Nul Points
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Review
"The new Bill Bryson."
-"The Times"
"Moore is a talented and very funny writer."
-"Daily Telegraph"
-"The Times"
"Moore is a talented and very funny writer."
-"Daily Telegraph"
Daily Mail
"Moore's pseudo-forensic take on the whole madness...makes it so
much fun"
much fun"
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
20 of 21 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Tim Moore was inspired to write this book through his friendship with Jane Alexander and her experience of coming 3rd in the UK national final to choose a song for the Eurovision Song Contest in 1989. He began to wonder what had become of the singers who came last in the Eurovision Song Contest, and this led him to look at the names of those who have suffered what he dubs »light entertainment's ultimate indignity«- a zero score in the Eurovision Song Contest.
The contest has given the English language the term »Nul Points«, despite the fact that, as Mr Moore rightly points out, the phrase has never been uttered on the Eurovision stage. He decided to limit his definition of »Nul-Pointers« to those who have failed to score under the current 12 points voting system (previous voting systems made it much easier to come away empty handed). This left him with a list of 14 acts to visit in their own counties, in chronological order, beginning with Norway 's Jahn Teigen and ending with the UK 's Jemini.
What had begun as a project based on the UK 's Woganesque derision of the ESC, fuelled by schadenfreude, quickly took on a life of its own as Tim Moore delved deeper into the lives and times of Eurovision and its »pointless« contestants. The book is meticulously researched and the author generously credits the Eurovision fan base as his best and most reliable source of material. From the 14 candidates, he finally visited 9. A meeting with Remediou Amaya [Spain 1983] could not be arranged and Çetin Alp had sadly passed away, drawing the final curtain on his 1983 debacle for Turkey (the book is dedicated to his memory). Wilfred ( Austria 1988), Thomas Förster ( Austria 1991) and Gunvor ( Switzerland 1998) all declined to talk about their Eurovision experiences. Nevertheless, all these artists get a sympathetic hearing in the book.
Of the close encounters of the Eurovision kind which do take place, the reports range from the amusing (Teigen and Sigyal Taner) to the distressing (Finn Kalvik and Celia Lawson). The book is packed full of trivia and pointed observations, making it a joy to read. Tim Moore's style owes something to that of fellow travel writer Bill Bryson, another author who combines facts with fun. The final chapter is dedicated to his visit to see the ESC live in Kyiv in 2005. Only here does he drop a factual clanger, wrongly crediting Gracia's ill-fated German entry to the pen of Ralf Siegel (a forgivable error). He was much relieved when the contest produced no additional »Nul Pointers«, even if 2005 was a year of near-misses.
One of the most amusing and original books even written on subject, this book is highly recommended to Eurovision fans and Eurovision foes alike.
Ivor Lyttle
The contest has given the English language the term »Nul Points«, despite the fact that, as Mr Moore rightly points out, the phrase has never been uttered on the Eurovision stage. He decided to limit his definition of »Nul-Pointers« to those who have failed to score under the current 12 points voting system (previous voting systems made it much easier to come away empty handed). This left him with a list of 14 acts to visit in their own counties, in chronological order, beginning with Norway 's Jahn Teigen and ending with the UK 's Jemini.
What had begun as a project based on the UK 's Woganesque derision of the ESC, fuelled by schadenfreude, quickly took on a life of its own as Tim Moore delved deeper into the lives and times of Eurovision and its »pointless« contestants. The book is meticulously researched and the author generously credits the Eurovision fan base as his best and most reliable source of material. From the 14 candidates, he finally visited 9. A meeting with Remediou Amaya [Spain 1983] could not be arranged and Çetin Alp had sadly passed away, drawing the final curtain on his 1983 debacle for Turkey (the book is dedicated to his memory). Wilfred ( Austria 1988), Thomas Förster ( Austria 1991) and Gunvor ( Switzerland 1998) all declined to talk about their Eurovision experiences. Nevertheless, all these artists get a sympathetic hearing in the book.
