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Nul Points by Tim Moore
The spangled insanity, the stubborn reinforcement of crude national stereotypes, the scoreboard shamelessly corrupted by cross-border friendship and hatred... throughout those long post-ABBA decades, the Eurovision Song Contest has been drawing 450 million of us to the sofa for all the wrong reasons. And the most gloriously wrong of our enduring fascination with the unfortunates left to wander the desolate summit of Mount Fiasco without a point to their names.From Lisbon to Liverpool, from the Black Sea to the Baltic, Tim Moore travels the continent to track down the thirteen Eurominstrels who suffered the entertainment world's prime humiliation.
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First published January 1, 2006
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About the author
Tim Moore
34 books211 followersTim Moore is a British travel writer and humorist. He was educated at Latymer Upper School in Hammersmith. In addition to his seven published travelogues to date, his writings have appeared in various publications including Esquire, The Sunday Times, The Independent, The Observer and the Evening Standard. He was also briefly a journalist for the Teletext computer games magazine Digitiser, under the pseudonym Mr Hairs, alongside Mr Biffo (aka comedy and sitcom writer Paul Rose.)
His book Frost On My Moustache is an account of a journey in which the author attempts to emulate Lord Dufferin's fearless spirit and enthusiastic adventuring, but comes to identify far more with Dufferin's permanently miserable butler, Wilson, as portrayed Dufferin's travel book Letters From High Latitudes.
In 2004, Moore presented an ITV programme based on his book Do Not Pass Go, a travelogue of his journey around the locations that appear on a British Monopoly board.
Moore lives in Chiswick, West London with his Icelandic wife Birna Helgadóttir and their three children, Kristján, Lilja and Valdis. He is also a brother-in-law of Agnar Helgason and Asgeir Helgason, and son-in-law of Helgi Valdimarsson.
His book Frost On My Moustache is an account of a journey in which the author attempts to emulate Lord Dufferin's fearless spirit and enthusiastic adventuring, but comes to identify far more with Dufferin's permanently miserable butler, Wilson, as portrayed Dufferin's travel book Letters From High Latitudes.
In 2004, Moore presented an ITV programme based on his book Do Not Pass Go, a travelogue of his journey around the locations that appear on a British Monopoly board.
Moore lives in Chiswick, West London with his Icelandic wife Birna Helgadóttir and their three children, Kristján, Lilja and Valdis. He is also a brother-in-law of Agnar Helgason and Asgeir Helgason, and son-in-law of Helgi Valdimarsson.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
April 26, 2022
This is really a case of: yes, I could write this book, but the bigger question is should I write this book?
And the answer to that is a resounding no.
First off, readers: if you have an embarrassment squick, jog on. Just jump right out of this review and away from this book. Go on. Git.
Second off, there really are some authors that require the supervision of a sensible adult, and I believe we've found one of them. If your entire reaction to Eurovision, a spectacle of light, sound, sequins, drag, men in giant hamster wheels, vampires, and a boat only Malta can see is to look up everyone who showed up and received zero points for their efforts, I want you to sit down and take a long hard look into your soul.
Do you like what you see there? Because I'm not sure I do.
If you follow up this impulse by wanting to go and interview a poorly defined selection of these people and ask them how they feel about getting zero points, it's entirely probable that you're going to be visited by three ghosts in the night, author.
And if some people you contact staunchly refuse to have anything to do with you and you write about them anyway, I'm rooting for the ghosts. I hope they swallow you whole.
What's that, author? You've decided to take an electric guitar with you to visit these people and ask them to duet with you on their zero-pointers?
Even Jeremy Clarkson is disappointed in your decision-making skills.
All of which is to say that regardless of how well you research, and write about history and travel, it's just not worth it if you can't bother to be kind.
And the answer to that is a resounding no.
First off, readers: if you have an embarrassment squick, jog on. Just jump right out of this review and away from this book. Go on. Git.
Second off, there really are some authors that require the supervision of a sensible adult, and I believe we've found one of them. If your entire reaction to Eurovision, a spectacle of light, sound, sequins, drag, men in giant hamster wheels, vampires, and a boat only Malta can see is to look up everyone who showed up and received zero points for their efforts, I want you to sit down and take a long hard look into your soul.
