Eurovision Song Contest 1971

It took place in Dublin, Ireland, following the country's victory at the 1970 contest with the song "All Kinds of Everything" by Dana. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Radio Telefís Éireann (RTÉ), the contest was held at the Gaiety Theatre on 3 April 1971, and was hosted by Irish television presenter Bernadette Ní Ghallchóir.

Eurovision Song Contest 1971
Dates
Final	3 April 1971
Host
Venue	Gaiety Theatre Dublin, Ireland
Presenter(s)	Bernadette Ní Ghallchóir
Musical director	Colman Pearce
Directed by	Tom McGrath
Executive supervisor	Clifford Brown
Host broadcaster	Radio Telefís Éireann (RTÉ)
Website	eurovision.tv/event/dublin-1971
Participants
Number of entries	18
Debuting countries	Malta
Returning countries	Austria  Finland  Norway  Portugal  Sweden
Non-returning countries	None
Participation map      Competing countries     Countries that participated in the past but not in 1971
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	Monaco "Un banc, un arbre, une rue"
1970 ← Eurovision Song Contest → 1972

Eighteen countries participated in the contest, equalling the record of the 1965 and 1966 editions. Austria returned after their two-year absence, while Finland, Norway, Portugal and Sweden all returned after having boycotted the competition the previous year. On the other hand, Malta competed for the first time.

The winner was Monaco with the song "Un banc, un arbre, une rue", performed by Séverine, written by Yves Dessca, and composed by Jean-Pierre Bourtayre. This was Monaco's first and only victory in the contest. This was also the only time in the contest's history, where the second and third-placed entrants were also awarded.

 

The contest was held at the Gaiety Theatre in Dublin, the capital and most populous city of Ireland. This was the first time that the contest was held in Ireland. The Gaiety Theatre was selected as the venue for the 1971 contest as it was celebrating 100 years since its establishment in 1871.

Malta made their début in this year's contest, while Austria, Finland, Norway, Portugal and Sweden all returned after a brief absence. This brought the total number of countries to eighteen.

Participants of the Eurovision Song Contest 1971

Country	Broadcaster	Artist	Song	Language	Songwriter(s)	Conductor
Austria	ORF	Marianne Mendt	"Musik"	German	Manuel Rigoni Richard Schönherz	Robert Opratko
Belgium	BRT	Jacques Raymond and Lily Castel	"Goeie morgen, morgen"	Dutch	Paul Quintens Phil Van Cauwenbergh	Francis Bay
Finland	YLE	Markku Aro and Koivisto Sisters	"Tie uuteen päivään"	Finnish	Rauno Lehtinen	Ossi Runne
France	ORTF	Serge Lama	"Un jardin sur la terre"	French	Jacques Demarny Henri Dijan Alice Dona	Franck Pourcel
Germany	HR	Katja Ebstein	"Diese Welt"	German	Fred Jay Dieter Zimmermann	Dieter Zimmermann
Ireland	RTÉ	Angela Farrell	"One Day Love"	English	Ita Flynn Donald Martin	Noel Kelehan
Italy	RAI	Massimo Ranieri	"L'amore è un attimo"	Italian	Giancarlo Bigazzi Enrico Polito Gaetano Savio	Enrico Polito
Luxembourg	CLT	Monique Melsen	"Pomme, pomme, pomme"	French	Pierre Cour Hubert Giraud	Jean Claudric
Malta	MBA	Joe Grech	"Marija l-Maltija"	Maltese	Joe Grech Charles Mifsud	Anthony Chircop
Monaco	TMC	Séverine	"Un banc, un arbre, une rue"	French	Jean-Pierre Bourtayre Yves Dessca	Jean-Claude Petit
Netherlands	NOS	Saskia and Serge	"Tijd"	Dutch	Gerrit den Braber Joop Stokkermans	Dolf van der Linden
Norway	NRK	Hanne Krogh	"Lykken er..."	Norwegian	Arne Bendiksen	Arne Bendiksen
Portugal	RTP	Tonicha	"Menina do alto da serra"	Portuguese	Nuno Nazareth Fernandes José Carlos Ary dos Santos	Jorge Costa Pinto
Spain	TVE	Karina	"En un mundo nuevo"	Spanish	Tony Luz Rafael Trabucchelli	Waldo de los Ríos
Sweden	SR	The Family Four	"Vita vidder"	Swedish	Håkan Elmquist	Claes Rosendahl
Switzerland	SRG SSR	Peter, Sue and Marc	"Les Illusions de nos vingt ans"	French	Peter Reber Maurice Tézé	Hardy Schneiders
United Kingdom	BBC	Clodagh Rodgers	"Jack in the Box"	English	David Myers John Worsley	Johnny Arthey
Yugoslavia	JRT	Krunoslav Slabinac	"Tvoj dječak je tužan" (Твој дјечак је тужан)	Serbo-Croatian	Zvonimir Golob Ivica Krajač	Miljenko Prohaska

