Royal Festival Hall
The Royal Festival Hall is a 2,900-seat concert and talks venue within Southbank Centre in London. It is situated on the South Bank of the River Thames, not far from Hungerford Bridge, in the London Borough of Lambeth, it is a Grade. The London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment are resident in the hall; the hall was built as part of the Festival of Britain for London County Council, was opened on 3 May 1951. When the LCC's successor, the Greater London Council, was abolished in 1986, the Festival Hall was taken over by the Arts Council, managed together with the Queen Elizabeth Hall and Purcell Room and the Hayward Gallery becoming an independent arts organisation, now known as the Southbank Centre, in April 1998; the complex includes several reception rooms and restaurants, the Clore Ballroom, accommodating up to 440 for a seated dinner. A large head and shoulders bust of Nelson Mandela stands on the walkway between the hall and Hungerford Bridge approach viaduct.
Made in glass-fibre it was vandalised until re-cast in bronze. The complex's variety of open spaces and foyers are popular for work-related meetings; the closest tube stations are Waterloo and, across the river via the Jubilee Bridges and Charing Cross. The Festival Hall project was led by London County Council’s chief architect, Robert Matthew, who gathered around him a young team of talented designers including Leslie Martin, to lead the project with Edwin Williams and Peter Moro, along with the furniture designer Robin Day and his wife, the textile designer Lucienne Day; the acoustical consultant was Hope Bagenal. Martin was 39 at the time, taken with the Nordic activities of Alvar Aalto and Gunnar Asplund; the figure who drove the project forward was Herbert Morrison, the Labour Party politician. He it was who had insisted that Matthew had Martin as his deputy architect, treating the Festival Hall as a special project. A 1948 sketch by Martin shows the design of the concert hall as the egg in a box.
But the strength of the design was the arrangement of interior space: the central staircase has a ceremonial feel and moves elegantly through the different levels of light and air. They were concerned that whilst the scale of the project demanded a monumental building, it should not ape the triumphal classicism of many earlier public buildings; the wide open foyers, with bars and restaurants, were intended to be meeting places for all: there were to be no separate bars for different classes of patron. Because these public spaces were built around the auditorium, they had the effect of insulating the Hall from the noise of the adjacent railway bridge. To quote Leslie Martin, "The suspended auditorium provides the building with its major attributes: the great sense of space, opened out within the building, the flowing circulation from the symmetrically placed staircases and galleries that became known as the ‘egg in the box’."The hall they built used modernism’s favourite material, reinforced concrete, alongside more luxurious elements including beautiful woods and Derbyshire fossilised limestone.
The exterior of the building was bright white, intended to contrast with the blackened city surrounding it. Large areas of glass on its façade meant that light coursed throughout the interior, at night, the glass let the light from inside flood out onto the river, in contrast to the darkness which befell the rest of London after dusk; the hall seated 2,901. The cantilevered boxes are described as looking like drawers pulled out in a hurried burglary, but none has a compromised sightline; the ceiling was wilfully sculptural, a conceit at the edge of building technology and, as it turns out, way beyond the contemporary understanding of acoustics. Robin Day, who designed the furniture for the auditorium, used a articulated structure in his designs of bent plywood and steel; the original building had lushly planted roof terraces. The foundation stone was laid in 1949 by Prime Minister Clement Attlee on the site of the former Lion Brewery, built in 1837; the building was constructed by Holland, Hannen & Cubitts at a cost of £2 million and opened on 3 May 1951 with a gala concert attended by King George Vl and Queen Elizabeth, conducted by Sir Malcolm Sargent and Sir Adrian Boult.
The first general manager was T. E. Bean, who had managed the Hallé Orchestra. "I was overwhelmed by a shock of breathless delight at the beauty of the interior. It felt as if I had been transported far into the future and that I was on another planet," said journalist Bernard Levin of his first impressions of the building; the 7,866 pipe organ was built during 1950–1954 by Harrison & Harrison in Durham, to the specification of the London County Council's consultant, Ralph Downes, who supervised the tonal finishing. It was designed as a well-balanced classical instrument embracing a number of rich and varied ensembles which alone or in combination could equal the dynamic scale of any orchestra or choral grouping, in addition to coping with the entire solo repertoire; the design principles enshrined in its construction gave rise to a whole new school of organ building, known as the English Organ Reform Movement
France
France the French Republic, is a country whose territory consists of metropolitan France in Western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The metropolitan area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean, it is bordered by Belgium and Germany to the northeast and Italy to the east, Andorra and Spain to the south. The overseas territories include French Guiana in South America and several islands in the Atlantic and Indian oceans; the country's 18 integral regions span a combined area of 643,801 square kilometres and a total population of 67.3 million. France, a sovereign state, is a unitary semi-presidential republic with its capital in Paris, the country's largest city and main cultural and commercial centre. Other major urban areas include Lyon, Toulouse, Bordeaux and Nice. During the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by a Celtic people. Rome annexed the area in 51 BC, holding it until the arrival of Germanic Franks in 476, who formed the Kingdom of Francia.
