Forty years on, we are being asked to believe that General Franco ordered his top television executives to offer bribes to all and sundry to make sure that Spain’s entry won that year’s Eurovision Song Contest, and thus deprive Congratulations and Cliff Richard of the title that should have been his. Let us leave aside the fact that this information has been released to promote a Spanish TV documentary, and see what other evidence there might be for such skulduggery at Eurovision.
Actually, there is none. The Spanish song was a bouncy little number, adventurously titled La La La, performed with gusto by a 20 year old miniskirted girl, professionally known as Massiel. There have been many worse songs that have won the competition, and many worse singers. The song was one of the more fancied, although Cliff was the odds-on favourite. It is true that Spanish television featured Massiel very heavily after her win, and treated the victory as a triumph of Spanish culture over the rest of Europe, but then almost every winner of the contest has gone on to local stardom, and a few, like Abba and Celine Dion, to world domination. Did we ignore Brotherhood Of Man after their triumph with Save Your Kisses For Me? If only we had.
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