Returning artists

Artist	Country	Previous year(s)
Jacques Raymond	Belgium	1963
Katja Ebstein	Germany	1970

For the first time, each participating broadcaster was required to televise all the songs in "previews" prior to the live final. Belgium's preview video featured Nicole and Hugo performing the song "Goeie morgen, morgen", but Nicole was struck with a sudden illness days before the contest final, with Jacques Raymond and Lily Castel stepping in at short notice to perform the entry in their place. Reports suggested that Castel had not even had enough time to buy a suitable dress for the show.

The BBC were worried about the possible audience reaction to the UK song due to the hostilities raging in Northern Ireland. They specifically selected a singer from Northern Ireland, Clodagh Rodgers, who was popular in both the UK and the Republic of Ireland, to ease any ill-feeling from the Dublin audience. However, Rodgers still received death threats from the IRA for representing the UK.

Groups of up to six people were allowed to perform for the first time, with the rule in previous contests of performing either solo or as a duet abolished.

This was only RTÉ's second outside broadcast in colour. The contest was broadcast in Iceland, the United States and Hong Kong several days later.

In between each song, a film depicting the tourist highlights of each nation using stock footage provided by the participant tourism bureaus was seen, accompanied by a piece of organ music chosen to complement the country.

This is the only time in the contest's history where the second and third placing entrants were also awarded.

 

A new voting system was introduced in this year's contest: each country sent two jury members, one aged over 25 and the other under 25 (with at least ten years' difference between their ages), with both awarding each country (except their own) a score of between one and five points.

While this meant that no country could score fewer than 34 points (and in the event all eighteen scored at least 52), it had one major problem: some jury members tended to award only one or two points. Whether this was done to increase their respective countries' chances of winning is not known for sure, but this shortcoming was nonetheless plain. However, the system remained in place for the 1972 and 1973 contests.

10 points

Below is a summary of all perfect 10 scores that were given during the voting.

N.	Contestant	Nation(s) giving 10 points
6	Monaco	Belgium,   Germany,   Norway,   Sweden,    Switzerland,   Yugoslavia
2	Spain	France,   Monaco
	Finland	Belgium,   United Kingdom
1	Portugal	Spain

Each 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.

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 Greece, Iceland, Morocco and Tunisia, in Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland and Romania via Intervision, and in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Ethiopia, Hong Kong, Jamaica, Kenya, Mauritania, Mauritius, Sierra Leone, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda and the United States.

Broadcasters and commentators in participating countries

Country	Broadcaster	Channel(s)	Commentator(s)	Ref(s)
Austria	ORF	FS1	Ernst Grissemann
Belgium	BRT	BRT
	RTB	RTB
Finland	YLE	TV-ohjelma 1
		Yleisohjelma [fi], Ruotsinkielinen ohjelma	Matti Paalosmaa [fi]
France	ORTF	Deuxième Chaîne	Georges de Caunes
Germany	ARD	Deutsches Fernsehen
Ireland	RTÉ	RTÉ
		RTÉ Radio
Italy	RAI	Programma Nazionale, Secondo Programma	Renato Tagliani [it]
Luxembourg	CLT	Télé-Luxembourg
Malta	MBA	MTS, National Network	Victor Aquilina
Monaco	Télé Monte-Carlo		'
Netherlands	NOS	Nederland 1	Pim Jacobs
Norway	NRK	NRK Fjernsynet, NRK	Sverre Christophersen [no]
Portugal	RTP	I Programa	Henrique Mendes
		Emissora Nacional Programa 1
Spain	TVE	TVE 1	Joaquín Prat
	RNE	Radio Nacional
Sweden	SR	TV1	Åke Strömmer
		SR P3	Ursula Richter [sv]
Switzerland	SRG SSR	TV DRS	Theodor Haller [de]
		TSR	Georges Hardy [fr]
		TSI
United Kingdom	BBC	BBC1	Dave Lee Travis
		BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 2	Terry Wogan
	BFBS	BFBS Radio	John Russell
Yugoslavia	JRT	TV Ljubljana 1 [sl]
		TV Zagreb

Broadcasters and commentators in non-participating countries

Country	Broadcaster	Channel(s)	Commentator(s)	Ref(s)
Hungary	MTV	MTV
Iceland	RÚV	Sjónvarpið	Björn Matthíasson
United States	PBS