Do you like what you see there? Because I'm not sure I do.
If you follow up this impulse by wanting to go and interview a poorly defined selection of these people and ask them how they feel about getting zero points, it's entirely probable that you're going to be visited by three ghosts in the night, author.
And if some people you contact staunchly refuse to have anything to do with you and you write about them anyway, I'm rooting for the ghosts. I hope they swallow you whole.
What's that, author? You've decided to take an electric guitar with you to visit these people and ask them to duet with you on their zero-pointers?
Even Jeremy Clarkson is disappointed in your decision-making skills.
All of which is to say that regardless of how well you research, and write about history and travel, it's just not worth it if you can't bother to be kind.
July 13, 2009
EUROVISION. oh how my heart sings
update: I have read about the first two nul-pointers so far, but have had to pause reading this while I gather all Eurovision entries from 1956 today onto my ipod. this is taking a super-long time, but once it's done I can start in again and appreciate the full glory of the book.
The other thing about the book that's slowing me down is that you really have to watch it with your computer nearby so you can Youtube the disastrous performances. Often just listening to the songs themselves doesn't go v. far in explaining why they failed so gloriously.
update: I have read about the first two nul-pointers so far, but have had to pause reading this while I gather all Eurovision entries from 1956 today onto my ipod. this is taking a super-long time, but once it's done I can start in again and appreciate the full glory of the book.
The other thing about the book that's slowing me down is that you really have to watch it with your computer nearby so you can Youtube the disastrous performances. Often just listening to the songs themselves doesn't go v. far in explaining why they failed so gloriously.
April 5, 2008
To its aficionados, the annual Eurovision Song Contest is a marvellous melange that blends pop and politics, fashion faux pas and flag-waving. To everyone else, it's a showcase for shite.
Polarising it may be, but Eurovision has no shortage of performers beating a path to its tinsel-decked door. And although only ABBA and Celine Dion have achieved post-Eurovision mega-stardom, nearly every entrant sees the contest as a springboard to the stratosphere.
For most, barely have their feet left that springboard than they find themselves plummeting, belly-first towards the sea of oblivion. As Europe delivers its verdict, dreams of greatness are quietly snuffed out. But for an unlucky few, each set of results painfully and publicly signals that they’ll be ending the contest as they began: with no points. Rejected and dejected, they can only limp home to rebuild the wreckage of their career and hope that the worst night of their lives will soon be forgotten.
Fat chance. Not with Tim Moore shining his gazillion watt spotlight on their misfortunes. In Nul Points, Moore sets out to uncover the underachievers who went to Eurovision with the highest of hopes and returned with the lowest of scores.
Since 1975, the Eurovision voting system has made it harder to score zero. But it didn’t take long for Jahn Teigen to make it look easy. Representing Norway in 1978, Teigen assaulted an unsuspecting song and strangled it with his vocal cords before dealing the fatal blow from a shocking, splay-legged leap. Europe’s response was sadly predictable.
But, as Moore finds when he visits Teigen in Oslo, the reaction in his homeland was rather different. Norway put out the red carpet for its zero hero, and he went on to enjoy if not public adulation then certainly the affection of a loyal fan base. After a rough patch in the eighties, Teigen is still performing and still submitting entries for Eurovision.
But while Jahn Teigen merrily wears his zero as a halo, others see their nil as a noose. After Finn Kalvik failed to score for Norway in 1981, his countrymen, perhaps thinking the joke had been stretched to its outer limits, sent his career into meltdown. But worse was to come.
Targeted by Norwegian satirists, Kalvik was subjected to ridicule every week on national television. His response -- part Heather Mills, part Howard Hughes -- only exasperated the situation, driving him to the brink of suicide. Moore’s encounter with Kalvik on a sun-kissed beach in Thailand suggests the Norwegian is still running to escape his past.
At this point what Moore might have intended as a jolly jaunt through la-la-la land becomes something more of an exploration of the human psyche. Realising that he’s confronting human beings with their own failings, he abandons the idea of inviting them to reprise their losing songs. There’s only so much knife-turning a wound can take.
