<P> Up to and including 1998, the UK had only twice finished outside the top 10, in 1978 (11th) and 1987 (13th), with their five winners being Sandie Shaw with the song "Puppet on a String" in 1967, Lulu with "Boom Bang - a-Bang" in 1969 (tied), Brotherhood of Man with "Save Your Kisses for Me" in 1976, Bucks Fizz with "Making Your Mind Up" in 1981 and Katrina and the Waves with "Love, Shine a Light" in 1997 . In addition, the UK has finished as runner - up on a record 15 occasions; including Pearl Carr & Teddy Johnson (1959), Matt Monro (1964), Kathy Kirby (1965), Cliff Richard (1968), Mary Hopkin (1970), The New Seekers (1972), Scott Fitzgerald (1988), Michael Ball (1992), Sonia (1993) and Imaani (1998). Since 1999, the year in which the rule was abandoned that songs must be performed in one of the official languages of the country participating, the UK has had less success, only finishing within the top ten twice . Jessica Garlick in 2002 finished joint third and Jade Ewen in 2009 finished fifth, Ewen in particular was praised after her performance of "It's My Time" for ending the run of poor results the country had suffered for much of the decade . </P> <P> The British public broadcaster, the BBC, broadcasts the event each year and organises the selection process for the entry . In all cases (prior to 2011), a televised national final has selected the British Eurovision entry, varying between both a selection of performer and song, or just a song selection with an internal selection for the artist being held . For most years, the public had been able to vote for the winner, using in the past postcard voting, where the viewers sent postcards with their vote to the BBC, but more recently televoting . In 2009 and 2010, a new national selection format was held to find the singer who would go on to sing the internally selected song at the contest . From 2011 to 2015, for the first time in UK's Eurovision history, the entry was selected internally by the BBC . This resulted in the national selection process being suspended; however, this returned in 2016 . </P> <P> The United Kingdom has finished last in three contests . Jemini's infamous 2003 "nul points" result was the first time that the country had come last in the contest, something that was then repeated in 2008 with Andy Abraham, who received 14 points and in 2010 with Josh Dubovie, who received 10 points . In 2016, the UK failed to reach the top 10 for the seventh consecutive time, with the duo Joe and Jake finishing 24th . In 2017, the UK improved on their result by coming 15th with Lucie Jones, their best result in the contest since Blue in 2011 . </P> <P> It was alleged that the United Kingdom were expected to take part in the first contest in 1956, and that they missed the submission deadline and therefore could not take part . This was later revealed by the EBU in January 2017 to be a mythical fact created by fans of the contest . The EBU further went on to explain that the Festival of British Popular Song, a contest created by the BBC for the United Kingdom, was the inspiration that brought in format changes to the contest elements from the Eurovision Song Contest 1957 onwards . Patricia Bredin was the first performer to represent the UK at Eurovision, finishing seventh in 1957 . The UK was the first choice to stage the third contest in 1958, however following a failure to get an agreement from various artistic unions, the BBC withdrew their bid in the summer of 1957 and the UK did not enter for the second and last time to date . </P>

Where did england come in the eurovision last night