The Eurovision Song Contest 1970 was the 15th edition of the contest. The precedent of previous contests was that the winning nation would host the next edition, however due to the four-way tie of the previous edition, it wasn’t clear who would host the contest. The UK hosted in 1968, and Spain hosted in 1969, so it was decided that the duties would fall to either The Netherlands or France. A ballot was used to decide the host nation, and it was The Netherlands that was selected. The contest took place in the RAI Theatre in Amsterdam. The show was hosted by Willy Dobbe.
This edition of the contest saw just twelve participants. This was the lowest number of participants since 1959. Finland, Norway, Portugal and Sweden all withdrew in protest of the results of the previous year. Due to the low participants, producers had to pad out the show. They used an extended opening sequence, and using postcards before each participant. The idea of the postcards is still used in the modern-day contest.
To avoid another tie, a new rule was created. It stated that if two or more songs gained the same number of points and were tied, each song would have to be performed again. The national juries would then vote again. If they tied again, then they would finish the contest tied for first.
Here is the full list of participants:
- Belgium
- France
- Germany
- Ireland
- Italy
- Luxembourg
- Monaco
- Netherlands
- Spain
- Switzerland
- United Kingdom
- Yugoslavia
For the first time, no artists from previous contests returned.
Here are the competitors:
- Patricia and Hearts of Soul – Waterman (Netherlands) 🇳🇱
- Henri Dès – Retour (Switzerland) 🇨🇭
- Gianni Morandi – Occhi di ragazza (Italy) 🇮🇹
- Eva Sršen – Pridi, dala ti om cvet (Yugoslavia)
- Jean Vallée – Viens l’oublier (Belgium) 🇧🇪
- Guy Bonnet – Marie-Blanche (France) 🇫🇷
- Mary Hopkin – Knock, Knock Who’s There? (United Kingdom) 🇬🇧
- David Alexandre Winter – Je suis tombé du ciel (Luxembourg) 🇱🇺
- Julio Iglesias – Gwendolyne (Spain) 🇪🇸
- Dominique Dussault – Marlène (Monaco) 🇲🇨
- Katja Ebstein – Wunder gibt es immer wieder (Germany) 🇩🇪
- Dana – All Kinds of Everything (Ireland) 🇮🇪
The United Kingdom was a favourite to win the contest, however in the end, Ireland came out on top. The nation won with 32 points, with the UK following behind on 26 points. In last place was Luxembourg, who finished with the dreaded ‘nul points’. Watch the winning performance below: