United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 1957

The United Kingdom was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1957 with the song "All", composed by Reynell Wreford, with lyrics by Alan Stranks, and performed by Patricia Bredin. The British participating broadcaster, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), selected its entry through a national final, the second edition of Festival of British Popular Songs and, subsequently, the performer internally once the national final was over. This was the first-ever entry from the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest, and the first-ever entry performed in English in the contest.

Before Eurovision

Festival of British Popular Songs 1957

The United Kingdom was represented in the Eurovision Song Contest for the first time in Template:Escyr. The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) did not participate in the inaugural contest in Template:Escyr, as it had created its own contest, the Festival of British Popular Songs, aspects of which influenced the 1957 Eurovision contest.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The Festival of British Popular Songs 1957 served as the selection for the United Kingdom's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 1957.<ref name=":2">Template:Cite news</ref> All British music publishing companies were invited to submit each one song for the national selection.<ref name=":1" />Template:Sfn Around 70 to 80 songs were reportedly submitted.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite news</ref>Template:Sfn A jury consisting of Jack Payne, Harry S. Pepper, Cyril Stapleton, Walter Ridley and Frank Lee met in December 1956 to select the competing entries of the live shows.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">Template:Cite news</ref> The interpreting artists were chosen separately by the BBC production team.Template:Sfn

The Festival of British Popular Songs 1957 consisted of three semi finals and a grand final.Template:Sfn All shows took place in the King's Theatre, Hammersmith (West London).Template:Sfn They were produced by Francis Essex.<ref name=":1" /> The presenter was David Jacobs, who would host many other British national finals the following years.<ref name="FBPS 1957">Template:Cite web</ref> Since the Festival of British Popular Songs 1956 was judged to be lacking effectiveness because it stretched over several months, it was decided that the 1957 edition would consist of weekly shows.<ref name=":2" />

Six songs competed in each semi-final.<ref name=":1" /><ref name="FBPS 1957" /> The songs were scored by ten regional juries, each consisting of twelve members of the general public.Template:Sfn Each juror awarded one vote to their favourite song.Template:Sfn Two songs in each heat advanced to the national final.<ref name=":1" />

Semi-finals

The first semi-final took place on 22 January 1957 at 19:45 GMT.<ref name="Radio Times1">Template:Cite news</ref> The artists were accompanied by the Bill McGuffie Quintet and an orchestra under the musical direction of Eric Robinson.<ref name="Radio Times1" />Template:Sfn For the interval, Dennis Lotis performed "Everybody Fall in Love With Someone", the winning song of the Festival of British Popular Songs 1956.Template:Sfn The ten regional juries in the first semi-final were from the cities of Birmingham, Aberdeen, Cardiff, Newcastle, Belfast, Manchester, Bangor, Bristol, Glasgow and London.Template:Sfn The broadcast was watched by 6.8 million viewers in the United Kingdom.Template:Sfn

Semi-final 1 – 22 January 1957<ref name="Radio Times1" />Template:Sfn<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

First performance		Second performance		Song	Songwriter(s)	Place
Template:Abbr	Artist 1	Template:Abbr	Artist 2
1	The Keynotes	5	Lita Roza and Dennis Lotis	"April Heart"	John Watson	Eliminated
2	Dennis Lotis	8	The Keynotes	"Seven"	Template:Hlist	2
3	Marion Ryan	colspan="2" Template:N/A	"The Teenage Waltz"	Tony Osbourne	Eliminated
4	John Hanson	6	Janie Marden	"There's a Place Called Paradise"	Template:Hlist	Eliminated
7	Marion Ryan	10	John Hanson	"Turn Around and Face the Sun"	Template:Hlist	Eliminated
9	Lita Roza	colspan="2" Template:N/A	"The Way It Goes"	Tony Osbourne	1

The second semi-final took place on 29 January 1957 at 21:00 GMT.<ref name="Radio Times2">Template:Cite news</ref> The artists were accompanied by the Frank Weir Quintet as well as by an orchestra conducted by Stanley Black.<ref name="Radio Times2" />Template:Sfn For the interval act, the Frank Weir Quartet performed "The Way It Goes", the winning song from the first heat.Template:Sfn The ten regional juries in the second semi-final were from the cities of Manchester, Leeds, Edinburgh, Swansea, Bangor, Plymouth, Bristol, Belfast, Nottingham and London.Template:Sfn 7.1 million viewer in the United Kingdom watched the program.Template:Sfn

Semi-final 2 – 29 January 1957<ref name="Radio Times2" />Template:Sfn

First performance		Second performance		Song	Songwriter(s)	Place
Template:Abbr	Artist 1	Template:Abbr	Artist 2
1	Bryan Johnson	3	Lorrae Desmond	"You Can't Take It With You"	Template:Hlist	Eliminated
2	Edna Savage	10	Jill Day	"Once"	Barbara Killalee	1
4	Bryan Johnson	11	Lorrae Desmond	"Red Wine and Ruby Lips"	Template:Hlist	Eliminated
5	Ronnie Hilton	7	Frank Horrox	"For Your Love"	Template:Hlist	2
6	Jill Day	8	Edna Savage and Ronnie Hilton	"A Girl, a Boy and a Bike"	Peter Hart	Eliminated
9	Frank Weir	colspan="2" Template:N/A	"Lonely Wind"	Gordon Ross	Eliminated

