25 June – As long as you’re on the ground, I’ll stick around

Do you ever think that, sometimes, the biggest star to come out of a Eurovision Song Contest isn’t always the winner? Sometimes, that singer who maybe gets a lesser placing has more to celebrate.

Only last month we had a stormer of a contest in Torino/Turin. In hindsight, we all probably knew where that crystal microphone was going. Or did we? Whilst the televoters of Europe picked a song about someone’s mother, the juries chose a different path. That was the path trodden by today’s birthday boy Sam Ryder. He picked up eight maxima from those juries, including one from the country that eventually beat him overall. And his United Kingdom of stuff earned its 16th runners-up spot (yes, there were contests before 2012). He’s since performed before royalty, so perhaps he could be the alumnus of 2022.

Sam is 33 today.

Happy birthday, Sam!