The Eurovision Song Contest 1966, originally known as the (), was the 11th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, held on 5 March 1966 at Villa Louvigny in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg, and presented by Josiane Shen. It was organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster (CLT), who staged the event after winning the for with the song "Poupée de cire, poupée de son" by France Gall.
Broadcasters from eighteen countries participated in the contest, the same countries that had competed the previous year.
The winner was with the song "", performed and composed by Udo Jürgens, and written by Jürgens and Thomas Hörbiger. This was Udo Jürgens third consecutive entry in the contest, finally managing to score a victory for his native country. This was also the first winning song to be performed in German. , , and rounded out the top five, with all achieving their best results up to that point.
Location
thumb|200px|left|Villa Louvigny, Luxembourg – host venue of the 1966 contest
(CLT) staged the 1966 contest in Luxembourg City, after winning the for with the song "Poupée de cire, poupée de son" by France Gall. The venue selected was Villa Louvigny, which was also the venue for the . The building served as the headquarters of the broadcaster and housed its television studios. It is located in Municipal Park, in the quarter of the centre of the city.
Participants
thumb|upright|Dutch representative [[Milly Scott was the first black singer to compete in the contest]]
Broadcasters from eighteen countries participated in the 1966 contest, the same countries which had participated in the previous year's event.
The event featured two artists which had previously competed in the contest for their countries: Udo Jürgens made a third consecutive appearance in the contest, after previously representing and ; and Domenico Modugno also participated in the contest a third time, after representing and . Also notable among the participants was Milly Scott, representing the , who was the first black singer to compete in the Eurovision Song Contest.
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders sticky-header" style="clear:left"
|-
|+ Eurovision Song Contest 1966 participants
|-
! scope="col" | Country
! scope="col" | Broadcaster
! scope="col" | Artist
! scope="col" | Song
! scope="col" | Language
! scope="col" | Songwriter(s)
! scope="col" | Conductor
|-
! scope="row" |
| ORF
| Udo Jürgens
| ""
| German
|
|
|-
! scope="row" |
| RTB
| Tonia
| ""
| French
|
| Jean Roderès
|-
! scope="row" |
| DR
| Ulla Pia
| ""
| Danish
| Erik Kåre
|
|-
! scope="row" |
| YLE
| Ann-Christine
| "Playboy"
| Finnish
| Ossi Runne
| Ossi Runne
|-
! scope="row" |
| ORTF
| Dominique Walter
| ""
| French
|
| Franck Pourcel
|-
! scope="row" |
| HR
| Margot Eskens
| ""
| German
|
| Willy Berking
|-
! scope="row" |
| RÉ
| Dickie Rock
| "Come Back to Stay"
| English
| Rowland Soper
| Noel Kelehan
|-
! scope="row" |
| RAI
| Domenico Modugno
| ""
| Italian
| Domenico Modugno
|
|-
! scope="row" |
| CLT
| Michèle Torr
| ""
| French
|
| Jean Roderès
|-
! scope="row" |
| TMC
| Téréza
| ""
| French
|
| Alain Goraguer
|-
! scope="row" |
| NTS
| Milly Scott
| ""
| Dutch
|
| Dolf van der Linden
|-
! scope="row" |
| NRK
| Åse Kleveland
| ""
| Norwegian
| Arne Bendiksen
| Øivind Bergh
|-
! scope="row" |
| RTP
| Madalena Iglésias
| ""
| Portuguese
|
|
|-
! scope="row" |
| TVE
| Raphael
| ""
| Spanish
| Manuel Alejandro
| Rafael Ibarbia
|-
! scope="row" |
| SR
| Lill Lindfors and Svante Thuresson
| ""
| Swedish
|
| Gert-Ove Andersson
|-
! scope="row" |
| SRG SSR
|
| ""
| French
|
| Jean Roderès
|-
! scope="row" |
| BBC
| Kenneth McKellar
| "A Man Without Love"
| English
|
| Harry Rabinowitz
|-
! scope="row" |
| JRT
| Berta Ambrož
| ""
| Slovene
|
| Mojmir Sepe
|}
Production and format
The contest was organised and broadcast by CLT.
New changes to the contest rules was introduced this year; The first allowed music experts to be present in the juries again, while the second rule change stated, that a country could only perform in any of its national languages. This came about after the was sung in English. The prize for the winning artist and songwriters, a medallion engraved with the Eurovision logo designed by , was presented by the previous year's winning artist France Gall.