The third semi-final took place on 5 February 1957 at 19:45 GMT.<ref name="Radio Times3">Template:Cite news</ref> The artists were accompanied by the Malcolm Lockyer Quartet as well as by an orchestra under the musical direction of Frank Chacksfield.<ref name="Radio Times3" />Template:Sfn The ten regional juries in semi-final 3 were from the cities of Swansea, Glasgow, Plymouth, Leeds, Belfast, Birmingham, Bristol, Aberdeen, Cardiff and London.Template:Sfn The program was watched by 7.1 million viewers.Template:Sfn The song "Don't Cry Little Doll" was subject to controversy since the songwriters had sold the copyright to a different music publisher before and it was not clear whether the song had been published before.Template:Sfn Finally, it turned out that the song had only been on a test pressing and the BBC allowed the song to compete in the final.Template:Sfn

Semi-final 3 – 5 February 1957<ref name="Radio Times3" />Template:Sfn

First performance		Second performance		Song	Songwriter(s)	Place
Template:Abbr	Artist 1	Template:Abbr	Artist 2
1	The Ken-Tones	11	Shirley Eaton and Bill Maynard	"Choose a Cosy Corner"	Template:Hlist	Eliminated
2	Lee Lawrence	7	Carole Carr	"How Right You Were"	Template:Hlist	Eliminated
3	Shirley Eaton	9	Patricia Bredin	"Hurdy Gurdy Joe"	Tommie Connor	Eliminated
4	The Ken-Tones	8	Bill Maynard	"Don't Cry Little Doll"	Template:Hlist	2
5	Patricia Bredin	10	Malcolm Lockyer	"All"	Template:Hlist	1
6	George Mitchell Singers	colspan="2" Template:N/A	"The Sycamore Tree"	Hubert Gregg	Eliminated

Final

The final of the Festival of British Popular Songs 1957 was held on 12 February 1957 at 19:45 GMT.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The artists were accompanied by an orchestra under the musical direction of three different conductors: The performances of "Don't Cry Little Doll" and "All" were conducted by Frank Chacksfield, "Once" and "For Your Love" were conducted by Stanley Black, "Seven" and "The Way It Goes" by Eric Robinson so that all songs in the final were conducted by the same conductor as in their respective semi-final.Template:Sfn

The regional juries for the final were from the cities of Belfast, Newcastle, Bangor, Edinburgh, Nottingham, Cardiff, Birmingham, Glasgow, Manchester and London.Template:Sfn A cup was presented to the winning composer, Reynell Wreford.Template:Sfn The broadcast was watched by 7.5 million viewers in the United Kingdom.Template:Sfn

Final – 12 February 1957Template:Sfn

First performance		Second performance		Song	Songwriter(s)	Votes	Place
Template:Abbr	Artist 1	Template:Abbr	Artist 2
1	The Ken-Tones	5	Bill Maynard	"Don't Cry Little Doll"	Template:Hlist	14	4
2	Pauline Shepherd	6	Carole Carr	"Once"	Barbara Killalee	23	2
3	Denis Lotis	9	The Keynotes	"Seven"	Template:Hlist	13	5
4	Malcolm Lockyer	8	Patricia Bredin	"All"	Template:Hlist	39	1
7	Ronnie Hilton	11	Alan Bristow	"For Your Love"	Template:Hlist	13	5
10	Lita Roza	colspan="2" Template:N/A	"The Way It Goes"	Tony Osborne	18	3

Recordings

Patricia Bredin never recorded the winning song "All" but a recording of the song was released by English singer Robert Earl.Template:Sfn In addition, an instrumental version by Victor Sylvester as a single reached number 14 in the sheet music charts.Template:Sfn

At Eurovision

Patricia Bredin performed third at the Eurovision Song Contest 1957, following Template:Esccnty and preceding Template:Esccnty.<ref name=":4">Template:Cite book</ref> The conductor was Eric Robinson.<ref name=":3" /> At a length of 1:52 minutes, it was the shortest entry in the history of the contest until Finland in 2015 as well as the first song to be performed in English.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The song also turned out to perform right before Italy's "Template:Lang", the longest entry in the history of the contest at 5:09 minutes.<ref name=":4" />

At the close of voting, the United Kingdom had received six votes and finished seventh among the ten countries, despite votes from five of the nine other countries.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Eurovision Song Contest 1957 was broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC Television Service with commentary by Berkeley Smith.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The program was watched by 6.8 million viewers in the United Kingdom.Template:Sfn

Voting

Each participating broadcaster assembled a ten-member jury panel.<ref name=":3">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=":12">Template:Cite journal</ref> Every juror could give one vote to their favourite song.<ref name=":12" /> The United Kingdom's jury members were chosen from different regions in order to generate a more representative result.<ref name=":3" /> These jury members were: Mrs J. Woods (London), James McPhee (Glasgow), Russell Alexander (Newcastle), Mr C. Butland (Bristol), Mrs Smith (Cardiff), Mr D. Armstrong (Belfast), Mrs K. Beardmore, Mr W. E. Bratton (Nottingham), Shelagh Holden (Manchester), and Mrs D. L. Sissons (Leeds).Template:Sfn

Votes awarded to the United Kingdom<ref name="1957detailed">Template:Cite web</ref>

Score	Country
2 votes	Template:Esc
1 vote	Template:Unbulleted list

Votes awarded by the United Kingdom<ref name="1957detailed" />

Score	Country
2 votes	Template:Unbulleted list
1 vote	Template:Unbulleted list

Bibliography

• Template:Cite book