Of the close encounters of the Eurovision kind which do take place, the reports range from the amusing (Teigen and Sigyal Taner) to the distressing (Finn Kalvik and Celia Lawson). The book is packed full of trivia and pointed observations, making it a joy to read. Tim Moore's style owes something to that of fellow travel writer Bill Bryson, another author who combines facts with fun. The final chapter is dedicated to his visit to see the ESC live in Kyiv in 2005. Only here does he drop a factual clanger, wrongly crediting Gracia's ill-fated German entry to the pen of Ralf Siegel (a forgivable error). He was much relieved when the contest produced no additional »Nul Pointers«, even if 2005 was a year of near-misses.
One of the most amusing and original books even written on subject, this book is highly recommended to Eurovision fans and Eurovision foes alike.
Ivor Lyttle
15 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I can't say I'd usually have been attracted to a book about the Eurovision Song Contest, let alone the worst of it, but as a bit of a Tim Moore diehard I thought I'd give this a go. I'm certainly glad I did - along with the usual belly laughs (Terry Wogan eat your heart out) I found myself almost welling up with tears at some of the 13 amazing stories he travels the world to hear first hand. All human life is here: tragedy, farce, compassion, resentment, the lot. I finished it in three days and when I lent it to my sister she did it in two (breaking her previous record by about a month!).
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Following on from his exploits around the Tour de France route, the "real" Monopoly board of London and a trek with a stubborn donkey along the route of the Santiago de Compostela, it wasn't only a matter of time before Tim Moore's attention, and writing, was drawn to the wonderful spectacle that is the Eurovision Song Contest.
Rather than cover the contest as a whole Tim decided to delve deeper into the betes-noire of the contest, those much-maligned artists whose joy at national victory was brought suddenly and very publicly back down to earth with a bump when they scored nul points.
As any Eurovision statto will tell you there have been 34 entrants who have failed to trouble the scorers, although some can reasonably claim that the scoring system didn't help. Between 1971 and 1973 it wasn't possible to score nothing as every song, however bad, received some points and in the early to mid sixties there were so few points on offer than the non-scorers were always in good (or bad) company.
The eminently-readable "Nul Points" follows Tim Moore's attempts to interview the last 14 non-scorers from Jahn Teigen in 1974 to our very own Jemini in 2003. Out of patriotic loyalty, I actually decided to read the Jemini chapter first and then the rest of the book. Notwithstanding the rights and wrongs of what may or may not have happened on that fateful night in the Riga's Skonto Olympic Arena, one thing that strikes me from reading the book is that Jemini seemed totally unprepared for the international arena they were about to enter. Akin to giving a Christian a plastic knife to take on the lions, there seems to have been very little in the way of a support mechanism for them in their Euro-adventure. Who should take the blame for that is now ancient history but it left me feeling more a little sorry for them as they returned to the real life of day jobs and bills to pay.
Tim Moore fails to fall into the trap of so many Fleet Street (are there actually any left there?) hacks around competition time by avoiding all the stereotypes and lazy journalism fans of the contest have come to expect. Sure, you can't not mention the political voting, the outfits, the repetitive lyrics but Tim doesn't dwell on those as he seeks to find out what has become of the unfortunate fourteen nul pointers.
Some of the infamous fourteen have survived better than others. Some like Jahn Tiegen have become Eurovision legends (his failure didn't stop two further attempts at the contest) and others, well, you'll need to read the book to find out. It's obvious that the author is a fan of the contest but he fails to let that get in the way as another book in his excellent series of travelogues only underlines what a fine, comic writer he is. For Nul Points, I award Douze Points.
Rather than cover the contest as a whole Tim decided to delve deeper into the betes-noire of the contest, those much-maligned artists whose joy at national victory was brought suddenly and very publicly back down to earth with a bump when they scored nul points.
As any Eurovision statto will tell you there have been 34 entrants who have failed to trouble the scorers, although some can reasonably claim that the scoring system didn't help. Between 1971 and 1973 it wasn't possible to score nothing as every song, however bad, received some points and in the early to mid sixties there were so few points on offer than the non-scorers were always in good (or bad) company.
