Festival of British Popular Songs 1956
The Festival of British Popular Songs 1956 was a song contest organised by BBC Television and the inaugural edition of the Festival of British Popular Songs, which became the United Kingdom's national selection process for the 1957 Eurovision Song Contest. Held from May to October, the contest featured 36 songs performed twice through 6 heats. The contest was made to promote British music, as an answer to claims that the BBC favoured American music.
The eventual winner was "Everybody Falls in Love With Someone", written and composed by Peter Hart and Norman Newell. Though not recorded by any of its performers at the contest, the winning song went on to be recorded by Matt Monro and Dickie Henderson. The contest is notable for inspiring changes in the Eurovision Song Contest, most notably introducing a scoreboard to the voting sequence.
The competition
Format
The competition consisted of six heats held every four weeks starting on 7 May 1956. Each heat had six songs competing and each song was performed twice by two different singers, one accompanied by an orchestra, and one accompanied by a small band. The George Mitchell singers accompanied each show as backing vocalists. The best placing song in each heat, decided by jury panels situated in different cities across the United Kingdom, qualified to the final.Competing entries
The BBC selected 36 entries from over 90 songs submitted by British music publishers. The songs were chosen by a committee chaired by Ronnie Waldman. Known song titles, associated performers, and songwriters are shown below:| Performer 1 | Performer 2 | Song | Songwriter |
| "A Field of Golden Corn" | Robert Farnon | ||
| "Andalucia" | Ron Grainer | ||
| Lester Ferguson | Jean Campbell | "Cloudy Moon" | John Harris |
| "England Is Made of Us" | John Watson | ||
| Johnny Brandon / Dennis Lotis | The Keynotes | "Everybody Falls in Love With Someone" | Peter Hart, Norman Newell |
| "Everything She's Got Is Mine" | Harry Shaberman | ||
| Ronnie Carroll | Laurie Payne | "For You and Me" | David Lee & Clive Westlake |
| "Just Another Day Gone By" | William Crompton & Morgan Jones | ||
| Shirley Abicair | Bill McGuffie | "Little Ship" | Irene Roper, Terry Roper |
| Pamela Charles | "Love Goes Dancing Through My Heart" | Harold Irving | |
| Carole Carr | The Max Jaffa Quartet | "No Love Could Be" | Max Francis & Bill Craig |
| "Pedlar of Dream" | Michael Pratt | ||
| "The Waiter Was Yawning" | Sam Johnson | ||
| "There'll Be Orange Blossom in Your Hair" | Norman Percival | ||
| "This Love of Mine" | Tommy Sampson | ||
| Petula Clark | The Bill McGuffie Quartet | "Wibbly Wobbly Moon" | Vivian Ellis |
Performers which are known to have participated but it is not known with what song are: Kenny Baker, Joan Bramhall, Tony Brent, Dora Bryan, Alma Cogan, The Coronets, Diana Decker, Doreen Duke, The Four Grads, Dennis Hale, John Hanson, Ronnie Hilton, Kathie Kay, The Kentones, Lee Lawrence, Benny Lee, Vanessa Lee, Janie Marden, Bill O'Connor, Alan Page, Anne Shelton, Bruce Trent.
Shows
Heat 1
The titles of the 3 other songs are unknown, other known performers are listed below:- Kenny Baker
- Alma Cogan
- Diana Decker
- Dennis Hale
- Ronnie Hilton
- The Kentones
- Vanessa Lee
- Bruce Trent
Heat 2
The titles of the other 4 songs are unknown, other known performers are listed below:The orchestra was directed by Stanley Black and the small band was organised by Semprini.
Heat 3
The titles of the other 4 songs are unknown, other known performers are listed below:- John Hanson
- Benny Lee
- Joan Bramhall
- The Coronets
Heat 4
Other known performers are listed below:- Dora Bryan
- Bill O'Connor
- Kathie Kay
- Doreen Duke
- Alan Page
- The Four Grads
Heat 5
The titles of the other 5 songs are unknown, other known performers are listed below:- Dennis Hale
- Janie Marden
- The Kentones
Heat 6
The titles of the other 5 songs are unknown, other known performers are listed below:- Anne Shelton
- Lee Lawrence
- Tony Brent
- The Coronets
Final
Johnny Brandon, who sang "Everybody Falls In Love With Someone" in heat 4, was replaced by Dennis Lotis in the final as he was in America during the time of the final.Each song used the same orchestra conductor and small band as was used in its heat.