4 APRIL 1969, Page 28

No. 547: Parody

COMPETITION

Amid general apathy the Eurovision Song Contest last week celebrated its ninth anniver- sary in Madrid: Great Britain shared an un- inspiring victory with three other contesting countries. Competitors are invited to imagine that the contest has in fact been in operation rather longer than its nine inglorious years and to compose a British entry (or extract from it) for any year previous to 1961, as it might have been submitted by any renowned songster of the day, real or imaginary (Colley Cibber comes to mind as a likely contender). Entries (maxi- mum fourteen lines) must be in, marked 'Competition No. 547,' by 14 April.