Austria's 'Bearded Lady' Wins Eurovision

Austria's Conchita Wurst - the so-called bearded lady - has won the Eurovision Song Contest in the host city of Copenhagen.

The 25-year-old drag queen, whose real name is Tom Neuwirth, took the crown with the Bond-like anthem Rise Like A Phoenix.

Conchita elicited massive cheers from the crowd as she took the stage sporting a figure-hugging frock, butterfly eyelashes and a full beard before delivering a powerful performance of her ballad.

She went on to secure her victory with three rounds to spare, eventually accumulating 290 points.

Conchita celebrates her victory with 290 points

Conchita, who was visibly overcome by emotion after accepting the prize, said: "This award is dedicated to everybody who believes in a world of peace and freedom.

"You know who you are - we are unity and we are unstoppable."

Conchita had faced strong criticism from petitioners in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine who called for her to be dropped from the competition.

Even in her home country, the leader of the right-wing FPOe party had called her "ridiculous".

But on the night, the songstress won over viewers and secured most of her "douze points" from western European countries, including Britain, Sweden and the Netherlands.

UK hopeful Molly Smitten-Downes came 17th

Dutch act The Common Linnets scored 238 points to finish runner-up, while Sweden's Sanna Nielsen came third with 218 points. Both were pre-competition bookie favourites.

The UK's Molly Smitten-Downes, 27, could only place 17th with her song Children Of The Universe.

Despite the disappointment, her performance will go some way to erasing memories of Britain's poor run of form in the contest in recent years, with dire scoring condemning both Engelbert Humperdinck in 2012 and Bonnie Tyler last year to the bottom end of the voting table.

Since the contest was launched in 1956, voting has often been tied to politics and this year's event was no exception, with the audience jeering countries that awarded points to Russia.

Poland's entry Donatan and Cleo left Graham Norton speechless

Azerbaijan and Belarus both gave top marks to country's entry, Shine by the Tolmachevy Sisters.

Viewers were treated to a show of eccentricities, with the highlight provided by France's entry Twin Twin, which finished bottom of the competition with two points with their song Moustache.

At one point, host Graham Norton, who was commentating for the UK audience, was left speechless by a particularly risque display by Poland's entry Donatan and Cleo.

Their performance featured scantily-clad female performers suggestively dancing to lyrics which included the line "shake what your Mama gave you".

It is estimated that around 180 million viewers across 45 countries watched Saturday's competition.

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