Derek McMillan Posted May 21, 2006 Share Posted May 21, 2006 (edited) I swear Finland's drummer was Bill Bailey. Not very heavily disguised either. Their heavy metal blasted away the lacklustre entries from the rest of Europe. Certainly nobody had any difficulty remembering which one was Finland! Wogan (who might usefully be pensioned off to make way for, for example, Jonathan Ross) made some good jokes about, well to be honest one good joke about, the countries who voted for their neighbours. Since the "balkanisation" of Eastern Europe the voting has been skewed. It is as if England, Scotland, Wales, Cornwall, Strathyclyde, The Isle of Man etc each had a vote and voted for each other. However Wogan then praised good old Ireland for voting for the UK which sounded odd and even more weird he was cynical about Serbian people voting for Bosnia. Short memory Terry - they used to be at war - there is no old pals act between Serbia and Bosnia, just a legacy of bitterness. Perhaps the young people in Serbia want to put nationalism behind them and vote on the merits of the song. Wogan is in no position to call another presenter a one-trick pony. He needs to get some more jokes. Edited May 21, 2006 by Derek McMillan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Davies Posted May 21, 2006 Share Posted May 21, 2006 Terry Wogan is the main reason that I bother to watch the Eurovision Song Contest. Over the years he has had me chuckling non-stop through each contest. This year he was less funny than he usually is. He repeated himself a lot and made a meal of the female (Greek-American) presenter's overuse of the word "amazing". He did a reasonable job, however. What made the evening for me was the winning act, Lordi from Finland. In spite of the skewed Balkan and Baltic voting, the Finns won by a long chalk, having been the victims of "nul points" from so many countries so many times in the past. Great news for an ageing rock fan like myself! Is this the first blast of the wind of change that marks the beginning of the end of the boom-bang-a-bang, la-la-la era and those dreadful lugubrious ballads? I've travelled a lot in the Balkans, having visited all the Balkan countries at some time, going right back to the early 1960s when Tito was in charge and long before the more recent bloody conflicts. It's a strange place, characterised by a love-hate relationship that is similar to our own love-hate relationship with France and Ireland - and we've fought some bloody battles in these two countries too. It was nice to see the Balkans voting for one another. And thanks, Ireland, for your vote for Daz! BTW, Brian Kennedy, the singer of the Irish entry is from Belfast, which (still) happens to be British. As a Kennedy, I am sure Brian considers himself Irish rather than British. The Northern Irish are often a bit schizophrenic in this respect. My wife, who is also from Belfast, is never quite sure whether she shoulld describe herself as Irish or British - usually the former, however, except in the Shankill Road! My wife and I saw Brian Kennedy perform at the Millennium concert 1999/2000 and we met him in person in Belfast in 2003. Nice guy and a great perfomer! Pity about the song this year... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 21, 2006 Share Posted May 21, 2006 Terry Wogan is the main reason that I bother to watch the Eurovision Song Contest. Over the years he has had me chuckling non-stop through each contest. This year he was less funny than he usually is. He repeated himself a lot and made a meal of the female (Greek-American) presenter's overuse of the word "amazing". He did a reasonable job, however. Appreciating the work of the Wogan is a sure sign of increasing years. Disturbingly I find myself listening to Radio 2 on the way to work these days - Is there any hope??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Simkin Posted May 21, 2006 Share Posted May 21, 2006 Appreciating the work of the Wogan is a sure sign of increasing years. Disturbingly I find myself listening to Radio 2 on the way to work these days - Is there any hope??? I am not that old but I have to admit that I sometimes listen to Radio 2. However, that is less likely since the arrival of Chris Evans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 21, 2006 Share Posted May 21, 2006 I am not that old ....................... When did you stop counting? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek McMillan Posted May 31, 2006 Author Share Posted May 31, 2006 OMG Chris Evans. That puts paid to any idea of listening to Radio 2. I will stick with Capital Gold or Aimee Mann tapes I think. I like Wogan's commentary on the Eurovision contest but agree he needs more new jokes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 31, 2006 Share Posted May 31, 2006 OMG Chris Evans. That puts paid to any idea of listening to Radio 2. I have listened to Chris Evans on Radio 2 recently and have to report that unlike John Simkin (and Peter Pan) he has aged and matured and is now quite entertaining Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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