It was alleged that the United Kingdom were expected to take part in the first contest in 1956 , and that they missed the submission deadline and therefore could not take part . This was later revealed by the EBU in January 2017 to be a mythical fact created by fans of the contest . The EBU further went on to explain that the '' Festival of British Popular Song '' , a contest created by the BBC for the United Kingdom , was the inspiration that brought in format changes to the contest elements from the Eurovision Song Contest 1957 onwards . Patricia Bredin was the first performer to represent the UK at Eurovision , finishing seventh in 1957 . The UK was the first choice to stage the third contest in 1958 , however following a failure to get an agreement from various artistic unions , the BBC withdrew their bid in the summer of 1957 and the UK did not enter for the second and last time to date
Eurovision Song Contest 1957
Eurovision Song Contest 1957
United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest