AIRING in Copenhagen on Saturday night, the 59th annual Eurovision Song Contest is as well known for its weird and wacky entries, political voting and Terry Wogan as it is for the musical talents of the performers.
This year little-known singer Molly Smitten-Downes, 26, will carry British hopes with her song Children of the Universe following in the footsteps of previous British flops Bonnie Tyler, and Engelbert Humperdinck to fight for Europe's votes.
But Essex performers have also attempted to win the Eurovision crown in years gone by... 1. Ray Caruana - Hailing from Billericay Ray was the UK's entry in the 1989 Eurovision Song Contest fronting the band Live Report and accrued far more points than our more recent efforts.
In fact Why Do I Always Get it Wrong, composed by John Beeby with lyrics by Brian Hodgson, won the quintet second place.2. Josh Dubovie - In 2010 Essex theatre school student Josh was selected as the UK entrant in Eurovision with his rendition of That Sounds Good to Me, penned by Pete Waterman, Mike Stock, and Steve Crosby.
Despite telling press he believed the tune 'was a definite winner' the former Billericay schoolboy only accumulated 10 points with his performance, finishing 25th in the competition. Rylan Clark - After being booted from the X Factor live shows bookies William Hill had odds of 16-1 that Rylan would represent the UK in the 2013 Eurovision contest.
However despite voicing his support for the idea of representing Queen and country the ex-Stanford-le-Hope resident was beaten to the position by Bonnie Tyler.
