United Kingdom: A Song for Europe 1979

Following a full day of rehearsals, a strike by BBC technicians forced the cancellation of the show about an hour before it was due to air. Instead, audio recordings of the songs were judged by 14 regional juries representing Bristol, Bangor, Leeds, Norwich, Newcastle, Aberdeen, Birmingham, Belfast, Cardiff, Plymouth, Glasgow, Southampton, and London. The Manchester jury could not be reached, but because the winning song held a lead of more than 12 points, their votes were initially excluded from the final result. This omission created an inconsequential tie for second place. Once the Manchester votes were later confirmed and added, the song “Call My Name” dropped to third place.