Initially, his subjects adopt an air of carefree insousiance. In Helsinki he meets an upbeat Kojo, who scored zero for Finland at the 1982 contest. These days Kojo manages a successful sports development company. But when the subject turns to that fateful night in Harrogate, storm clouds gather across Kojo’s face. “You know a sports match that finishes with no goals? You know what they call such a match here? A 'Kojo-Kojo'. This is what people say, even today, twenty-some years after."
No doubt, Gunvor Guggisberg harbours similar bitterness. In a classic tale of poppy-cropping, Moore charts Guggisberg's path from golden girl to national pariah. Even as it celebrated her selection as Switzerland’s 1998 Eurovision entrant, an unwholesome Swiss tabloid was preparing to dish the dirt on the singer’s past as a sex worker. A dismal result at Eurovision released a reservoir of revulsion, and subsequent attempts to rescue her sinking career have come to nothing.
Unsurprisingly, Guggisberg turns down Moore’s invitation to revisit her painful past. But even the no-shows can’t escape his Google-powered searchlight, and some thorough detective work reveals much about the post-zero lives of performers from Austria and Spain. There’s also the troubling suggestion that a Turkish singer’s failure to come to terms with failure may have led to his sudden death.
And so it continues: from Lisbon to Lithuania, Moore finds that scoring zero in Eurovision is rarely taken lightly. Even in the UK, which reserves special derision for Eurovision, Jemini’s point-less performance in 2003 provoked agonised hand-wringing. Meeting the likeable Liverpudlians, Moore learns that false economy, coupled with an anti-British backlash against the bombing of Iraq, sowed the seeds of a barren crop.
It’s not all gloom. Some artists, such as Iceland’s Daníel Ágúst and Tor Endresen from Norway (yes, again), have managed to airbrush Eurovision out of their biographies or to transcend defeat.
But for the most part, Nul Points is a catalogue of shattered dreams, failed relationships, boozing, bankruptcy and brothels. Amidst such a grim landscape, it’s a relief to find Moore’s customary sense of humour shining through, harnessed to his astounding way with words.
Towards the end, however, he does falter, inversing the running order of the UK and Icelandic entries in 1997 and incorrectly asserting that Switzerland have failed to qualify for every Eurovision final since 1998. But such lapses are not to be too harshly treated. After all, the oxygen-depleting experience of immersion in 50 years of Eurovision is enough to drain the most agile of brains.
Full marks for Nul Points.
Polarising it may be, but Eurovision has no shortage of performers beating a path to its tinsel-decked door. And although only ABBA and Celine Dion have achieved post-Eurovision mega-stardom, nearly every entrant sees the contest as a springboard to the stratosphere.
For most, barely have their feet left that springboard than they find themselves plummeting, belly-first towards the sea of oblivion. As Europe delivers its verdict, dreams of greatness are quietly snuffed out. But for an unlucky few, each set of results painfully and publicly signals that they’ll be ending the contest as they began: with no points. Rejected and dejected, they can only limp home to rebuild the wreckage of their career and hope that the worst night of their lives will soon be forgotten.
Fat chance. Not with Tim Moore shining his gazillion watt spotlight on their misfortunes. In Nul Points, Moore sets out to uncover the underachievers who went to Eurovision with the highest of hopes and returned with the lowest of scores.
Since 1975, the Eurovision voting system has made it harder to score zero. But it didn’t take long for Jahn Teigen to make it look easy. Representing Norway in 1978, Teigen assaulted an unsuspecting song and strangled it with his vocal cords before dealing the fatal blow from a shocking, splay-legged leap. Europe’s response was sadly predictable.
But, as Moore finds when he visits Teigen in Oslo, the reaction in his homeland was rather different. Norway put out the red carpet for its zero hero, and he went on to enjoy if not public adulation then certainly the affection of a loyal fan base. After a rough patch in the eighties, Teigen is still performing and still submitting entries for Eurovision.
But while Jahn Teigen merrily wears his zero as a halo, others see their nil as a noose. After Finn Kalvik failed to score for Norway in 1981, his countrymen, perhaps thinking the joke had been stretched to its outer limits, sent his career into meltdown. But worse was to come.