The contest is noted for its historic results for several countries. Austria who came first, who came second, who came third and who came fourth all achieved their best results up until then, some of which would stand for several decades. In contrast, traditional Eurovision heavyweights such as , , and all achieved their worst result by far up till that point, with the general public in the aforementioned countries meeting these results with a degree of consternation.
{| class="sortable wikitable plainrowheaders sticky-header"
|-
|+ Results of the Eurovision Song Contest 1966
|-
! scope="col" |
! scope="col" | Country
! scope="col" | Artist
! scope="col" | Song
! scope="col" class="unsortable" | Points
! scope="col" | Place
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 1
|
|
| ""
| 7
| 10
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 2
|
| Ulla Pia
| ""
| 4
| 14
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 3
|
| Tonia
| ""
| 14
| 4
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 4
|
|
| ""
| 7
| 10
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 5
|
|
| ""
| 9
| 7
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 6
|
|
| ""
| 15
| 3
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 7
|
| Ann-Christine
| "Playboy"
| 7
| 10
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 8
|
|
| ""
| 6
| 13
|- style="font-weight:bold; background:gold;"
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 9
|
|
| ""
| 31
| 1
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 10
|
| and Svante Thuresson
| ""
| 16
| 2
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 11
|
| Raphael
| ""
| 9
| 7
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 12
|
|
| ""
| 12
| 6
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 13
|
| Téréza
| ""
| 0
| 17
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 14
|
|
| ""
| 0
| 17
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 15
|
|
| ""
| 1
| 16
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 16
|
|
| ""
| 2
| 15
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 17
|
|
| "Come Back to Stay"
| 14
| 4
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 18
|
|
| "A Man Without Love"
| 8
| 9
|}
Spokespersons
Each participating broadcaster appointed a spokesperson, connected to the contest venue via telephone lines and responsible for announcing, in English or French, the votes for their respective country. Known spokespersons at the 1966 contest are listed below.
- Camillo Felgen
- Herman Brouwer
- Erik Diesen
- Michael Aspel
Detailed voting results<span class="anchor" id="Scoreboard"></span>
<!-- Anchor in the header is the old section name -->
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;"
|-
|+ Detailed voting results
|-
! colspan="2" |
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
|-
! rowspan="18"
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Germany
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 7 || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;"| || || 1 || || || || || || || || || 5 || || 1 || || || ||
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Denmark
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 4 || || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;"| || || || || 1 || 3 || || || || || || || || || || ||
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Belgium
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 14 || 5 || || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;"| || || || || || 3 || || 1 || || || || || || 5 || ||
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Luxembourg
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 7 || || || || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;"| || || || || || 1 || 5 || || || || || 1 || || ||
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Yugoslavia
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 9 || 3 || || || || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;"| || || 1 || || || || || || || || || || || 5
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Norway
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 15 || 1 || || || || || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;"| || || || 3 || 3 || 3 || || || 5 || || || ||
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Finland
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 7 || || 3 || || || || 3 || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;"| || || || || || || || || || 1 || ||
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Portugal
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 6 || || 1 || || || || || || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;"| || || || 5 || || || || || || ||
|- style="background:gold;"
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; font-weight:bold; background:gold;" | Austria
| style="text-align:right; font-weight:bold;" | 31 || || || 5 || 5 || 5 || || || 1 || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;"| || || 1 || 3 || 5 || 3 || 3 || || ||
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Sweden
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 16 || || 5 || || || || 5 || 5 || || || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;"| || || 1 || || || || || ||
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Spain
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 9 || || || || || 1 || || || 5 || || || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;"| || || || || || || || 3
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Switzerland
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 12 || || || || 1 || || || || || 5 || || || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;"| || 3 || || || || 3 ||
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Monaco
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 0 || || || || || || || || || || || || || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;"| || || || || ||
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Italy
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 0 || || || || || || || || || || || || || || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;"| || || || ||
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | France
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 1 || || || || || || || || || || || || || 1 || || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;"| || || ||
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Netherlands
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 2 || || || || || || || || || || || || || || || || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;"| || 1 || 1
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Ireland
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 14 || || || 3 || || 3 || || || || || || || || || || 5 || 3 || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;"| ||
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | United Kingdom
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 8 || || || || 3 || || || || || || || || || || || || || 5 || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;"|
|}
5 points
Below is a summary of all 5 points in the final:
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
|-
! scope="col" | N.
