United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 1996
The United Kingdom selected their entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 1996 in Oslo, Norway with a new show, "The Great British Song Contest". The winning entry was Gina G with "Ooh Aah... Just a Little Bit". Before Eurovision. The Great British Song Contest 1996. Semi-final. The qualifying round for the contest (the first since ), a special edition of "Top of the Pops", was broadcast on BBC1 on 1 March 1996 and was hosted by Nicky Campbell. It was announced that the four songs with the highest number of telephone votes  would qualify for the final. The top four songs were announced on 2 March and went forward to the final on 8 March. Final. "The Great British Song Contest" final was held on 8 March 1996 at BBC Television Centre. Hosted by Terry Wogan, it was broadcast on BBC1 at 20:00. For the first time since 1985, there was no simultaneous broadcast with BBC Radio 2. The winning entry was announced at the end of the show following a further public phone vote. The guest performers were Irish boy band Boyzone, who performed their version of Cat Stevens' "Father and  Son" and actress Nicola Hughes who performed "The Acid Queen" from the rock musical "The Who's Tommy". At Eurovision. With the exception of host nation Norway, who were exempted, all 29 countries wishing to participate in the 1996 contest had to go through an audio-only pre-qualifying round held on 20 March. The lowest-placed seven songs would be eliminated and would not appear in Oslo. Gina G was placed third with 153 points, thus qualifying for the final. On the night of the final Gina G performed 2nd in the running order, following Turkey and preceding Spain . At the end of the voting it had received 77 points, placing 8th out of 23 contestants. The United Kingdom jury awarded its 12 points to Cyprus. When Belén Fernández de Henestrosa, the Spanish spokesperson, announced the votes of the Spanish jury, she awarded six points to "Holland" (the Netherlands), which host Ingvild Byrn misheard as "Poland." The official results table corrected this error, and the Netherlands' seventh-place result was restored at the expense of the United Kingdom, who ultimately finished eighth. Despite this result, 'Just a Little Bit' is one of the most successful of the UK's  entries at Eurovision, not only topping the UK singles chart but also finding success in America, where the song was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording in 1998.