Miss Universe
Miss Universe is an annual international beauty pageant, run by the American-based Miss Universe Organization. It seen by more than half a billion people annually. Along with Miss World, Miss International, Miss Earth, Miss Universe is one of the Big Four international beauty pageants; the Miss Universe Organization and its brand, along with Miss USA and Miss Teen USA, are owned by the WME/IMG talent agency. The current Miss Universe is Catriona Gray of the Philippines, crowned on 17 December 2018 in Bangkok, Thailand; the title "Miss Universe" was first used by the International Pageant of Pulchritude in 1926. This contest was held annually until 1935, when the Great Depression and other events preceding World War II led to its demise; the current Miss Universe pageant was founded in 1952 by Pacific Knitting Mills, a California-based clothing company and manufacturer of Catalina Swimwear. The company was the sponsor of the Miss America pageant until 1951, when the winner, Yolande Betbeze, refused to pose for publicity pictures wearing one of their swimsuits.
In 1952, Pacific Knitting Mills organized the Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants, co-sponsoring them for decades to follow. The first Miss Universe Pageant was held in Long Beach, California in 1952, it was won by Armi Kuusela from Finland, who gave up her title, though not to get married, shortly before her year was completed. Until 1958, the Miss Universe title, like that of Miss America, was dated by the year following the contest, so at the time Ms. Kuusela's title was Miss Universe 1953. Since its founding by Pacific Mills, the pageant has been organized and conducted by the Miss Universe Organization. Pacific Mills and its subsidiaries were acquired by the Kayser-Roth Corporation, in turn acquired by Gulf and Western Industries; the pageant was first televised in 1955. CBS began broadcasting the combined Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants in 1960, as separate contests in 1965. John Charles Daly hosted the pageant from 1955 to 1966, Bob Barker from 1967 to 1987, Alan Thicke in 1988, John Forsythe in 1989, Dick Clark from 1990 to 1993, Bob Goen from 1994 to 1996.
Donald Trump bought the pageant in 1996 from ITT Corp. Trump struck a broadcasting arrangement with CBS until 2002. In 1998, Miss Universe, Inc. changed its name to the Miss Universe Organization, moved its headquarters from Los Angeles to New York City. In late 2002, Trump entered into a joint venture with NBC, which in 2003 outbid the other markets for the TV rights. From 2003 to 2014, the pageant was broadcast in the United States on NBC. In June 2015, NBC canceled all business relationships with Trump and the Miss Universe Organization in response to controversial statements about illegal immigrants who crossed the border from Mexico; as part of the legal settlement, in September 2015, Trump bought out NBC's 50% stake in the company, making him the company's sole owner. Three days he sold the whole company to WME/IMG. Following the change of ownership, in October 2015, Fox and Azteca became the official broadcasters of the Miss Universe and Miss USA pageants; the current president of the Miss Universe Organization is Paula Shugart, who has held this position since 1997.
For a country to participate in Miss Universe, a local company or a person should buy the local rights of the competition, through a franchise fee, which involves the rights of image and everything related to the pageant. The owner of this franchise, for contractual breaches or financial reasons, returns the franchise to the Miss Universe Organization, which resells it to a new stakeholder; the reselling of the franchise from one owner to the next is recurrently common in the history of the event. The number of candidates in the contest is inconstant because of the question of the franchisees. In addition, there are problems related to the calendar of the pageant. A country's candidate selection involves pageants in the nation's local subdivisions, whose winners compete in a national pageant, but there are some countries who opt for an internal selection. For example, from 2000 to 2004, Australian delegates were chosen by a modelling agency. Although such "castings" are discouraged by the Miss Universe Organization, Jennifer Hawkins was chosen to represent the country in Miss Universe in 2004.
When Australia resumed its national pageant in the following year, Michelle Guy became Miss Universe Australia 2005. Recent arrivals in the last ten years of the pageant include: Gabon and Lithuania, Sierra Leone, Cambodia and Nepal, Armenia and Mongolia. There have been efforts to revive strong national pageants in South Africa, Spain, Southeast Asia and Latin America; the organization makes continual efforts to expand the pageant, but the participation of some countries has proven difficult due to cultural barriers to the swimsuit competition, while others such as Mozambique have balked at sending representatives due to the cost. As of 2018, only three countries have been present at every Miss Universe since its inception in 1952: Canada and Germany. Many European countries allow 17-year-old contestants to compete in their pageants, while Miss Universe's minimum age is 18, so national titleholders have to be replaced by their runners-up or another candidate. Beginning in 2012, transgender women were allowed to compete, as long as they win their national pageants.
