Eurovision Song Contest 1960


The Eurovision Song Contest 1960 was the fifth edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in London, United Kingdom and was held at the Royal Festival Hall on Tuesday 29 March 1960. The show was hosted by Catherine Boyle. It was the first Eurovision Song Contest held in a capital city, as well as in the British Isles and in the English-speaking world.
Following Teddy Scholten's win for the Netherlands at the 1959 contest in Cannes, France with the song "Een beetje", the Netherlands Television Foundation declined to host another contest so soon after staging the event in 1958. The honour of hosting the contest therefore passed to the United Kingdom, which had come second in 1959.
Thirteen countries participated in the contest. Norway made their début, and Luxembourg returned after their absence from the previous edition.
The winner was France with the song "Tom Pillibi", performed by Jacqueline Boyer, written by Pierre Cour, and composed by André Popp. This was France's second victory in the contest, following their win in 1958, and their fourth consecutive top three placing. Aged 18, Boyer became the first teenager and the youngest artist yet to win the contest.

Location

The 1960 Eurovision Song Contest was hosted in London. The Royal Festival Hall, the venue for the 1960 contest, is a 2,900-seat concert, dance and talks venue within Southbank Centre in London. It is situated on the South Bank of the River Thames, not far from Hungerford Bridge.
The result was a win for France, however Germany, Monaco and the UK led in the early stages of voting. The UK came second with 25 points, four more points than the winning song in 1959, and Monaco came third on 15 points making up for their disappointing début result the year before.

Participating countries

Interest in the contest started to grow across Europe, with the number of participating nations increasing to 13 this year. Norway made its debut with one of their leading jazz singers. Luxembourg returned to the contest after a one-year break with a song in native Luxembourgish language. The Netherlands was mistakenly announced as Holland.

Conductors

The conductors of the orchestra for each country's performance were:
The contest saw the return of one artist who had participated in its previous editions, with Belgium's representative Fud Leclerc, who previously represented the country in 1956 and 1958.

Results

Scoreboard

Each country had 10 jury members who each cast one vote for their favorite song.

Broadcasters, commentators and spokespersons

Spokespersons

Listed below is the order in which votes were cast during the 1960 contest along with the spokesperson who was responsible for announcing the votes for their respective country.
  1. Armand Lanoux
  2. Enzo Tortora
  3. – TBC
  4. – Emil Kollpacher
  5. – Svend Pedersen
  6. – TBC
  7. Tage Danielsson
  8. – Nick Burrell-Davis

    Broadcasters and commentators

Each national broadcaster also sent a commentator to the contest, in order to provide coverage of the contest in their own native language.