Targeted by Norwegian satirists, Kalvik was subjected to ridicule every week on national television. His response -- part Heather Mills, part Howard Hughes -- only exasperated the situation, driving him to the brink of suicide. Moore’s encounter with Kalvik on a sun-kissed beach in Thailand suggests the Norwegian is still running to escape his past.
At this point what Moore might have intended as a jolly jaunt through la-la-la land becomes something more of an exploration of the human psyche. Realising that he’s confronting human beings with their own failings, he abandons the idea of inviting them to reprise their losing songs. There’s only so much knife-turning a wound can take.
Initially, his subjects adopt an air of carefree insousiance. In Helsinki he meets an upbeat Kojo, who scored zero for Finland at the 1982 contest. These days Kojo manages a successful sports development company. But when the subject turns to that fateful night in Harrogate, storm clouds gather across Kojo’s face. “You know a sports match that finishes with no goals? You know what they call such a match here? A 'Kojo-Kojo'. This is what people say, even today, twenty-some years after."
No doubt, Gunvor Guggisberg harbours similar bitterness. In a classic tale of poppy-cropping, Moore charts Guggisberg's path from golden girl to national pariah. Even as it celebrated her selection as Switzerland’s 1998 Eurovision entrant, an unwholesome Swiss tabloid was preparing to dish the dirt on the singer’s past as a sex worker. A dismal result at Eurovision released a reservoir of revulsion, and subsequent attempts to rescue her sinking career have come to nothing.
Unsurprisingly, Guggisberg turns down Moore’s invitation to revisit her painful past. But even the no-shows can’t escape his Google-powered searchlight, and some thorough detective work reveals much about the post-zero lives of performers from Austria and Spain. There’s also the troubling suggestion that a Turkish singer’s failure to come to terms with failure may have led to his sudden death.
And so it continues: from Lisbon to Lithuania, Moore finds that scoring zero in Eurovision is rarely taken lightly. Even in the UK, which reserves special derision for Eurovision, Jemini’s point-less performance in 2003 provoked agonised hand-wringing. Meeting the likeable Liverpudlians, Moore learns that false economy, coupled with an anti-British backlash against the bombing of Iraq, sowed the seeds of a barren crop.
It’s not all gloom. Some artists, such as Iceland’s Daníel Ágúst and Tor Endresen from Norway (yes, again), have managed to airbrush Eurovision out of their biographies or to transcend defeat.
But for the most part, Nul Points is a catalogue of shattered dreams, failed relationships, boozing, bankruptcy and brothels. Amidst such a grim landscape, it’s a relief to find Moore’s customary sense of humour shining through, harnessed to his astounding way with words.
Towards the end, however, he does falter, inversing the running order of the UK and Icelandic entries in 1997 and incorrectly asserting that Switzerland have failed to qualify for every Eurovision final since 1998. But such lapses are not to be too harshly treated. After all, the oxygen-depleting experience of immersion in 50 years of Eurovision is enough to drain the most agile of brains.
Full marks for Nul Points.
September 21, 2017
In this book, Tim tries to track down those who had the most ignoble experience at the very kitsch Eurovision Song Contest, those that had 'Nul Points'. At times hilarious, at times moving, at times making me angry. A good read, very enjoyable overall.
November 24, 2019
The very idea behind this book (tracking down artists who got zero points... years later!), and the caustic humour with which the encounters were narrated, will guarantee Eurovision fans hours of lol's ;)
February 26, 2017
This is an odd book for me to be reading. In the usual course of events, I won't hear a bad word about the ESC, as us fans call it but this is different. Firstly, load up your iPod with your Eurovision playlist. Don't tell me you don't have one as we all know this is the most watched programme on the TV in May. Only then can you truly savour this book. It is full of titbits about the contest, stuff us fans can recite in our sleep, much to the annoyance of our partners but the main meat of the tome is those artistes who have managed to prop up everyone else. Not just by coming last, but coming last with a big fat zero. Only by listening to the Null Pointers can you appreciate the interviews in the book. To truly appreciate the book good old Youtube is required. Then you can see the artistes live in all their glory. Sometimes singing in tune, sometimes not. This book is not there to rubbish the contest, it is there to rehabilitate those unfortunate enough to be deemed, `crap` by the rest of Europe.
