Worcester may not have put a bid to go up against our rivals in Brum to host Eurovision this year (can you imagine?!) - but the city played host to one of its icons in the 1960s.

Cliff Richard – who competed in the contest three times – performed at Worcester Gaumont Theatre just a few years before taking to the Eurovision stage.

His first appearance was in December 1958 at the iconic venue in Foregate Street when he was just starting out in the business.

His performance was part of Arthur Howes’ Big Teenage Special concert at the Gaumont – which now sadly stands empty after closing as a bingo hall during the pandemic.

Cliff was the headline act with his backing band the Shadows, then known as the Drifters.

He appeared there again in February 1961 and March 1962.

Just six years after his last appearance in Worcester, he had quickly became known as one of Britain’s biggest-selling pop stars and cemented that with a confident Eurovision performance.

In 1968 he represented the UK with the song Congratulations - finishing second by one vote behind Spain.

His second appearance was at the 1973 contest in Luxembourg, performing the song Power To All Our Friends. He led for some part of the voting, but eventually faded to third place.

And Cliff wasn’t the only future star of Eurovision to perform at the Gaumont in its heyday.

Engelbert Humperdinck performed alongside The Walker Brothers and Cat Stevens on the bill for The Jimi Hendrix Experience on April 2, 1967.

However, it would be over four decades later that Engelbert, then 75, appeared on the Eurovision stage in Baku, Azerbaijan in 2012. He finished second to last, with just 12 points.

  • The Eurovision Song Contest final is taking place at the M&S Bank Arena, in Liverpool, tonight (Saturday, May 13). It will be broadcast on BBC One from 8pm.