Six years after this rule went into effect, Angela Ponce of Spain became the first transgender candidate to compete in the contest in the 2018 edition. Since its inception, Miss Univ
Save Your Kisses for Me
"Save Your Kisses for Me" was the winning song of the Eurovision Song Contest 1976, performed for the United Kingdom by Brotherhood of Man in The Hague, Netherlands. The lyrics and music were written by Tony Hiller, Lee Sheriden, Martin Lee, the latter two being members of the band; the song became a worldwide hit, reaching No. 1 in many countries, including the UK, where it became the biggest-selling song of the year. Overall, it remains one of the biggest-selling Eurovision winners and the biggest such seller in the UK. "Save Your Kisses for Me" was written by member Lee Sheriden in August 1974. On bringing the song in to the next songwriting session, others thought that the title was clumsy and reworked it into "Oceans of Love". Sheriden was unhappy with the changes and the song was shelved. A year when it came to coming up with songs for the next album, they discovered that they needed one more song and Sheriden again put forth "Save Your Kisses for Me"; this time it was accepted, as he recalled: "I'd had a year to think about it, I knew what I wanted to do on the arrangement, the glockenspiel on the beginning and the big 12-string acoustic guitar and the strings, came the day to record the song...
It was about midnight and I sang it and it went well. I could see everyone behind the glass panel getting excited and I thought great, they all like the song, as I finished I was waiting for them to press the button so they could speak to me and say'great, we've got a hit' or whatever, the person pressing it said:'Lee, we think Martin should sing this song', but I didn't mind because Martin came in and sung it to perfection." Soon after, manager Tony Hiller was keen for the group to try for Eurovision, now that the qualifying rounds had changed in the UK. Up till now, a singer was nominated to perform, but for 1976 it was opened up to different singers to enter their own songs. Brotherhood of Man put forward "Save Your Kisses for Me" and it was accepted as one of the 12 finalists, it won A Song for Europe on 25 February 1976. The song was released as a single and reached number one in the UK Singles Chart, two weeks before the Eurovision final were held on 3 April; the song was performed first on the night, preceding Switzerland's Peter and Marc with Djambo, Djambo.
The performance consisted of the two male singers wearing black and white suits, the two females wearing white and red jumpsuits with matching berets, standing still and singing with minor arm and leg choreography. The bouncy jingle described the conflicted emotions of a young man leaving an adored loved-one in the morning as he leaves for work; the song's final line provided the twist: that he was leaving a three-year-old behind, ending with "Won't you save them for me...even though you're only three?". It was awarded the maximum twelve points by seven countries, totalling 164 points compared to the second-placed French entry with 147 points, was the second consecutive Eurovision winner, performed first in the order of presentation. According to John Kennedy O'Connor's The Eurovision Song Contest - The Official History, the song is the biggest selling single for a winning entry in the history of the contest, it still holds the record for the highest relative score under the voting system introduced in 1975, with an average of 9.65 points per jury After winning the contest, the song reached No.1 in many countries across Europe and sold more than six million copies.
In the UK, it stayed at No. 1 for six weeks and was certified platinum by the BPI in May 1976, becoming the biggest selling single of the year. The song hit number one in a number of other countries, such as France where it remained in the peak position for five weeks. In the United States, the song was a moderate pop hit but went all the way to No. 1 on the Easy Listening chart. At the same time as the single was at No.1, the group released their latest album. The group followed this up with the themed "My Sweet Rosalie", a hit around Europe; the group continued to score hits with two more chart toppers in the next two years. "Save Your Kisses for Me" is still one of the best-selling singles of all time in the UK, with sales of over a million copies. "Save Your Kisses for Me" 3:06 "Let's Love Together" 2:57 "Save Your Kisses for Me" was succeeded at Eurovision in 1977 by Marie Myriam singing "L'oiseau et l'enfant" for France. In a reversal of the 1976 result, the UK were runners-up. Among many cover versions, country singer Margo Smith had a major hit on the Country charts in 1976, while Bobby Vinton had a Billboard top 100 hit in the same year with his version.
