Hearing ‘Waterloo’ by Abba the other day, I idly wondered what kind of score France had awarded it in the Eurovision Song Contest taht year (1974). Given the Napoleon-related theme and all, I mean.

So I looked it up online, and it turns out that France had withdrawn from the Eurovision that year, scant days before it took place, because their President had died. Though the single was a Top 10 hit in France, so one could cheerfully conclude that the whole Napoleon thing was irrelevant.

Anyway, what did grab my attention was that the Portuguese entry in the same year was the signal to launch the Carnation Revolution, an essentially pacifist uprising against the authoritarian regime of the time (which was successful – yay!).

So, quite the year for Eurovision, 1974. The UK entry this year, by Scooch, somehow looks rather lightweight and rubbish in comparison, doesn’t it?

Oh, hang on, that song would look lightweight and rubbish in and of itself, regardless of any comparison. But in comparison to launching a revolution and Abba, even more so.