Bucks Fizz security nightmare at Eurovision after threat to lives led to armed guards

winners Buck's Fizz were accompanied by Special Branch during their time in the contest and had to be kept in a separate hotel to the other contestants for their own safety. The four piece won the competiton for the UK with Making Your Mind Up in the RDS in Dublin in 1981. The contest was held in Ireland following Johnny Logan's victory with What's Another Year the previous year. However, since The Troubles were ongoing there were fears violent anti-British demonstrations and attacks from the paramilitary group the IRA so extra security precautions had to be taken for the group.

"We had a direct threat from the IRA. We had to have Special Branch take us everywhere," Jay Aston recalled in 2023. "We had a bunch of very tall, very wide gentlemen escort us everywhere. They even followed me when I went to get my Pretty Polly tights, because I realised I needed a pair for on stage.

"We were in some little corner shop opposite where the Eurovision show was and two or three of them had to come with me.

"It is amazing how things have changed," she said adding: "The thing was, Mike (Nolan) was Irish and that probably helped."

Her bandmate confirmed the precautions explaining armed guards went with them everywhere.

"We were kept in a separate hotel with armed guards outside our rooms," she said.

"They went everywhere with us, even in our own coach. We had outriders so we could go through red lights on the wrong side of the road.

"We thought it was a thrill at the time, not really thinking about the reason they were treating us like that - because the IRA might take us out.

"One occasion Mike and I escaped our guards to go shopping. We got ticked off when we got back to the hotel," she said.

Despite the threat to their lives the group gave a storming performance which saw them become the fourth act to triumph for the UK following in the footsteps of Sandie Shaw (1967), Lulu (1969), and Brotherhood of Man (1976).