Although it was becoming tradition that the winning nation would host the contest in the following year, 1959 winner The Netherlands turned down the opportunity to host the contest since they hosted just two years prior. The Netherlands’ loss was the United Kingdom’s gain, as the contest headed to the UK for the first time.
Eurovision 1960 was hosted in the Royal Festival Hall in London on the 29th of March, and was presented by Katie Boyle. The conductor of the show was Eric Robinson. A total of 13 nations participated, which was a record number at that time. Returning to the contest was Luxembourg, while Norway made their debut.
The voting once again featured 10 jury members per competing nation, and these jury members allocated a point each to their favourite songs meaning each nation had a total of 10 points to give out.
Here is the full list of participants:
- Austria
- Belgium
- Denmark
- France
- Germany
- Italy
- Luxembourg
- Monaco
- Netherlands
- Norway
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- United Kingdom
There was only one returning artist at the 1960 contest, and that was Belgium’s representative Fud Leclerc who previously represented the nation in both 1956 and 1958.
Here are the competitors:
- Bryan Johnson – Looking High, High, High (United Kingdom) 🇬🇧
- Siw Malmkvist – Alla Andra Får Varann (Sweden) 🇸🇪
- Camillo Felgen – So Laang we’s du do bast (Luxembourg) 🇱🇺
- Katy Bødtger – Det Var En Yndig Tid (Denmark) 🇩🇰
- Fud Leclerc – Mon Amour Pour Toi (Belgium) 🇧🇪
- Nora Brockstedt – Voi Voi (Norway) 🇳🇴
- Harry Winter – Du Hast Mich So Fasziniert (Austria) 🇦🇹
- François Deguelt – Ce Soir-là (Monaco) 🇲🇨
- Anita Traversi – Cielo e Terra (Switzerland) 🇨🇭
- Rudi Carrell – Wat een Geluk (The Netherlands) 🇳🇱
- Wyn Hoop – Bonne Nuit ma Chérie (Germany) 🇩🇪
- Renato Rascel – Romantica (Italy) 🇮🇹
- Jacqueline Boyer – Tom Pillibi (France) 🇫🇷
The voting was close in this edition of the contest, but finishing on top with a total of 32 points was France with Jacqueline Boyer and her song Tom Pillibi. This was France’s second victory at Eurovision, having previously won in 1958, and their third consecutive Top 3 placing. Jacqueline was only 18 years old at the time, and as such was the youngest artist to win Eurovision at that time.
Finishing in second place was host nation United Kingdom with 25 points, and in third was Monaco with 15 points. Finishing in last place with just 1 point was Luxembourg.
Watch the winning performance below: