Time to introduce the best Scotland has ever come up with. And no, we are not talking about Lulu or The Loch Ness Monster or single malt whisky. But about David Elder, of course. Quite possibly our favorite encounter ever in this contest. At least if we count Marco Mengoni out. If you haven’t met him you haven’t been to a Eurovision final, as he as been to them all. And nothing would be the same if he wasn’t there. Lads and gents, meet Sir David:
– Good Evening, David. Tell the world about yourself!
– Well, Good Evening, Europe! My name is David and I’m a 6 foot plus Scotsman with dark brown eyes, size eleven feet and a pair of hips that just love to swivel in time with some good Scandi Schlager! I live in Edinburgh, Scotland with my long-suffering husband, Simon, and our two lovely pussycats, Bunty & Baxter! By day I’m a mild-mannered HR Manager in a local charity, but in the evening and at weekends I’m a big-old Eurovision fan, and try to get the world to share in my love of Bobbysocks, Bana Bana and the greatest Eurovision entry of all-time – “Bem Bom” by Portuguese lovelies Doce (from 1982).
– What is your relation to Eurovision?
– I’ve been a fan for as long as I can remember (I could often be found lip-synching to Severine at the tender age of 5 in 1971 – I was able to covey every syllable and emotion of our Monegasque victor that year).
– I was on the United Kingdom jury in 1986 (back in the days before phone voting). I tried my very best to get the other ten jury members to vote en masse for Cocktail Chic from France – which was CLEARLY the very best entry that year – but they were having none of it. And they were all too drunk to care anyway… We did give Ingrid Peters 12 points – which was completely fabulous, because I’m half-German, so my Mum was very pleased with my hard work that evening!
– Kyiv will be my TWENTY EIGHTH consecutive Eurovision as an accredited member of the press (I write about the contest for one of Scotland’s biggest national daily newspapers). This means that, next to Lys Assia, I am now one of the oldest living people at the contest. This is good because young people are constantly amazed that I’m much older than I look, and they often ask for my sage-like advice about what will do well and what will fare very badly. Just last year I laughed in the face of some young girls who asked if I thought Jamala would win (she clearly didn’t win – it was all an elaborate hoax by the EBU to see how many Eurovision fans they could fit into one small bedsit in Kyiv on a cold and wet evening in May).
– Tell us about a favorite memory related to Eurovision (Bring it on, we love the goss!)
– On of my fave memories was meeting Celine on the eve of Eurovision 1988. She spoke no English and was amazed at how tall I was! I had hair in those days, which was good because she had teeth…
– What Eurovision artist would you invite for dinner if you got to choose freely?
– If I was allowed to invite any Eurovision artist from history to dinner I would pick Nodi from Georgia because his song was amazing and he’s just the most handsome man in the history of the contest. EVER! And no, I wouldn’t invite anyone else… you think I’m sharing Nodi with ANYONE? Please!!!
– What is your favorite entry ever?
– This year I will be hyperventilating over the fabulous Francesco Gabbani and his amazing “Scimianuda”! For me it’s clearly the strongest entry by some distance, and I think he has the potential to do a “Rybak” and win by a huge margin.
– What is the ultimate fan behavior?
– To me, the ultimate fan behaviour is to defend our fave contest at EVERY opportunity by telling everyone how fabulous it is every year, that the voting is NEVER political (apart from last year – when it was VERY political), and that the UK will win again – when we bother to enter a brilliant song that Europe and their mother actually likes!
– What are your expectations for Kyiv?
– I’m looking forward to seeing old friends (and new) in Kyiv, and meeting my favourite two Norwegian ladies (after Hanne and Elizabeth, natch) – Guri and Astrid. HELT FANTASTISKT!!!