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Eurovision facts and figures

An estimated 100 million people across the world watch the contest every year. Last year nine million British viewers watched the culmination of the voting on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ One.

The maximum length of a Eurovision song is also the perfect time it takes to boil an egg: three minutes.

Spain's winning entry La La La La in 1968 used the word "La" 138 times!

A little known popular beat combo from Sweden by the name of Abba were the runaway winners back in 1974 with their classic pop hit Waterloo. You may have heard of them. The UK clearly had its finger on the pulse that year – and didn't award the Swedish sensations a single point!

The Eurovision Song Contest is more than half a century old. The first competition staged was held on the 24 May 1956 in Lugano, Switzerland, although the UK didn't participate until 1957.

Ireland has won most often with seven victories compared to the UK's five. The UK has finished in second place an incredible 15 times... the ultimate bridesmaids of the Eurovision Song Contest!

Over the years the UK has been awarded the most points from Austria, and has given the most points to Ireland.

The United Kingdom boasts the most-successful Eurovision song: the 1997 entry Love Shine a Light scored 227 points out of a possible total of 288, including maximum 12 points from 10 countries. This is a record scoring percentage still held to this day (although subsequent winners have scored higher overall points, they are from larger pools of participating countries).

Cliff Richard has competed twice but never quite brought home the bacon for the UK, finishing in second and third places with Congratulations and Power To All Our Friends in 1968 and 1973 respectively.

The 1988 UK entry Go, performed by Scott Fitzgerald, was written by Bruce Forsyth's daughter. It came second by a single point on the final vote to Celine Dion, who was representing Switzerland.

In 2006, there was a surprise runaway victory for Finnish death metal act Lordi who sang a song called Hard Rock Hallelujah dressed as monsters.

2009 entrants

Andorra, Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia & Herzegovina., Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, FYR Macedonia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, UK.