Eurovision countdown underway

Love it or hate it, the cheese-fest that is the European Song Contest divides opinion across the continent and is sure to fill the nation's head with quirky and annoying Euro-pop tunes for the next few months.

The UK's countdown to the Eurovision Song Contest stepped up a gear earlier today with the official launch of the UK's entry.

After finishing in a disappointing 14th place last year with the song "I can", performed by boy-band, Blue, this year's performance is notably different. It seems the act was simply not cheesy enough for those crazy europeans.

However, this year the hopes of the nation have been placed on veteran crooner, Englebert Humperdink (75) who has been chosen to represent the UK with the song "Love will set you free".

The finals of the 57th European song contest will be held in Baku, Azebaijan, where following two semi-finals on the 22nd and 24th of May, 43 particpants will be reduced to 25 in the grand final on the 26th of May.

Although there are two semi-finals, viewers in both the UK and Spain can only vote in the first Semi-Final (this applies to all five countries : UK, France, Germany, Spain and Italy, who go straight through to the finals.)

The scoring for both the final and the semi-finals is made up from 50% the public telephone vote and 50% the National Jury, with the 10 highest scoring acts in each Semi Final joining the "big 5" in the Grand Final.

Spain, who finished in 22nd place last year, have chosen Pastora Solera to represent them with "Quédate Conmigo".