Eurovision: 1978 Trivia Game | Individual Years of Eurovision

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Where was the 1978 Eurovision Song Contest held?

Answer: Paris, France

France won the 1977 contest, so they got to host the 1978 one. The contest took place in the Palais des Congres in Paris.

2. Which country won the 1978 Eurovision Song Contest?

Answer: Israel

Israel won the contest by a country mile, causing a certain amount of political turmoil. Their song, "A-Ba-Ni-Bi" ("I Love You") was sung in a variant of Hebrew which roughly equates to the English language's 'pig-Latin'. It was sung by "Izhar Cohen and the Alphabeta".

3. The UK's 1978 entry was a song called "The Bad Old Days". Who sang it?

Answer: Co-Co

The song, written by Stephanie de Sykes and Stuart Slater, was considered one of the worst ever submitted by Britain. The group Co-Co was originally known as "Mother's Pride" (which is also the name of a particular loaf of bread in the UK).

4. A certain amount of political turmoil accompanied the 1978 contest when the outcome became apparent. Which country stopped transmitting the show and instead broadcast a bunch of daffodils?

Answer: Jordan

When it became abundently clear that Israel was going to win, many Arabic countries ceased transmission of the contest. The next day, Jordan announced that Belgium (which had come second) had won.

5. The current rules stated that each country had to sing in their own official language - but there are a number of countries with more than one official language. How many entries in the 1978 Eurovision Song Contest were sung entirely in French?

Answer: 5

They were:

Belgium - "L'amour �a fait chanter la vie" ("Love, it Makes Life Sing")
France - "Il y aura toujours des violons" ("There Will Always be Violins")
Monaco - "Les jardins de Monaco" ("The Gardens of Monaco")
Luxembourg - "Parlez-vous francais?" ("Do You Speak French?) and
Switzerland - "Vivre" ("Living")

6. One record was set at the contest, which, by 2008, had still not been broken - the number of perfect scores (12s) awarded in a row to a contestant. How many scores of 12 were awarded consecutively?

Answer: 5

Five of the six perfect scores received by Israel were announced in a row - and as of March 2009, that still stands as a record. The six countries which awarded the perfect score were Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Turkey. (No country can cast a vote for its own song.) Luxembourg was the sixth, separate, perfect vote, not part of the 'chain' of five.

7. Two countries returned to Eurovision after staying out for at least one year. Which countries came back?

Answer: Turkey and Denmark

Turkey had participated once before, in 1975, with their song "Seninle Bir Dakika". They did not participate in the 1977 contest. Denmark had participated from 1957 to 1966, then chose not to take part until 1978.

8. Who were the presenters for the 1978 Eurovision Song Contest?

Answer: Denise Fabre and Leon Zitrone

While all the names given are (or were) French television presenters, the ones this year were Denise Fabre and Leon Zitrone. Fabre specialised in in-vision continuity announcing (don't ask me what that means!) until 1992 when that career field ceased to exist. Zitrone was born in Russia in 1914 and settled in France with his family at the age of 6.

He was a news presenter for over 20 years, but had a comedic side - he was the host of Intervilles, the French version of "It's A Knockout". (If you never saw the latter programme, it was probably one of the funniest things on television and no doubt did a great deal to foster - or maybe jeapordise - European harmony!)

9. There's always a halftime - which of the following were part of the 1978 Eurovision Song Contest halftime entertainment?

Answer: Stephane Grapelli

St�phane Grapelli and Oscar Peterson, Yehudi Menuhin, Kenny Clarke and Nils Henning Orsted Pedersen provided a fascinating halftime entertainment. The others named are all French entertainers: Chevalier is best known for his rendition of "Thank Heavens for Little Girls", Greco, a singer and actess, for her bohemian looks, and Vander is a musician who plays drums in the band 'Magma'.

10. Twenty countries vied for the 1978 Eurovision Song crown. That means there should have been a 1st position, 2nd position, 3rd etc, all the way to 18th, right? Wrong - or is it? How many countries, if any, tied for position?

Answer: 4

Spain, with "Bailemos un vals" ("Let's Dance a Waltz") and Switzerland, with "Vivre" ("Living") tied for 9th position. Finland, with "Anna rakkaudelle tilaisuus" ("Give Love a Chance") and Turkey, with "Sevince" (which is apparently translated as "When Someone Loves") tied for 18th position.

Source: Author CariM0952

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor Dalgleish before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

Eurovision: 1978 Trivia Quiz

Take a step back in time and see what you remember about the 1978 Eurovision Song Contest. If you like the quiz, please rate it - if not, please tell me why.

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>