SCOTLAND may never have competed in the annual Eurovision Song Contest under its own flag but that doesn't mean Scots haven't featured in the 63-year-old competition or contributed to it in the guise of performers and songwriters – admittedly with varying degrees of success.

Poster girl for Scotland in Eurovision is Lulu, of course. The singer born Marie McDonald McLaughlin Lawrie represented the UK in the 1969 contest and came joint first with Boom Bang-A-Bang, the song chosen by viewers of her teatime variety show, Happening For Lulu. The singer, who was initially reluctant to enter the contest, had performed six compositions with her 20 piece orchestra on her show and even before the voting was in to decide which song she was going to take to Europe, the Glasgow star was joking with her musicians about how the “Boom boom bang a bang a bang a bang” song, as they called it, was likely to win. It did. And as proof that the British public is no more to be trusted in matters of taste than it is in referendums, last place in the vote went to I Can't Go On Living Without You, written by two young songwriters called Elton John and Bernie Taupin. But Britain's loss marked a gain for Sandie Shaw and Cilla Black, who both recorded the song over the next couple of years.

Lulu wasn't the first Scot to perform at Eurovision, however. Three years earlier, Kenneth McKellar had drawn gasps from the crowd in Luxembourg's Villa Louvigny when he sauntered on to the stage wearing a kilt to perform the UK's entry, A Man Without Love. By the end of the evening the Paisley-born tenor was also a man without points: not entirely, but few enough to finish in lowly ninth place. McKellar scored eight points in total, well behind the eventual winner, Austria's Udo Jurgens, who had 31. It would be over a decade before the UK did that badly again (take a bow Co-Co, for your 1978 effort The Bad Old Days). Still, as any Eurovision nerd will tell you, McKellar's is one of only two UK entries to have received top marks from the Irish jury, which is an achievement of sorts.

In 1987, however, Glaswegian Richard Peebles outdid even Co-Co at the contest held in Brussels. Performing as Rikki, the Scot was introduced by the Belgian presenter as “a multi-talented person” who “plays comedy, sings and composes, wrote numbers for the well-known band Middle Of The Road and is now working on his solo album”. Rikki's self-penned song Only The Light came a dismal 13th – very middle of the road – and when it was released as a single, failed to dent the top 75. Still, at least he beat Plastic Bertrand on the night. The oddball singer behind 1977s novelty punk hit Ca Plane Pour Moi was performing for Luxembourg and came second last. Meanwhile Johnny Logan walked off with the top prize, his second win in the competition and the start of a concentrated series of Irish victories which gave rise to the infamous England football chant: “You only win when you're singing”.

A year later another Scot, William McPhail, had the honour of being the first British entrant chosen by a telephone vote. Performing under the stage name Scott Fitzgerald at the contest in Dublin, he sang Go, a song penned by Bruce Forsyth's daughter, Julie Forsyth. McPhail had only marginally more chart success than Rikki – Go climbed as high as 52 in the charts – but the song did well on the night. It eventually finished second, losing by just one point to the winning Swiss entry which was performed by a certain French-Canadian singer by the name of Celine Dion. As Terry Wogan might have said, whatever happened to her?

Scots have been busy behind the scenes too. Glasgow-born Bill Martin – or William Wylie MacPherson to give him his real name – was the co-writer of Sandie Shaw's 1967 Eurovision winner Puppet On A String and nearly followed that with another victory a year later when Cliff Richard sang the Martin-penned Celebration at the 1968 contest. Despite leading for most of the voting round, Richard was eventually beaten by one point when the Germans gave six points to Spain, the eventual winners.

Then there's John Ballard, another Glasgow-born songwriter. In 2013 he provided a song for the Azerbaijan entrant – don't laugh, it came second – and later did for Russia's Eurovision entries what his compatriot John Paul Jones had done for its navy under Catherine the Great in the late 18th century: injected a bit of Caledonian pizazz and know-how. Having spent most of his adult life in Sweden, where he wrote and produced for 1990s pop act Ace Of Base, Ballard was part of the team behind Russia's 2014 song, Shine. It was performed by the Tolmachevy Sisters, Russian twins who were already Eurovision veterans having won Junior Eurovision in 2006 aged just nine, and finished a respectable seventh. Two years later he wrote another Russian entry, You Are The Only One, for former boy band star Sergey Lazarev. It came third behind Australia (taking part in its second Eurovision) and eventual winners Ukraine.

Scotland has even hosted the Eurovision Song Contest, though more by accident than design. In 1971, French singer Séverine had won the title for Monaco with Un Banc, Un Arbe, Un Rue but the principality's ruler, Prince Rainier III (or Mr Grace Kelly, if you prefer) was unable to provide an adequate venue for the 1972 contest. So it was awarded to Edinburgh instead, taking place on March 25 at the Usher Hall.

Hopes were high for the British entry – Beg, Steal Or Borrow by The New Seekers – but in the end they were pipped to the top spot by Greek-born singer Vicky Leandros, flying the flag for Luxembourg with Après Toi, a song written by her dad. There was a silver lining for The New Seekers, though, as Beg, Steal Or Borrow subsequently went to number one in Norway.

And the presenter that night? Dunfermline-born movie star Moira Shearer. Best known for playing a demented ballet dancer who jumps under a train in phantasmagorical Powell and Pressburger classic The Red Shoes, she's said to have only taken the gig so her children would have something to tease her about. As is sadly the way with the UK and the Eurovision Song Contest, it's unlikely the rest of the country took it any more seriously.