Katrina (pictured here with Sir Terry Wogan) brought the UK its most recently Eurovision victory in 1997 – but that seems like a very long time ago (Picture: Rex Shutterstock)

For British Eurovision fans, May 3 marks the 20th anniversary of our last victory at the Eurovision Song Contest.

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It’s been 20 years of hurt since Katrina and the Waves won a landslide victory in Ireland to capture a fifth victory at the world’s longest running televised music competition.

Win Number 5

It was May 3 1997, the United Kingdom was suffering an election hangover and Tony Blair had just walked into Downing Street.

Love Shine A Light was one of the biggest winners of all time and the first time a non-Brit had won for the United Kingdom.


Katrina put an end to the United Kingdom’s biggest barren run at Eurovision since our first win back in 1967. It took 10 years to win for the first time, but we had to wait a whopping 16 years after Bucks Fizz’s infamous skirt-ripping routine for win number five.



Win Number 4

Bucks Fizz were a band built for Eurovision, literally. Making Your Mind Up became a global hit and Bucks Fizz were one of the best selling bands of the 1980s.

Cheryl, Mike and Jay of the original Bucks Fizz line-up (along with Bobby McVay) completed a sell-out national tour last year. They’re currently back in the studio with Mike Stock (of Stock Aitken and Waterman fame) and have a new album out later this year.

The fabulous foursome are sounding better than ever, even though this magical Eurovision moment took place 36 years ago! Bucks Fizz remain the United Kingdom’s favourite Eurovision winners of all time.

Win Number 3

Win number three came back in 1976, with a two boy two girl format that worked for Abba two years before them, Brotherhood of Man built on their international popularity to capture a famous win with Save Your Kisses For Me.

Win Number 2

Prior to that, it was Lulu that delivered win number two. Boom Bang A Bang remains the stuff of Eurovision legend and the title has been used to name many a Eurovision show and party since. Lulu shared her 1969 win with Spain, Netherlands and France because there was no rule for what to do if there was a tie for first place. In true Eurovision style, four songs tied for first place!

Win Number 1

The United Kingdom’s first Eurovisoin victory and one of the biggest hits of the 1960s went to Sandie Shaw and Puppet On A String back in 1967.

Sandie got a bit fed up with the song for a while. The sound didn’t kick in for the first couple of seconds but it didn’t matter.

On top of our five wins, the United Kingdom holds the Eurovision record for most times in second place.

In 60 attempts, we’ve finished second a whopping 15 times. That means 1/3 of our entries have been in the top two.

It just goes to show how far our fortunes have fallen with only two top five finishes this millennium.

Can we make it 6 wins this year?

Lucie Jones will be flying the United Kingdom flag this year at the Eurovision Song Contest.

Her ballad Never Give Up On You carries our hopes of a long overdue sixth win in Kyiv on Saturday 13 May. The show will be broadcast live on BBC1 at 8pm