Eurovision Thriller 1988

[bobsjob2]

Celine Dion is an awsome singer ,, but the UK were most definately as we are still ROBBED.. A lot of these Nations should remember who PAYS FOR THIS COMPETITION..

IN SOME WAYS IT IS ABOUT TIME WE TOLD THEM TO FUCK OFF ...

WHAT A DISGRACE

[bobsjob2]

What a total FARCE almost as bad as when Cliff Richard was ROBBED

[bobsjob2]

This is as big a farce as when Cliff Richard was Robbed singing Congratulations!!

A total disgrace...

[ALLNAMESAREALLREADYT]

and I've been wondering always why we(Yugoslavia) never got any points from UK...now I know....

[cddekel]

was 13 at the time. I remember how i felt sorry for Celine for being treated like the last reason that song won. She won a mememto.... Com'on... LOL Now she's the greatest of all time. I like watching this video before watching her in Vegas... !!!

[TrannsylvanianAngel]

O....My....Gosh!! Celine dion!!!!

[shopgirlmika]

The One and Only Miss Celine Dion! Greatest singer-Ever!!!! ;o)

[kubrafurkan]

omg turkije the best :P english nubsssss

[milanpol79]

Hahahahaaaaa....Yugoslavia....­.Hahahahahahaaa.....GREAT!!!!!­!!!!!

[mattpbent]

at 4.30 Celine looks like she thought she had lost ! then big surprise a few seconds later -ha great

[Backpack295]

Thank you Ljubljana! great!

[Kathyleinchen]

she's so great! i really love her !!

[atsinumok]

YUGOSLAVIA!!!!!!!

[cddekel]

And finally... France... 12 points !!!!

[cddekel]

I so love this video !

[berk90]

yugoslavia kicked UK's ass :D

[SuperKevc]

Well done Switzerland from Ireland!!!!!! You had the best singer and song!!!!!! Well deserved no matter how close it was!!!!! I was shocked united kingdom managed 2nd!!!!

[623058]

UK, has come 2nd more often than any other country in eurovision song contest

[Corsaircid]

Ha Ha!!!

I never forgot when UK lost by just 1 Vote!!

Best result since we the Irish won the Contest just the year before!

And to loose by one vote in Ireland,well we had a good laugh!

I think the brits were very upset!

Ha Ha!!!

[EnzoScifo]

How calm, relaxed and confident the hosts are. Compare that to the latest Eurovision hosts... Hysterical, nervous, and seem to have focused too much on their haircuts than their ability to speak and make spontanious jokes outside the script. Damn, it's nice to get old.

[johny7even]

@c12830772 although out of topic j must say that i totally agree with you and that is the sad truth. you were a bad pain in the ass for some others thats why they did what they did :(

[Ninny3737]

I  was so happy for Celine, she really deserved to be the winner. Sorry UK, I love most of your entries, but this one was not my cup of tea at all. Celine was much better I think.

[jonnyf1970]

Thanks, that explains it. I don't really understand how the UK song did so well, it's not that memorable and the voice of the singer is gravelly to say the least. But hey, that's Eurovision for you !

[jonnyf1970]

Does anyone know why Bruce Forsythe was there ?

[weirdnetwork]

Bruce was there because his daughter Julia wrote the u.k entry.

[Corsaircid]

Hi weirdnetwork

Is it true that UK blamed the Netherlands for not giving them a Vote??

Cheers!

[weirdnetwork]

Corsaircid, as far as I know it was more scott fitzgerald himself that was unhappy with the netherlands about it rather than the bbc or the country itself. Hope this helps.

[Corsaircid]

Hi weirdnetwork,

Scott and the Forsyths blamed the Netherlands for which I am already of. The "blame game"can start from that to nationwide support when the newspapers gets involved.

The irony is that the votes are already decided beforehand+its just the way the votes were given out that was cruel to Scott.

Thanks for your response,

Cheers!

[ILoveABBA12]

Mmm, she remains me to Gigliola Cinquetti, hahaha!!

[ycomp]

Celine DiLon, lol 8:18

[Wheeloffortunefan999]

LOL @ 4:26! it IS Bruce!

[cheppelin78]

known by her first name only...

[lonelymaverick]

It was written in stars that Celine will win. No doubt about it .