August 12, 2022
2015: I love Eurovision and I love reading, so a book about Eurovision should be great. And when I read all these great reviews I knew I was onto a winner. A twelve pointer so to say!
However, I was very disappointed. I didn't understand the first few paragraphs and even after reading it several times I was not much the wiser. And then the stories about the 0 points themselves. Since I live in Norway I was especially interested in Jahn Teigen and the other Norwegians. I started with Jahn Teigen and before I had read one page I was not only skipping words, I was skipping sentences and then whole paragraphs! I tried Jemini's song (in the back), but found that equally hard going.
For some reason (and very strange since it is a book and they are usually known like it), I found the book to be too wordy! I found this book a nul pointer (much worse than Mil etter Mil by Jahn Teigen) and wouldn't recommend it to anybody!
However, I was very disappointed. I didn't understand the first few paragraphs and even after reading it several times I was not much the wiser. And then the stories about the 0 points themselves. Since I live in Norway I was especially interested in Jahn Teigen and the other Norwegians. I started with Jahn Teigen and before I had read one page I was not only skipping words, I was skipping sentences and then whole paragraphs! I tried Jemini's song (in the back), but found that equally hard going.
For some reason (and very strange since it is a book and they are usually known like it), I found the book to be too wordy! I found this book a nul pointer (much worse than Mil etter Mil by Jahn Teigen) and wouldn't recommend it to anybody!
January 29, 2014
I wanted to like this so much more than I did as I enjoy watching Eurovision every year and thought it would be fun to read about some of the past contestants, unfortunate as their performances may have been. While I see that it could be seen as amusing to focus mainly on the nul pointers, at the same time I also think it could be slightly misconstrued as mean-spirited. That's not to say the author was nasty about any of them, because he's not and is as polite as can be, but at the same time I think he showed some misguided naiviete in assuming they would want to speak to him about their experience as nul pointers, let alone sing their badly losing song along with him on his guitar.
I did find this a bit of a slog to read at times, which is a shame as the author is known for being a humourist. That said, it still made me look forward to Eurovision 2014!
I did find this a bit of a slog to read at times, which is a shame as the author is known for being a humourist. That said, it still made me look forward to Eurovision 2014!
June 23, 2013
This is the first book I have read by Tim Moore and it certainly made me want to search out more by the author. The lure here for me was the author's unique approach to the history of one of the annals of musical history that has been touched upon in recent years but not in the realm of Eurovision, that of failure. The stories of the likes of Norway's Jan Tiegel upto Great Britain's very own Jemini and their spectacular failures really chronicle the art of failure and truly celebrate those artists who came so far and then left with literally nothing. Laugh and cry along with each chapter and see how failure can no just destroy but inspire you to once again achieve.
March 1, 2013
another interesting premise for a travel book. What's not to like about the Eurovision Song Contest? I remember watching it with my mum when ABBA won it. I haven't followed it with the kind of slavish devotion exhibited here by Tim Moore but I know enough about Eurovision to really have enjoyed reading about this.
So, what is this? Tim Moore, intrepid explorer* tracks down (or not - read the book) the 13 acts that scored Nul Points since ABBA won the competition. And that's all I'm going to say. Except that: there are a fair few Norwegians in this tale.
*or travel writer, take your pick
So, what is this? Tim Moore, intrepid explorer* tracks down (or not - read the book) the 13 acts that scored Nul Points since ABBA won the competition. And that's all I'm going to say. Except that: there are a fair few Norwegians in this tale.
*or travel writer, take your pick
July 27, 2011
Nul points for this book. This seemed like an excellent topic, and Moore's research shows an admirable enthusiasm. What really irks me is that mankind's tendency to make himself (or herself, if that man is a woman) feel better or more powerful is to belittle those who've crashed & burned. My attitude is that it is better to have crashed and burned than never to have ignited the spark at all. I think that Moore was hinting at this, but I gave up on him into the 2nd chapter.
July 15, 2014
I'm not really that into Eurovision but I enjoy Moore's writing and thought I'd give this book a whirl. By the end of the book I really felt for the nul-pointers and the misfortune they'd endured due to being selected to sing for their country. But I'm from the era of Terry Woganism and, even with Moore's good writing and humour, this book was never going to rock my world. After all, it's only a singing contest, right?
