Best loser

The UK delegation may be very sad about ending in last place again, for the second time in only five years. This last place occured on the same date as the last one... and then as well as now, I watched the contest on telly instead of live. (Heavens - is it my fault the UK ended last?)

When I started following the ESC, anything like the UK ending last was simply unthinkable. In 1987, the UK placed outside the top ten for the second time through the history of the contest. And now...

Well, to powder the story with some sunshine, at least no other last place has ever gained as many points as Andy Abraham since the current voting system was introduced in 1975. These are the scores of the last places since:

2008 UK - Andy Abraham "Even If" 14 points
1996 Finland - Jasmine "Niin kaunis on taivas" 9 points
1990 Norway - Ketil Stokkan "Brandenburger Tor" 8 points
1990 Finland - Beat "Fri?" 8 points
2002 Denmark - Malene "Tell Me Who You Are" 8 points
1976 Norway - Anne Karine Strøm "Mata Hari" 7 points
1985 Belgium - Linda Lepomme "Laat me nu gaan" 7 points
1980 Finland - Vesa-Matti Loiri "Huilumies" 6 points
1979 Belgium - Micha Marah "Hey Nanah!" 5 points
1979 Austria - Christina Simon "Heute in Jerusalem" 5 points
1984 Austria - Anita "Einfach weg" 5 points
2007 Ireland - Dervish "They can't stop the spring" 5 points
1986 Cyprus - Elpida "Tora zo" 4 points
1992 Finland - Pave "Yamma Yamma" 4 points
2005 Germany - Gracia "Run And Hide" 4 points
1975 Turkey - Semiha Yanki "Seninle bir dakika" 3 points
1993 Belgium - Barbara "Iemand als jij" 3 points
2001 Iceland - 2 Tricky "Angel" 3 points
2001 Norway - Halldor "On My Own" 3 points
2004 Norway - Knut Anders Sørum "High" 3 points
1977 Sweden - Forbes "Beatles" 2 points
2000 Belgium - Natalie Sorce "Envie de vivre" 2 points
1995 Germany - Stone & Stone "Verliebt in Dich" 1 point
1999 Spain - Lydia "No quiero escuchar" 1 point
2006 Malta - Fabrizio Faniello "I do" 1 point

...and the ones who had to go home with a big fat zero:
1978 Norway - Jahn Teigen "Mil etter mil"
1981 Norway - Finn Kalvik "Aldri i livet"
1982 Finland - Kojo "Nuku pommiin"
1983 Turkey - Cetin Alp & The Short Wave "Opera"
1983 Spain - Remedios Amaya "Quien maneja mi barca"
1987 Turkey - Seyyal Taner & Grup Lokomotif "Sarkim sevgi üstüne"
1988 Austria - Wilfried "Lisa Mona Lisa"
1989 Iceland - Daniel "þàð sem enginn sér"
1991 Austria - Thomas Forstner "Venedig im Regen"
1994 Lithuania - Ovidijus Vysniauskas "Lopsine mylimai"
1997 Norway - Tor Endresen "San Francisco"
1997 Portugal - Celia Lawson "Antes do adeus"
1998 Switzerland - Gunvor "Lass' ihn"
2003 United Kingdom - Jemini "Cry Baby"