There’s a lot to be said for the selection process to choose a song for our favourite TV show. What’s the right formula? Do you go for an internal selection? Or do you let Joe/Josef/Jozef/Giuseppe public decide?
Obviously, this year, our friends in the Ukraine chose through a national final (well, sort of) and it came up trumps. In fact, three of the top four were chosen through national finals. But national finals don’t always work and internal selections can pay dividends. Our friends in Ireland chose internally for a few years, sadly without success. In 2016, RTÉ picked birthday boy Nicholas Bernard James Adam Byrne Junior – Nicky to his friends, got the gig in Stockholm. What could go wrong? He was a member of Westlife after all. Well, it must have been a really tough semi-final. He didn’t bring up the rear, but he did better out of the televoters than the pesky jurors. Never mind, eh, Nicky?
Nicky is 44 today.
Happy birthday/Breithlá shona, Nicky!