The very first Song For Europe (henceforth known as SFE) was
staged on 12 February 1957. Six songs participated
after each advanced from one of three semi-finals, and each
finalist was performed by two different singers (this practice
was adopted by a few other countries too in the early days of
the contest). The voting was done by
regional juries. Lita Roza, Ronnie Hilton and
Bill Maynard (whose son would sing for the UK twenty-nine
years later) became the first famous names to try to sing for
their native country but fall at the final hurdle. The
winner was a light-operatic number that clocked in at just 112
seconds. Patricia Bredin was selected over Malcolm Lockyer to
present the song in Europe.
After a years gap, the UK returned in 1959 to begin
the longest unbroken sequence of any nation at the contest
(France have stormed off in a huff a couple of times and
Germany's record was spoilt by elimination in the 1996
qualifier). The idea of two singers per song was ditched
but again there were semi-finals (just two this time).
Lita Roza was once more there at the sharp end but had to give
way to the first of a long list of chirpy/bouncy UK chosen
songs, as presented in this instance by Pearl Carr and Teddy
Johnson.
Encouraged by their strong second place, Pearl and Teddy
returned in 1960 but had to give best to Teddy's brother
Bryan. Again there were two semi-finals.
1961 saw the first straight final consisting of nine
songs. Like his sibling,
Bryan Johnson came back for another stab at glory after a
runners-up spot in Europe the year before. As the contest had by
now grown in popularity he was faced by quite an array of
well-known singers, including Ricky Valance, Craig
Douglas, Anne Shelton and Mark Wynter. All had
to admit defeat however to the wholesome Allison brothers.
More famous singers of their time threw their hat into the
ring in 1962, including actor/singer Kenny Lynch,
Donna Douglas and Karl Denver. The yodeling
Aussie Frank Ifield made his first attempt to represent
the UK and conquered all but the winner Ronnie Carroll.
Carroll finished fourth, which was something of a letdown
after three consecutive runner-up showings, so he returned to
SFE in 1963. Quite remarkably,
despite entries from Anne Shelton once more and Vince Hill,
he won again and remains to this day the only UK singer to enter
consecutive contests.
Ronnie's second entry fared no better
(but no worse) than his first, and the BBC took a radical step
in 1964 that would change the format of SFE for the next
dozen years. One popular singer was signed up to perform
all the six final songs before the public. Matt Monro was
the first choice, but although his winning song won SFE by a
landslide (and was runner-up in the contest), it failed to crack
the UK chart and is seldom found on Monro collections.
In 1965 the baton was passed to
Kathy Kirby, and another change occurred as the regional juries
were replaced by a national postcard vote. This change may
have contributed to a much closer margin among the top three
songs.
The 1965 Eurovision champion "Poupee De
Cire Poupee De Son" can probably be classified as the first
"modern" sounding contest winner, so it was quite a surprise
when the BBC chose the determinedly old-fashioned Kenneth
McKellar for the 1966 event. The number of songs in the
final was reduced from six to five. His
chosen song easily scored the worst of any UK song to that date,
so it was clear some modernization was urgently required.
        
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