LONDON - A man of many triumphs in British theatre is wading into an arena of repeated British failure.
Andrew Lloyd Webber, the composer of "Cats" and "Evita," has volunteered to write Britain's song for the Eurovision Song Contest when the competition is held in Moscow next year.
In a message posted Monday on a BBC website, Lloyd Webber called for volunteers to sing his song, while managing to suggest that he, like many fellow citizens, doesn't take the competition very seriously.
"People of Britain: I'm here to speak to you about a subject of considerable gravity, a subject that affects each and every one of us," the composer solemnly intoned. "I refer, of course, to our great nation's continued failure in the Eurovision Song Contest.
"The BBC have asked me to unite our kingdom in a quest to bring home the Eurovision crown once more. I have been asked to write the song, but where will I be unless one of you volunteer to sing it?
"So ask not what your country can do for you, but what you could do for your country by contacting our website. There comes a time when everyone must do their duty. Your country needs you. Thank you and good evening."
Lloyd Webber had great success in an earlier public appeal two years ago for a singer to head a new production of "The Sound of Music." He found an appealing star in Connie Fisher, who had been working in a call centre.
The continentwide contest, founded in 1956, pits European nations against one another in pursuit of pop music glory. It is regularly criticized for its kitsch content but also is one of Europe's most widely watched events. An estimated 150 million television viewers tuned in last year.
Britain hasn't won since 1997, when Katrina and the Waves triumphed with "Love Shine a Light." The nation scraped bottom in 2003 when Jemini scored the dreaded "null points" with an off-key performance of "Cry Baby."