The Treaty of Verdun of 843 partitioned Francia into Middle Francia and West Francia. West Francia which became the Kingdom of France in 987 emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages following its victory in the Hundred Years' War. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a global colonial empire was established, which by the 20th century would become the second largest in the world; the 16th century was dominated by religious civil wars between Protestants. France became Europe's dominant cultural and military power in the 17th century under Louis XIV. In the late 18th century, the French Revolution overthrew the absolute monarchy, established one of modern history's earliest republics, saw the drafting of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, which expresses the nation's ideals to this day. In the 19th century, Napoleon established the First French Empire, his subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a tumultuous succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870.
France was a major participant in World War I, from which it emerged victorious, was one of the Allies in World War II, but came under occupation by the Axis powers in 1940. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and dissolved in the course of the Algerian War; the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, remains today. Algeria and nearly all the other colonies became independent in the 1960s and retained close economic and military connections with France. France has long been a global centre of art and philosophy, it hosts the world's fourth-largest number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites and is the leading tourist destination, receiving around 83 million foreign visitors annually. France is a developed country with the world's sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP, tenth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of aggregate household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, human development.
France is considered a great power in global affairs, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a leading member state of the European Union and the Eurozone, a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, La Francophonie. Applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name "France" comes from the Latin "Francia", or "country of the Franks". Modern France is still named today "Francia" in Italian and Spanish, "Frankreich" in German and "Frankrijk" in Dutch, all of which have more or less the same historical meaning. There are various theories as to the origin of the name Frank. Following the precedents of Edward Gibbon and Jacob Grimm, the name of the Franks has been linked with the word frank in English, it has been suggested that the meaning of "free" was adopted because, after the conquest of Gaul, only Franks were free of taxation.
Another theory is that it is derived from the Proto-Germanic word frankon, which translates as javelin or lance as the throwing axe of the Franks was known as a francisca. However, it has been determined that these weapons were named because of their use by the Franks, not the other way around; the oldest traces of human life in what is now France date from 1.8 million years ago. Over the ensuing millennia, Humans were confronted by a harsh and variable climate, marked by several glacial eras. Early hominids led a nomadic hunter-gatherer life. France has a large number of decorated caves from the upper Palaeolithic era, including one of the most famous and best preserved, Lascaux. At the end of the last glacial period, the climate became milder. After strong demographic and agricultural development between the 4th and 3rd millennia, metallurgy appeared at the end of the 3rd millennium working gold and bronze, iron. France has numerous megalithic sites from the Neolithic period, including the exceptiona
Eurovision Song Contest 1959
The Eurovision Song Contest 1959 was the fourth edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Cannes, following André Claveau's win at the 1958 contest in Hilversum, Netherlands with the song "Dors, mon amour", it was the first time. The contest was held at Palais des Festivals et des Congrès on Wednesday 11 March 1959, was hosted by Jacqueline Joubert. Eleven countries participated in the contest. Monaco made its début this year; the United Kingdom returned after their absence from the previous edition. The winner was the Netherlands with the song "Een beetje", performed by Teddy Scholten, written by Willy van Hemert and composed by Dick Schallies; this was the Netherlands' second victory in the contest, following their win in 1957 - marking the first time a country had won more than once. Willy van Hemert wrote the first Dutch winner that year; the event took place in Cannes, with the venue being the original building of Palais des Festivals et des Congrès, after France got the right to host this edition of the Eurovision Song Contest for winning its previous 1958 edition with the song "Dors, mon amour" performed by André Claveau.
