The Eurovision Song Contest 1970 was the 15th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, held on 21 March 1970 at the in Amsterdam, Netherlands, and presented by Willy Dobbe. It was organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster (NOS), who staged the event after winning the for the in a joint victory with , , and the . As the 1969 contest was held in Spain, and the in the United Kingdom, a draw of ballots between the French and the Dutch broadcasters resulted in NOS being chosen as the host broadcaster.
Broadcasters from twelve countries participated in the contest this year, the lowest number of participants since . , , , and all boycotted the 1970 edition, officially because they felt that the contest marginalised smaller countries and was no longer good television entertainment, though it is rumoured that they, along with which had already opted not to take part in 1969, were protesting the four-way tie result that had occurred that year.
The winner was with the song "All Kinds of Everything", performed by Dana, and written by Derry Lindsay and Jackie Smith. This was Ireland's first of their eventual record seven victories in the contest. The finished in second place for a record-extending seventh time, while ended up in third placethe best result for the country at the time. This was also the only time that received nul points.
The , venue of the 1970 contest, is a semi-permanent exhibit at the Ferdinand Bolstraat in Amsterdam. It was originally opened on 31 October 1922. This building was later replaced by the current RAI building - a congress and event center - on Europe Square, designed by Alexander Bodon, and opened on 2 February 1961.
Participants
(which had not taken part in 1969), , , , and boycotted this contest as they were not pleased with the result of 1969 and the voting structure. However, María Jesús Aguirre and Mercedes Valimaña, members of , who provided backing vocals for , returned as backing singers for Spain.
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders sticky-header" style="clear:left"
|-
|+ Eurovision Song Contest 1970 participants
|
| ""
| German
|
| Christian Bruhn
|-
! scope="row" |
| RTÉ
| Dana
| "All Kinds of Everything"
| English
|
| Dolf van der Linden
|-
! scope="row" |
| RAI
| Gianni Morandi
| ""
| Italian
|
|
|-
! scope="row" |
| CLT
| David Alexandre Winter
| ""
| French
|
| Raymond Lefèvre
|-
! scope="row" |
| TMC
|
| "Marlène"
| French
|
| Jimmy Walter
|-
! scope="row" |
| NOS
| Patricia and Hearts of Soul
| ""
| Dutch
| Pieter Goemans
| Dolf van der Linden
|-
! scope="row" |
| TVE
| Julio Iglesias
| "Gwendolyne"
| Spanish
| Julio Iglesias
| Augusto Algueró
|-
! scope="row" |
| SRG SSR
| Henri Dès
| ""
| French
| Henri Dès
| Bernard Gérard
|-
! scope="row" |
| BBC
| Mary Hopkin
| "Knock, Knock (Who's There?)"
| English
|
| Johnny Arthey
|-
! scope="row" |
| JRT
| Eva Sršen
| ""
| Slovene
|
| Mojmir Sepe
|}
Format
Following the confirmation of the twelve competing countries, the draw to determine the running order of the contest was held on 15 January 1970.
The Dutch producers were forced to pad out the show as only 12 nations decided to make the trip to Amsterdam. The result was a format that has endured almost to the present day. An extended opening sequence (filmed in Amsterdam) set the scene, while every entry was introduced by a short video 'postcard' featuring each of the participating artists, ostensibly in their own nation. However, the 'postcards' for Switzerland, Luxembourg, and Monaco were all filmed on location in Paris (as was the French postcard).
|-
! scope="col" |
! scope="col" | Country
! scope="col" | Artist
! scope="col" | Song
! scope="col" class="unsortable" | Votes
! scope="col" | Place
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 1
|
| Patricia and Hearts of Soul
| ""
| 7
| 7
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 2
|
|
| ""
| 8
| 4
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 3
|
|
| ""
| 5
| 8
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 4
|
|
| ""
| 4
| 11
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 5
|
|
| ""
| 5
| 8
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 6
|
|
| "Marie-Blanche"
| 8
| 4
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 7
|
|
| "Knock, Knock (Who's There?)"
| 26
| 2
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 8
|
|
| ""
| 0
| 12
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 9
|
|
| "Gwendolyne"
| 8
| 4
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 10
|
|
| "Marlène"
| 5
| 8
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 11
|
|
| ""
| 12
| 3
|- style="font-weight:bold; background:gold;"
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 12
|
| Dana
| "All Kinds of Everything"
| 32
| 1
|}
Spokespersons
Each participating broadcaster appointed a spokesperson who was responsible for announcing the votes for their respective country via telephone. Known spokespersons at the 1970 contest are listed below.
- John Skehan
- Ramón Rivera
- Colin Ward-Lewis
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"
|-
! rowspan="12"
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Netherlands
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 7 || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;"| || || 3 || 3 || || || 1 || || || || ||
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Switzerland
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 8 || 2 || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;"| || || || || 2 || 1 || || || || 2 || 1
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Italy
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 5 || || || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;"| || 1 || || || || || 2 || || 2 ||
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Yugoslavia
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 4 || || || || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;"| || || || 4 || || || || ||
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Belgium
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 5 || || || || || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;"| || 3 || || 1 || || || || 1
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | France
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 8 || || || 1 || 2 || || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;"| || || || || 2 || || 3
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | United Kingdom
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 26 || 3 || 2 || 2 || 4 || || 2 || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;"| || 2 || || 4 || 4 || 3
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Luxembourg
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 0 || || || || || || || || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;"| || || || ||
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Spain
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 8 || || || 3 || || || || || 2 || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;"| || 3 || ||
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Monaco
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 5 || || 1 || || || 1 || 2 || || || 1 || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;"| || ||
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Germany
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 12 || || 1 || 1 || || || || || 3 || 4 || 1 || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;"| || 2
|- style="background:gold;"
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; font-weight:bold; background:gold;" | Ireland
| style="text-align:right; font-weight:bold;" | 32 || 5 || 6 || || || 9 || 1 || 4 || 2 || 3 || || 2 || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;"|
|}
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.
In addition to the participating countries, the contest was reported to have been broadcast by EBU member broadcasters in Greece, Iceland, Israel, and Tunisia; in Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and the Soviet Union via Intervision; and in Argentina, Brazil, and Chile. An estimated global audience of 400 million viewers was reported to have watched the contest. It was also known to broadcast on radio in countries including Ireland, Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom. 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="rowgroup" rowspan="3" |
| RTB
| RTB, RTB 1
|
| style="text-align:center" |
|-
| rowspan="2" | BRT
| BRT
|
| style="text-align:center" |
|-
|
| Rudi Sinia
| style="text-align:center" |
|-
! scope="row" |
| ORTF
|
| Pierre Tchernia
| style="text-align:center" |
|-
! scope="rowgroup" rowspan="2" |
| ARD
|
|
| style="text-align:center" |
|-
| AFN
| AFN-TV
|
| style="text-align:center" |
|-
! scope="rowgroup" rowspan="2" |
| rowspan="2" | RTÉ
| RTÉ
| Valerie McGovern
| style="text-align:center" rowspan="2" |
|-
! scope="row" |
| CLT
|
|
| style="text-align:center" |
|-
! scope="row" |
| NOS
|
| Pim Jacobs
| style="text-align:center" |
|-
! scope="rowgroup" rowspan="8" |
| TVE
| TVE 1
| José Luis Uribarri
| style="text-align:center" rowspan="2" |
|-
|
|
| style="text-align:center" rowspan="2" |
|-
| colspan="2" |
|
|-
| colspan="2" |
|
| style="text-align:center" |
|-
| colspan="2" |