Broadcasters from twenty countries participated in the contest, equalling the record of the 1978 edition. Cyprus made their début this year, while Israel and Yugoslavia both returned to the competition, after their one-year and five-year absences, respectively. Morocco and Italy decided not to participate.
The winner was the United Kingdom with the song "Making Your Mind Up", performed by Bucks Fizz, written by Andy Hill and John Danter. Germany finished second for the second consecutive year, while France finished third. Norway again finished last, with its third 'nul points' in the contest.
Bucks Fizz's win launched the group's hugely successful international career. Their performance on the Eurovision stage included a dance routine in which at one point the two male members ripped the skirts off the two female members, only to reveal mini-skirts; this today stands as one of the most defining moments in the contest's history.[1]
Location
RDS Simmonscourt – host venue of the 1981 contest
Some hours after Johnny Logan won the 1980 contest, the head of Irish broadcaster, Radio Telefís Éireann (RTÉ), Brian MacLochlainn announced that they would take on the responsibility of hosting the 1981 contest.[2] This ended up taking the 1981 contest, for the second time in the event's history, to Dublin, the capital of Ireland; the first such occasion was ten years earlier in 1971.
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Eurovision Song Contest 1981 – Participation summaries by country
By October 1980, it looked as though 21 countries were planning to take part, the largest number so far, but Monaco then declared that they were no longer interested.[2] This year marked the début of Cyprus in the contest; they finished in sixth place. Israel returned to the contest; they had been absent from the previous year's event due to a clash of dates with the Yom HaZikaron holiday, which prevented them from defending their victories of 1978 and 1979.[3] They finished seventh. Yugoslavia also returned to the competition after a five-year absence. Italy decided not to enter due to lack of interest, while Morocco declined to take part after their debut entry the year before.[4] Morocco's king, Hassan II, "reportedly withdrew Rabat's participation from the contest the following year, saying that the country will never participate again".[5] The draw for the running order took place on 14 November 1980, with it being confirmed that there was a total of 20 entrants.[2]
The contest took place under heavy guard at the 1,600 seat Simmonscourt Pavilion of the RDS, which was normally used for agricultural and horse shows.[8] The set was the largest ever seen in the contest so far, being 150 feet across, 80 feet deep and 30 feet high.[2] Over 250 armed soldiers and police were on hand to protect against any likely political demonstrations, with the British entrants being under constant guard during their time in Dublin due to threats from the IRA. This included an evacuation of the participants' hotel at one point due to a bomb scare. The security measures were reported on British news reports on the day of the contest.[2]
Rehearsals at the Pavilion began on 31 March with each act allowed 30 minutes with the orchestra, continuing up until the day of the contest, which ended with a dress rehearsal at 16:30. On 1 April, the Irish Tourist Board held a reception for the contest at Jurys Hotel, Dublin.[2]
The presenter on this occasion was Doireann Ni Bhriain, who was well known in Ireland at the time as a television presenter and for the current affairs radio show Women Today. She was chosen for her fluency in Irish and English as well as having studied French and Spanish, which she spoke with some ease.[9] She had also worked on the 1971 contest as an interpreter in the RTE press office. The director was Ian McGarry, while Noel Kelehan was the chief conductor of the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, which comprised 46 musicians.[2]
It cost RTÉ £530,000 to stage the show, although this included £110,000 from the EBU. From this, the Irish Government expected to make around £2,000,000 from tourism as a result of staging the show.[2][10] It was expected that the worldwide audience would be some 500 million with 30 countries broadcasting the event, including countries such as Hong Kong, the Soviet Union, the United Arab Emirates, and for the first time, Egypt.[2]
Each song was introduced by a filmed 'postcard', framed by an animated identification of the nation's location. Unlike previous films used in 1970 and 1976 that had also featured the performing artist, the 1981 films prominently included the authors and composers alongside the performing artist.
Contest overview
The interval act was traditional Irish band Planxty, who performed the lengthy piece "Timedance", which depicted Irish music through the ages. The accompanying dancers were from Dublin City Ballet.[11] This is seen as a precursor to Riverdance, which became famous after its performance in 1994. The song, which was written by Bill Whelan, went on to be released as a Planxty single and became a No. 3 hit in the Irish charts.[12][13]
Each participating broadcaster appointed a spokesperson who was responsible for announcing the votes for its respective country via telephone. Known spokespersons at the 1981 contest are listed below.
