No 'nul' as Norway becomes eurovision winner

Published on Sunday 17 May 2009 00:46

ONCE known as the kings of "nul points", Norway won a landslide victory in last night's Eurovision Song Contest.

The Nordic nation's Alexander Rybak provided an emphatic win with his folksy number "Fairytale".

The Belarusian-born singer captured the hearts of voters from across Europe, managing to appeal to song-lovers in the south, north east and west of the continent.

The 23-year-old took a record 387 votes, nearly double the tally of runner-up Iceland and way ahead of third-placed Azerbaijan.

Britain re-established national pride after years of failure, coming fifth in the vote after winning the unlikely support of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

Londoner Jade Ewen, 21, had the backing of West End impresario Andrew Lloyd Webber as her composer, mentor and pianist in the UK's strongest effort for more than a decade to break open the competition.

She took 173 points. Britain hasn't won since 1997. Last year it finished joint last, leading some commentators to suggest the UK should no longer enter.

Other big Western European nations also mobilised what Russian commentators called the "heavy artillery" to battle for Eurovision glory. France entered Patricia Kaas, one of the continent's biggest stars, and Germany was represented by burlesque star Dita Von Teese.

None could match the natural charm of Rybak, the son of famous classical musicians who left his native Minsk at four. The singer and violinist composed his own song, using motifs from Norwegians and Russian folk music

Russia spent millions staging the event, which saw huge flames licking the stage in central Moscow and vast electronic screens blazed stunning backdrops in a spectacular show, which featured cheesy, high-energy pop and tear-jerking ballads.

In a Eurovision first, crew members of the International Space Station gave the command to start telephone voting in a video message from the orbiting science laboratory.

Russia has tried to capitalise on the prestigious event to showcase the nation's hospitality and growing role in modern society, but those efforts were undermined several hours earlier when riot police broke up gay pride rallies, arresting British activist Peter Tatchell.

Gay rights activists sought to use the international competition to draw attention to what they call widespread discrimination against homosexuals in Russia.

No injuries were reported. Police arrested a total of 40 people across the Russian capital, including "anti-gay" campaigners, Communists and people protesting against experiments on animals.

The winner of the competition was last night picked by a combination of telephone voting and official juries from national broadcasters in the 42 nations that originally took part. Eurovision officials hoped the new system would stop notorious block voting, although neighbouring nations continued to back each other last night.

Sir Terry Wogan, who had presented the BBC's Eurovision show since 1980, resigned last year, saying it was "no longer a music contest" and that prospects for Western European participants were "poor". He was replaced last night by Graham Norton.

Norway, which last won the competition in 1995, will now host next year's event.