Kevin Sherwin, Aberdeen’s number one fan, says it’s worth every penny and that watching the show live across Europe is a big deal.
Taxi driver Kevin Sherwin claims to be Eurovision’s number one fan – spending £50K travelling to destinations across Europe during the 30 years he’s been watching the show live. Speaking from Basel, Switzerland, where he’s watching his 26th live contest, he confesses that he hopes the UK fails to win the Saturday night final.
Kevin, 63, of Aberdeen, states, “I love to wave the Union Flag and support the UK, but it would be a terrible disappointment if we actually won,” and I would not get to take my annual vacation. I’ve traveled about 50, 000 miles for Eurovision, but I’ve never been there, so it would be nice if we came second.
Ever since he sang along to Cliff Richard singing Congratulations in 1968 when he was four, Kevin – who lives with his partner who also likes the contest but is not as big a fan – he’s loved Eurovision. Longing to watch in person, only invited guests and production staff had access in the 1970s and 80s. So, in 1994, seeing an advert on Ceefax, offering tickets to see Eurovision in Dublin for £300, he snapped one up.
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“It was an iconic performance to be at,” he recalls. “I’d had to rent a dinner jacket, it was very formal, but it was the year that Riverdance performed in the interval, so I can say I was at the world premiere of that. It just blew me away, and I knew I had to keep going back. For me, Eurovision is like Christmas. There’s a huge lead up to it all year, and then a few days before the contest, all the fans start to arrive – it’s like seeing my Eurovision family for the holidays.
Nothing can bring us down like the buzz in the air, which is like being inside a cocoon. Yes, it costs a lot of money, but I do it fairly sparingly the rest of the year and attend Eurovision. It’s much preferable to sitting on a beach somewhere.
Kevin has only missed four live performances since 1994, all of which he could not get between 1996 and 2000. He frequently books hotel rooms in multiple cities before a year in advance to avoid disappointment. I immediately begin looking for lodging when the winner is revealed, he says. I reserve a refundable hotel room in each of the two or three possible cities where it might be held.
“This time, I made sure I had accommodation in Basel, Geneva and Zurich. You can usually work out which week the competition will be held, depending on the champions league final. But I’ve been known to book three hotels for three different weeks to make sure I get a spot. Sometimes this can mean getting them before the prices go up too high.”
He’s regularly stayed in the same hotels as the performers and made friends with international singers from all over the world. He claims that he had a number of encounters with Terry Wogan, who was a wonderful person and kind to the fans. Graham Norton, who is also lovely, is another person I’ve met. I’m always present at the event and never watch it on television, but people ask me what commentary style I prefer.
The majority of the singers are lovely, but there are also some real divas. They have their entire room ordered and refuse to go down for food with others. And Kevin tries to spread his love for Eurovision the rest of the year. He admits that I always enjoy having Eurovision tunes playing in my taxi and try to muddle things into conversation.
They typically enjoy chatting about Eurovision, even if they initially roll their eyes, and I always have a little something to share with them. Even if it’s because people despise it, it’s still a talking point, in fact.
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Source: Mirror
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