Each participating broadcaster was required to relay the contest via its networks. Non-participating EBU member broadcasters were also able to relay the contest as "passive participants". Broadcasters were able to send commentators to provide coverage of the contest in their own native language and to relay information about the artists and songs to their television viewers.[21] In addition to the participating countries, the contest was also reportedly broadcast in Iceland; in Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and the Soviet Union via Intervision; and in Egypt, Hong Kong, South Korea, and the United Arab Emirates, with an estimated global audience of 600 million viewers.[2][22]
Known details on the broadcasts in each country, including the specific broadcasting stations and commentators are shown in the tables below.
Broadcasters and commentators in participating countries
^Delayed broadcast in a shortened format on 3 May 1981 at 17:10 (CEST)[63]
^Delayed broadcast on 23 May 1981 at 20:40 (WGST)[64]
^Deferred broadcast on 7 April 1981 at 21:30 (HKT)[65]
^Delayed broadcast on 2 May 1981 at 21:50 (CEST)[66]
^Delayed broadcast on 19 April 1981 at 21:10 (WET)[67]
^Delayed broadcast on 25 July 1981 at 20:00 (ADT)[69]
^Delayed broadcast on 13 July 1981 at 22:00 (ADT)[70]
^Delayed broadcast on 25 April 1981 at 22:15 (CEST)[72]
^Delayed broadcast on 16 April 1981 at 21:40 (KST)[73]
References
^"Dublin 1981". Eurovision.tv. Archived from the original on 2 January 2021. Retrieved 22 October 2021.
^ abcdefghijklRoxburgh, Gordon (2016). Songs for Europe: The United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest. Volume Three: The 1980s. Prestatyn: Telos Publishing. pp. 86–103. ISBN978-1-84583-118-9.
^Thorsson, Leif; Verhage, Martin (2006). Melodifestivalen genom tiderna: de svenska uttagningarna och internationella finalerna (in Swedish). Stockholm: Premium Publishing. pp. 152–153. ISBN91-89136-29-2.
^"Hoje" [Today]. Diário de Lisboa (in Portuguese). Lisbon, Portugal. 4 April 1981. p. 21. Archived from the original on 12 January 2023. Retrieved 12 January 2023 – via Casa Comum.
^"Rádio" [Radio]. Diário de Lisboa (in Portuguese). Lisbon, Portugal. 4 April 1981. p. 22. Archived from the original on 12 January 2023. Retrieved 12 January 2023 – via Casa Comum.
^"Televizyon". Cumhuriyet (in Turkish). Istanbul, Turkey. 4 April 1981. p. 4. Archived from the original on 12 January 2023. Retrieved 12 January 2023.
^"Телевизија" [Television]. Politika (in Serbo-Croatian (Cyrillic script)). Belgrade, Yugoslavia. 4 April 1981. p. 28. Retrieved 9 March 2025 – via Arcanum Newspapers [hu].
^"Televizió" [Television]. Magyar Szó (in Hungarian). Novi Sad, Yugoslavia. 4 April 1981. p. 20. Retrieved 18 June 2024 – via Vajdasági Magyar Digitális Adattár.
^ ab"Szombat – május 2" [Saturday – 2 May]. Rádió– és Televízióújság (in Hungarian). Vol. 26, no. 17. Budapest, Hungary. 27 April 1981. pp. 24–26. Retrieved 12 January 2023 – via Nemzeti Archívum.
^ ab"Dagskráin" [Programme]. Morgunblaðið (in Icelandic). Reykjavík, Iceland. 16 April 1981. p. 26. Archived from the original on 12 January 2023. Retrieved 12 January 2023 – via Timarit.is.
^ ab"Telearuba – zaterdag" [Telearuba – Saturday]. Amigoe (in Dutch). Willemstad, Curaçao. 25 July 1981. p. 5. Retrieved 17 July 2024 – via Delpher.
^ ab"(zaterdag) Telecuraçao" [(Saturday) Telecuraçao]. Amigoe (in Dutch). Willemstad, Curaçao. 13 July 1981. p. 2. Retrieved 17 July 2024 – via Delpher.
^"Eurovisie-festival op Telecuraçao" [Eurovision Contest on Telecuraçao]. Amigoe (in Dutch). Willemstad, Curaçao. 13 July 1981. p. 3. Retrieved 17 July 2024 – via Delpher.
