The UK has not won Eurovision since 1997, and Cheryl Baker’s name still hangs over one of the competition’s few bright British chapters. The country has taken the contest five times in all, but its last victory came nearly three decades ago, leaving a record of near-misses that still defines how British entries are judged.
That history is hard to miss. Britain first entered Eurovision in 1957 and has finished second 16 times, more than any other country, even while Sweden and Ireland jointly lead the all-time winners’ list with seven victories each. For the UK, the numbers tell a blunt story: success has been real, but scarcity has made every win feel like a relic.
The first British triumph came in 1967, when Sandie Shaw won with “Puppet On A String”. Shaw received points from every country except Spain and Yugoslavia, a detail that still captures how wide the appeal was that year. Two years later, Lulu represented Britain with “Boom Bang-A-Bang” and became a tied winner on 18 points, sharing the top spot with the French, Spanish and Dutch entries.
There were other runs that came close. Cliff Richard finished second in 1968 with “Congratulations”, the first Eurovision broadcast in colour, then returned in 1973 with “Power To All Our Friends” and came third. In the 1970s, Brotherhood of Man won with “Save Your Kisses For Me”, and in 1981 Bucks Fizz took the title with “Making Your Mind Up”, a performance remembered as much for its choreography as the song itself, with the male singers pulling off the female performers’ skirts to reveal another layer underneath.
That mix of triumph and theatricality has not insulated the UK from years of mockery. The country is guaranteed a place in the final as one of Eurovision’s “big five”, yet it is still often treated as a punching bag because the wins stopped after 1997. Baker, who is part of the contest’s British folklore, belongs to that older era when the UK could still expect to matter at the sharp end of the scoreboard.
The central question is not whether Britain once knew how to win Eurovision. It clearly did. The question now is whether the UK can turn a record of five wins, 16 second places and one last title in 1997 into anything that looks like a present tense again.
