Good Luck Wishes
In 1996 all contestants were wished good luck by a politician from their own country. Those wishes were shown right before their performance. This was the only year in Eurovision they did anything like this.
These are the people who wished their country's participant good luck:
- Turkey - Süleyman Demirel, President of Turkey
- United Kingdom - Virginia Bottomley, UK Secretary of State for National Heritage
- Spain - Don Alberto Escudero Claramunt, Spanish ambassador
- Portugal - António Guterres, Prime Minister of Portugal
- Cyprus - Glafkos Klerides, President of Cyprus
- Malta - Edward Fenech Adami, Prime Minister of Malta
- Croatia - Zlatko Mateša, Prime Minister of Croatia
- Austria - Elisabeth Gehrer, Federal Minister of Education, Science and Culture of Austria
- Switzerland - Michel Coquoz, Swiss Chargé d'affaires
- Greece - Caterína Dimaki, Greek Chargé d'affaires
- Estonia - Tiit Vähi, Prime Minister of Estonia
- Norway - Gro Harlem Brundtland, Prime Minister of Norway
- France - Philippe Douste-Blazy, Minister of Culture of France
- Slovenia - Milan Kučan, President of Slovenia
- Netherlands - Aad Nuis, State Secretary of Education, Culture and Science of the Netherlands
- Belgium - Luc Van den Brande, Prime Minister of Flanders
- Ireland - John Bruton, Taoiseach (Prime Minister of Ireland)
- Finland - Riitta Uosukainen, Speaker of Parliament of Finland
- Iceland - Davíð Oddsson, Prime Minister of Iceland
- Poland - Aleksander Kwaśniewski, President of Poland
- Bosnia and Herzegovina - Alija Izetbegović, Chairmen of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Slovakia - Vladimír Mečiar, Prime Minister of Slovakia
- Sweden - Göran Persson, Prime Minister of Sweden
Read more about this topic: Eurovision Song Contest 1996
Famous quotes containing the words luck and/or wishes:
““It’s good luck when you move in to begin
With good luck with your stovepipe. Never mind,
It’s not so bad in the country, settled down,
When people’re getting on in life. You’ll like it.””
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“But is an enemy so execrable that tho in captivity his wishes and comforts are to be disregarded and even crossed? I think not. It is for the benefit of mankind to mitigate the horrors of war as much as possible.”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)