Cannes, a city located on the French Riviera, is a busy tourist destination and known worldwide for hosting the annual Cannes Film Festival, with the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès hosting the Film Festival. The original building was built in 1949 and was located on the boulevard of Promenade de la Croisette, on the present site of the JW Marriott Cannes. A new rule was created for this Eurovision, ensuring that no professional publishers or composers were allowed in the national juries. During the voting, Italy gave one point to France, no points to the UK and seven points to the Netherlands placing them just three points ahead of the UK. On, France gave only three points to Italy and four points to the Netherlands thus giving them a five-point lead over the UK, who were only one point ahead of France, leaving Italy behind in sixth position, behind Denmark, on nine points. Something that occurred this year, but never again, was that more than the winning entry was performed once again.
The third- and second-placed songs and United Kingdom were allowed to sing again at the end of the show, together with the eventual winner, the Netherlands. Luxembourg withdrew from the contest for the first time; the United Kingdom returned after missing the previous contest and finished second for the first time. The UK would have 15 second-place finishes in the country's history in the contest. Monaco came last; each performance had a conductor. France - Franck Pourcel Denmark - Kai Mortensen Italy - William Galassini Monaco - Franck Pourcel Netherlands - Dolf van der Linden Germany - Franck Pourcel Sweden - Franck Pourcel Switzerland - Franck Pourcel Austria - Franck Pourcel United Kingdom - Eric Robinson Belgium - Francis Bay The contest saw the return of two artists who had participated in previous editions of the contest: Birthe Wilke for Denmark and Domenico Modugno for Italy; the table above shows the order in which votes were cast during the 1959 contest along with the spokesperson, responsible for announcing the votes for their respective country.
Each national broadcaster sent a commentator to the contest, in order to provide coverage of the contest in their own native language. Details of the commentators and the broadcasting station for which they represented are included in the table below. Official website
Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest
Belgium has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 60 times since making its debut as one of the seven countries at the first contest in 1956. The only countries with more appearances are Germany and the United Kingdom. Belgium have been absent only three times in total, in 1994, 1997 and 2001, due to low scores in the previous contests that relegated them from the contest. Belgium has won the contest once, in 1986. In the first 20 years of the contest, Belgium's best result was Tonia's fourth place in 1966. In 1978, Jean Vallée achieved Belgium's first top three placement. Sandra Kim became the first and to date only winner for Belgium in 1986, when she won as a 13-year-old in Bergen, performing the song "J'aime la Vie". Belgium's only other top three result came in 2003, when the group Urban Trad finished second in Riga, losing out by only two points. Belgium have finished last in the contest eight times, most in 2000, have twice received "nul points". After the introduction of the semi-final round in 2004, Belgium failed to reach the final for five consecutive years.
Since 2010, Belgium have become more successful, qualifying for the final in five out of nine contests and placing in the top 10 four times, with Tom Dice sixth, Loïc Nottet fourth, Laura Tesoro tenth, Blanche fourth. Belgium has two national broadcasters of the contest, Flemish broadcaster Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroep and French-speaking broadcaster Radio télévision belge de la communauté française; the two broadcasters rotate selection for the Eurovision Song Contest each year. While VRT hosts a national final, when selecting their entries for Eurovision, it has been normal for RTBF to hold an internal selection process. Tonia's fourth-place at the 1966 contest remained Belgium's best result until Jean Vallée finished second in 1978. By 1980, Belgium had finished last in the contest five times, in 1961, 1962, 1965, 1973 and 1979. Following good results for Stella and Jacques Zegers, Belgium finished last for the sixth time in 1985; this was followed by Belgium's first Eurovision victory in 1986, when Sandra Kim won with her song "J'aime la vie" in Bergen, Norway.
Although she claimed she was 15 years old, she was only 13, but was allowed to keep her victory. The minimum age for participation is 16 and thus Sandra Kim will remain the youngest winner unless the age limit is lowered. By winning in 1986, Belgium became the last of the French-speaking countries to win the contest, as France, Luxembourg and Switzerland all had won at least once before. Belgium scored an absolute record at the time, with Sandra Kim earning a never seen before amount of 176 points, an average of 9.26 points per voting nation. Kim received 77.2% of the maximum possible score, which, as of 2017, still ranks eighth among all Eurovision winners. Belgium finished last for the seventh time at the 1993 contest, before achieving its only top ten result of the decade at the 1998 contest in Birmingham, where Mélanie Cohl finished sixth. Belgium finished last in the contest for the eighth and final time at the 2000 contest in Stockholm, before achieving its best result of the 21st century in 2003, where Urban Trad sang in an invented language and earned second place with 165 points, losing out to Turkey's Sertab Erener by just two points.
