Spain | United Kingdom | Norway | Portugal | Switzerland | Malta | Finland | Austria | Italy | Yugoslavia | Sweden | Monaco | Belgium | Luxembourg | Netherlands | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Contestants | Germany | 107 | 8 | 6 | 9 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 5 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 6 | |
| France | 81 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 9 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 6 | ||
| Ireland | 72 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 5 | ||
| Spain | 83 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 8 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 7 | 8 | 3 | 5 | 5 | ||
| United Kingdom | 114 | 8 | 9 | 6 | 2 | 10 | 4 | 8 | 2 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 9 | 6 | 9 | 4 | 8 | 8 | ||
| Norway | 73 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 4 | ||
| Portugal | 90 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 9 | 4 | 7 | 4 | 7 | 10 | 5 | ||
| Switzerland | 88 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 7 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 8 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 7 | 5 | ||
| Malta | 48 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 4 | ||
| Finland | 78 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 8 | 6 | 8 | ||
| Austria | 100 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 10 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 9 | ||
| Italy | 92 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 7 | 9 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 5 | ||
| Yugoslavia | 87 | 7 | 4 | 5 | 8 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 6 | ||
| Sweden | 75 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 5 | 7 | 5 | 5 | ||
| Monaco | 65 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | ||
| Belgium | 55 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 3 | ||
| Luxembourg | 128 | 9 | 8 | 9 | 2 | 10 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 9 | ||
| Netherlands | 106 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 8 | 5 | 6 | 3 | 9 | 6 | 3 | 9 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 7 | ||
10 points
editBelow is a summary of all perfect 10 scores that were given during the voting.
| N. | Contestant | Nation(s) giving 10 points |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | Luxembourg | United Kingdom, Yugoslavia |
| 1 | Austria | Sweden |
| Portugal | Luxembourg | |
| United Kingdom | Norway |
Broadcasts
editEach participating broadcaster was required to relay the contest via its networks. Non-participating EBU member broadcasters were also able to relay the contest as "passive participants". 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.[11]
Known details on the broadcasts in each country, including the specific broadcasting stations and commentators are shown in the tables below. In addition to the participating countries, the contest was also reportedly broadcast in Brazil, Hong Kong, Iceland, Israel, Japan, Morocco, the Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand and Zaire.[12][13]
| Country | Broadcaster | Channel(s) | Commentator(s) | Ref(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Brazil | Rede Tupi | TV Paraná | [43] | |
 Czechoslovakia | ČST | ČST2 | Blažena Kočtúchová | [44] |
 Hungary | MTV | MTV[c] | [45] | |
 Iceland | RÚV | Sjónvarpið[d] | Björn Matthíasson | [46] |
Notes
editReferences
editExternal links
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