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About United Kingdom...
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2005 Result
Points in Semi Final: N/A
Position in Semi Final: N/A
Points in Final: 18
Position in Final: 22nd
2006 Contest: Big 4 - Directly qualified to Final
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History (1956 to 2004)
United Kingdom's previous appearances: 47 year(s) out of 49
Years participated: 1957; 1959-
Best result: 1st (1967, 1969, 1976, 1981, 1997)
The United Kingdom is one of Eurovision's most successful nations, with 5 wins (the last in 1997, with 'Love Shine a Light') and an extraordinary 15 2nd places, including - most famously - Cliff Richard and 'Congratulations'. Only Ireland, with 7 wins, has a better record. When all countries had to sing in their native language, the UK always had the advantage of singing in English; however, since the free language rule was introduced in 1999, the UK's fortunes seem to have taken a tumble. In 1999, Precious (featuring a pre-Atomic Kitten Jenny Frost) finished a disappointing 12th with 'Say it again', though it was a rather tuneless performance and as much as it deserved. The following year, Nicki French sang 'Don't play that song again'; few people did, and it finished a lowly 16th, until then Britain's worst ever result. A year later, Lindsay D did little better, performing 'No dream impossible' - it finished 15th. It took Jessica Garlick's classy performance of 'Come back' in 2002 to restore some UK pride, gaining a well-earned 4th place. As a finalist on the talent show 'Pop Idol', one of Jessica's big advantages was her proven ability to sing live in front of a TV audience, something the UK should have remembered in 2003. Instead, the country sent male-female duo Jemini with 'Cry Baby', who - as we all know - scored nothing at all. Still, on the plus side, it at least made Nicki French feel less bad. All kinds of conspiracy theories were produced for why the UK did so badly - there were sound problems on stage, the UK lost out because of the Iraq war, and so on. In truth, however, the UK finished last because the song was dreadful and Jemini gave a bad performance. Having said that, the song was so awful, singing it off key probably made little difference.
The one good thing to emerge from 2003's disaster was the fact that the BBC had little option but to try harder in 2004. Thus, the old-fashioned 'Song for Europe' was rebadged as 'Eurovision: Making Your Mind Up', an array of reality TV stars were wheeled out, most of whom could sing, and the selection show was screened at a time when people at home were actually watching. James Fox, who had finished 5th in the BBC's 'Fame Academy' competition, won easily, and hopes were high that he could restore some British pride. It was not to be, however - James' song, the slightly old-fashioned 'Hold on to our love', certainly did better than 'Cry Baby' the year before, but its 16th place still equalled Nicki French as the UK's second worst performance ever. To be fair to James though, he did the best he could with a pleasant but unremarkable song; it's just that pleasant and unremarkable don't win Eurovision any more, as Ireland has discovered to its cost. With the UK's 'Big 4' status, none of this really matters... but In 2005, the UK will surely be aiming to secure a place in the 2006 Final on merit, rather than by the back door.
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This year's entry
Position in Semi Final draw: N/A
Position in Final draw: 2
What I said prior to the Semi Final:
"It's something of a miracle - the UK has not only managed to select a really strong song, but it's even performed by someone we've already heard of. Javine, of course, was a contestant on ITV's 'Popstars: The Rivals', but inexplicably lost out on a place in Girls Aloud, despite being the most talented of the lot. In hindsight, however, it was probably no bad thing, as it's hard to imagine Javine feeling comfortable performing throwaway pop songs and dodgy covers. Instead, she has had deservedly enjoyed some solo success, the album 'Surrender' spawning a number of hit singles, including 'Real Things' and 'Best of my Love'. Javine's self-penned Eurovision entry, 'Touch My Fire', is probably her best single so far, a modern pop song with a splash of the exotic - depending on who you talk to its influences ae variously Bollywood, Turkish or Greek, though the latter seems most plausible given the contribution of Greek-Cypriot co-writer John Themis. It's not perfect - the chorus is rather repetitive, for example - but at least the UK has an entry that sounds like it belongs in 2005, and that's more than you can say about Jemini or James Fox."
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What I predicted...
My prediction for Semi Final: N/A
My prediction for Final: 9th to 11th
What I predicted prior to the Semi Final:
"With middling odds of 25-1, 12th place in the Soult.com Eurovision Poll 2005, and a right hotchpotch of praise and criticism among the comments below, it's difficult to know quite what to make of Javine's chances. Rest assured, she will give the UK a much better result than either of the last two years - after all, it wouldn't be hard. However, it's difficult to see 'Touch my fire' having the necessary 'oomph' that might make it a real contender for victory - it's very good, but perhaps just lacks the elusive 'X factor'. But who knows - at the very least, I suspect that Javine is destined for a respectable placing in the Top Ten, with the UK earning its place in the 2006 Final on merit rather than via the back door."
