esctoday.com TOP TEN: No. 10, 9 and 8

by Marcus Klier 114 views

The sixth esctoday.com TOP TEN list starts today with the first fifteen questions of our special trivia quiz. You can read below how to take part!

This is how the quiz will work:

If you want to take part you have to register as a participant. To do that, you have to send us an Email through the contact centre here. Please put the words Quiz registration as subject and pick News to report under concerning (otherwise the registration won't work!).

As a message, please tell us a nickname (this one has not to be identical with your esctoday.com user name), a secret codeword (to avoid someone else submitting answers under your name) and a valid (!) Email address.

To give the quiz kind of a frame, the questions are about the ten countries that had the most entries in the Eurovision Song Contest: France, Germany, United Kingdom, Sweden, Norway, Belgium, Netherlands, Switzerland, Spain and Finland. (Portugal and Ireland had as many entries as Finland but as Finland had the earlier debut, we decided to put that country in the top ten). About each country there will be five questions so there will be 50 questions in total. The ranking is based on how hard the questions are! The easiest questions is worth one point, the hardest question is worth 50 points. Of course, we expect you to use the internet to solve the questions!

You can submit your answers via the contact form above until the next day, 12:00 CET. Please always put Quiz answers as subject and pick News to report under concerning. As a message, tell us your nickname and your codeword as well as your answers to the questions. The answers to the previous questions will always be revealed the next day. A full ranking with all contestants (including the winners of course) will be shown next Saturday.

You can still register!

  • You can submit your answers FOLLOWING THE STEPS ABOVE until tomorrow, 12:00 CET.
  • If someone posts the answers or any hints in the reactions, he or she will get disqualified!

No. 10 – Five questions about the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest

  1. In 1990, the United Kingdom was represented by Emma in the Eurovision Song Contest with a song called Give a little love back to the world. It had won the UK national final by a landslide anf it was also the first entry since 1984 that was a minor hit on the charts. However, the head of delegation needed a special permission from the EBU to have that song performed by the artist in Zagreb as it technically broke a newly introduced rule. Which rule was that?

    This question is worth 1 point.

  2. British secret agent James Bond is probably the most famous fictional secret agent ever, known from both books and films. In fact, the films are even more popular than the novels, probably due to high density of recurring cult elements. One of them are the theme songs, many of which have become classics such as Goldfinger by Shirley Bessey, Live and let die by Paul McCartney & wings and The living daylights by a-ha, whose lead singer Morten Harket would host the Eurovision Song Contest 1996 in Oslo. There are also two Eurovision Song Contest representatives from the United Kingdom who recorded official theme songs of James bond films. What are their names?

    This question is worth 2 points.

  3. The 1984 Eurovision Song Contest was a special one for the United Kingdom as it was surrounded by some scandals. After the contest, it turned out that the main vocals were actually provided by three backing singer who were hidden behind the stage. However, already at the end of the performance the group Belle & the Devotions received boos from the audience being the first act in the history of the contest with such a reaction. What was the reason for that?

    This question is worth 6 points.

  4. In 2009, Andrew Lloyd Webber was chosen to write the UK entry for Moscow and he picked US American songwriter Diane Warren to co-write the song. Diane Warren is one of the most successful songwriters of popular music in the world and although she is a composer and lyricist, she scored her first hit as a lyricist only in 1983. For Laura Branigan (who would later have her biggest hit with the song Self control – a cover version of a song by 1987 Italian Eurovision Song Contest representative Raf), she wrote English lyrics to a song originally composed, written and performed by 1973 French Eurovision Song Contest Martine Clémenceau. What was the title of that song?

    This question is worth 7 points.

  5. It only rarely happened that the United Kingdom sent the same performer to the Eurovision Song Contest twice. The first one to represent his country twice was Ronnie Carroll in 1962 and 1963 and the second one was Cliff Richard, who returned to the contest in 1973 having already taken part in 1968. There were also two female lead singers who took part twice as part of different groups. What are their names?

