Eurovision Song Contest 1965


The Eurovision Song Contest 1965 was the 10th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Naples, Italy, following Gigliola Cinquetti's win at the 1964 contest in Copenhagen, Denmark with the song "Non ho l'età". It was the first time the contest took place in Italy, also marking the first time the Italian Peninsula and Southern European country hosted the event. The contest was held at :it:Centro di produzione Rai di Napoli|Sala di Concerto della RAI on Saturday 20 March 1965, and was hosted by Renata Mauro.
Eighteen countries participated in the contest - setting a new record for the highest number of entrants. Sweden returned after their absence from the previous edition, while Ireland made their debut.
The winner was Luxembourg with the song "Poupée de cire, poupée de son", performed by France Gall, and written/composed by Serge Gainsbourg. This was Luxembourg's second victory in the contest, following their win in 1961. It was also the first winning song since the Netherlands' "Een beetje" in 1959 to not be a ballad.
For the fourth consecutive year, four countries all scored nul points; Belgium, Finland, Germany, and Spain - all of which finished with no points for the second time in the contest's history.

Location

The contest took place in Naples, the capital of region Campania in southern Italy and the third-largest city in Italy, after Rome and Milan. This is Italy's first hosting of the Eurovision Song Contest. The host venue was the then new Sala di Concerto della RAI, founded few years prior to the contest, in the late fifties and early sixties. It is located in Viale Marconi in the district of Fuorigrotta. The structure has three TV studios for a total of 1227 m² and capacity of 370 persons, used for the filming of programs and fiction and an auditorium. The Neapolitan song archives are also housed in it.

Format

Each country had 10 jury members who distributed three points among their one, two, or three favourite songs. The points were totalled and the first, second, and third placed songs were awarded 5, 3, and 1 votes in order. If only one song got every point within the jury it would get all 9 points. If only two songs were chosen, the songs would get 6 and 3 points in order.

Participating countries

18 countries took part, with the Eurovision Song Contest reaching its highest ever number. Sweden returned after a one-year absence, and Ireland debuted in the competition. Luxembourg won for the second time with the highly controversial Poupée De Cire, Poupée De Son sung by teenager France Gall which later went on to be a massive hit in almost all European countries. Belgium, Finland, Germany, and Spain all scored null points for the second time. The competition was also broadcast via the Intervision network, to the Eastern European nations for the very first time.
Ingvar Wixell, the Swedish participant performed his song in English instead of the original Swedish title "Annorstädes vals". The native languages were used for all of the other participants. This led to a rule being introduced for the next 1966 edition, that meant all participants had to perform their songs using one of their national languages.

Returning artists

Three artists returned for a second time in this year's contest: Udo Jürgens from Austria, whose previous participation was in 1964; Conchita Bautista from Spain, whose previous participation was in 1961; and Vice Vukov from Yugoslavia, who last participated in 1963.

Conductors

Each performance had a conductor who led the orchestra.

Scoreboard

Each country had 10 jury members who distributed three points among their one, two, or three favourite songs. The points were totalled and the first, second, and third placed songs were awarded 5, 3, and 1 votes in order. If only one song got every point within the jury it would get all 9 points. If only two songs were chosen, the songs would get 6 and 3 points in order.

5 points

Below is a summary of all 5 points in the final:
N.ContestantVoting nation
4LuxembourgAustria, Finland, Germany, Netherlands
4United KingdomBelgium, Denmark, Spain, Switzerland
2AustriaIreland, Portugal
2FranceMonaco, Yugoslavia
2DenmarkLuxembourg, Sweden
1IrelandItaly
1MonacoUnited Kingdom
1NetherlandsNorway
1SwitzerlandFrance

Broadcasters, commentators and spokespersons

Spokespersons

Listed below is the order in which votes were cast during the 1964 contest along with the spokesperson who was responsible for announcing the votes for their respective country.
  1. – Dick van Bommel
  2. – Alastair Burnet
  3. –
  4. – Frank Hall
  5. –
  6. –
  7. –
  8. – Ward Bogaert
  9. – TBC
  10. –
  11. –
  12. – Maria Manuela Furtado
  13. – Enzo Tortora
  14. – Claus Toksvig
  15. – TBC
  16. –
  17. – Oliver Mlakar
  18. –

    Broadcasters and commentators

Each national broadcaster also sent a commentator to the contest, in order to provide coverage of the contest in their own native language.