Göran Fristorp

Rylan Clark-Neal narrates a guide to all things Eurovision and takes a sideways look at the greatest singing contest on the planet. The A-Z of Eurovision features all the disasters, the costume changes and memorable musical moments from 65 years of Eurovision.

The year begins with an energy crisis and petrol rationing. And there will be parental insurance so that even fathers can stay at home with their children. Cleaners around Sweden are on strike for better conditions. Worry grows for the Swedish tourists in the holiday paradise of Cyprus. That and much more in this column about the year 1974.

Portrait of the Norwegian singer Sissel Kyrkjebø.

The Eurovision Song Contest is an international song competition, organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and featuring participants representing primarily European countries. Each participating country submits an original song to be performed on live television and radio, transmitted to national broadcasters via the EBU's Eurovision and Euroradio networks, with competing countries then casting votes for the other countries' songs to determine the winner.

Melodifestivalen (direct translation: The Melody Festival) is an annual music competition organised by Swedish public broadcaster Sveriges Television (SVT). The competition is a six part tour (5 heats + the final) with stops in cities across Sweden to determine the country's representative for the Eurovision Song Contest. Melodifestivalen is also known informally as "Mello", or internationally as "Melfest".

Så ska det låta is a Swedish game show, based on the Irish The Lyrics Board. The show was introduced in 1997 and led by Peter Harryson until Peter Settman took over in 2006. Så ska det låta can be watched online at svt play for approximately one month after airing.

Allsång på Skansen is a Swedish tv show held at Skansen, Stockholm, every summer on Tuesdays. The audience is supposed to sing-along with musical guests to well-known Swedish songs. The show started in 1935 on a small scale - about fifty people in the audience. Today about 10 000–25 500 people come to each performance.