Eurovision Song Contest 1981
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| Eurovision Song Contest 1981 |
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| Final | 4 April 1981 |
| Presenter(s) | Doireann Ní Bhriain |
| Conductor | Noel Kelehan |
| Host broadcaster |  RTÉ |
| Venue | RDS Simmonscourt Pavilion, Dublin, Ireland |
| Winning song |  United Kingdom"Making Your Mind Up" |
| Voting system | |
| Each country awarded 12, 10, 8-1 points to their 10 favourite songs | |
| Number of entries | 20 |
| Debuting countries |  Cyprus |
| Returning countries |  Israel Yugoslavia |
| Withdrawing countries |  Italy Morocco |
| Nul points |  Norway |
| Interval act | Planxty with "Timedance" |
| Eurovision Song Contest | |
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The Eurovision Song Contest 1981 was the 26th Eurovision Song Contest and was held on April 4, 1981 at the Simmonscourt Pavilion of the Royal Dublin Society in Dublin. The presenter was Doireann Ní Bhriain. Bucks Fizz were the winners of this Eurovision with the song Making Your Mind Up.
This year is remembered for their performance, which included a dance-routine where the two male members ripped the skirts off the two female members and today stands as one of the defining moments of the contest's history.
The voting proved to be memorable for its closeness. The UK won by four points, but leading up to this, five countries took pole position at various stages: UK, Germany, France, Switzerland and Ireland. Just before the penultimate vote, three countries (UK, Germany and Switzerland) were all on equal top marks.
Other memorable moments included a glitch in the scorekeeping, giving host country Ireland 310 extra points instead of the 10 designated by the Luxembourg jury. Also of note, when host Doireann Ní Bhriain attempted to collect Yugoslavia's votes, the woman who answered the phone (who was evidently not a juror) simply answered "I don't have it," causing laughter to erupt from the audience.
This was the début year of Cyprus in the contest, who finished sixth.
Returning to the contest were 1961 winner, Jean-Claude Pascal for Luxembourg and Bucks Fizz member, Cheryl Baker who had performed in 1978 with the band Co-Co for the UK.
The interval act was traditional Irish band Planxty, who performed the lengthy piece "Timedance", which depicted Irish music through the ages. This is seen as a precursor to "Riverdance", which became famous after its performance in 1994.
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[edit] Results
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[edit] Voting structure
Each country had a jury who awarded 12, 10, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 points for their top ten songs.
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Austria | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
| Turkey | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Germany | 5 | 12 | 3 | 8 | 8 | 2 | 7 | 8 | 12 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 7 | 12 | 10 | 5 | 8 | 0 | 12 | ||
| Luxembourg | 10 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 5 | ||
| Israel | 8 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 3 | ||
| Denmark | 0 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | ||
| Yugoslavia | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 10 | 0 | ||
| Finland | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 6 | ||
| France | 12 | 0 | 12 | 12 | 7 | 2 | 4 | 10 | 0 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 10 | 3 | 8 | 7 | 12 | 10 | ||
| Spain | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 10 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | ||
| Netherlands | 3 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Ireland | 7 | 3 | 6 | 10 | 10 | 12 | 5 | 0 | 6 | 5 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 12 | 1 | 7 | ||
| Norway | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| United Kingdom | 4 | 8 | 4 | 5 | 12 | 10 | 10 | 3 | 7 | 8 | 12 | 10 | 3 | 6 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 8 | 8 | ||
| Portugal | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Belgium | 1 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 5 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Greece | 6 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 0 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 0 | ||
| Cyprus | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 10 | 0 | 7 | 12 | 3 | 0 | ||
| Switzerland | 2 | 2 | 7 | 8 | 0 | 4 | 12 | 12 | 10 | 4 | 1 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 8 | 0 | 4 | 10 | 1 | ||
| Sweden | 0 | 0 | 10 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 7 | 1 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||
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[edit] Map
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