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The facts surrounding this song are a testament to the ubiquity of its cheesiness at the beginning of the 1970s. Originally called ‘Eviva Espana’, it’s been recorded in Dutch, French, German, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Spanish, Turkish, Arabic, and Hungarian and has been a hit in just about every major country in the world.

Originally recorded in 1971 by Samantha and written by Leo Roozenstraten and Leo Caerts, it wasn’t until 1974 that it was finally recorded in English, albeit by a Swede. Sylvia Vrethammar spent six months (six months!) on the UK chart, peaking at number four.

Two facts surrounding the hit can probably tell us more about the state of our nation at this point in time than any amount of sociological research. Firstly, it took us insular Brits three years longer than the rest of Europe to catch on to the song that celebrated the new craze for cheap, affordable package holidays on the continent. And secondly, in keeping with our distrust of all things foreign and ‘exotic’, we couldn’t even be bothered to pronounce the poor singer’s Scandinavian surname, meaning that she’s remembered only as ‘Sylvia.’

Still, once the cheesy earworm that is ‘Y Viva Espana’ took hold it was unshakeable. And it IS cheesy, possibly even verging on the racist to 21st century ears. But its significance doesn’t lie in either its lyrics or the cod-flamenco arrangement. It’s in the fact that it marks the point where we, as a nation, finally got on a plane and made the beaches of Spain, Italy, Majorca, Ibiza etc. as much a part of the British summer as donkey rides on Blackpool beach…