The Eurovision Song ContestIntroduction

ABBA and Celine Dion are internationally famous music artists and they have both won the Eurovision Song Contest, but when did they win it, what were the titles of their songs and which countries did they represent?

Part one u Read the text about the Eurovision Song Contest and answer the question that follows.

Sixty-fi ve songs have won the Eurovision Song Contest, an annual competition organised by member countries of the European Broadcasting Union. The contest, which has been broadcast every year since its debut in 1956, is one of the longest-running television programmes in the world.

There have been 62 contests, with one winner each year except the tied 1969 contest, which had four. Twenty-seven diff erent countries have won the contest. Switzerland won the fi rst contest in 1956. The country with the highest number of wins is Ireland, with seven. The only person to have won more than once as performer is Ireland’s Johnny Logan, who performed “What’s Another Year” in 1980 and “Hold Me Now” in 1987.

Winning the Eurovision Song Contest provides a unique opportunity for the winning artist(s) to capitalise on their success and surrounding publicity by launching or furthering their international career. The most notable winning Eurovision artists whose career was directly launched into the spotlight following their win were the members of ABBA. They went on to be one of the most successful bands of their time. Another notable winner who subsequently achieved international fame and success was Céline Dion.

How many years has the Eurovision Song Contest been operating?

Part Two u Read these facts about some countries in the history of the Eurovision Song Contest and answer the

question below.

u Even with world-famous artists such as The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Elton John and Queen, the United Kingdom has won it no more than fi ve times. It won it in 1967 when Sandie Shaw sang ‘Puppet on a String’. Four more UK winners followed in later years.

u Turkey has won it once. u Yugoslavia won it once. u Serbia has won it once. u Denmark has won it twice. u The UK has won it fi ve times. u The UK won it in 1967.

The verb ‘to win’ is used in all the facts about the countries, but the tense is diff erent. In some it is the Present Perfect and in others it is the Past Simple.

Why are the following used?1. Yugoslavia won it once. (Past Simple) Serbia has won it once. (Present Perfect)2. The UK has won it fi ve times. (Present Perfect) The UK won it in 1967. (Past Simple)

Part Three u Ask and answer the questions with a partner.

1. Do you know any songs from the Eurovision Song Contest? What are they called?2. Do you know any artists who were in the Eurovision Song Contest? Which countries did they represent?3. Do you remember any artists that won the contest? In which year did they win it?