CAN it really be nearly 12 months since Pop Idol loser Jessica Garlick suffered the indignity of not winning the Eurovision Song Contest?

She somehow managed a smile and talked of "my great year" as she joined the guests for Song For Europe (BBC1, Sunday) as Britons assembled to select our entry for Riga, Latvia, on May 24. I've got to be honest, I can't remember anyone having a great year after losing Europe's flimsiest pop event. Yet 200m TV viewers are said to eagerly watch this strange convention where most songs are sung in English, but fewer and fewer countries vote for the UK. What can we have done to upset them? My youngest son had no chance of understanding the rules. "Why don't we get one of our best pop bands to sing a song?" he said naively.

My wife, who has suffered more Eurovision voting in three languages than seems humanly possible, reassured him that the contest has nothing to do with decent songs. "It's all about which countries will vote for each other," she explained. So you have to feel sorry for Sunday's winners Jemini, who are Chris Crosbey, 21, and Jemma Abbey, 20, from Liverpool's Starlight Performing Arts School. It was actually North-East Blue Peter presenter Matt Baker who announced the phone vote which ensured Jemini's song Cry Baby will compete against the increasingly strange collection of entries from other countries - whatever happened to Israeli winner Dana International? Now it's up to that hate figure of Denmark Terry Wogan to save our sanity and continue to keep the Jeux Sans Frontieres pantomime spirit of competition alive. Without his acerbic put-downs, we might all be in danger of taking Eurovision seriously.

"The only thing I can really remember about South African apartheid is that we refused to buy their apples as a protest and your father told us off because it would make the blacks suffer as well," observed my wife as TV recalled the story of a political icon in Mandela - The Living Legend (BBC1, Wednesday). I'm sure we did a little more than that after initially wondering if the slogan Free Nelson Mandela was a special offer at our local supermarket. Nevertheless, Mandela's name features among the greats, even if you count the fictional residence of the Trotter family in Only Fools And Horses. The world is still in awe of a man who spent 27 years in prison for daring to oppose white oppression. Now, aged 84, he believes that only the challenging daily round of ten different engagements a day and 50 phone calls keeps him alive. Despite retiring as South African president, world leaders still queue humbly to have their picture taken with him. Interviewer David Dimbleby questioned Mandela closely about his decision to support violence as part of the ANC protest against apartheid. But it was a little like demanding to know why David used a small pebble to bring down Goliath. I'd also like to say that it was a real hardship giving up Granny Smith apples from the Cape, which are the best on the market, so there.

Published: 08/03/2003