Thursday 15 September 2016

One Step Further

For audio click here


I can still remember that Sunday morning like it was yesterday. 25th April 1982, the day I lost faith in the world. I was only eleven, a bit young to be a grumpy old man, but I can trace my cynicism back to that day. I’d gone to bed full of hope. I knew we could do it. We were far and away the best in the whole competition and we were playing at home, and we were the defending champions.
My mum and dad had allowed us to stay up for all the songs, which my sisters and I had expertly judged in the form in the radio times. We had the UK as winners by at least ten points over Ireland and then Germany in third. Then as soon as Nicole had done her number, they’d chased us off to bed before the scores were revealed. But I didn't mind, I'd seen enough to know that Bardo would be crowned champions, and Britain would truly be great again.
“I could have taken one step further and I would have been there” I sang as I dropped off to sleep”
“You could have turned around and hit me and I wouldn't have cared,” I murmured as the sun shone across my face.
My parents had recorded the second half of the show on our shiny new Betamax recorder, and my sisters were already watching the playback by the time I got downstairs.
“All this time I didn't get anywhere,” I sang as I entered the living room. But as soon as I saw their faces, I knew something was wrong, horribly wrong. We sat in silence as the votes came in. Nul point for Finland, lots of point for Germany, some for us, but not enough. Israel was above us, Switzerland, even bloody Belgium were beating us. None of us moved as the horrible truth dawned on us; this was humiliation. We needed a lot more than one step further, we needed a leap, a bound, a jump.
My sisters cried, I didn't, honest.
As Nicole sang her winning tune we clicked off the recorder, not interested in her little peace. We hugged each other. It was like our world had fallen apart.  Even now thirty-four years later, I still can't work out how Bardo didn't win the 1982 Eurovision Song Contest. 

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