[mysticalwind72]

I was with several of my brothers and we were watching this live and I remember saying that girl the Switzerland entry Celine she will win and I think she will end of being one of the biggest international singers of all time to come to America. Twenty years later ......and celine dion is simply Celine one of the greatest ever. The biggest selling female artist in the history of music.

[montrealkino]

WOW! Best votingthriller ever! amazing....

[99russell99]

was that Pat Kenny presenting

[ophone77]

I remember my father saying "Switzerland has to win!" and fortunately he was right.

[Mezebezrakije]

"Everythings depends on Yugoslavia"

Always true !!

[aatox]

We haven't had any of these really thrilling Eurovision votes lately, that's a pity! Like this year, Norway was a clear winner almost immediately. It's of course really soothing for the winners but less entertaining for us watching at home... :)

[manialf]

2003 was like that ;)

[matthoenn]

That was the worst moment in Eurovision history. One of the best songs ever was robbed of the 1st place.

[manialf]

oh come on! The best singer won and the song was my favourite too!

[matthoenn]

My 'Worst Moment in Eurovision History" wasn't refering to this. Celene Dion deserved to win. I like the song. I was talking about 2003 when Turkey beat Belgium.

[filigrant]

i dont agree...ne partez pas sans moi has an amazing text and celine realy deserved it

[matthoenn]

Ohh no. I was refering to 2003. Celene Dion deserved to win.

[celinette22]

"Oh...hi"

She's sooo cute!!!:)

[jazzmanEE]

no robbing or shit..the swiss song was a million times better than that oring drivel from the united kingdom

[moonshinefe]

gey

[Japanese1970]

Norway always cheat from voting

1963 to singing (2009) with that

cordless violin of the singer.

[rg11]

high living standard???? ahhahahah

[fieldsfan336]

I am from Canada and have been watching clips of past Eurovision contests. From what I have heard, the contest these days is like that of American Idol where people vote for the act they like regardless of talent. At least with the jury voting in the past a song got fair and impartial feedback through each country's panel taking talent into consideration and that's how I feel the contest should be run in 2010 and beyond - going back to the jury vote system

[Furienna]

I don't agree with this at all. At least here in Sweden, we usually only send our best avaible artists to the ESC. It's nothing like American Idol. Some countries maybe don't take the ESC seriously (and they usually don't do well either). But most of us only send professional artists to represent our countries in this contest.

[fkfj16]

Well they have done so recently - this year's contest was possibly by far the fairest contest since 2000, perhaps. This was because the rules were changed so that the countries juries contributed 50% and the televote also contributed 50%. As a result the top 5 countries were considered favourites of the contest - and Norway's result was unprecedented with 387 points!

[SaraMathilde]

oh sorry, I knew Yugoslavia were not a part of USSR, but I thought they were a part of the Warsaw Pact? Wow, Yugoslavia must have been way ahead of the other Eastern Europe, when reuniting Europe.

[LuckeMasse]

Omg!

[LimaEmanuell]

Lara Fabian should wond in 1988...

[MrBeautifulstranger1]

Lara Fabian is a garbage

[bronco08]

It was such a big event back then, now it's just well... all about show and too many countries voting for the countries they like, no matter how horrible they sing.

[kalurank]

great vid! nailbiting... The 12 Points from YUG to F - incredible!

[Stephen1965]

Whatever happened to Celine Dion lol? I remember watching this and was gutted that we were beaten by only 1 point. Celine's song was very good but I didn't like her skirt very much. :)

[bacabu30]

Pat is so stiff!! It's funny when the woman says 'It's getting very exciting!"

[keveydaking]

have britain ever won?

[pavlova55]

UK has won just 5 times, that's all :)

[jamesmt142]

Who'd have known back then eh?

[skrikon]

Was Celine as big then as she is today?

[TwinPat90]

Skrikon, before winning Eurovision, Celine was only known in Francophone speaking nations, and was largely unknown to the rest of the world. That all changed though as we know today!

[jamesmt142]

Yep - she had a reasonably big career in Francophone territories in the 80s, and despite winning Eurovision it took another six years for her to break the UK market.

