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Franco 'stole' Cliff's crown
06/05/2008 13:44 - (SA)
Ben Harding
Madrid - British singer Cliff Richard
was robbed of victory in the 1968 Eurovision Song Contest after
Spanish dictator Francisco Franco fixed the vote, according to a
documentary.
Richard was the bookmakers' favourite to win with his song
Congratulations however Spanish contestant Massiel pipped him
to the title by just one point with La La La - Spain's first
of two victories in the competition's 52-year history.
"It was a fix," the documentary's producer Montse Fernandez
Vila quoted Spanish television presenter Jose Maria Inigo as
saying. "Massiel won Eurovision with bought votes."
Spanish TV executives travelled Europe promising to buy
second-rate programmes and concerts billing strange acts in
return for Eurovision votes, Inigo told the documentary.
Boosting Spain's image
Victory was seen as vital to General Franco's fascist regime
in boosting Spain's image abroad, Fernandez Vila said.
Eurovision ended voting by national juries to avoid such
scams said Bjorn Erichsen, Director of organisers Eurovision TV,
though he had only heard of plots to swap votes, not buy them.
"Franco was really so keen for Spain to win it? We're not
talking about Nato here or the EU, or political influence, we're
talking about a pop song contest," Erichsen said laughing,
before adding: "I can't exclude the possibility it might be
true.
Spain only drafted Massiel in at the last moment after Joan
Manuel Serrat, who was meant to sing at the London event,
refused to perform La La La in Spanish rather than his native
Catalan - a regional language repressed during the
dictatorship.
Richard never won Eurovision
"If you look back at the (propaganda newsreel), you realise
with all the parties that were organised and the way Massiel was
turned into a national hero ... it was excessive for a song
festival. It all served to glorify the regime," Fernandez said.
Massiel was not able to be reached for comment.
Although Congratulations went on to become a big hit in
several European countries, Richard never won the Eurovision
title - his second entry Power to All Our Friends in 1973
finished third.
Asked if Eurovision would investigate, Erichsen was
emphatic: "No! Just to make Cliff Richard a little happier and
the Spanish winner a bit more unhappy? I don't think you should
dig up old bodies to prove he was or wasn't the father. It's
history."
Spanish channel La Sexta had been due to broadcast the
documentary, I lived the Spanish May 1968 on Sunday night, but
it was cancelled to show Real Madrid celebrating winning Spain's
Primera Liga football title.
- Reuters
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South Africa