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What you thought...
Final Poll Ranking: out of 39 ()
(Updated 22 May 2005; change refers to movement over final week)
In the run up to the Contest, 27,998 visitors to this site voted for their favourite song in the Soult.com Eurovision Poll (up from 5,000 in 2004!)
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What actually happened...
Oh dear. The UK isn't having a good time at Eurovision lately, managing to clock up its five worst ever performances in the course of the last six years. I do think Javine gave a pretty good performance on the night, and almost certainly deserved better than the miserable 18 points and 22nd place that she ended up with. It's difficult to judge quite what went wrong - maybe the song just came across as too repetitive, or perhaps televoters just felt that there was something inauthentic about the UK sending an ethnic-sounding song to Eurovision.
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What the bookies thought...
 | United Kingdom to win: | 21/05/05 (prior to Final) | 33-1 |
| | 19/05/05 (after Semi Final) | 25-1 |
| | 19/05/05 (prior to Semi Final) | 25-1 |
| | 16/05/05 | 25-1 |
| | 15/05/05 | 25-1 |
| | 08/05/05 | 25-1 |
| | 02/05/05 | 25-1 |
| | 24/04/05 | 25-1 |
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Drifting to 33-1 prior to the Final, the days of UK bookmakers automatically favouring the UK entry seem to be long over. On recent form - 26th in 2003, 16th in 2004 and 22nd in 2005 - it's not hard to see why.
(Odds quoted here were those offered by Coral.co.uk. 'F' indicates favourite, 'JF' joint favourite.)
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Links
 http://www.officialjavine.com/
 http://www.bbc.co.uk/eurovision/
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Notes (see 'History' above)
- The 1956 Contest (where each country had two songs) is counted as a single appearance;
- Countries eliminated in the 1993 preliminary heat (EE, HU, RO, SK) ARE NOT counted as making an appearance in that year's Contest;
- Countries eliminated in the 1996 preliminary heat (DE, DK, HU, IL, MK, RO, RU) ARE NOT counted as making an appearance in that year's Contest;
- Countries eliminated in the 2004, 2005 and 2006 Semi Finals ARE counted as making an appearance in that year's Contest.
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Your comments (189)
From Colm, Ireland
Added 14:26:22 2007-02-21
uk were so hard done by this year ye were fantastic it now 2007 and i can still remember the words and i only heard it the once "touch my fire can u feel the heat" I thought it was gr8 anyway so well done uk
From kiki, Greece
Added 21:43:57 2006-02-12
100 thanks for your 12 points!!I really liked this song!!I don't know what happend and they didn't vote it.In 2006 we the Greeks we are all welcome you to Athens!See you!
From Rui, PORTUGAL
Added 22:15:51 2005-8-29
i just want to know one thing: Why does UK is one of the BIG 4? What it represents?
I think that this year song was very repetitive and weak, but next year (unfair, but it is in the final) maybe will be better.
From Sirpa, FINLAND
Added 10:15:41 2005-6-29
She was imitating Beyonce, wasn't she? And that skimpy dress of hers was awful! Ridiculous song, well deserved rock bottom position.
From asia, POLAND
Added 14:29:34 2005-6-21
that's really great song! I don't know why didn't it win
From england , MALTA
Added 8:52:51 2005-6-15
I can't believe that england didnt come the top 10 i voted for england because i loved the song and it was incredible well done england and i have to say you have great dancers:) love yaaa england and gl for next year and i always give my vote to you
From Mooby, UNITED KINGDOM
Added 14:42:48 2005-6-11
I thought we were wayyyyyyyyyy better than Albania and Macedonia, who both performed weakly in my eyes. Turkey got more points than it deserved with those vocals, as I must admit I was surprised that Javine sang so well as she had been very breathy in her previous live performances. I honestly thought we would get at least 7 from Austria, but as soon as they gave us 0 I knew we would not get the score we deserved. I was pleasantly surprised with the 5 from Cyprus though, seeing as they ignored us in 2002. I know it will seem biased but this is a song I would have had in my top 3 was I from another country, along with Malta and Bosnia-Herzegovina, whose live performance completely blew me away.