[greekstyle1988]

this was a very interesting esc. the esc2009 was soooooooooooooo boring.

the eurovision song contest 2008 was much more interesting

UNITED KINGDOM WELL DONE THIS YEAR. WE GAVE YOU 12 POINTS

[MayaSummers]

celine sang wonderfully - she deserved to win!!

[bobsjob2]

This and when Cliff Richard lost has to be the most fixed Contest i have ever whitnessed...

Face it we the UK are HATED ....

[gre812u]

Ahhhh! The good old days. The Eurovision SONG contest when the best SONG usually won. Impartial voting

Since 2000 its become the joke known as the Eurovision POLITICAL contest

Norewgian entry in 2009 = FUCKING SHIT. The Iceland & the UK representatives had more talent in their fucking toenail than that piece of crap from Norway

The Eurovision JOKE contest as it is now. No wonder Terry quit. Frankly europe is in a trance 800 million imbeciles with blinkers who good song from a bad one

[nik24nik24]

How can you say this! You probably too young to know that many of these committees voted not always according to quality! Exchanging votes was something very common even these old days! It was always politic issues that interfear with eurovision! But now its not convenient to UK! You just dont know to loose!

[bronkoghma]

"The Iceland & the UK representatives had more talent in their fucking toenail than that piece of crap from Norway"

yes, they do, but Jade's song was boring as hell

[SaraMathilde]

If it was fucking shit, then how come it got 16 12's and points from all countries?

Yes, I agree with you, the UK & Ireland acts were talented, but they weren't special enough to win. You can turn the radio everyday, and hear music just like those acts. You can't turn on the radio and to such a gifted boy like Alexander Rybak.

[kostas373]

rybak gifted?? what is it about him that makes u think he's gifted... his awesome voice? he's a great violinist but that's it... and when u turn on the radio u can't listen to quality like Iceland or UK... and i doubt it that they play either "my time" or "is it true" more than "fairy tale" in denmark...

[SaraMathilde]

His music and lyrics.. All about serious matters, if you sit down and listen to them. No, they don't play the exact songs "My Time" and "Is It True", but they play songs very musch a like. You can't turn the radio and listen to laexander Rybaks music, unless of course, you live in Norway ;)

[SaraMathilde]

*Alexander Rybak

[originaldeftom]

WHAT A MOMENT OF THRILLING EUROVISION HISTORY!! Incredible how relatively small and family style this production and hall were....and the counting and display methods on the board...so antiquated now with all the technical fuss.....and A STAR WAS BORN "CELINE DION"

You go girl!

[SaraMathilde]

The production was so small, because RTE was undermined... I think it was 2nd time in row they hosted the eurovision song contest and the 3th time in period of 4 years.

[Furienna]

This was 1988, a few years before Ireland took four victories within five years in the 90s.

[Naoisevl]

Exactly MrDart! And it's Uk anyway not England to whover that was directed too. Supporting your point, the stats show that the country the Uk have given most points to over the years is Ireland, and the country Ireland has given most points to is...UK!..if they split up the UK/Ireland countries we might be in with a chance!

[sprock4chick]

''unknown canadian lady''

my god the irony, celine is truley amazing

[MrDemolitionMan]

There are too many countries in it nowadays. It should just be for Western Europe. The Eastern Europeans can have their own contest (I believe they did this years ago in the days of Communism).

[SaraMathilde]

In my mind it should be like this: each nation will find their national winner, which go through to regional song contest where the countries will be split up in: North, South, East and Weat Europe, and the winners of these competitions should go through to the Eurovision Song Contest. Besides if the communist countries had their own song contest (which they didn't, because they were allowed to watch ESC) then why did Yugoslavia take part in ESC from the early 80s?

[AlesAlecko]

excuseme, Yugoslavia take part in ESC from the early 60s? first 1961...last 1992...

[SaraMathilde]

I thought so, I jus wasn't sure. and I wouldn't wanna bring up arguments were I couldn't verify the truth :)

[erikk73]

AWESOME!!  I didn't remember that.

[lexusdriver1974]

and she has become an international mega star...way to go...that's what i call a cliffhanger.

[MrDart]

Anti-English sentiment my ass. The irish crowd were annoyed at the low score for england.

[akava77]

England weren't entered in the Eurovision you muppet

[MrDart]

Erm..... Have you watched the video?

