AMSTERDAM 1970

Once again, the Netherlands hosted the Eurovision Song Contest which took place in the capital of Amsterdam, but only 12 delegations made the trip to the Dutch capital due to what was referred to as “the voting scandal” of the year before.

There were plenty of host countries to choose from because of the four-winner tie – the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, France and Spain – in the preceding year. Eventually, Amsterdam was chosen to host the fifteenth Eurovision Song Contest by the draw of lots. For the second year in a row, the number of participants went down. Finland, Norway, Sweden and Portugal were very dissatisfied about the voting in the 1969 contest when 4 countries were acclaimed as winners and withdrew from the contest. To avoid a confusing incident like in 1969, a tie rule had been created. The rule stated that if two or more songs gained the same number of points, each song had to be performed once more. After these re-performances, the jury had to select their favorite song (except for the juries of the concerned countries). This had to be done by the showing of hands. If entries still were to tie, both of them would share the first position.

Ireland had its first – of many – victories in the history of the Song Contest with Dana’s All kinds of everything. The teenager from Derry went on to score a major international hit with her Euro-song.

Brazil, Soviet Union, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Chile broadcast the contest live by satellite; Of the singers who competed on the stage this year a number were already established performers. Notably, the United Kingdom sent Mary Hopkin while David Alexandre Winter represented Luxembourg; The contest also featured an appearance of the then unknown Julio Iglesias, singing for Spain.

VOTING GRID: FINAL