United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest especially for the UK televised selection contest, "A Song for Europe" (a programme which in later years would be renamed to "Making Your Mind Up"). At Eurovision in Dublin, they defeated Germany's Lena Valaitis by four points. The group went on to continued success, with 13 UK top 40 hits over the next five years. This would be the last UK win for 16 years, although the country continued to be competitive at the contest with four more second-place results during this time. In 1988, Scott Fitzgerald lost to Celine Dion, who was representing Switzerland, by just one point. In
France in the Eurovision Song Contest 1988 France in the Eurovision Song Contest 1988 France was represented by Gérard Lenorman, with the song '"Chanteur de charme", at the 1988 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 30 April in Dublin. For the first time since taking over responsibility for the French Eurovision selection in 1983, broadcaster Antenne 2 opted to choose their entry by internal selection rather than a public final. On the night of the final Lenorman performed 19th in the running order, following Italy and preceding Portugal. At the close of voting "Chanteur de charme" had picked up 64 points (including a maximum 12 from