Brotherhood of Man themselves have re-recorded the song twice as well as releasing a Spanish version as a single in 1991. The song was chosen in an internet poll conducted by the European Broadcasting Union in 2005 as one of the fourteen most popular songs in the history of the Eurovision, was one of the entrants in the Congratulations fiftieth anniversary concert in Copenhagen, held in October 2005, it was re-enacted by the group along with twelve dancers dressed in matching red and black costumes with briefcases and a live orchestra as the original footage was shown in the background. I
BBC Television
BBC Television is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation. The corporation has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927, it produced television programmes from its own studios since 1932, although the start of its regular service of television broadcasts is dated to 2 November 1936. The BBC's domestic television channels have no commercial advertising and collectively they account for more than 30% of all UK viewing; the services are funded by a television licence. As a result of the 2016 Licence Fee settlement, the BBC Television division was split, with in-house television production being separated into a new division called BBC Studios and the remaining parts of television being renamed as BBC Content; the BBC operates several television networks, television stations, related programming services in the United Kingdom. As well as being a broadcaster, the corporation produces a large number of its own programmes in-house and thereby ranks as one of the world's largest television production companies.
John Logie Baird set up the Baird Television Development Company in 1926. Baird used his electromechanical system with a vertically-scanned image of 30 lines, just enough resolution for a close-up of one person, a bandwidth low enough to use existing radio transmitters; the simultaneous transmission of sound and pictures was achieved on 30 March 1930, by using the BBC's new twin transmitter at Brookmans Park. By late 1930, thirty minutes of morning programmes were broadcast from Monday to Friday, thirty minutes at midnight on Tuesdays and Fridays after BBC radio went off the air. Baird's broadcasts via the BBC continued until June 1932; the BBC began its own regular television programming from the basement of Broadcasting House, London, on 22 August 1932. The studio moved to larger quarters in 16 Portland Place, London, in February 1934, continued broadcasting the 30-line images, carried by telephone line to the medium wave transmitter at Brookmans Park, until 11 September 1935, by which time advances in all-electronic television systems made the electromechanical broadcasts obsolete.
After a series of test transmissions and special broadcasts that began in August 1936, the BBC Television Service launched on 2 November 1936 from a converted wing of Alexandra Palace in London. "Ally Pally" housed two studios, various scenery stores, make-up areas, dressing rooms and the transmitter itself, which broadcast on the VHF band. BBC television used two systems on alternate weeks: the 240-line Baird intermediate film system and the 405-line Marconi-EMI system; the use of both formats made the BBC's service the world's first regular high-definition television service. The first programme broadcast – and thus the first on a dedicated TV channel – was "Opening of the BBC Television Service" at 15:00; the first major outside broadcast was the coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in May 1937. The two systems were to run on a trial basis for six months. However, the Baird system, which used a mechanical camera for filmed programming and Farnsworth image dissector cameras for live programming, proved too cumbersome and visually inferior, ended with closedown on Saturday 13 February 1937.
The station's range was a 40 kilometres radius of the Alexandra Palace transmitter—in practice, transmissions could be picked up a good deal further away, on one occasion in 1938 were picked up by engineers at RCA in New York, who were experimenting with a British television set. The service was reaching an estimated 25,000–40,000 homes before the outbreak of World War II which caused the service to be suspended in September 1939. On 1 September 1939, two days before Britain declared war on Germany, the station was taken off air with little warning. Many of the television service's technical staff and engineers would be needed for the war effort, in particular on the radar programme; the last programme transmitted was a Mickey Mouse cartoon, Mickey's Gala Premier, followed by test transmissions. According to figures from Britain's Radio Manufacturers Association, 18,999 television sets had been manufactured from 1936 to September 1939, when production was halted by the war. BBC Television returned on 7 June 1946 at 15:00.