From oz, UNITED KINGDOM
Added 19:2:24 2005-6-8
The voting was entirely political and nothing else. Javine deserved a higher ranking than she got. The fact is the competition has been highjacked by the mid/eastern europe block vote. This is a sign of things to come in the EU!
From serbian_girl, SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO
Added 2:28:38 2005-6-2
I love your song!
From mark, UNITED KINGDOM
Added 20:8:12 2005-6-1
i think the big four should quit so eurovision will collaspes because they wont have any money and then start up againm but NO TELE VOTING but 4 EXPERTS to chose what they should give (but still 12 10 8 7 6 5...thing)oh and 4 experts for every country so the song is jugded and NOT ON NEIGHBOURS!!!oh and the uk should have come 2nd!!!EUROPE YOU SHOULD BE EMBRASSED!!!
From Heimdall, GERMANY
Added 10:18:41 2005-5-31
Dhaaa???Unbelievable!Incomprehensible!Out of the qstion...!!How did this happen>??I thought Javine was sooo hot and sexy and yet...22nd!Helena & Javine rule...
From lirie, ALBANIA
Added 18:24:14 2005-5-29
england has e good sing
From Charlotte, UNITED KINGDOM
Added 22:4:29 2005-5-25
Oh my gosh! I can't believe we finished so low!! I really think that we should have done better, it is all too much political voting now .. I thought that Javine sung really well, performed well, and looked fab! Congrats are in order I think!
From James, UNITED KINGDOM
Added 20:7:5 2005-5-25
I am shocked! I watched the eurovision with a load of friends, we saw Javine and all thought she was a dead cert for Top 5 placing, couldn't believe it when the points came in. I wander if we had waved orange flags and had javine banging on drums if we would have got higher??
From Matthew, UNITED KINGDOM
Added 11:7:24 2005-5-25
Thank you so much for your kind words Europe. I doubt very much that the UK will wish to take part next year after this! Javine had been our best entrant since Katrina and the waves! Lets hope next year we can proove why Britain is the most famous in Europe for its music!
From giedre, LITHUANIA
Added 17:41:59 2005-5-24
it's good song, but it is Beyonce style.
But l like it. ;]
From Gree, LITHUANIA
Added 13:3:33 2005-5-24
I think this song is better then other... But Moldova song was briliant... Javine and her song ,,Touch my fire" - rulezz
From panduru, ROMANIA
Added 9:57:57 2005-5-24
I believe Javine had a very good song. During the contest I thought the greek and the song from UK will be close. I was not surprised that UK did not get 12 points, but so many zero's.... I don't understand.
Good luck next time.
From erik, UNITED KINGDOM
Added 1:24:35 2005-5-24
I did not think that she performed very well. However, it is a lot better than some songs which actually got higher points.
I do acknowledge that political voting exist, but i also believe that taste in music varies according to region.
I think it will be good if the scoring will be a bit different. Maybe 50 points lowest and 100 points highest, instead of 1 to 12. I think this can keep a race for a win open till the latest minutes and also, greatly even out against political voting as getting the maximum is just 2x the minimum rather than current 12x.
And no more big 4. Lets spread out the cost to everyone, afterall evryone thinks this is unfair, but they wont put up the money.
From connor, GREECE
Added 21:52:46 2005-5-23
javine should have done alot better.the only reason is it is all down to vote for my neigbour.did you notice europes 4 richest countrys finshed bottom 4.this is because europes jaslous
From european_serb, --
Added 17:20:59 2005-5-23
i loved ur song, its so viva, but i Loved Greek 'no 1' too. I would def give u a higher place....!
From Sébastien, FRANCE
Added 13:46:32 2005-5-23
Javine's performance was fantastic! The British entry was my favourite one and I can't understand why U.K finished 22nd! It's really unfair! Javine, you're great! Kisses from FRANCE.
From VASSILIS, UNITED KINGDOM
Added 11:14:16 2005-5-23
If you really want to stand a chance, send a blond girl! Or a "Spice Girls"-like group!
From sophia , UNITED STATES
Added 22:52:10 2005-5-22
I am still wondering , why you ended at the bottom . It was not a bad song .
From Lilia, BULGARIA
Added 22:39:19 2005-5-22
Hey UK your song was terrific!It doesn't matter who wins!The bulgarian musicians Kaffe were also brilliant but nobody cares about the talent!We could only hope that the next contest in Greece gonna be much more fair than this one!Anyway, i wish good luck to Javine for her future success!
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United Kingdom
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