Ishtar did the same in 2008, but finished 17th in the first semi-final, failing to qualify for the final. In the Eurovision Song Contest 2009, Belgium participated in the first semi-final on 12 May 2009, however they received just one point which came from Armenia and left them in second-last position; the 2010 entry for Belgium was Tom Dice, runner-up of the Belgian Flemish version of The X Factor in 2008. Dice was internally selected and announced by VRT on 25 November 2009. Tom Dice finished 1st in the first semi-final, allowing Belgium to participate to the final for the first time since the introduction of the semi-finals, he finished 6th, Belgium's best result since 2003, along with 1959, the best result for a Flemish entrant, since Belgum's all top 5 placings have been achieved by the representantives of the French-language broadcaster RTBF. In 2011, the entry for Belgium was Witloof Bay, they didn't qualify for the finals, finishing 11th only one point behind Moldova, thus 1 point behind the qualification.
Due to the good results and the Flemish population's choice, the VRT cancelled'Eurosong' selection procedure and chose internally for 2012. For the Eurovision Song Contest 2012, they choose 17-year-old singer Iris but decided to let the public choose what song she would sing to represent Belgium. However, she didn't qualify after finishing 17th of 18 entrants in the first semi-final, scoring just 16 points, the second lowest total of all the 36 semi-final entrants. In 2013, Roberto Bellarosa, winner of The Voice Belgique, was chosen to represent Belgium for the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 in Malmö, Sweden. Bellarosa finished in 12th place. In 2014, VRT organized a national final again and 30 participants were selected to enter the castings. Axel Hirsoux won the national final, with more than 50 percent of the televotes and four times the ma
Switzerland in the Eurovision Song Contest
Switzerland has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 58 times since making its debut at the first contest in 1956, missing only four contests, in 1995, 1999, 2001 and 2003. Switzerland hosted the first contest in 1956 in Lugano, won it. Switzerland won the contest with the 1989 contest being held in Lausanne. Lys Assia won the first contest in 1956 with the song "Refrain", she returned to place second in 1958. Switzerland would go on to finish second with Esther Ofarim and Daniela Simmons and third with Franca Di Rienzo and Arlette Zola, before winning the contest for the second time in 1988 with Celine Dion and the song "Ne partez pas sans moi". Annie Cotton gave the country its 15th top five result in 1993. Girl band Vanilla Ninja finished eighth in 2005, Switzerland's only top ten result of the 21st century. Sebalter gave the country its second-best result of the century, finishing 13th in 2014. Since the introduction of the semi-final round in 2004, Switzerland has failed to reach the final 11 times.
Switzerland had been absent from Eurovision four times since their participation began in the first contest. These absences, in 1995, 1999, 2001 and 2003 were caused by poor results in previous contests that relegated Switzerland from the contest. Switzerland has four official languages, German and Romansh. For decades, the song requirements stated that the song had to be performed in a national language, which gave Switzerland leeway as they could perform in any of the four languages. Out of their 58 appearances in the Contest, Switzerland has sent 52 songs, 24 of which were in French, 12 in German, 12 in English, 9 in Italian, 1 in Romansh. Both of Switzerland's winning songs have been sung in French. Table key NOTES: a. ^ The full results for the first contest in 1956 are unknown, only the winner was announced. The official Eurovision site lists all the other songs as being placed second. B. If a country had won the previous year, they did not have to compete in the semi-finals the following year.
In addition from 2004-2007, the top ten countries who were not members of the big four did not have to compete in the semi-finals the following year. If, for example and France placed inside the top ten, the countries who placed 11th and 12th were advanced to the following year's grand final along with the rest of the top ten countries; as of 2018, Switzerland's voting history is as follows: Over the years Switzerland has broadcast the Eurovision Song Contest on three television stations, SRF, RTS and RSI. All conductors are Swiss except those marked with a flag. NotesAnita Kerr changed her nationality to Swiss in 1970. Atilla Şereftuğ holds dual citizenship since 1985. Bela Balint changed his nationality to Swiss. Rui dos Reis holds dual citizenship since 2010. Prior to 1999, the Swiss entry was performed without orchestral accompaniment in 1987 and 1998. Table key Switzerland in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest – Junior version of the Eurovision Song Contest. Switzerland in the Eurovision Dance Contest – Dance version of the Eurovision Song Contest.