March 24, 2007
For those who are familiar with the Eurovision Song Contest and the attached absurdities this is a funny and nostalgic read.
If you don't know it, you won't get it. If you do know it, you'll be laughing at the memories of dire songs, awful artists and technical ineptitudes.
Not Tim Moore's best book, still worth a read though.
If you don't know it, you won't get it. If you do know it, you'll be laughing at the memories of dire songs, awful artists and technical ineptitudes.
Not Tim Moore's best book, still worth a read though.
April 17, 2008
I was really looking forward to this book in a let's laugh at all those rubbish Eurovision entries kind of way. It lived up to expectations at first and comes across as very funny. But for me, after a while it became quite sad and aven depressing. It hasn't put me of perhaps reading more of Tim Moore's books someday though. In fact my score would really be 2.5
July 25, 2008
The sorry and varied tales of those ZERO pointers at the Eurovision - surprisingly, most of them have been immensely successful...but, oh, the journeys they've had getting there!
Gripping in that schadenfreude way...
Gripping in that schadenfreude way...
April 12, 2009
Someone had to write a history of everyone who'd ever received nul points in Eurovision. With wry humor and gentle appreciation for those who've laughed in the face of continental ridicule, Moore visits this topic with a deft touch.
January 28, 2016
Not having grown up with Eurovision, I found this book hugely enlightening, sad, hilarious and all around a great read! Tim Moore IS very funny. I enjoyed it so much, that I immediately started another of his books when I finished this one!
June 6, 2007
Written with in British English, and without having grown up with Eurovision, it was hard to get into. I think I will stick to watching old clips on Youtube.
Read
June 25, 2008As seen in this cool Flickr photo
May 27, 2009
I have only one note on this: NOT FOR PEOPLE WITH AN EMBARRASSMENT SQUICK. Seriously, this book will kill you.
May 11, 2015
Possibly only of interest to people who watch Eurovision but this was a generally sweet, funny and odd look at the 14 nul pointers of Eurovision.
December 5, 2018
Many years ago I borrowed this from the library, and as soon as I spotted a second-hand copy for sale at a local shop, I remembered most (but not all) the anecdotal stories about one man's quest to meet every nul-pointer (as at 2006, the time of writing). Of course I snapped up this copy for myself.
For those of you who are not familiar with the Eurovision Song Contest, it is a long-running international (mostly European) song competition. It is ridiculed and adored in equal parts for its many quirks, which include (but are not limited to): garish presentations; the mishmash of song genres; the large variation of quality of songs; rules changing every year; blocks of countries consistently voting for each other; and blocks of countries mutually neglecting to vote for each other. Personally, I love it all.
Well, almost all. There is one aspect of the competition that I do find troublesome: performing artists rarely see long-term success after Eurovision, even if they win. Worse, acts that fail to do well can face ridicule upon returning to their home country. This book discusses the aftermath experienced by every act that not only came last but also earned not even a single point during the competition.
The author writes in a generally comic tone but each of the author's encounters with these former contestants (or failure to encounter) leaves the reader with a different feeling: amusement, thoughtfulness, sadness. Some artists have embraced their nul points outcome as an achievement, others are almost dismissive of their time in Eurovision ... but most have had their careers stalled or destroyed, to the extent that many did not want to speak to the author at all. Many of the stories left me really feeling for these people, so if you are hoping for a bubbly read, I do not think this is for you. If you are looking for a neutral analysis, again you will be disappointed; this book is firmly rooted in the author's subjective thoughts and personal experiences while researching for this book. The target audience appears to be people who are aware of Eurovision and have some curiosity into the subject.
Personally I find it heartening that the scoring system has changed enough that nul points should not be the curse it once was: due to the size of the competition, even making it to the final is an achievement that almost half the competing countries cannot claim.
For those of you who are not familiar with the Eurovision Song Contest, it is a long-running international (mostly European) song competition. It is ridiculed and adored in equal parts for its many quirks, which include (but are not limited to): garish presentations; the mishmash of song genres; the large variation of quality of songs; rules changing every year; blocks of countries consistently voting for each other; and blocks of countries mutually neglecting to vote for each other. Personally, I love it all.