[akava77]

Yes just as I watched the Eurovision this year which England didn't enter either - I don't know what makes you think that England were there, the UK were but that isn't the same thing for the time being.

Maybe when Scotland enters it's own song then England will do so too.

[fr68prt]

Beautiful!

[PiSsGoBaT]

whauhaUHAuhaUAhauH With 1 POOIINT WHUWHAUhauah

[Bosnier70]

Das waren die Zeiten!!!!!

[berkbbx3]

the writer was turkish:D

[nanzi1291]

ah! i'm REALLY proud of being swiss;-) she was beautiful on that performance! thanks to nella martinetti, celine is now an international superstar!

[pedroferreiralp]

I was nearly 6 years old and I remember Switzerland winning. Only some other 6 years later I found out it was Celine Dion.

What happened to Austria?

[Yinnad]

Ohmygiddygod! Go Celine! This is brilliant!

By the way I'm SO proud to be Finnish.. Notice the stunning three points.

[brione67]

vive la suisse, vive les québecois

[lyoha95]

this is incredible

[purpletulip11]

an unknown canadian lady? helllo? Celine Dion? at least say that it's her in the info section! anyway, i'm very glad that someone put this video up here. it's just so cool to see one of the best female artists of all time get her real start.

[princessDanmark]

Hi from Iceland I hope someone here can help me. I have been looking for a few years of Eurovision on cd the years i am serching for are 1956 untill 1985. If someone wants to help me please feel free to contact me. Thank you

[Lostinspain2009]

Similar than 1968:

Spain 29

UK 28

hahaha ^^

[mabjs1986]

How different the scoreboard looked before the creation of all the independent former Yugolav and Soviet states...

[bronkoghma]

communist block countries didn't participate

[mabjs1986]

Didn't participate? They didn't even exist...

[bronkoghma]

i said communist block, not USSR countries

Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria weren't part of USSR

[quizmaster85]

I could only imagine how surprised and diasppointed Terry Wogan would've been with the last vote...

[neriku2]

the same thing happened again in 1998.

[fleurdelys972]

Céliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii­iiiiiiiiiiiiine !!!!!!!!!! (L)

[halogen123]

It's funny how 1988 and 1998 were two of the closest ones, yet by 2008 it was just boring...

[ronansex]

I LOVE THIS EUROVISION 1988 !!!!

[Larravok]

a rare picture these days seeing those 2 at the top rank

[stewiebrain]

clooose

[bezener]

Very few people know that Switzerland and Canadian Celine Dion owe this victory to a Turkish composer, Atilla Sereftug

[JasonC1782]

That guy at 5:26 must've been the happiest man in the world at that point. :D

Wonder who he was?

[doubletom90]

I was searching randomly, and I found out that the guy's name was Cliff Roles.

[inspireradavstatyer]

I don't think it's likely that we will have a scenario like this again. Too many countries are voting nowadays to make it possible.

[Furienna]

Does it matter how many countries there are in the voting? I don't understand what you mean.

[inspireradavstatyer]

Yes it matters. The more countries that votes, the less likely is it to have a close battle like in 1988. Not necessarily of course, but generally does a large number of voters reduce the possibility for a result where it only differs one vote between the winner and the runner-up.

[Furienna]

Hmmm... I still don't think it could matter that much, but if you say so...

[inspireradavstatyer]

But it works in a good way too! We haven't had any zero points since the semi finals started! :D

[Furienna]

Well, Switzerland got zero points in the first semi-final, the one in 2004. But yes, not getting one single point must suck, so I hope we won't see much of that in the future. Everybody deserves at least one point just for performing.

[Furienna]

Actually, Lara Fabian was my favorite this year. Celine is a good singer too, but Lara had the better song. I can't believe she only reached 4th place. Just like how Italy only reached 3rd place in 1987.

[samsemtex]

Look at Pat. That wild charasmatic way of presenting he has is just untamable.

[WaterNab]

this year's voting is so entertaining to watch over and over again, it never gets tiring... lol

[F1FANjim]

Ktah i just wanna point out somthin. in 1969 it was given a tie between 4 countries in the end because they didn't have a system to seperate them.

[MissYou21]

Yeah Céline's the Best ! :)

[Metrader]

fucking swiss,

what did they ever do for the world except make chocolate, watches, drill holes in cheese and sit on fences...

