Dustin down Eurovision Liverpool

Of course the party will be missing its biggest reveller with the elimination of Ireland but we’re still Dustin down Eurovision Liverpool.

Now there have been many turkeys over the 67 years of Eurovision.

But only one Turkey, the cult puppet and personal pal, Dustin the Turkey.

And you probably saw him taking pride of place amid the VIPs at the semi-finals.

Eurovision is, of course, the hottest ticket in town this week.

Tourist magnet

And it is, obviously, a tourist magnet with 100,000 visitors expected to be in Merseyside this week.

With the attendant spike in hotel rates.

One semi-final under our belts and we can see that the contestants have all got the memo about name checking The Beatles.

With the singers and dancers making the pilgrimage to The Cavern.

Hard Day’s Night Hotel

And many staying at The Hard Day’s Night Hotel, new on my radar but one I imagine could have a hard day’s night and the next morning.

And despite Liverpool beating my own home town of Glasgow to the punch it seems the perfect fit for Merseyside to get Eurovision.

Now we’ve followed The Fab Four from Liverpool, our old stomping ground, to Hamburg… and back.

And it is refreshing to see that in the past 25 years the city has rebuilt itself in their image.

So that you can enjoy The Beatles Story at the Royal Albert Dock and they are getting on board for Eurovision.

As well as the iconic Cavern Club from which tours go out into the Beatles’ Liverpool.

Ours being the Magical Mystery Tour with Jay Johnson, who’ll be Holly’s.

Musical legacy

Of course British hopes will be with Mae Muller and I Wrote A Song.

And the Liverpudlians have forgiven her for being a ‘Landiner’ and adopted her as their own.

As they did myself, a Scottish-type person, in my time there.

There has been a history of Scousers singing in Eurovision, of course, even if they couldn’t get the Beatles to enter.

Cilla Black, a huge singing star in the Sixties, came close but decided to pass on succeeding Sandie Shaw.

She thought it unlikely that the UK would back up Sandie’s win so the UK went for Cliff Richard instead.

Alas his Congratulations was misplaced and he came second, although he blamed, of all people General Franco (some truth in it mind).

We’ll pass over Jemini’s efforts, the duo getting nul points, but there were sterling performances from Prima Donna and Sonia, who both lost out to Ireland.

While it was far from Wonderful Copenhagen for Molly who was 17th in 2014.

Puppet on a string

Still this year Liverpool has two entries really through dint of them hosting on behalf of Ukraine… and they’re bound to get a big political sympathy vote. 

Back to my pal Dustin the Turkey and of course he is pure Eurovision following in the legacy of barefooted Sandie Shaw who sang about a puppet on a string.

So I’m right behind him and I’m Dustin down Eurovision Liverpool. Calm down, calm down.