Jasmine Bligh, one of the original announcers, made the first announcement, saying,'Good afternoon everybody. How are you? Do you remember me, Jasmine Bligh?'. The Mickey Mouse cartoon of 1939 was repeated twenty minutes later. Alexandra Palace was the home base of the channel until the early 1950s when the majority of production moved into the newly acquired Lime Grove Studios. Postwar broadcast coverage was extended to Birmingham in 1949 with the opening of the Sutton Coldfield transmitting station, by the mid-1950s most of the country was covered, transmitting a 405-line interlaced image on VHF; when the ITV was launched in 1955, the BBC Television Service showed popular programming, including comedies, documentaries, game shows, soap operas, covering a wide range
Eurovision Song Contest 2009
The Eurovision Song Contest 2009 was the 54th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Moscow, following Dima Bilan's win at the 2008 contest in Belgrade, Serbia with the song "Believe" – marking the first time that the country had won the contest; the event was staged between 16 May 2009 at the Olympic Indoor Arena in Moscow. The contest was won by Norway's Alexander Rybak with his self-penned "Fairytale", which received a record-breaking 387 points out of 492, at the time the highest total score in the history of the contest and with a margin of 169 points over the second place which went to Iceland. Third place went to Azerbaijan, fourth to Turkey, the United Kingdom taking 5th, seeing their best placing since 2002. After criticism of the voting system after the 2007 Contest, changes in the voting procedure were made with the re-introduction of a national jury alongside televoting while the format of the semi-finals remained the same. Forty-two countries participated in the contest.
Latvia and Georgia announced their intention to withdraw, but it was stated by the European Broadcasting Union that both countries would indeed participate. However, Georgia decided to withdraw after the EBU rejected its selected song as being a breach of contest rules. For the first time in Eurovision history, there were four hosts, each divided in two sets: Natalia Vodianova and Andrey Malahov were the hosts of the semi-finals, while the final was presented by Ivan Urgant and Alsou Abramova; the contest was held in Russia following its victory in the 2008 contest in Belgrade, with Dima Bilan's "Believe". Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister of Russia, stated, it was proposed by Channel One that the contest be held in Moscow's Olympic Indoor Arena, this proposal was evaluated by the European Broadcasting Union and confirmed on 13 September 2008. The Director-General of the venue, Vladimir Churilin, refuted rumours of emergency reconstruction of the building, saying: "It will not be required for the Eurovision Song Contest.
We now can take up to 25 thousand spectators." The contest final took place on 16 May 2009 at the Olympic Indoor Arena in Moscow, Russia with two semi-finals preceding it on 12 and 14 May. Thirty-seven countries participated in one of the two semi-finals of the contest, with the "Big Four" countries and the host pre-qualified for the final. In addition to those pre-qualified, the final included the ten selected countries from each semi-final, making a total of twenty-five participants. A discussion on changes to the format of the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest had taken place at an EBU meeting in Athens, Greece in June 2008 where a proposal was made that could have resulted in the "Big Four" losing their automatic place in the final of the contest. However, it was confirmed that the "Big Four" countries would continue to automatically qualify for the final at the 2009 contest. Host broadcaster Channel One presented the sub-logo and theme for the 2009 contest on 30 January 2009; the sub-logo is based upon a "Fantasy Bird".
As in previous years, the sub-logo was presented alongside the generic logo. 2009 was the first year since 2001 without any slogan for the contest. The stage was designed by New York-based set designer John Casey, was based around the theme of contemporary Russian avant-garde. Casey, who had designed the stage for the Eurovision Song Contest 1997 in Dublin, was involved in design teams for the 1994 and 1995 contests, he explained that "even before worked with the Russians on the TEFI Awards in Moscow in 1998, was inspired by and drawn to art from the Russian Avant Garde period the constructivists... tried to come up with a theatrical design for the contest that incorporates Russian avant-garde art into a contemporary setting entirely made up of different types of LED screens." Casey explained. Furthermore, large sections of the stage can move, including the circular central portion of curved LED screens, which can be moved to effect and allow each song to have a different feel; the postcards were as follows: Miss World 2008, Ksenia Sukhinova appeared.
On the right the ESC 2009 logo appeared with the name of the country. A phrase in transliterated Russian and its English translation were shown; the music accompanying the postcards was produced by Matthew Herbert. On Friday 30 January 2009, the draw to decide which countries would appear in either the first or second semi-final took place; the participating countries excluding the automatic finalists were split into six pots, based upon how those countries have been voting. From these pots, half competed in the first Semi Final on 10 May 2009; the other half in that particular pot will compete in the second Semi Final on 12 May 2009. The draw for the running order of the semi-finals and the order of voting, occurred on 16 March 2009. 1.^ Georgia withdrew a month and
Dublin
Dublin is the capital and largest city of Ireland. It is on the east coast of Ireland, in the province of Leinster, at the mouth of the River Liffey, is bordered on the south by the Wicklow Mountains, it has an urban area population of 1,173,179, while the population of the Dublin Region, as of 2016, was 1,347,359, the population of the Greater Dublin area was 1,904,806. There is archaeological debate regarding where Dublin was established by the Gaels in or before the 7th century AD. Expanded as a Viking settlement, the Kingdom of Dublin, the city became Ireland's principal settlement following the Norman invasion; the city expanded from the 17th century and was the second largest city in the British Empire before the Acts of Union in 1800. Following the partition of Ireland in 1922, Dublin became the capital of the Irish Free State renamed Ireland. Dublin is a historical and contemporary centre for education, the arts and industry; as of 2018 the city was listed by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network as a global city, with a ranking of "Alpha −", which places it amongst the top thirty cities in the world.
