United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 1981
The United Kingdom and the British Broadcasting Corporation held a national final titled "A Song for Europe 1981" to choose who would represent them in the Eurovision Song Contest 1981. "A Song for Europe 1981" was held on 11 March 1981 where Bucks Fizz was chosen with "Making Your Mind Up" as the entrant. At Eurovision, they placed first winning the competition with 136 points.
A Song for Europe 1981
The BBC reduced the number of finalists from twelve to eight in 1981. Terry Wogan hosted the contest on 11 March. It was held at the Television Theatre. 581 songs were submitted to the Music Publisher's Association to pick eight songs. The BBC Concert Orchestra under the direction of John Coleman as conductor accompanied all the songs, but all the music was pre-recorded. The show was the 16th most watched programme of the week with a rating of 12.4 million viewers, the highest for three years. Johnny Logan was scheduled to appear as a guest on the programme, but had to cancel shortly before the air date.| Draw | Song | Composer | Artist | Points | Place |
| 01 | "Not Without Your Ticket " | Luís Jardim & Jean Gilbert | Headache | 50 | 7th |
| 02 | "All Cried Out" | Gary Benson | Gary Benson | 63 | =4th |
| 03 | "For Only a Day" | John Dawson Read & Chris Gunning | Unity | 38 | 8th |
| 04 | "Wish" | Steve Elson & Don Gould | Beyond | 67 | 3rd |
| 05 | "Making Your Mind Up" | Andy Hill & John Danter | Bucks Fizz | 97 | 1st |
| 06 | "Have You Ever Been in Love?" | Andy Hill, Peter Sinfield & John Danter | Gem | 63 | =4th |
| 07 | "Where Are You Now" | Lindsey Moore | Lezlee Carling | 56 | 6th |
| 08 | "Don't Panic" | Adrian Baker | Liquid Gold | 70 | 2nd |
Seven regional juries voted on the songs. They were based in Birmingham, Cardiff, Manchester, Belfast, Edinburgh, London and Bristol. The regional juries voted internally and awarded 15 points to their favourite song, 12 points to the second, 10 points to the third and then 9, 8, 7, 6 and 5 points in order of preference for the songs from 4th to 8th. Before the reprise, Terry Wogan incorrectly read the title of the winning song as "Where Are You Now." The prizes were presented by Wogan to John Danter, one of the songwriters, and to Mike Nolan, one of the performers.
Headache were: Dave Cooke, Jean Gilbert, Luis Jardim, Val McKenna and Martyn David.
Unity was led by Sue Glover, who as one half of Sue and Sunny had accompanied Lulu as a backing vocalist when the UK had won the Eurovision Song Contest 1969. Glover also sang backing vocals at the Eurovision Song Contest 1975 for Joy Fleming of Germany and returned to back the British entry in 1985 for Vikki. The remaining members of Unity were five young girls dressed as Edwardian era children and included Annabel Layton, who attempted to represent the UK at Eurovision again in 1985 and former Grange Hill actress Lindy Brill.
Beyond were: Steve Stroud, Adrian Shepherd, Gary Deans, Alan Ashe and Derek Austin.
The group Gem featured both Andy Hill and Nichola Martin, who produced and managed Bucks Fizz. They changed their name from 'Paris' for the contest and released the single of Have You Ever Been In Love? under that name.
Unusually for the UK competition, three of the finalists reached the UK singles chart. Making Your Mind Up spent three weeks at number one, whilst the runner-up, Don't Panic! reached number 42 at more-or-less the same time. Have You Ever Been In Love? was a UK no.10 hit for Leo Sayer in 1982, also reaching no.4 in Australia. The track was covered by many other artists, including Peter Cetera and Westlife. For Only A Day was later used as the theme song for the 1983 Miss World contest, performed live by all the contestants during the broadcast.