| Eurovision Song Contest News - 2010 Oslo, Norway 

Sonia's Bolero Jacket

I have been a Eurovision fan ever since I can remember. As a young kid in the 80s, it was the only night of the year bar Christmas when I was allowed to stay up late! Earliest memory is Bucks Fizz winning and then being gutted they weren't at Harrogate the following year (didn't understand we'd have to send another entry - thought that Making Your Mind Up could be our song every year, bless). I remember the Norweigen hostess in 1986 holding up little cue cards with national flags on and thinking to myself, when she came to the Norway entry, "well, of course she's going to pick her own country to win - how unfair!". I remember Celine Dion in 1988 on that huge neon stage in Dublin and trying to tape the sound off the TV with my little cassette recorder (too poor for VHS in our house). For me it was all about the memorable melodies, the key changes, the orchestra, the sparkly outfits, the compere talking in French, contacting distant capitals over crackly telephone lines and the surging sense of pride when I heard "this is BBC London calling". As a result of these formative experiences, I have become a MAJOR fan of the show. I also blame them for me being gay. Disappointed in the direction it's taken in recent years, I'd bring back the orchestra, make countries sing in their own language and have West / East semis and then expert jury voting in the grand final. Oh, and I'd get the BBC to set up some kind of Melodifestivalen style show (which I adore - it's how the real Eurovision should be!).