Nul Points

I’m not sure if any act will face the ignominy of receiving zero points in this evening’s Eurovision 2007 final. But after UK’s performance in Kiev in 2005 with Javine Hylton’s “Touch My Fire”, author Tim Moore decided to track down all the artists who had failed over the years to pick up any points on the big night. And he documented his experiences in Nul Points.

It’s one of those books that follows a mad man’s pointless quests. Like carting a fridge around Ireland, finding lots of people all called Dave Gorman, or Tim Moore’s hilarious previous book French Revolutions – cycling around the Tour de France route to see what all the fuss was about.

I’m only half way through the book, but already I can see that the zero-pointers are a strange bunch. For many, their musical journey after Eurovision failure wasn’t quite as fatal as you’d imagine. Many have continued to have success in their own country or in niche foreign markets.

An intriguing airport read.