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| Dana International after winning the Eurovision Song Contest 1998 |
I can claim to have met some really random d list celebrities if you can call them that and the one I am most proud of is spending the night with Dana International after she won the Eurovision Song contest 1998. I was the only Brit in her hotel room sharing the glory and it was probably one of the most entertaining and exciting evenings I have ever had as Dana and her entourage were watching themselves on the news having won Eurovision and were buzzing, though it was funny seeing her without her wig on.
Apart from playing tennis with Phil from East Enders in Cornwall and on to a BBQ at his house in Falmouth with Billy from East Enders ( he was very polite and gave me a lift home like Cinderella when I really did think there was no hope of any romance with him) and once meeting Paul Daniels who wanted to go to bed with me when I was 16 if I picked the Ace of Spades when I demanded he do a card trick. When I asked where Debbie was she was back at the villa apparently (we were in La Manga Campo de Golf in a bar and he was lurking in the bar in the early hours). I did pick the ace of spades but I wasn't going anywhere. It all sounds very dodgy now doesn't it.
So by the time I found myself with Dana International I had truly reached the dizzy heights of fame and felt privileged to be asked to the after party. 'Diva' was a very catchy tune wasn't it ?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5lkNj0kx0k (I am on the credits under 'Delegate Services'). This is seriously funny.
I was the International Delegate services co-ordinator as we were hosting Eurovision in Birmingham in 1998 or something to that description which meant translating letters to all the 25 or so countries taking part and making sure they were all happy which included looking after 25 guides who in turn were each looking after 25 bands from their respective European destinations. I hit it off with the Israeli guide instantly and we became friends hence why I joined his gang at their after party celebration in Dana's hotel room. I was invited to Israel soon after!
I joined Guy the guide and his friends in Tel Aviv and immediately loved the country. I loved the Israeli's and their attitude and charisma and we ended up travelling around Israel reaching the Golan Heights and the Lebanon borders where the army guarding the borders suddenly brought me back to the tensions going on in this vibrant country and it's borders.
We travelled to Jerusalem and walked around the gardens of Gethsemane and watched the fascinating people at the Wailing Wall. The Holocaust Museum was probably the most memorable site and resonates with me most. Inside the Children's memorial with the simple calling of the children's names was the most earth shattering experience. These children will never be forgotten and the visit to this memorial has never left me and it is a very necessary reminder to all. I hope to take my children there some day.
Floating on the Dead Sea was pretty cool and I remember Lake Galilee being one of the most beautiful places I've ever been to. My childhood images of Bethlehem were shattered when I arrived at literally a shell where evidence of bomb blasts were all over. When I visited Jesus's birth place in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem it was under the church in a grotto and a hole was presented on the ground with marble flooring. I don't know what I expected - some straw and an old stable maybe? This was far from my expectations.
I digress - but If it wasn't for Dana International my life would be a little less richer. I hope she's still having a wonderful time in amazing outfits with feathers sticking out everywhere. She is one of the worlds most well known transsexuals and also voted in Israel in a pole as being the 47th-greatest Israeli of all time.
Eurovision will never be the same for me as I will always remember Dana and somehow our UK entrant Bonnie Tyler doesn't really do it for me, but I hope she wins it tonight in any case!
Dana did enter a few years back for the second time but didn't win. I don't follow Eurovision and I didn't ever really take much of an interest in it and always get a bit worried when I hear people are having Eurovision parties! I loved Bucks Fizz and 'Making your Mind up' when they won when I was in primary school and seem to remember buying the single and copying the dance with my friend.
Bring back Dana that's what I say, third time lucky next time?
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