Christer Bjorkman has hit headlines on his controversial views on the legacy and impact Wogan had upon how British entries were perceived in the UK and abroad.

It isn’t very often the UK sees Eurovision hit headlines but the Daily Mirror reported on a story this morning as their front page printed some controversial views shared by Melodifestivalen supremo Christer Bjorkman on the late Sir Terry Wogan’s ‘trivialisaton’ of the contest. In the article the Daily Mirror claim that Bjorkman criticizes the late Eurovision legend for damaging the brand by trivialising how the British entries were perceived at home and by the rest of Europe.

Sir Terry Wogan passed away earlier this year so the comments were seen by some quarters to be in bad taste especially as the contest is heading to Stockholm in May and Bjorkman is one of the producers of the show. Terry himself courted a lot of controversy in the UK because of his comedic and tongue in cheek commentary in the past. We saw entries like Ray Caruana who came second for the UK in 1989 complain about the whole ‘Woganisation’ of the national finals which gave the British a disadvantage going into the competion. Caruana made his comments on a 90’s Eurovision documentary on BBC2. Terry Wogan never took the contest too seriously but he also had a great affection and love for the show having provided commentary for the UK since the 70’s and also hosting the show himself with Ulrika Johnsson in 1998 when it came to the Birmingham NIA in the wake of Katrina and the Waves victory in Dublin the preious year.

Christer Bjorkman himself has turned Sweden’s fortunes at Eurovison around by the amazing work he has done with Melodifestivalen which has gone on to become the national final to beat. His legacy has been built on re branding and restoring the musical/production value to the contest making it a force to be reckoned with in the 21st century. A Eurovision legend in his own right Bjorkman is surely entitled to comment on all things related to the contest. The late great Sir Terry Wogan would surely not have been offended by Christer’s comments instead he would have had a cheeky laugh and raised a glass as he did in Jerusalem at the 1999 Eurovision, wishing health and happiness to the contest that he loved so dearly and held in great affection for all these years; L’chaim!!

The UK have won the contest a respectable 5 times coming second on no less than 15 occasions cementing their reputation as one of the most successful countries at Eurovison of all time. The last best placing for the UK was at the 2009 contest in Moscow where Jade Ewan placed 5th with the legendary Andrew Lloyd Webber and Diane Warren composition Its My Time.

Stay tuned to esctoday.com for more news on the UK and the Eurovison Song Contest.