ABBA legend discovered UK gave band nil points in Eurovision after 50 years
ABBA legend Bjorn Ulvaeus didn't find out the UK gave the band zero points at Eurovision before their stunning victory until last year.
Bjorn, Agnetha Fältskog, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad won the singing spectacular in 1974 with their rendition of Waterloo for Sweden, but it was no thanks to the UK, which didn't award them any points.
The musician, 77, didn't realise the UK's savage rating until last year when he guest edited BBC Radio 4's Today programme in December.
Speaking on This Morning, Bjorn told Phillip Schofield and Rochelle Humes, who is standing in for Holly Willoughby : “I only learnt that actually when I was guest editor at Radio 4 New Year's Eve or the day before.
ABBA at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1974 (BBC)"The last surviving member of the Jury I talked to interviewed and he said that the UK gave us nil point and I always thought it was 12."
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Speaking about his memories of Eurovision, which is being held next month in Liverpool, Bjorn said: "I remember funnily enough the shuttle bus from the hotel to the actual arena where my outfit was so tight, I couldn’t sit down…I was slightly overweight."
“But then I also remembered walking up and down the corridor during the voting and suddenly Benny shouting ‘Oh we’ve won!’ because he was watching the screen and the scoreboard.
Bjorn spoke about ABBA's Eurovision win on This Morning (ITV)"He was better at maths than me and he knew that no one could take us at that moment and it was so great."
The music icon also lifted the lid on the future of the concert ABBA Voyage, which takes place at a purpose-built arena in London- and sees digital versions of Abba’s members performing with a 10-piece live band.
He said: “London is home for ABBA and I hope that it will become an attraction that stays in London forever."
Bjorn recently met a lucky concertgoer, as the spectacle celebrated its one-millionth visitor in just 11 months.
Bjorn said he “could never have dreamt” the group’s show would reach so many people in under a year as he met Josie Felix, 20.
ABBA Voyage celebrates the band's music with ABBAtars (Handout)“It’s been a long project, I was nervous up until the first preview with an audience. But then when I saw it with an audience I knew it was working," he explained upon meeting Josie.
The concert has been six years in the making. To create their digital selves, the band performed in motion capture suits for five weeks while 160 cameras scanned their body movement and facial expressions.
The ground-breaking technology used allows the ABBAtars to take concertgoers back in time as they depict the group just as they appeared in 1977.
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Speaking on This Morning, Bjorn dismissed the idea the concert could go on tour, but said “You can build replicas and we are looking at North America and Asia at the moment so quite possibly, there will be replicas. This will be the original."
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