The joke in Britain is now Brexit is under way does that mean the country can leave the Eurovision Song Contest as well?
Britain has competed in the contest for longer than the nation has been a member of the EU, but the general view is the contest is a Europop cacophony.
Eurovision 2017 is in The Ukraine, a political gesture last year as a stand by voters against Russia’s annexation of The Crimea.
This time, the contest takes place over three days – May 9, 11 and 13.
The singing is already hitting a high note with reviewers as the artists complete their technical rehearsals and get ready to battle out the semi finals. The favourite is Bulgaria’s Kristian Kostov.
Longest running song contest
The Eurovision – not to be confused with soccer’s Euros – has run for 62 years.
In that time, artists from 50 countries have performed more than 1,500 songs on live TV beamed around the world.
Lately, some strange countries have flown the European banner – such as Australia.
The most celebrated and successful winners were the Swedish group ABBA. They won in 1974 and have spawned chart success, a movie and a musical even though they officially parted in 1983.
The country with the most victories is Ireland, with seven. Sweden has notched six, while Britain, France and Luxembourg have won five times.
Norway are the biggest losers, hitting rock bottom 11 times – but the Norwegians have also tasted victory three times.
Eurovision Song Contest facts
In 2016, the Eurovision celebrated even greater popularity as 204 million viewers watched at least one of the three shows.
A strange fact is that although the contest has only taken place 62 times, the victory roll lists 65 winners.
That’s because in 1969, four countries tied for first place in a dead heat. No rule covered the eventuality, so the prize was shared. Since then, new rules break a tie to find a definite winner.
German songwriter Ralph Siegal is lauded as the king of Eurovision, with his songs represented 21 times by several different countries. Siegal won once in 1982.