But Abba's Waterloo, a three-minute tune comparing Napoleon's great defeat to a budding love affair, was the starting point for one of music's biggest success stories.

In their 11 years together, Agnetha Faltskog, Benny Andersson, Bjorn Ulvaeus and Anni-Frid Lyngstad had 25 hits, including nine Number Ones and eight Number One albums.

To many they were the perfect pop act: two couples in love singing pop songs about being in love.

As the group evolved, their lyrics charted what was happening in their own personal lives, from the upbeat offer Take A Chance On Me through to the resigned statement that The Winner Takes It All.

The group finally split in 1982, quickly dropping out of fashion before an Abba revival a decade later.

With the launch of a new West End musical, Mamma Mia, co-produced by Bjorn and featuring 27 Abba songs, the group are firmly back in the spotlight.

But in the run-up to their big break, Brighton was already gripped by Eurovision fever.

British entrant Olivia Newton-John, who sang Long Live Love, was regularly spotted taking her racing whippet, Luke, for walks along the beach.

Meanwhile, 14 Brighton posties went on their rounds dressed in the uniforms of their European colleagues.

Tickets were hard to come by, with music fans going to extraordinary lengths to get in.

Joyce Silvester, of Clarendon Road, Hove, worked as a waitress to gain access to the bash.

Now 70, Joyce and her late partner, Victor, were friends with the event's caterers.

They served guests including hosts Terry Wogan and Katie Boyle before joining the latter at her table.

Joyce said: "I was so excited and will never forget it. We used to watch the contest every year and thought we had to get in somehow.

"One minute we were running around in evening dress helping to clear tables, and the next we were getting VIP treatment.

"Vic served Terry Wogan his first course, but forgot to give him his main course for an hour. I think he took it in good humour.

"Olivia Newton-John was good but Abba were fantastic. I don't think I have ever enjoyed an evening so much."

The BBC hired the Dome from Brighton Council for £1,000, and on the night 500 million viewers tuned in throughout the world.

The council's chief executive later said the publicity from the contest was worth £1 million to the town.

Although two Brighton students were fined £10 each for sneaking into the Dome and cutting down a Union Flag, there were few problems.

Retired police sergeant Chris Pointing, 71, was on crowd control duty outside the venue.

Chris, of Undermill Road, Upper Beeding, said: "The atmosphere was terrific. A lot of housewives came down to see Terry Wogan in the afternoon and I took him over to meet them.

"There were hundreds of people around, but everyone was very well behaved.

"The doors of the Dome were open during the event so people could listen from outside."

Accountant and staunch Albion fan Paul Samrah is probably best-known as a spokesman for Brighton Independent Supporters' Association.

But in 1974, the 40-year-old was a keen schoolboy autograph hunter who staked out the Dome the day before the contest.

He got the signatures of Olivia Newton John and Terry Wogan during dress rehearsals for the event before asking Bjorn and Anni-Frid to sign his book.

Despite their years out of fashion, Abba have now sold more than 350 million albums worldwide.

Their revival in the Nineties took off with the release of Erasure's Abba-esque EP.

The group's songs were used in two Australian films, Muriel's Wedding and Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, and tribute group Bjorn Again started playing to full houses around the world.

Latest teen pop stars Steps owe a heavy musical debt to the group, and once described themselves as "Abba on speed".

Covers act Voulez Vous play at Worthing's Assembly Hall on April 17, before a show at the Dome itself on April 28.

Meanwhile, the Event II nightclub in West Street, Brighton, hosts a night dedicated to the group on Friday including an appearance by tribute band Abba Fever.

Abba's disastrous on-stage dress sense may have won them few fans: Bjorn's Brighton outfit included silver boots, satin trousers and a black, pearl-laden jacket.

But like many enthusiasts, Brighton broadcaster and comedian Simon Fanshawe believes the songs hold the to key to the group's enduring appeal.

He said: "It was the music that made them and the clothes that held them back. But secretly inside every Armani suit there is something flared and silver waiting to get out.

"I am a huge Abba fan and I have never denied it.

"The songs are Swedish drama. They are like Ibsen dressed up in tinsel."

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