    This question is worth 5 points.


No. 9 – Five questions about Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest

  1. Thomas G:Son is one of Sweden's most busy composers when it comes to the Eurovision Song Contest. His songs took part in the national finals of Norway, Spain, Finland, Poland, Belgium Denmark and of course, Sweden. His first Melodifestival entry was Natten är min vän in 1999 and he has not given up since. How many editions of the Swedish national selection have taken place since without any song written or co-written by him taking part in the televised stages of the contest?

    This question is worth 4 points.
  2. Since the current Melodifestival format was introduced in 2002, the commercial success of national final entries has been soaring as by the end of March, usually almost only entries in that contest can be found in the Swedish single charts. Almost all Swedish entries in the Eurovision Song Contest reached the top of the charts in those years. The only exception was Malena Ernman's La voix in 2009, which peaked at number two. Already before 2002, many Swedish entries were very popular on homeground, but how many of the four Swedish winning songs were actually number one hits on the Swedish single charts?

    This question is worht 8 points.
  3. If there is one topic that Scandinavia especially liked to sing about in the earlier days of the contest, it was the four seasons. In the 1950s and 1960s there was a very high number of entries dealing with this topic in the Swedish national finals and semi finals. Which one was the first Melodifestival entry to feature one of the four seasons in its title?

    This question is worth 10 points.

  4. Family Four were a popular Swedish group in the early 1970s and they represented their country in the Eurovision Song Contest twice – the first time in 1971 and the second time in 1972. In 1971, they performed all five songs in the Swedish national final although they had never been chosen internally by the broadcaster to represent the country in Dublin. How did that happen?

    This question is worth 9 points.

  5. Many people might have expected an ABBA question in this segment and of course, we will not disappoint them: The main songwriters of ABBA were band members Björn and Benny, although many of their earlier songs – including Waterloo – were co-written by their manager Stig Anderson. What was the last official ABBA single co-written by him?

    This question is worth 13 points.


No. 8 – Five questions about Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest

  1. In 2002, 2003 and 2004 the Spanish entries in the Eurovision Song Contest were chosen as part of the show Operación Triunfo. The finalists of the talent search were always invited to perform various songs in the actual national final. Who was the winning performer of Operación Triunfo in 2003?

    This question is worth 3 points.
  2. In 1982, Spain sent a song in a tango style to the Eurovision Song Contest. Although Él only placed 10th among the 18 participants, the choice of a song in that particular style was an interesting and yet controversial move. For what reason?

    This question is worth 14 points.

  3. This question is about Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest 1964. You may think that you know what it will be about, but no – it is not about the political protest but about the actual representatives that year. The song Caracola was performed by three singers named Nelly, Tim and Tony. Although the official single of the song was released under their group name TNT, they had to perform under their three first names in Copenhagen. What was the reason for that?

    This question is worth 11 points.
  4. Massiel surprisingly won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1968 for Spain. Although the victory is still disputed due to recent accusations of bribery, it is usually the song's simple lyrics in the chorus that are often ridiculed, despite the fact that they bear a classic message of music being an universal language. During the winning reprise, Massiel did change the rather minimalistic lyrics being the first winner to do so. What was the difference in the lyrics compared to the original version performed earlier that evening?

    This question is worth 18 points.
  5. In this year's Eurovision Song Contest, the Spanish entry was interrupted by Jimmy Jump, which was the reason why the song was performed again at the end after all other songs had been performed. It was the first time this occured to a Spanish entry, but there had already been entries by other countries that were performed entirely twice on the same evening without having won. Which entries were those?

    This question is worth 20 points.

Tomorrow, another ten questions will be show.

  • You can submit your answers FOLLOWING THE STEPS ABOVE until tomorrow, 12:00 CET.
  • If someone posts the answers or any hints in the reactions, he or she will get disqualified!