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Host country: United Kingdom
Venue: National Indoor Arena, Birmingham
Date: 9 May 1998
Presenters: Terry Wogan, Ulrika Jonsson
Won by: Israel

The Eurovision finally came back to the UK in 1998, for the first time since 'Where's Harrogate' in 1982. Luckily, everyone managed to find the Birmingham Indoor Arena all right, for the first of the big stadium-style contests we have now become accustomed to.

So what do the BBC do when they get their hands on the contest? Get an Irishman and a Swedish woman to host it! This year Terry Wogan performed the unique dual role of co-hosting the contest with Ulrika Jonsson, whilst still treating viewers to the usual Wogan witticisms for the BBC1 commentary.

Eurovision 1998 would prove to be probably the most unforgettable contest in recent years, along with one of the closest finishes ever with at least four countries vying for victory. And it would have been another win for the UK if it hadn't been for Israel's Dana International (above). The UK entry, 'Where are You?' by Imaani finished second, lagging a mere six points behind the victor. But it somehow seemed inevitable that Israel would scoop the prize, given the amount of pre-publicity surrounding Dana International, who was once a boy called Yaron, no matter whether the song was any good or not. The song was called 'Diva', and was certainly memorable if nothing else, and somehow seemed to circumvent the language rules one year before the free language rule was reintroduced.

There was also controversy surrounding the German entry - the maniac Guildo Horn (left) and his band The Orthopaedic Stockings were something of an embarrassment to the German people and had faced demands to withdraw from the contest. He didn't, and instead brought us one of the most flamboyant performances ever seen at Eurovision. He rang bells, climbed all over the stage and generally clowned around, even approaching Katie Boyle in the audience at one point. To the Germans' relief, Guildo never came close to winning, but he would certainly go down in Eurovision history.

1998 is the year of another of my favourite Eurovision moments. We're all used to Greece and Cyprus swapping 'douze points', but it became all the more blatant this year when Greece managed to score absolutely nothing all evening - apart from its usual 12 points from Cyprus. Cue booing from the audience...

On 10th May 1998, the EBU announced that the Spanish votes had been miscast, and Germany should have received 12 points from them, not 'nul points'. The placings were amended accordingly, and the table above and the scoreboard below show the corrected position.

Click here to view the 1998 scoreboard (opens in new window)

Countries voting are shown across the top, with each country's cumulative total after the country has voted shown in large type, and the points awarded in small type. Each country gave 12, 10, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 points to its top ten songs
BBC broadcast: Saturday 9 May 1998, 8.00-10.59pm. Commentary: BBC1 - Terry Wogan, Radio 2 - Ken Bruce. UK vote spokesperson: Ken Bruce

Click below to see more images from the night's contest:

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