United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 1986

Eurovision Song Contest 1986
Country	United Kingdom
National selection
Selection process	A Song for Europe
Selection date(s)	2 April 1986
Selected entrant	Ryder
Selected song	"Runner in the Night"
Selected songwriter(s)	Brian Wade Maureen Darbyshire
Finals performance
Final result	7th, 72 points
United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄1985 • 1986 • 1987►

The United Kingdom participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 1986, held in Bergen, Norway.

The British national final to select their entry, A Song for Europe 1986, was held on 2 April at the BBC Television Centre in London, and was hosted by Terry Wogan. The show was opened by 1985's Eurovision winners, Bobbysocks, who sang "Let it Swing," the English-language version of their winning song "La det swinge." The duo was going to sing their brand new single "Waiting for the Morning" too, but the producers finally decided to cancel that part of the plan.

The winning song was decided by the votes of eleven regional juries across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The scoreboard was incorrectly adjusted during the broadcast and the final tallies shown on screen did not correspond with the scores announced on air.

The winning entry was "Runner in the Night," performed by the sextet Ryder, composed by Brian Wade, with lyrics written by Maureen Darbyshire.

National final

Results of national final

Draw	Artist	Song	Points	Place
01	Vanity Fare	Dreamer	99	3rd
02	Palace	Dancing with You Again	91	5th
03	Colin Heywood	No Easy Way to Love	80	6th
04	Chad Brown	I'm Sorry	78	7th
05	Kenny Charles	Tongue-Tied	93	4th
06	Ryder	Runner in the Night	145	1st
07	Jump	Don't Hang Up On Love	137	2nd
08	Future	War of the Roses	76	8th

At Eurovision

Ryder performed fifth on the night of the Contest, following Norway and preceding Iceland. At the close of the voting the song had received 72 points, placing 7th in a field of 20 competing countries.

External links

• British National Final 1986