Well, almost all. There is one aspect of the competition that I do find troublesome: performing artists rarely see long-term success after Eurovision, even if they win. Worse, acts that fail to do well can face ridicule upon returning to their home country. This book discusses the aftermath experienced by every act that not only came last but also earned not even a single point during the competition.
The author writes in a generally comic tone but each of the author's encounters with these former contestants (or failure to encounter) leaves the reader with a different feeling: amusement, thoughtfulness, sadness. Some artists have embraced their nul points outcome as an achievement, others are almost dismissive of their time in Eurovision ... but most have had their careers stalled or destroyed, to the extent that many did not want to speak to the author at all. Many of the stories left me really feeling for these people, so if you are hoping for a bubbly read, I do not think this is for you. If you are looking for a neutral analysis, again you will be disappointed; this book is firmly rooted in the author's subjective thoughts and personal experiences while researching for this book. The target audience appears to be people who are aware of Eurovision and have some curiosity into the subject.
Personally I find it heartening that the scoring system has changed enough that nul points should not be the curse it once was: due to the size of the competition, even making it to the final is an achievement that almost half the competing countries cannot claim.
June 3, 2020
A fun book for both the casual fan wanting a laugh and for more serious fans looking for interviews with some of the less listened to voices of Eurovision history. I think the chapter's dealing with older entries were better than the more recent ones. Both because the artists themselves have more perspective and the author has a context both before and after to place these performances in. If the book was written later I think the quality of the later parts of the book would rise to match the earlier ones but I am happy this was made. The author has done a good job mixing the light hearted interviews with the artists that have done well post-nulling to the ones that never really recovered from it.
July 1, 2022
I came across Tim Moore through some of his more recent authorial endeavours - yet the deeper into his back catalogue I delve, the more omnipresent his judgemental and offensive language becomes. There are some laugh out loud comments in this book, for sure. But his tone and phrasing have dated poorly
His painfully unethical interview style also makes for uncomfortable reading, and the few brief reflections that he might be doing something harmful barely caused him to pause in his tracks. His anger at those who refused his journalistic advances were summarily dismissed and derided for their weakness, despite his own experience of bearing witness first-hand to the mental toll inflicted on his subject group by dredging up the past.
His painfully unethical interview style also makes for uncomfortable reading, and the few brief reflections that he might be doing something harmful barely caused him to pause in his tracks. His anger at those who refused his journalistic advances were summarily dismissed and derided for their weakness, despite his own experience of bearing witness first-hand to the mental toll inflicted on his subject group by dredging up the past.
May 6, 2023
A perfect preparatory read for any Eurovision fan. This is both a quirky history of the contest and a psychological study of the impact of public humiliation on the Nul Pointers. Both funny and sad this book does maybe get a little repetitive, also having been written back in 2006 it misses out on some of the more recent humiliations including that of the UK in 2021. Nonetheless it will encourage you to seek out YouTube videos of some of these inexplicable songs, not that all of them deserved to go home empty handed, (Opera and Mil Etter Mil definitely did).
July 6, 2022
A book for Eurovision history fans, or perhaps those who appreciate studies of human psychology, and the different ways people are affected by losing big on stage. I learned a lot about early contests, and found the book, and Tim's travels fun to read.
This book was first published in 2006 and is now out of print. I would note that Mr. Moore's book (like a few other of his older books) contains some brief but out of date views/descriptions of transgender people.
This book was first published in 2006 and is now out of print. I would note that Mr. Moore's book (like a few other of his older books) contains some brief but out of date views/descriptions of transgender people.
November 30, 2021
I’ve read most of Tim Moore’s books and enjoyed them greatly. But I found Nul Points to be a hard slog, with a style that never really inspired me to keep reading another chapter… On top of this I think the book is quite mean spirited in the way the author portrays some of the people he interviewed.
It did have some interesting facts and anecdotes to Eurovision fans.
It did have some interesting facts and anecdotes to Eurovision fans.
November 1, 2018
Abandoned on page 120 Of 378. I normally enjoy Tim Moore but not this one. Too much about the author’s travelling and dull stories about the singers.
June 30, 2024
I love tim Moore and the way he writes. He grows on me every book I read. I just couldn't relate to the subject content.
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