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Are you in the Euro-zone?

It would appear that I am!

It’s really odd to think that after many months of preparation I find myself back at the heart of the Eurovision Song Contest.  For the third successive year I have been accredited to cover the event – thanks to Jamie McLoughlin and the BBC. Once again I’ll be offering you the view from the centre of all things ‘Eurovish’, and this year we are in Oslo, Norway.

I’m sure that those of you who have followed my exploits for the last two years will join me on the journey once again. If it’s your first time – welcome aboard… relax and enjoy the ride!

In addition this year I am here with Dr. Karen Fricker and Dr. Toni Sant to launch the Eurovision Research Network (ERN) which we hope will continue to develop the ongoing research into the Contest and highlight the dynamic and interdisciplinary nature of the work that is currently being undertaken by academics across the globe. No, really! More of that later in the week.

It was an early start today (Saturday) for myself and good friend (not to mention fellow Eurovision scholar) Dr. Karen Fricker. I had travelled down to London on Friday to make good use of my time (and terrible flight connections) only to be scuppered – not by volcanic ash – but by a bloody fog cloud!  A two-hour delay in the big scheme of things seems like a small price to pay for what must have been appalling circumstances for those trapped in the volcanic ash over the past few weeks. And we’re here now, so…

We left Gatwick at 0950hrs, and by 1620hrs Karen and I had arrived in Oslo, checked-in to our apartment in downtown Oslo (very nice, BTW), registered for our press accreditation at the Telanor Arena, and by 1620 we were in the arena for the first rehearsal of the ‘our Josh’ who is our entry this year. My excitement is palpable…

After a long day seeing this guy rehearse certainly perked us up…

Yes, that’s the UK singer for this year – ‘our Josh’, and more of him and rest of the developments so far in Oslo in the next post…