! scope="col" | Contestant
! scope="col" | Nation(s) giving 5 points
|-
! scope="row" | 4
|
| , , ,
|-
! scope="row" | 3
|
| , ,
|-
! scope="row" | 2
|
| ,
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="9" | 1
|
|
|-
|
|
|-
|
|
|-
|
|
|-
|
|
|-
|
|
|-
|
|
|-
|
|
|-
|
|
|}
Broadcasts<span class="anchor" id="Broadcasters and commentators"></span>
<!-- Anchor in the header is the old section name -->
Each participating broadcaster was required to relay the contest via its networks. Non-participating EBU member broadcasters were also able to relay the contest as "passive participants". Broadcasters were able to send commentators to provide coverage of the contest in their own native language and to relay information about the artists and songs to their television viewers.
The contest was reportedly broadcast in 25 countries, including in the participating countries and Morocco; and in Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and the Soviet Union via Intervision; with an estimated global audience of 500 million viewers. Known details on the broadcasts in each country, including the specific broadcasting stations and commentators are shown in the tables below.
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders sticky-header"
|-
|+ Broadcasters and commentators in participating countries
|-
! scope="col" | Country
! scope="col" | Broadcaster
! scope="col" | Channel(s)
! scope="col" | Commentator(s)
! scope="col" |
|-
! scope="row" |
| ORF
| ORF
|
| style="text-align:center" |
|-
! scope="rowgroup" rowspan="2" |
| RTB
| RTB,
|
| style="text-align:center" |
|-
| BRT
| BRT
|
| style="text-align:center" |
|-
! scope="row" |
| DR
| DR TV
| Skat Nørrevig
| style="text-align:center" |
|-
! scope="rowgroup" rowspan="2" |
| rowspan="2" | YLE
| ,
|
| style="text-align:center" |
|-
|
|
| style="text-align:center" |
|-
| France Inter
|
| style="text-align:center" |
|-
! scope="rowgroup" rowspan="2" |
| rowspan="2" | RÉ
|
| Brendan O'Reilly
| style="text-align:center" |
|-
|
| Kevin Roche
| style="text-align:center" |
|-
! scope="row" |
| RAI
|
|
| style="text-align:center" |
|-
! scope="row" |
| CLT
| , Radio Luxembourg
|
| style="text-align:center" |
|-
| KRO
|
|
| style="text-align:center" |
|-
! scope="row" |
| RTP
| RTP
|
| style="text-align:center" |
|-
! scope="rowgroup" rowspan="2" |
| TVE
| TVE
|
| style="text-align:center" |
|-
| RNE
|
|
| style="text-align:center" |
|-
! scope="row" |
| SR
| , SR P1
| Sven Lindahl
| style="text-align:center" |
|-
! scope="rowgroup" rowspan="3" |
| rowspan="3" | SRG SSR
| TV DRS
| Hans-Joachim Rauschenbach
| style="text-align:center" |
|-
| TSR, Radio Sottens
|
| style="text-align:center" |
|-
| TSI
|
| style="text-align:center" |
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="2" |
| BBC
| BBC1
| David Jacobs
| style="text-align:center" |
|-
| BFBS
| BFBS Radio
| Ian Fenner
| style="text-align:center" |
|-
! scope="rowgroup" rowspan="3" |
| rowspan="3" | JRT
|
|
| style="text-align:center" |
|-
|
|
| style="text-align:center" |
|-
|
|
| style="text-align:center" |
|}
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders sticky-header"
|-
|+ Broadcasters and commentators in non-participating countries
|-
! scope="col" | Country
! scope="col" | Broadcaster
! scope="col" | Channel(s)
! scope="col" | Commentator(s)
! scope="col" |
|-
! scope="row" |
| ČST
|
|
| style="text-align:center" |
|-
! scope="row" |
| MTV
| MTV
|
| style="text-align:center" |
|-
! scope="row" |
| TP
|
|
| style="text-align:center" |
|-
! scope="row" |
| TVR
| TVR
|
| style="text-align:center" |
|}