The United Kingdom was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1957 with the song "All", composed by Reynell Wreford, with lyrics by Alan Stranks, and performed by Patricia Bredin. The British participating broadcaster, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), selected its entry through a national final, the second edition of Festival of British Popular Songs and, subsequently, the performer internally once the national final was over. This was the first-ever entry from the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest, and the first-ever entry performed in English in the contest.
Before Eurovision
Festival of British Popular Songs 1957
The United Kingdom was represented in the Eurovision Song Contest for the first time in . The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) did not participate in the inaugural contest in , as it had created its own contest, the Festival of British Popular Songs, aspects of which influenced the 1957 Eurovision contest.
The Festival of British Popular Songs 1957 served as the selection for the United Kingdom's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 1957. All British music publishing companies were invited to submit each one song for the national selection. A jury consisting of Jack Payne, Harry S. Pepper, Cyril Stapleton, Walter Ridley and Frank Lee met in December 1956 to select the competing entries of the live shows. The interpreting artists were chosen separately by the BBC production team.
The Festival of British Popular Songs 1957 consisted of three semi finals and a grand final. All shows took place in the King's Theatre, Hammersmith (West London). They were produced by Francis Essex. Since the Festival of British Popular Songs 1956 was judged to be lacking effectiveness because it stretched over several months, it was decided that the 1957 edition would consist of weekly shows. The artists were accompanied by the Bill McGuffie Quintet and an orchestra under the musical direction of Eric Robinson.
! colspan="2" | First performance
! colspan="2" | Second performance
! rowspan="2" | Song
! rowspan="2" | Songwriter(s)
! rowspan="2" | Place
|-
!
! Artist 1
!
! Artist 2
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 1
| The Keynotes
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 5
| Lita Roza and Dennis Lotis
| "April Heart"
| John Watson
|
|- style="font-weight:bold; background:navajowhite"
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 2
| style="text-align:left;" |Dennis Lotis
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 8
| The Keynotes
| "Seven"
|
| style="text-align:center;" | 2
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 3
| Marion Ryan
| colspan="2"
| "The Teenage Waltz"
| Tony Osbourne
|
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 4
| John Hanson
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 6
| Janie Marden
| "There's a Place Called Paradise"
|
|
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 7
| Marion Ryan
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 10
| John Hanson
| "Turn Around and Face the Sun"
|
|
|- style="font-weight:bold; background:navajowhite"
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 9
| Lita Roza
! scope="row" colspan="2"
| "The Way It Goes"
| Tony Osbourne
| style="text-align:center;" | 1
|}
The second semi-final took place on 29 January 1957 at 21:00 GMT. The artists were accompanied by the Frank Weir Quintet as well as by an orchestra conducted by Stanley Black. The artists were accompanied by the Malcolm Lockyer Quartet as well as by an orchestra under the musical direction of Frank Chacksfield. The artists were accompanied by an orchestra under the musical direction of three different conductors: The performances of "Don't Cry Little Doll" and "All" were conducted by Frank Chacksfield, "Once" and "For Your Love" were conducted by Stanley Black, "Seven" and "The Way It Goes" by Eric Robinson so that all songs in the final were conducted by the same conductor as in their respective semi-final.
The regional juries for the final were from the cities of Belfast, Newcastle, Bangor, Edinburgh, Nottingham, Cardiff, Birmingham, Glasgow, Manchester and London. A cup was presented to the winning composer, Reynell Wreford. The broadcast was watched by 7.5 million viewers in the United Kingdom.
{| class="sortable wikitable plainrowheaders" style="margin: 1em auto 1em auto; text-align:left"
|+ Final – 12 February 1957
|-
! colspan="2" | First performance
! colspan="2" | Second performance
! rowspan="2" | Song
! rowspan="2" | Songwriter(s)
! rowspan="2" class="unsortable" | Votes
! rowspan="2" | Place
|-
!
! Artist 1
!
! Artist 2
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 1
| The Ken-Tones
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 5
| Bill Maynard
| "Don't Cry Little Doll"
|
| style="text-align:center;" | 14
| style="text-align:center;" | 4
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 2
|Pauline Shepherd
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 6
| Carole Carr
| "Once"
| Barbara Killalee
| style="text-align:center;" | 23
| style="text-align:center;" | 2
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 3
| Denis Lotis
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 9
| The Keynotes
| "Seven"
|
| style="text-align:center;" | 13
| style="text-align:center;" | 5
|- style="font-weight:bold; background:gold;"
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 4
| Malcolm Lockyer
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 8
| Patricia Bredin
| "All"
|
| style="text-align:center;" | 39
| style="text-align:center;" | 1
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 7
| Ronnie Hilton
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 11
| Alan Bristow
| "For Your Love"
|
| style="text-align:center;" | 13
| style="text-align:center;" | 5
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 10
| Lita Roza
| colspan="2"
| "The Way It Goes"
| Tony Osborne
| style="text-align:center;" | 18
| style="text-align:center;" | 3
|}
Recordings
Patricia Bredin never recorded the winning song "All" but a recording of the song was released by English singer Robert Earl. In addition, an instrumental version by Victor Sylvester as a single reached number 14 in the sheet music charts.
At Eurovision
Patricia Bredin performed third at the Eurovision Song Contest 1957, following and preceding . The conductor was Eric Robinson. The song also turned out to perform right before Italy's "", the longest entry in the history of the contest at 5:09 minutes.
Eurovision Song Contest 1957 was broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC Television Service with commentary by Berkeley Smith. The program was watched by 6.8 million viewers in the United Kingdom.
Voting
Each participating broadcaster assembled a ten-member jury panel. Every juror could give one vote to their favourite song.
|-
! scope="col" width="20%" | Score
! scope="col" | Country
|-
! scope="row" | 2 votes
|
|-
! scope="row" | 1 vote
|
|}
{| class="wikitable"
|-
|+ Votes awarded by the United Kingdom