Mind you, that Celine woman, she did alright in the end i think...

[MasterSepman]

it is Celine Dion if you don´t know that

[Metrader]

do you think I am some kind of daft prick?

[ktah26]

1988, 1993 and 1998 all produced classic cliffhangers at the end of the voting.

[ktah26]

And of course 1969 and 1991 when there were ties for first place.

[tisuisse300]

SOO SOOO SOOO great!!! Thamks Céline! you're simply the best!!

[Europemaster]

I hope that in Russia is gonna be like that, not that swiss is gonna win but just that point end.

[petrainternational]

la votation du juri portugais a fait le grand changement et les points 12 atribués à la france par la yuguslavie a fait la défaite de l'naglaterre.

[knowledge39]

I love this! So slow and you can see who gets every point. Why do everything need to go so fast nowadays?

[fcc90]

Its better in that way! I don't like the new system of presentation' points!

[Yudana91]

CONGRATULATIONS CELINE!!!!!!!!!!!

[Mark5058]

This was the most exciting thing I've ever seen on TV. We badly need another finish like that next year.

[togravus]

well....IMO the victory was well deserved for Switzerland!

[uniformskins]

how quiet the audience is compared to these days....

[jennibiscuit]

well deserved Celine much better than us that year.

My gosh! I was born this year! Love her skirt though and her outfit altogether, so unique.

[Maxzik59]

Céline est canadienne mais elle a eu le droit de représenter un autre pays , qui est la suisse il me semble

[Oxe1988]

Wow really exciting.

[pinchomany]

je comprend pas celine chantait pour quel pays... elle est canadienne ????

[Ruud22NL]

elle a chante pour la Suisse. Le reglement dit que les auteurs doit etre du pays qui envoye la chanson, la chanteur ou chanteuse peut etre d'un pays etrangere.

[ledge69]

I'm kinda glad we lost this one I think our entry was 10 years out of date. Not a fan of Celine but that was a hell of a song for Eurovision.

[setheurovision94]

I think your song was way overrated as well; I'd rather have seen someone like Lara Fabian almost beat Celine Dion - but still lose. :) I admired Terry Wogan for taking this so well, though you could tell that he was heartbroken. "That is a REAL heartbreaker," indeed.

[YORKIE230557]

forgive me for being ignorant-but is this how celine dion was discovered?

[kulera]

Yeah basically

[WaterNab]

to yorkie, this made her famous a lil bit in europe, but she became famous later

[queen0neeuq]

Consequently, in 1988, Celine Dion won the Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Ne partez pas sans moi" which was composed by Atilla Şereftuğ(Atilla Şereftuğ is a Swiss-Turkish songwriter).

[WaterNab]

yes it might be turkish who composed the song but the writer is swiss so it counts...

[WaterNab]

let me correct myself... it was Şereftuğ who wrote the song but the composer was swiss, and one of two has to be at least swiss...

[setheurovision94]

He's Swiss-Turkish so of course he counts! Besides, the rules state that at least one of the people - writer, composer or performer - has to be from that country, as far as I know.

[ragga88b]

That was so amazing! She deserved it :)

[poepienele]

woehoew celine won!!!

[blondalina]

pat kenny speeks french haha

[WaterCovenant]

horror moment:O

[smkt]

Celine Dion, you are amazing!

[closetbug]

The UK IS A PART OF EUROPE you idiot!! So you hate yourelves? I would too if my country kept ending UTTER EMBARASSING excuses for songs year after year. At least since 1998.

[closetbug]

OMG it's Pat Kenny as a presenter... hahhaha.

[westham44]

shity switzerland

[DoctorScrumpy]

Europe hate us, but then again we fucking hate them !

[hayleyclips]

UK wont win nothing because of all the politics.

[CELINO89]

Céline: you deserved it all! :)

[spyxxprincess]

omg that was in Dublin!!

she did a concert here and said that all her memories and how she bacame famous started here!! now I know why

[Larzzonn69]

Finland 3 points ;D Yeah we rule

[nacht98]

yes I agree, bring back the jury...

[dzajic90]

hahaha, lol, and the next year Yugoslavia won in Switzerland!YUPIII