The name Dublin comes from the Irish word Dubhlinn, early Classical Irish Dubhlind/Duibhlind, from dubh meaning "black, dark", lind "pool", referring to a dark tidal pool. This tidal pool was located where the River Poddle entered the Liffey, on the site of the castle gardens at the rear of Dublin Castle. In Modern Irish the name is Duibhlinn, Irish rhymes from County Dublin show that in Dublin Leinster Irish it was pronounced Duílinn; the original pronunciation is preserved in the names for the city in other languages such as Old English Difelin, Old Norse Dyflin, modern Icelandic Dyflinn and modern Manx Divlyn as well as Welsh Dulyn. Other localities in Ireland bear the name Duibhlinn, variously anglicized as Devlin and Difflin. Scribes using the Gaelic script wrote bh with a dot over the b, rendering Duḃlinn or Duiḃlinn; those without knowledge of Irish omitted the dot. Variations on the name are found in traditionally Gaelic-speaking areas of Scotland, such as An Linne Dhubh, part of Loch Linnhe.
It is now thought that the Viking settlement was preceded by a Christian ecclesiastical settlement known as Duibhlinn, from which Dyflin took its name. Beginning in the 9th and 10th century, there were two settlements; the Viking settlement of about 841, a Gaelic settlement, Áth Cliath further up river, at the present day Father Mathew Bridge, at the bottom of Church Street. Baile Átha Cliath, meaning "town of the hurdled ford", is the common name for the city in modern Irish. Áth Cliath is a place name referring to a fording point of the River Liffey near Father Mathew Bridge. Baile Átha Cliath was an early Christian monastery, believed to have been in the area of Aungier Street occupied by Whitefriar Street Carmelite Church. There are other towns of the same name, such as Àth Cliath in East Ayrshire, Anglicised as Hurlford; the area of Dublin Bay has been inhabited by humans since prehistoric times, but the writings of Ptolemy in about AD 140 provide the earliest reference to a settlement there.
He called it Eblana polis. Dublin celebrated its'official' millennium in 1988, meaning the Irish government recognised 988 as the year in which the city was settled and that this first settlement would become the city of Dublin, it is now thought the Viking settlement of about 841 was preceded by a Christian ecclesiastical settlement known as Duibhlinn, from which Dyflin took its name. Beginning in the 9th and 10th century, there were two settlements which became the modern Dublin; the subsequent Scandinavian settlement centred on the River Poddle, a tributary of the Liffey in an area now known as Wood Quay. The Dubhlinn was a pool on the lowest stretch of the Poddle, used to moor ships; this pool was fully infilled during the early 18th century, as the city grew. The Dubhlinn lay where the Castle Garden is now located, opposite the Chester Beatty Library within Dublin Castle. Táin Bó Cuailgne refers to Dublind rissa ratter Áth Cliath, meaning "Dublin, called Ath Cliath". Dublin was established as a Viking settlement in the 10th century and, despite a number of attacks by the native Irish, it remained under Viking control until the Norman invasion of Ireland was launched from Wales in 1169.
