50 Years Ago Today.....

[10ClarionSt]

....ABBA won Eurovision, as we keep being reminded. Also 50 years ago today, me and Mrs Clarion were married, so tis a Golden Day today folks. We're just on our way out to celebrate with the family, at Ye Olde Boars Head in Middleton. 

We spent our first married night at the Midland Hotel , Manchester, where I asked the waiter to ask the guests in the lounge if they would like to have a drink and celebrate with us. He said he wouldn't advise that as they were a convention from AA. Yikes! Anyway, I bought them all tea and coffee, which was well received. The following morning we woke to find that central Manchester had been locked down due to an IRA bomb threat and no-one could go in or out of the city. Good stuff, eh? Quite an exciting start to married life! 😊  

[-SharonA-]

Happy anniversary to you & your wife 🎉💐

[ToraToraTora]

...well I met my destiny in quite a similar way.🎵

[Hopkirk]

When Abba won, the UK jury awarded them 'nul points'.

[Buenchico]

Happy Golden Wedding Anniversary!

The record that was Number 1 in the charts on that day wasn't exactly full of joy though!

[Buenchico]

Here's the song which the UK jury favoured most in that Eurovision final:

[jno]

Ms Cinquetti had already won once, 10 years earlier, with what is still my all-time favourite winner.

Congratulations to the Clarions; I hope you found something to do during the lockdown.

[ferlew]

Happy golden anniversary to you both :)

[ichkeria]

Happy anniversaty Clarion.

I recently rewatched the entire 1974 Eurovision Song Contest all over again (!).

The Gigiola Cinquetti song I seem to recall had some controversy about it. The English version was called "Go" but as I recall there was a referendum in Italy going on and it was felt that "Si" (Yes) might influence the vote.

[Maydup]

Happy Anniversary, have a lovely evening. Teas and coffees all round!

[Canary42]

Happy Anniversary to Mr & Mrs ClarionSt 😊

 

The AA made me laugh - you couldn't make it up 😀

[jourdain2]

What a great marker for your anniversaries!  I hope you are having a really great time, possibly as good as the original day.  :)  Possibly less exciting is good!

It brings it all back - the sheer novelty and excitement of ABBA.  Hard to believe it is so long ago.  I was living in a council maisonette, teaching at Ovenden Sec, Mod. and planning a  move to our first house.  OH doesn't remember anything about  it - but he has a notoriously bad memory and wouldn't have been watching something like Eurovision anyway.

'Thanks for the memory' - Bob Hope.

[Rosie29]

Congratulations and have a lovely evening  x

[jno]

a lengthy discussion, with lots of readers' jokes, here

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2024/apr/05/abba-cabaret-and-smug-marionettes-the-1974-eurovision-song-contest-reviewed

[ichkeria]

"Sweden had never produced an internationally successful pop artist before, and it’s never produced one anything like as successful since"

A bit unfair (the whole article is written from a very lofty height). Has any country? Ace of Base, The Cardigans, The Hives at least prove that the was Swedish life after Abba

[237SJ]

^ I remember The Cardigans and the others. They were successful but you can't really say they were ever as successful as ABBA

[Deskdiary]

My wife and I are watching the ABBA documentary on BBC2 at the mo, and the songs have passed the test of time. I was only 4 in 74 so obviously don't remember it, but for my money Waterloo remains their best song.

 

I was at my rugby club ball a couple of weeks ago and when Dancing Queen came on the dance floor became packed...with people a lot younger than me. This is their legacy.

[237SJ]

I was young when ABBA were in the charts. I remember when they won the Eurovision Song Contest. My favourite song was SOS which was soon afterwards if I rememer rightly. At that time in the UK, it wasn't really cool to like ABBA.  Everyone was into punk/reggae etc.  It's only now when you hear their songs that you realise how great they were.

[jno]

and they did it all in a foreign language. Just try writing a hit song in Swedish.

[Hopkirk]

Us teenage boys enjoyed watching Abba in the 70s, and couldn't decide whether we fancied the blonde or the brunette more.

[Deskdiary]

It has always been Anna for me.