16 November – We were blue

Allgäuer Bergkäse. Tonight we journey back to the heady days of the 1980s. When men were men, women were women, and props were just something to be ridiculed. There was none of this faffery of semi-finals, or eagerly-awaited postcard. Or jazzy scoreboards. It was a different age when people just sang on stage with accompaniment from an orchestra, and possibly a number of discreet backing singers. Was it purer Eurovision, or just a borefest?

In 1983, we were in front of the world’s biggest electric fire, and amid all the flower arrangements and trilingualism, a winner emerged from Luxembourg in the form of today’s birthday girl Corinne Hermès/Miller/Bondeaux. Naturally, as a Luxembourgeoise performer she wasn’t from the Grand Duchy, she was practically Parisienne. And of course, amongst the 6 maxima she got (out of a possible 19), one was from France.

Corinne is 56 today.

Bonne anniversaire, Corinne!