Eurovision: 1963 Trivia Quiz

Answer: United Kingdom

France actually won the prior year's competition, and therefore should have hosted the event. However, they felt it too soon after hosting the 1961 contest, so Britain stepped in and did the honours at the BBC Television Centre in London.

Answer: Denmark

Denmark won the competition with their entry "Dansevise" ("Dance Ballad"). It was performed by Grethe and Jorgen Ingmann, and was the first time the contest was won by a duo. Jorgen Ingmann is probably best known for his guitar instrumental "Apache", recorded in 1961, which was a hit in the United States and Canada.

Answer: Ronnie Carroll

Ronnie Carroll is a Northern Irish singer who holds the distinction of (as of 2008) being the only singer to have represented the United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest two years in a row. Since then he has been politically active with the "Vote for Yourself Rainbow Dream Ticket Party", standing for election in 2005 in Belfast. (The party has since renamed itself the "Make Politicians History" party.) His objective in that election? To get 0 votes.

He failed - 26 votes were cast for him...

Answer: the Netherlands

Once again, the Netherlands got a goose egg instead of points. Their entry, "Een speeldoos" ("A Musical Box") was sung by Annie Palmen, and was one of four entries not to score this year.

Answer: four

Four countries sang their entries in French this year. They were

France - "Elle etait si jolie" ("She was So Pretty")
Luxembourg - "A force de prier" ("By the Might of Prayer")
Monaco - "L'amour s'en va" ("Love Goes Away") and
Switzerland - "T'en va pas" ("Don't Go Away")

Answer: Norway

It was Norway. Katie Boyle told them that she could not hear their announcement of their votes, even though the audience could hear them. The real reason for Katie not accepting the votes was that the Norwegian jury's 'foreman' failed to follow procedure, which cast doubt on his pronouncements.

Answer: country changed their votes in the interim

Norway had cast their initial votes one way, but seems to have changed their selection of winner between the two calls. This ended up with Switzerland not winning the contest after all, which instead went to Norway's neighbour Denmark.

Answer: Katie Boyle

Katie Boyle once again presented the competition, having done so for her first time in 1960. She later presented the contest in 1968 and 1974.

The others are all British television presenters.

Answer: Ola & Barbro

Ola & Barbro Nordstrom (for this is the only Ola & Barbro I can find online which seems likely to be the same as the interval act) are basically circus performers, who perform on unicycles.

Victor and Elmsley were magicians in the mid-1900s, while Thomas Rudd perfected his skills as a magician in the late 1500s and early 1600s.

Answer: six

Six countries tied for position this year. France and Monaco tied for fifth position, with 25 points each. There was a four-way tie at the bottom - Finland, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden all came out with no points.