It a sad truth that for [almost] every Eurovision Song Contest, there is only one winner. That means a whole heap of losers non-winners. And out of all those non-winners, there’s always a last place.
As past performance is no guide to future performance, first to last can happen really quickly. In 2002, today’s birthday girl Malene Winther Mortensen took the trip from Denmark to Estonia, buoyed by the fact that in the previous two contests her country had finished first and second. The Danes were on a role, or so we thought. Then, on 25 May (or possibly 26 May by that time) the points started to roll in. For everyone else at least. Not one Nordic country gave Malene points – shame on them. She did score off four countries – the same or better than some – but those weren’t quite enough to stop her finishing last. But if we look at those last places over the years, she’s probably in some very good company.
Malene is 40 today.
Tillykke med fødselsdagen, Malene!