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| The Eurovision Song Contest: The Official History | 
 enlarge | Author: John Kennedy O'connor
Publisher: Carlton Books Ltd
Category: Book
List Price: £14.99
Buy New: £6.74
You Save: £8.25 (55%)
New (13) from £6.74
Avg. Customer Rating:  19 reviews
Sales Rank: 12089
Media: Paperback
Edition: Rev Ed
Pages: 208
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.7
Dimensions (in): 10.9 x 8.5 x 0.6
ISBN: 1844429946
EAN: 9781844429943
ASIN: 1844429946
Publication Date: April 2, 2007
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
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| Customer Reviews:
 Wow! Great book on Eurovision! March 14, 2007
I am relatively new to the world of the Eurovision Song Contest. Although it's been running on an annual basis for over five decades, I only saw it for the first time three years ago and I just can't get enough of it. It's just amazingly wacky, camp, glitzy and weird, yet has some really outstanding music and performances and the whole voting across continents thing really is very exciting. Wanting to know more, I bought both the first and updated edition of this book and I refer to it almost every day! It tells the whole story in great detail and there are amazing statistics to pour over as well as endless pictures. It's a really great design and layout and just a really cool book. Hopefully there'll be an update every year!
 a modest effort March 12, 2007
1 out of 42 found this review helpful
i agree completely with the view of mr. Herzog , is a quite modest effort from a person that seems having only viewed the contest on tape and from an anglosaxon point of view only ....
Inadeguate, inaccurate and shamefully taken by EBU as "official".
I can't wait! February 17, 2007
23 out of 24 found this review helpful
I really can't wait for this book. I've only been in to Eurovision for a decade, but I just love it and can't get enough of it. I refer to the earlier versions of this book almost every day, and I just love reading over the facts, trivia and history from the show's history. I'm looking forward to the updates this year. Looks like the page count is expanding quite a bit too, so hopefully there will be lots of new trivia and facts. It's a great book. Really colourful, lots of pictures and record sleeves I'd love to get hold of! I can't wait for Eurovision every year, and this book keeps me excited in between the contests!
Wow! Great book on Eurovision! August 24, 2006
10 out of 10 found this review helpful
I am relatively new to the world of the Eurovision Song Contest. Although it's been running on an annual basis for over five decades, I only saw it for the first time three years ago and I just can't get enough of it. It's just amazingly wacky, camp, glitzy and weird, yet has some really outstanding music and performances and the whole voting across continents thing really is very exciting. Wanting to know more, I bought both the first and updated edition of this book and I refer to it almost every day! It tells the whole story in great detail and there are amazing statistics to pour over as well as endless pictures. It's a really great design and layout and just a really cool book. Hopefully there'll be an update every year!
The History Book on the Shelf.... April 16, 2006
28 out of 28 found this review helpful
One of TV's greatest phenomenons and longest running shows, The Eurovision Song Contest reached its 50th edition in 2005 and (ironically for a BBC show) Carlton Books published this remarkable book to mark the occasion, in conjunction with the European Broadcasting Union. This paperback edition updates the book to include the 2005 contest in Kiev and brings all the stats and facts up to date ahead of this year's contest in Athens.
Author John Kennedy O'Connor has wonderfully captured the spirit of this annual tele-visual kitsch fest in a lavishly illustrated book spanning the entire history of this much maligned show that started as a one off event in a small Swiss theatre in 1956, with just seven competing nations, and is now a two-day event featuring upwards of forty countries, some from well beyond Europe's borders.
Covering all the highs and lows of the competition and including intriguing and little-known backstage gossip and anecdotes, O'Connor's style is very entertaining and provides a genuinely interesting and slightly ironic tribute to the contest and the stars and songs that have featured in it over the years. The book is divided into two distinct sections. The monochrome era of the show from 1956-1967 is covered in double page chapters; whereas the colour broadcasts from 1968 all get four pages each. The entries and results for every year are included alongside numerous and very rare colour and black and white photographs of the artists as well as artwork for all the winning singles, together with their international chart history. Most fun of all, O'Connor has compiled a fascinating "Eurofacts" section that covers all of the trivial statistics that fans crave and that intrigue the general viewers. If you want to know what colour scheme is best to wear if you want to win - you'll find it here! Most people know which nation won the most contests, but which country finished 16th most frequently? Which nation is best at choosing the winner, or worst for that matter? Who conducted the most number of entries and for the most number of nations? It's all here and a lot more. Also included in the new edition is a summary of the semi-finals from recent contests.
I really enjoyed the style of this author, who clearly knows his Euro stuff. He has successfully managed to produce an in depth look at the contest without taking it all too seriously and yet write a genuinely enthusiastic and fascinating history of the competition that everyone loves to hate. His style makes for a very entertaining read. Here's to another 50 years of fun!
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