Switzerland in the Eurovision Young Dancers – A competition organised by the EBU for younger dancers aged between 16 and 21. Switzerland in the Eurovision Young Musicians – A competition organised by the EBU for musicians aged 18 years and younger. Points to and from Switzerland eurovisioncovers.co.uk
London
London is the capital and largest city of both England and the United Kingdom. Standing on the River Thames in the south-east of England, at the head of its 50-mile estuary leading to the North Sea, London has been a major settlement for two millennia. Londinium was founded by the Romans; the City of London, London's ancient core − an area of just 1.12 square miles and colloquially known as the Square Mile − retains boundaries that follow its medieval limits. The City of Westminster is an Inner London borough holding city status. Greater London is governed by the Mayor of the London Assembly. London is considered to be one of the world's most important global cities and has been termed the world's most powerful, most desirable, most influential, most visited, most expensive, sustainable, most investment friendly, most popular for work, the most vegetarian friendly city in the world. London exerts a considerable impact upon the arts, education, fashion, healthcare, professional services and development, tourism and transportation.
London ranks 26 out of 300 major cities for economic performance. It is one of the largest financial centres and has either the fifth or sixth largest metropolitan area GDP, it is the most-visited city as measured by international arrivals and has the busiest city airport system as measured by passenger traffic. It is the leading investment destination, hosting more international retailers and ultra high-net-worth individuals than any other city. London's universities form the largest concentration of higher education institutes in Europe. In 2012, London became the first city to have hosted three modern Summer Olympic Games. London has a diverse range of people and cultures, more than 300 languages are spoken in the region, its estimated mid-2016 municipal population was 8,787,892, the most populous of any city in the European Union and accounting for 13.4% of the UK population. London's urban area is the second most populous in the EU, after Paris, with 9,787,426 inhabitants at the 2011 census.
The population within the London commuter belt is the most populous in the EU with 14,040,163 inhabitants in 2016. London was the world's most populous city from c. 1831 to 1925. London contains four World Heritage Sites: the Tower of London. Other landmarks include Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Piccadilly Circus, St Paul's Cathedral, Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square and The Shard. London has numerous museums, galleries and sporting events; these include the British Museum, National Gallery, Natural History Museum, Tate Modern, British Library and West End theatres. The London Underground is the oldest underground railway network in the world. "London" is an ancient name, attested in the first century AD in the Latinised form Londinium. Over the years, the name has attracted many mythicising explanations; the earliest attested appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, written around 1136. This had it that the name originated from a supposed King Lud, who had taken over the city and named it Kaerlud.
Modern scientific analyses of the name must account for the origins of the different forms found in early sources Latin, Old English, Welsh, with reference to the known developments over time of sounds in those different languages. It is agreed; this was adapted into Latin as Londinium and borrowed into Old English, the ancestor-language of English. The toponymy of the Common Brythonic form is much debated. A prominent explanation was Richard Coates's 1998 argument that the name derived from pre-Celtic Old European *lowonida, meaning "river too wide to ford". Coates suggested that this was a name given to the part of the River Thames which flows through London. However, most work has accepted a Celtic origin for the name, recent studies have favoured an explanation along the lines of a Celtic derivative of a proto-Indo-European root *lendh-, combined with the Celtic suffix *-injo- or *-onjo-. Peter Schrijver has suggested, on these grounds, that the name meant'place that floods'; until 1889, the name "London" applied to the City of London, but since it has referred to the County of London and Greater London.
"London" is sometimes written informally as "LDN". In 1993, the remains of a Bronze Age bridge were found on the south foreshore, upstream of Vauxhall Bridge; this bridge either reached a now lost island in it. Two of those timbers were radiocarbon dated to between 1750 BC and 1285 BC. In 2010 the foundations of a large timber structure, dated to between 4800 BC and 4500 BC, were found on the Thames's south foreshore, downstream of Vauxhall Bridge; the function of the mesolithic structure is not known. Both structures are on the south bank. Although there is evidence of scattered Brythonic settlements in the area, the first major settlement was founded by the Romans about four years after the invasion
Eurovision Song Contest 1958
The Eurovision Song Contest 1958 was the third edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Hilversum, following Corry Brokken's win at the 1957 contest in Frankfurt-am-Main, West Germany, with the song "Net als toen"; this formed the convention that the winning country of the previous year's event would host the following year. The contest was held at the AVRO Studios on Wednesday 12 March 1958, was hosted by Hannie Lips. Ten countries participated in the contest. Sweden made its début; this withdrawal came. Failing to get an agreement from various artistic unions, the BBC withdrew their bid to host in the summer of 1957 and the United Kingdom did not enter for the second and last time to date, having missed the first contest two years earlier; the winner was France with the song "Dors, mon amour", performed by André Claveau, written by Pierre Delanoë and composed by Hubert Giraud. This was France's first victory in the contest. At 46 years and 76 days of age, Claveau became the oldest victor of the contest until 1990.
