Eurovision 1956 Results: Voting & Points
The first Eurovision Song Contest
In 1955 a meeting was held in Monaco, where the members of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) discussed the idea to create a pan-European music competition, inspired by the Italian Sanremo Music Festival. They decided to hold the first Eurovision Song Contest in the Swiss resort of Lugano the following year.
The first edition of Eurovision Song Contest was very different from today's contest: Seven countries participated with two songs each. The voting was secret and never made public, so no scoreboard. Luxembourg asked Switzerland to vote on its behalf, and Switzerland won. The programme only lasted for 1 hour and 40 minutes (The Grand Final of Eurovision 2015 lasted 4 hours). Only one artist was allowed on stage, and songs couldn't be longer than 3 minutes and 30 seconds (3:00 minutes today).
The programme was mainly made for radio, but one single camera was in the studio for the benefit of the few Europeans who possessed a television.
And the first winner of Eurovision Song Contest: Lys Assia from Switzerland with the song "Refrain"
Eurovision Song Contest 1956 in Lugano. Switzerland won with the song "Refrain" performed by Lys Assia
Date: Thursday 24 May 1956Location: Teatro Kursaal, Lugano, Switzerland
Broadcaster: SSR SRG
Hosts: Lohengrin Filipello
Name: Grand Prix Eurovision de la Chanson Européenne 1956
Voting: The scores of the voting have never been made public, leaving room for lots of speculation. Attempts to reconstruct the voting by interviewing jury members over the following five decades did not lead to any reliable outcome.
Interval Act: Les Joyeux Rossignols
Debuting countries: Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Switzerland
In 1956, every participating country could enter with two songs. The Netherlands were the first country to sing a song on Eurovision with "De vogels van Holland" (the birds of the Netherlands). At the 1956-contest the scores of the voting have never been made public, leaving room for lots of speculation. Attempts to reconstruct the voting by interviewing jury members over the following five decades did not lead to any reliable outcome In the first ever Eurovision Song Contest (1956), Luxembourg asked Switzerland to vote on its behalf. And the winner was: Switzerland!
