Trounced Engelbert refuses to get Hump

Engelbert Humperdinck said he “did the best for my country” at the Eurovision Song Contest after the veteran crooner only managed to scrape into double figures on the score table, placing him second from bottom as Sweden romped to a win.

He opened the show in Baku, Azerbaijan on Saturday with ballad Love Will Set You Free – but seemed to have been forgotten by the time voting started, 25 songs later.

Not even a lucky necklace given to him by Elvis Presley could help Humperdinck, who scored points from only Belgium, Estonia, Latvia and Ireland.

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The singer, nicknamed The Hump, scored a total of 12 – ending up just one position above Norway, famous for gaining “nul points” in the annual contest.

Speaking afterwards, Humperdinck congratulated the winner – Swedish singer Loreen with dance track Euphoria.

“I’ve had many highs in my career and Eurovision has been a wonderful experience,” he said. “I want to thank everybody, especially my fans around the world for their words of support. I did the best for my country, the rest was out of my hands.”

The last UK win was in 1997 when Katrina and the Waves – fronted by American singer Katrina Leskanich – took the honours with Love Shine a Light.

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Loreen had been the bookies’ favourite with a song that has already been number one in some countries, and stormed to a landmark victory, scoring 372 points.

Speaking after the win, she said: “I want to say that I love you so much. Thank you for believing in me.”

Popular act Buranovskiye Babushki – the six-strong group of pensioners nicknamed The Russian Grannies – came second with Party for Everyone and were notable for performing with a revolving oven on the stage.

Irish twins John and Edward Grimes – otherwise known as Jedward – couldn’t improve on their eighth place scored in last year’s competition.