Cliff Richard ‘Congratulations’ premature?
p2pnet news | TV:- Did Cliff Richard win a song contest way back? Or didn’t he?
No, that isn’t him on the right. That’s Chikilicuatre.
Anyway, a huge row is developing over whether or not he [Richard, not Chikilicuatre] was scammed out of an 1968 Eurovision Song Contest win by general Franco.
“An investigation in Spain has uncovered skullduggery which, it says, shows the dictator Francisco Franco had the vote rigged, ensuring that the Briton, then a 27-year-old starlet, never had a chance of winning with his song, Congratulations,” says the Guardian, going on >>>
According to Montse Fernandez Vila, the director of the film called 1968: I lived the Spanish May, Franco was determined to claim Eurovision glory for his own country. The investigation, which is due to be broadcast shortly, details how El Generalísimo was so keen to improve Spain’s international image that he sent corrupt TV executives across Europe to buy goodwill in the run-up to the contest.
Their mission was successful and Congratulations was beaten to the top spot by the Spanish singer Massiel with La La La.
“[Massiel's win] was fixed,” Vila, told the Spanish media news website vertele.com. “It’s in the public domain that Televisión Española executives travelled around Europe buying series that would never be broadcast and signing concert contracts with odd, unknown groups and singers. These contracts were translated into votes.”
“I’ve lived with this number two thing for so many years, it would be wonderful if someone official from the contest turned around and said: ‘Cliff, you won that darn thing after all,’” he told the Guardian.
But wait!
Massiel says, “all the fuss being made in the media about a documentary which will be broadcast on La Sexta on Thursday this week, has been done to boost this year’s spoof candidate, Chikilicuatre, who is a comedian from the TV channel,” says TypicallySpanish.com, continuing >>>
El Mundo reports that the presenter of the programme which looks at the events of 1968, José María Iñigo, called Massiel yesterday to tell her that he had nothing to do with the comments in the press. He also confirmed that the fix of a Spanish win was a rumour at the time when Adolfo Suárez was head of programmes.
For her part Massiel denied that any fix or payment was made.
“If there had of been”, she said, “it would have been for singers who were closer to the Franco regime”
She said that instead of praising her for the win, now she has been made an objective of the gossip press …”
So who’s Chikilicuatre?
According to the Wikipedia, in real life, he’s comedian David Fernández Ortiz.
Rodolfo Chikilicuatre is a Spanish comedic character played by David Fernández Ortiz and first introduced in the ‘The Rolfo and who “rose to fame” after he was later presented by a TV show host, “with a song called ‘Baila el Chiki-chiki’ (Dance the Chiki-chiki), a parody of reggaeton music filled with jokes and political references, and the show’s host decided to enter the song into the Spanish selection process for the Eurovision Song Contest 2008,” says the post.
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.Stumble It!
Guardian – 40 years on, congratulations may be in order, May 6, 2008
TypicallySpanish.com – Massiel denies any 1968 Eurovision Song Contest fix, May 6, 2008
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May 6th, 2008 at 12:27 pm
It sond like the 4 majors riging every hitparade and contest to their one profit. It happen all the time!
All the parasites criminals assassins together, Franco, Pinochet, Chitman, Glueman, Hashole, Negre,
all the scourge of humanity to be eliminated!
May 6th, 2008 at 3:42 pm
That guy looks like a cross between Rolf Harris and Elvis Presley.