Eurovision 1984: Luxembourg City

Luxembourg had won five times and, by 1984, was running out of places to put the contest.

Its broadcaster struggled to find a venue and ended up back in the city theatre that had held the 1973 show. The auditorium seats about 950 at the best of times. Once the cameras and commentary boxes were in, there was no room for the public at all. The audience was made up of journalists, delegations and diplomats.

Nineteen years old

The presenter was Désirée Nosbusch. She was 19, and she is still the youngest person ever to have hosted the contest. She did it in four languages: French, German, Luxembourgish and English.

The heir to the throne, Prince Henri, was among the guests.

Who was missing

Israel stayed away for the second time in five years for the same reason. The date fell on its memorial day.

Greece had meant to come. It is reported to have pulled out because none of the songs submitted was thought good enough — the second time in three years that a Greek entry had been stopped on grounds of quality.

Ireland returned after its year out, making nineteen.

The Tourists

The set was by Roland de Groot, the Dutch designer, on his fourth contest: a collection of shapes hung on pulleys over the stage, which were rearranged between songs so that every act had a different backdrop.

The postcards were comedy. A troupe of actors called the Tourists worked their way through every competing country’s national clichés, with a good deal of what was then new computer animation.

The booing

The United Kingdom’s entry was “Love Games”, by Belle and the Devotions. When it finished, there was booing from the hall — one of the first times that had been heard at the contest.

Nobody has settled why. Three explanations are usually offered. English football fans had caused trouble in Luxembourg during the qualifying matches for that year’s European Championship. The group’s backing singers were hidden off stage, which made it look as though the women in front were miming. And the song, which leaned heavily on the sound of 1960s Motown, had been accused of copying the Supremes.

It finished seventh.

The result

Sweden won for the second time, ten years after ABBA. The winners were three brothers, Per, Richard and Louis Herrey, performing as Herreys, and their song was “Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley”.

They had sung first. It was the third time the opening song had won, after 1975 and 1976, and it has not happened since.

Herreys finished on 145 points, eight ahead of Ireland’s Linda Martin. Spain was third and Denmark fourth. Austria came last with five points.

For the reprise the brothers sang part of the song in English, in a translation by Per Herrey.