Jade Ewen gears up for Eurovision
- 00:03:45
- ITN
Jade Ewen gears up for Eurovision
Britain's Eurovision hopeful is counting on Lord Lloyd Webber's magic to avoid the dreaded nul point scenario. Jade Ewen, 21, will perform It's My Time - accompanied by Lord Lloyd Webber on piano - in the vast Olympiyski Stadium in Moscow on Saturday night. The Londoner hopes to fare better than last year's entrant Andy Abraham, who finished joint last. It raised questions about political voting between EU countries and whether the UK should bother to enter the song competition. Sir Terry Wogan, who has bowed out of commentating after decades of making jokes about some of the weird and wacky entries, said after Abraham's disappointment that it was "no longer a music contest" and that prospects for Western European participants were "poor". This year, Graham Norton will take over Sir Terry's duties. He said of the political voting issue: "It did get to Terry in the end, but he'd been doing it for 35 years, so it probably won't annoy me quite as much. It's frustrating because it does take the fun out of it." Norton added: "The voting sequence should be very exciting, but if you know who everyone is going to vote for then it's less exciting." He said he would not be doing an impression of Sir Terry and would only poke fun if it was worth it, adding: "Listening to the songs, I think a lot of them are actually quite good this year." Speaking during preparations in Moscow, Ewen said it was "encouraging" to know the public are behind her and said of rehearsals: "Touch wood, everything's been great. It's just all been really positive." Ewen, who will don an outfit by British designer Amanda Wakeley for her performance, said of the entry which Lord Lloyd Webber penned with US songwriter Diane Warren: "I think it's going to (make) a huge difference. He's got such an amazing fanbase out here." Ewen's MySpace page said being accompanied by Lord Lloyd Webber on piano will be her "secret weapon". William Hill has slashed the odds of a UK win to 10/1 - the shortest price in years, saying Lord Lloyd Webber has the "Midas touch". The bookmaker also predicts that up to £3 million will be gambled industry-wide on this year's contest. If the UK beats recent form and manages to win, the industry could be paying out up to £5 million.
ITN | May 15, 2009
