Eurovision Song Contest 1968
| Eurovision Song Contest 1968 | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Dates | |
| Final | 6 April 1968 |
| Host | |
| Venue |
Royal Albert Hall London, United Kingdom |
| Presenter(s) | Katie Boyle |
| Conductor | Norrie Paramor |
| Director | Stewart Morris |
| Executive supervisor | Clifford Brown |
| Host broadcaster | British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) |
| Interval act | Impressions from London |
| Participants | |
| Number of entries | 17 |
| Debuting countries | None |
| Returning countries | None |
| Withdrawing countries | None |
|
|
| Vote | |
| Voting system | Each country had 10 jury members who each cast one vote for their favourite song |
| Nul points | None |
| Winning song |
 Spain"La, la, la" |
The Eurovision Song Contest 1968 was the 13th Eurovision Song Contest. The contest was won by the Spanish song "La, la, la", performed by Massiel, closely followed by the United Kingdom and Cliff Richard with "Congratulations!" with a margin of just one point. Originally Spain entered Joan Manuel Serrat to sing "La La La", but his demand to sing in Catalan was an affront to Francoist Spain. Serrat was withdrawn and replaced by Massiel, who sang the same song in Spanish.
The contest was held at the Royal Albert Hall in London. The Royal Albert Hall is known for hosting the world's leading artists from several performance genres, sports, award ceremonies, the annual summer Proms concerts and other events since its opening in 1871, and has become one of the United Kingdom's most treasured and distinctive buildings.
1968 was the first time that the Eurovision Song Contest was broadcast in colour. The countries that broadcast it in colour were France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom, although in the UK it was broadcast as an encore presentation in colour on BBC Two the next day. Also all of Eastern Europe and Tunisia broadcast the contest. Katie Boyle hosted the contest for a third time.
In May 2008, a documentary by Spanish film-maker Montse Fernández Villa, 1968. Yo viví el mayo español, centred on the effects of May 1968 in Francoist Spain, and alleged that the 1968 Eurovision Song Contest was rigged by the Spanish dictator Francisco Franco, who would have sent state television officials across Europe offering cash and promising to buy television series and contract unknown artists. The allegation was based on a testimony by journalist José María Íñigo, a TVE employee at the time, who claimed the rigging was common knowledge and suggested that Spanish record label representatives offered to release albums by Bulgarian and Czech artists (neither Bulgaria nor Czechoslovakia were members of the European Broadcasting Union at the time).
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