When people ask me to pick the most awful of all my Eurovisions, it is easy to answer. It is this one by a long shot. Even before arriving at Eurovision, the biggest horror was the fact that Germany sent Guildo Horn as their entry – one of my biggest hates to date (and for all those who like German schlager music). In all honesty I have to say that the 1998 German selection was not that special. A penfriend sent me the compilation CD and although there were 3 Ralph Siegel songs in the selection namely “Kids” by Sharon, “Can-can” by Ballhouse and “Carneval” by Kopenick – none of these songs really stood out. I remember listening to the songs with Lana who worked with me and she went crazy over the “Gel song” by Fokker.

The trip also started with a horror drama. A week prior to my departure, I got off my bus from work and the bus driver closed the door before I was completely off and my arm was caught in the door and it broke the glass of my watch. The bus company said they would pay for the repairs, but I had to get two quotes. Naturally they accepted the cheapest one and I handed in my watch, saying I wanted it back before departing for Eurovision. The day before my departure, the watch was ready and I went to fetch it. Suddenly a guy stormed into the shop with a gun, demanding money. He grabbed a female as hostage. She was looking at a tray of expensive golden rings. The shock of being grabbed as a hostage was too much for her and she collapsed. The robber thought someone had shot at him but hit the female, grabbed some of the rings and ran out. The rest of us in the shop finally got our speech back and realized what a close escape we have had. So I did not have a good start to my journey.

1998 also brought the biggest crisis for me surrounding accreditation. The BBC did not think it was special for me to come all the way from South Africa for Eurovision when tons of South Africans are living in London and surroundings areas. If Greece had not come to my rescue and offered me accreditation (knowing that I do shows for the Greek radio station in Johannesburg), I would have had an even more miserable Eurovision. I was so upset that I left the Thursday before the final and flew to the Netherlands where I watched it on TV and televoted for Estonia. It was the first and last time I had ever televoted.

My hotel in Birmingham was also not that special. It was near the venue and affordable but it was small and I was the only Eurovision journalist staying there. But most of all, for some strange reason there was no curtains in front of the windows. And my room looked out right on a lamppost in the street. Since I am totally unable to sleep when it is light, I had to use my bedspread every night in front of the window to make the room dark.

At Eurovision Guildo Horn had so many followers – they were all around – tons of them came by boat to Birmingham to support their singer. His press conference was packed.

1998 also had DANA INTERNATIONAL for Israel and a lot of hype, as it was the first sex change singer to be at Eurovision. The press predicted the winner would come from either Guildo or Dana.

This was also when I met up with Chiara from Malta who was still very young and I was able to see how she grew and matured in later years when I met her again in 2005 and 2009.

The year also saw the first introduction of televoting on a limited scale – I am not sure but I think 6 countries voted by phone instead of the normal juries.

The Finnish party in the aquarium in Birmingham was one small highlight – this must have cost a fortune! But it probably was one of the most exotic locations for a party. Pity their entry “Aava” was not really my cup-a-tea, reminded me too much of the Norwegian Eurovision winner of 1995.

Because I did not stay until the end, I left Birmingham without obtaining all the entries on CD – I missed 3 – Germany, Israel and France. Luckily I was able to get them all later through other people.

Interesting is that someone made a Grand Prix compilation of the entries – all 25 and live from the performance.

Musically the highlights were
Estonia – Mere Lapsed – Koit Toome
Sweden – Karleken ar – Jill Johnson
Macedonia – Ne zori zoro – Vlado Janevski
Slovakia – Modlitba – Katarina Hasporva
Romania – Eu cred – Malina Olinescu

And of course the biggest horror
Germany – Guildo hat euch lieb – Guildo Horn
But other dislikes were
France – Ou aller – Marie Line
United Kingdom – Where are you – Imaani