By Jill Lawless
London - This weekend, legions of Europeans will watch the Eurovision Song Contest, a durable expression of the continent's unity - and, to critics, its appreciation of saccharine music.
Britain - the country that spawned world-beating pop bands from the Beatles to Coldplay - hasn't had much joy in the event of late. Yet millions of Brits are expected to tune in with guilty pleasure, giggling, grimacing and grumbling "We were robbed!"
The pan-European musical talent show, which celebrates its 50th anniversary Saturday in the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, is a cavalcade of camp, kitsch and dubious taste with a television audience of 150-million.
Most Britons profess themselves too sophisticated to embrace the sort of cheesy Euro-pop that Eurovision celebrates. But eight million viewers, in a country of 60-million, tune in every year to watch - and, in recent years, to see their country roundly trounced.
"The great thing about Eurovision is you can come at it from so many different angles," said John Kennedy O'Connor, a fan since the 1970s and author of the official history of the competition.
"There are some people who take it deadly seriously, as if it were a major political contest. Others watch to see how bad it will be. You can enjoy it on so many different levels."
First staged in 1956, Eurovision introduced the world to ABBA - 1974 winners with Waterloo - and Canadian chanteuse Celine Dion, who won under a Swiss flag in 1988. More recent winners have tended to sink without trace, victims of the "curse of Eurovision".
But that has not lessened the appeal of a competition as fraught with diplomacy, feuding and delicate allegiances as the United Nations. Seven countries participated in the first-ever competition; 39 are competing this year, with 24 making it through to Saturday's final.
Lebanon, due to compete this year for the first time, pulled out after its national broadcaster refused to show the Israeli entry.
Controversy also surrounded host Ukraine's entry, with some accusing the government of Victor Yushchenko of rigging votes to ensure that Greenjolly's Razom Nas Bahato (Together We Are Many) - the unofficial anthem of last year's Orange Revolution that brought Yushchenko to power - was selected.
Britain is a five-time Eurovision champion, but has not won the contest since 1997, when Katrina and the Waves took the top spot. Its heyday was the 1960s, when big names like Lulu and Cliff Richard flew the Union Jack - and, in Lulu's case, won the contest.
Many Britons blame their country's recent lack of success on politics. The contest's complex voting system - each country awards others a sliding scale of points from 1 to 12 based on viewers' telephone votes - gives rise to allegations of bias and favouritism.
For many British viewers, much of Eurovision's pleasure lies in the acerbic commentary of longtime BBC presenter Terry Wogan, always sardonically unsurprised when Norway gives maximum points to neighbour Sweden, or when Cyprus and Greece enthusiastically back the other's entry.
Wogan blamed Britain's dismal 2003 result, in which duo Jemini received the dreaded "nil points" - not a single vote - on a backlash against the unpopular Iraq war.
O'Connor disagrees. "It was because it was a really, really bad song," he said.
But research released this week by academics at Oxford University suggests disgruntled Britons may have a point.
"Our analysis enables us to confirm that there are unofficial cliques of countries," noted the authors of the scholarly paper "How Does Europe Make its Mind Up? Connections, Cliques and Compatibility Between Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest."
The study identified clusters of countries with similar voting patterns, including the Hellenic axis of Greece and Cyprus and a "quasi-Nordic clique" of Scandinavian and Baltic states.
Surprisingly, it found that despite its strong Euroskeptic streak, Britain was among the countries that gave and received votes most widely.
"Despite the British tendency to feel distant from Europe, our analysis shows that the UK is actually remarkably compatible, or 'in tune' with other European countries," said Neil Johnson, one of the authors of the study.
That won't ensure victory for Britain's entry, former reality TV contestant Javine Hylton. Hylton says her aim is to restore British pride with the up-tempo number Touch My Fire, but bookmaker William Hill rates her a 25-1 outsider. The smart money is on My Number One by Greek singer Helena, a sultry, bouzouki-flavoured number bookies make the 2-1 favourite.
O'Connor rated Hylton's chances as "very, very low".
"That's nothing to do with her," he said. "It's just a completely forgettable song. And she's singing second, which is the worst place to go."
Time for a new conspiracy theory, perhaps. - Sapa-AP