Along with 1956, it was the second contest that has not featured a single song in the English language. The 1958 contest continued with the policy implemented the year before where each country was limited to one song entry; this policy has been retained to date. Hilversum, a municipality and a town in the province of North Holland, is known as the "Media Capital" of the Netherlands. Hilversum had become the centre of broadcasting and radio in the Netherlands in the 1920s when Dutch radio company Nederlandse Seintoestellen Fabriek settled there, today the media sector stands as one of the top employers in the municipality of Hilversum. After the establishment of the Dutch Radio Company in Hilversum in the 1920s all other radio stations in the Netherlands followed suit with television following in the 1950s, thus making Hilversum at the end of the 1950s the best venue in the Netherlands to produce and broadcast such an international TV-transmitted event as the Eurovision Song Contest, while on the other hand TV was still a challenging advanced technology in general within Europe.
One such media network was the host of Nederlandse Televisie Stichting. The venue of the contest was the studio of AVRO, a building complex for the media's network among the media buildings within Hilversum, which belonged to the Dutch public broadcasting association operating within the framework of the Nederlandse Publieke Omroep system; the contest was held in one of the Avro studio halls. The hall contained a small stage to function as a higher stand for the singers, with the program being shot from the stage floor up. Outside of frame were the microphones' and other technical devices' wires which went through the studio's lower floor at the foot of the stage; the decorative emphasis was on the stage background, the stage front and the left side from the stage from the spectator's view where the orchestra and where the performers and host's stairway entrance were located. The rear of the stage had interchangeable backgrounds for each song to add context to each song's lyrics; the centre-front of the stage, the left area from the stage with the orchestra and stairway entrance were decorated with tulips, of which the Netherlands are known for.
The juries were not in the studio as in 1956. For the 1958 event, they remained in their own countries. Once the songs had all been sung, juries announced their results via telephone in reverse order of presentation, as in the previous year; the Italian entry was not picked up properly in some of the other countries, which meant that after all the other songs had been presented, Domenico Modugno had to perform his song again. It was the only year that the host country finished in last place until 57 years in 2015 and again in 2018, the first time more than one country was placed last; the interval act was music by the Metropole Orkest, under the direction of maestro Dolf van der Linden. There were two interval acts, one in the middle of the competing songs performances and one after all the rest of the competing performances were shown. Sweden, a country that would be one of the most successful in the contest, debuted this year; the United Kingdom decided to withdraw from the contest after planning to submit an entry.
After the contest, the Italian entry "Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu" by Domenico Modugno went on to become a worldwide hit. During the 1st Grammy Awards, held on 4 May 1959 at Hollywood's Beverly Hilton Hotel, "Nel blu dipinto di blu" received two awards, for Record of the Year and Song of the Year; the song is the only foreign-language recording to achieve this honour, it is the only song to have competed in the Eurovision Song Contest and received a Grammy Award. The song reached the No.1 spot in the US-American Billboard Charts, making it one of the most successful Eurovision songs in the history of the contest. The song was voted the second best Eurovision entry of all time at the 50th anniversary show "Congratulations" in 2005; each performance had a conductor. Italy – Alberto Semprini Netherlands – Dolf van der Linden France – Franck Pourcel Luxembourg – Dolf van der Linden Sweden – Dolf van der Linden Denmark – Kai Mortensen Belgium – Dolf van der Linden Germany – Dolf van der Linden Austria – Willy Fantl Switzerland – Paul Burkhard Four artists who had participated in previous editions of the contest returned in 1958: Fud Leclerc, who represented Belgium in 1956.
France
United Kingdom - Eric Robinson
Sweden - Thore Ehrling
Luxembourg - Eric Robinson
Denmark - Kai Mortensen
Belgium - Henri Segers
Norway - Øivind Bergh
Austria - Robert Stolz
Monaco - Raymond Lefèvre
Switzerland - Cédric Dumont
Netherlands - Dolf van der Linden
Germany - Franz Josef Breuer
Italy - Cinico Angelini
France - Franck Pourcel
United Kingdom
Sweden
Luxembourg
Denmark
Belgium
Norway
Austria
Monaco
Switzerland
Netherlands
Germany
Italy
Finland - Aarno Walli (Suomen Televisio)
