Do you feel for those countries that haven’t won for a long time? Do you will them to win regardless of the song they enter? Or have they just been unlucky at times?
Our friends in Spain haven’t won since the 1960s. Many fans weren’t even alive in that decade, so have never witnessed a Spanish victory. Since those heady days of 1968 and 1969, there have been a fair share of runner-up spots, but RTVE’s songs haven’t scored more than 125 points. Fast forward to 2012 and they put their hopes in Pastora Soler (née MarÃa del Pilar Sánchez Luque). Now, any other year, and Pastora’s power ballad and emotional performance would have seen us in [insert Spanish city here] the following year. But she was up against, among other things, an arty Swedish behemoth, some Russian pensioners, and a Turk in a boat. How could she compete? Well, 10th was not that bad; it’s just unfortunate that a good honest song gets trumped by bells and whistles.
Pastora is 42 today.
Feliz cumpleaños, Pastora!