On this day in 1976, the 21th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest took place in The Hague, Netherlands, following the country’s victory at the 1975 contest with the song Ding-a-dong by Teach-In. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Nederlandse Omroep Stichting(NOS), the contest was held at the Nederlands Congrescentrum and was hosted by 1957 Dutch Eurovision winner Corry Brokken.
Eighteen countries took part in the contest with Sweden, Malta and Turkey opting not to return to the contest after participating the previous year. Malta would not return to the contest again until 1991. On the other hand, Austria and Greece returned to the competition, having been absent since 1972 and 1974 respectively.
United Kingdom won the contest this year with the song Save Your Kisses for Me by Brotherhood of Man. The song went on to become the biggest selling winning single in the history of the contest and won with 80.39% of the possible maximum score and an average of 9.65 of 12; a record under the voting system introduced in 1975.
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