The eminently-readable "Nul Points" follows Tim Moore's attempts to interview the last 14 non-scorers from Jahn Teigen in 1974 to our very own Jemini in 2003. Out of patriotic loyalty, I actually decided to read the Jemini chapter first and then the rest of the book. Notwithstanding the rights and wrongs of what may or may not have happened on that fateful night in the Riga's Skonto Olympic Arena, one thing that strikes me from reading the book is that Jemini seemed totally unprepared for the international arena they were about to enter. Akin to giving a Christian a plastic knife to take on the lions, there seems to have been very little in the way of a support mechanism for them in their Euro-adventure. Who should take the blame for that is now ancient history but it left me feeling more a little sorry for them as they returned to the real life of day jobs and bills to pay.
Tim Moore fails to fall into the trap of so many Fleet Street (are there actually any left there?) hacks around competition time by avoiding all the stereotypes and lazy journalism fans of the contest have come to expect. Sure, you can't not mention the political voting, the outfits, the repetitive lyrics but Tim doesn't dwell on those as he seeks to find out what has become of the unfortunate fourteen nul pointers.
Some of the infamous fourteen have survived better than others. Some like Jahn Tiegen have become Eurovision legends (his failure didn't stop two further attempts at the contest) and others, well, you'll need to read the book to find out. It's obvious that the author is a fan of the contest but he fails to let that get in the way as another book in his excellent series of travelogues only underlines what a fine, comic writer he is. For Nul Points, I award Douze Points.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Strangely moving
In which Tim Moore tries to track down every one of the 14 acts who have failed to score a single point in the Eurovision Song Contest since the mid-1970s. Read more
Published 22 months ago by A. Warmington
Congratulations! And celebrations!
The British may pretend to have no time for Eurovision but it's always the Brits, I notice, behind the books, theatre pieces and TV documentaries about Eurovision. Read more
Published on 27 Dec 2008 by Vauxhall1964
A new side to Moore
As a long-standing fan of Tim Moore with a all-time loathing for the European Song Contest (ESC), I approached this book with trepidation. I needn't have done. Read more
Published on 21 Sep 2007 by derekmas
Thumbs down from a Eurovision fan!
Well I have not read any books by this author before, but am a fan of the Eurovision Song Contest.
I was really excited by the set up of this book. Read more
I was really excited by the set up of this book. Read more
Published on 5 Aug 2007 by Crackerjack
Expected more from moore
Having recently finished reading the excellent Spanish Steps by Tim Moore (possibly the funniest travel book I've ever read), I really wanted to like this too. Read more
Published on 26 Jun 2007 by N. Griffiths
Not Nul Points but 5 Stars
Tim Moore has done it again.
After taking the Tour de France and the board game Monopoly he has now taken the Eurovision Song Contest and written a superbly funny... Read more
After taking the Tour de France and the board game Monopoly he has now taken the Eurovision Song Contest and written a superbly funny... Read more
Published on 7 Jun 2007 by L. F. Carson
Moore. And Again!
Moore has a way with words. I suppose that's what you hope for from a writer, but what I mean is he's careful with the words he chooses and then, BANG, there's the punch line, so... Read more
Published on 16 April 2007 by Alastair Williams
Moore's first turkey
Perhaps it's partly my fault? After greatly enjoying all Tim Moore's previous books I was eagerly anticipating another humous travel tome. Unfortunately this is neither. Read more
Published on 8 Jan 2007 by D. E. Young
Tim goes soft - I blame the bloody donkey
Tim Moore escapes the usual classifications - travel? humour? personal development? I have read and enjoyed all his books with their pre-occupations with human failures, weird... Read more
Published on 4 Dec 2006 by the macrae
Enjoyable
Tim Moore is Britain's finest Nordic humorous travel writer. And this is a fine vehicle for his art! Read more
Published on 19 Nov 2006 by M. Pennington
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