It was upon the death of Muirchertach Mac Lochlainn in early 1166 that Ruaidrí Ua Conchobair, King of Connacht, proceeded to Dublin and was inaugurated King of Ireland without opposition. According to some historians, part of the city's early economic growth is attributed to a trade in slaves. Slavery in Ireland and Dublin reached its pinnacle in the 10th centuries. Prisoners from slave raids and kidnappings, which captured men and children, brought revenue to the Gaelic Irish Sea raiders, as well as to the Vikings who had initiated the practice; the victims came from Wales, England and beyond. The King of Leinster, Diarmait Mac Murchada, after his exile by Ruaidhrí, enlisted the help of Strongbow, the Earl of Pembroke, to conquer Dublin. Following Mac Murrough's death, Strongbow declared himself King of Leinster after gaining control of the city. In response to Strongbow's successful invasion, King Henry II of England affirmed his ultimate sovereignty by mou
Eurovision Song Contest 2004
The Eurovision Song Contest 2004 was the 49th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Istanbul, following Sertab Erener's win at the 2003 contest in Riga, Latvia with the song "Everyway That I Can" – marking the country's first victory in the contest; the national broadcaster Turkish Radio and Television Corporation, staged the event at the Abdi İpekçi Arena on 12 and 15 May 2004. Ukrainian singer Ruslana won the contest with "Wild Dances", it is notable. This was the third year in a row in which the contest was won by a woman, performing a song composed at least by herself. To accommodate the increasing number of countries who wished to participate, a semi-final was introduced; the countries which did not qualify for the final are calculate like participating countries, as well semi-finals are a part of the competition. For the second consecutive year, no returning acts were present – only the sixth time in the history of the contest that this happened and it was the first time this had happened in two consecutive years.
The contest was held in Istanbul following Turkey's victory in the 2003 contest in Riga, Latvia with Sertab Erener's "Everyway That I Can". The Mydonose Showland was chosen by TRT to host the event, but was changed to the Abdi İpekçi Arena as the contest approached due to its bigger capacity. Korhan Abay and Meltem Cumbul were presenters of the show. In the semi-final and the final, Meltem Cumbul warmed up the audience with a sing-a-long of Eurovision classic "Nel blu dipinto di blu" by Domenico Modugno. Sertab Erener returned to the stage in the final to perform "Everyway That I Can", the 2003 winning song, one of her new songs called "Leave". Sertab interviewed contestants in the green room; the Turkish dance ensemble Fire of Anatolia performed as the interval act. An official CD was released and, for the first time, the entire contest was released on DVD which included the Semi-final and the Grand Final; the contest's new official generic logo was used for the first time this year, with the heart-shaped flag in the centre due to be changed for future contests.
The slogan for Istanbul's contest was "Under The Same Sky", which communicated the importance of a united Europe and Turkish integration. This year was notable as it was the first year that Turkey voted for Cyprus and the second year in a row that Cyprus voted for Turkey. In a move that angered some Cypriots, when the country presented its votes no map of the island was shown; this was due to Turkey's recognition of the northern half of the island as an independent republic. It is Turkey pulled out of showing the map because it would have only highlighted the southern portion of the island, thus angered the international community; this was the first year that the scores were only re-read by the hosts in one language. Before 2004 every point was repeated in French and English, but due to 36 countries voting, more in years to come, in 2004 to save time the hosts only re-read each score in one language; this was in the opposite of the original country representative spoke in. This year was the first time in which a non-winning entry scored over 200 points.
Prior to this contest, only Rock'n' Roll Kids and Love Shine a Light, the winners in 1994 and 1997 had passed this mark. In this contest, all songs in the top 3 got over 200 points; this year's Eurovision contest was the first to be a two-day event, with one qualifying round held on a Wednesday and the grand final held on the following Saturday. Under this new format, byes into the final were given to the'Big 4'. Andorra, Albania and Serbia and Montenegro participated in the Contest for the first time, with Monaco returning after a 25-year absence. Luxembourg were due to return after an absence of 11 years, but pulled out after money issues arose between RTL and the EBU. All participating countries had the right to vote in both the grand final; this was the first year. However France and Russia did not broadcast the semi-final and therefore did not give votes for it like the other thirty-three countries. In Belgium, the French-language RTBF did not broadcast the semi-final, but the Dutch-language VRT did.
Just before the Slovenian entry was about to be performed, the Turkish broadcaster accidentally took a commercial break which meant the Slovenian song was not heard by Turkish viewers and Turkey gave no votes for the song. There were technical problems when in a short hiatus halfway through the songs, the hosts tried to contact various parties in Europe, they tried contacting Germany and Turkey, but in the end were only able to get a response from Germany. During the Romanian postcard introduction, the information for the Romanian entry appeared on the screen, but was taken away. A final minor hiccup occurred when, on her way to present the winner the trophy, Sertab Erener got her shoe stuck in a speaker grill by the side of the stage and had to be freed by stagehands; however this did not delay proceedings, other than the above the show ran smoothly. An hour after the semi-final had been aired, the Eur
