1957 - United Kingdom
Performed by: Patricia Bredin
Music by: Reynell Wreford
Lyrics by: Alan Stranks
Conductor: Eric Robinson
Language: English
Placing: 7th (6 points)
Patricia Bredin (14 February 1935 - 13 August 2023) was an English actress and one-time singer. She is best known as the first representative of the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest.
Bredin took part in the Eurovision Song Contest 1957 in Frankfurt and finished in seventh place out of ten entries with the song "All", the first-ever song sung in English at Eurovision. At 1:52, "All" was for a long time the shortest performance in the history of the contest. The record was broken in 2015 when Finland's Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät performed "Aina mun pitää", which was only 1:27 long.
In 1959, she starred in the British comedy film Left Right and Centre with Ian Carmichael. This saw British exhibitors vote her one of the most promising British new stars along with Peter Sellers and Hayley Mills. On Boxing Day in 1959 she appeared in the BBC TV's long running variety show The Good Old Days. The following year she had a leading part in another film, the period adventure The Treasure of Monte Cristo, and also starred with Sid James in Desert Mice.
Bredin succeeded Julie Andrews as Guenevere in the Broadway production of Camelot. She played the role from 16 April 1962 until she was replaced by Janet Pavek three months later.
In 1964, she married Welsh singer Ivor Emmanuel.They had no children, and divorced within two years.
Bredin later married Canadian businessman Charles MacCulloch, but he died on their honeymoon. As Patricia Bredin-McCulloch, she built up a herd of cows on their estate and looked after them for nearly ten years, before financial complications brought her cattle breeding to an end. She published some reminiscences about this period of her life in My Fling on the Farm (1989). Bredin died in Nova Scotia on 13 August 2023, at the age of 88.
The Hull-born actress and singer was just 22 years old when she performed at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1957. She was picked after being discovered at the Savoy in London. She also acted in a number of films, appearing alongside Ian Carmichael and Sid James.
Speaking in 2016, she told the BBC: "Singing in the final in Frankfurt, Germany, it was wonderful, because they had about a 60-piece orchestra and it was like being on clouds."
Lyrics:
All
All the golden dreams of yesterday
All the fragrance of a bygone May
All the words two hearts in love can say
All you'll ever mean to me, my darling
All we've shared throughout the passing years
All the laughter, all the sighs, the tears
All the joy of living, loving and forgiving
These are all to me
All the laughter, all the sighs, the tears
All the joy of living, loving and forgiving
These are all to me