Loving the Eurovision

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I’m a big fan of the Eurovision song contest – so much so that my new music, bleeding edge BBC Introducing branded radio show will be taking a Eurovision theme this week.

Don’t get me wrong I won’t be playing Boom Bang a Bang or even Dum Tek Tek (Turkish tip for Eurovision top spot that means Boom Bang a Bang).

But I will be playing songs from around Europe – namely the four countries with a reasonably large population pressence in Jersey – just so I can keep a bit of a local angle.

So my ‘alternative’ Eurovision picks covered four countries: Ireland, Poland, Portugal and France – oh and I dropped in one from the UK for good measure.

Iowa Super Soccer for Poland, Xwife for Portugal, Fight Like Apes for Ireland and Naïve New Beaters for France. And my UK tip came in the form of Frank Turner.

And looking now at the Google tips for Eurovision success (based on search results from different European countries) France (Patricia Kaas) is the only one in the top ten – not including Jade from the UK who is ninth – Frank Turner was only a wildcard throw in as I normally play UK artists anyway.

Here see for yourself – the top five are Turkey with 375 votes, Norway with 351, Greece with 264, Sweden with 205 and Ukraine with 173. The Google forecast puts UK in ninth with 70.

This is based on the number of searches for each countries entry from around Europe – with each country awarding a number of points based on the number of searches to each of the finalists.

MOSCOW - MAY 15: (L-R) Andrew Lloyd Webber, Ja...
Image by Getty Images via Daylife

It excludes searches for an entry from within that singers country – so a search for Jade Ewen from within the UK won’t count.

Personally I don’t care whether we win or not – although it would be nice to see a ‘Home Eurovision’ in 2010 – even if it will probably end up costing around £3 million.

Although if the Aussies could vote then Greece would get 12 points – at least that is the way it’s shaping up on the SBS Unoffical Scorecard – although that is only based on the semi-final – might be interesting to keep track of though.

Anyway – if votes are awarded on how actively people are pushing for their country on Twitter – then I’d put Norway first, Hungary second and Ukrain in third. Although that is only based on a quick search.

Graham Norton, Irish actor, comedian and telev...
Image via Wikipedia

I’ve been a fan of Eurovision since I was a small child – watching it while my parents made sarcastic comments in the background – I loved the comedy, the glamour (or more often lack of) and VERY OCCASIONALLY the music – but most of all for the spectacle and … Terry Wogan.

But this is the first year we won’t have Terry in the hot seat – his place is being taken by another sarcastic Irishman – this time in the form of Graham Norton. Personally I think, based on interviews I’ve seen – he’s going to fill the boots admirably.

This is the first year though that I’ve watched the semi-finals – I always avoided them in the past because for me Eurovision is a social event and my wife would only tolerate the final.

But thanks to the wonder of Twitter I was able to watch it and engage with other Eurovision fans from around the world – including some (like @ewanspence) who were in the Eurovision arena.

I was there for both semi-finals twittering along and the two hours went by really quickly – I’m now going to spare my wife the “pain” (her words) of the whole final and Twitter along to that as well.

My Eurovision follow tips include: @bbceurovision, @sara_cawood, @ewanspence and @thoroughlygood. Anyone you can think of I’ve missed? Oh and feel free to follow me @upyourego.

NB: Main page photo credit: cc by CharlesFred

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