In addition, the BBC was also the host broadcaster and staged the event at the Royal Albert Hall in London, after winning the previous edition with the song "Puppet on a String" by Sandie Shaw.

Cilla Black had been the BBC's first choice to sing the 1968 British entry, but she had turned it down as she did not believe any nation was likely to win back-to-back contests.

As in 1967 when the UK won with Sandie Shaw, a current pop singer, Cliff Richard, was chosen to sing the song.

Instead, for the first time, the songs were broadcast twice in the final, with the performances repeated immediately after Richard had sung them successively.

Viewers cast votes by postcard via mail to choose the winner and 171,300 chose Congratulations, a catchy party song, with the runner up over 140,000 behind in the poll.