Olaf Tryggvason

Olaf Tryggvason (960s – 1000) was King of Norway from 995 to 1000. He was the son of Tryggvi Olafsson, king of Viken (Vingulmark, and Rånrike), and, according to later sagas, the great-grandson of Harald Fairhair, first King of Norway.

Olaf played an important part in the conversion of the Norse to Christianity. He is said to have built the first church in Norway (in 995) and to have founded the city of Trondheim (in 997). A statue of Olaf Tryggvason is located in the city's central plaza.

Historical information about Olaf is sparse. He is mentioned in some contemporary English sources, and some skaldic poems. The oldest narrative source mentioning him briefly is Adam of Bremen's Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum (c. 1070). In the 1190s, two sagas of Olaf Tryggvason were written in Iceland, by Oddr Snorrason and Gunnlaugr Leifsson. Snorri Sturluson gives an extensive account of Olaf in the Heimskringla saga, (c. 1230), using Oddr Snorrason's saga as his main source. The accuracy of these late sources is not taken at face value by modern historians and their validity is a topic of some debate. The following account is mainly based on the late saga sources.

Norway

Norway (ⁱ/ˈnɔːrweɪ/ NAWR-way; Norwegian:  Norge (Bokmål) or  Noreg (Nynorsk)), officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a sovereign and unitary monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula plus the island Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard. The Antarctic Peter I Island and the sub-Antarctic Bouvet Island are dependent territories and thus not considered part of the Kingdom. Norway also lays claim to a section of Antarctica known as Queen Maud Land. Until 1814, the Kingdom included the Faroe Islands (since 1035), Greenland (1261), and Iceland (1262). It also included Shetland and Orkney until 1468.

Norway has a total area of 385,252 square kilometres (148,747 sq mi) and a population of 5,109,059 people (2014). The country shares a long eastern border with Sweden (1,619 km or 1,006 mi long). Norway is bordered by Finland and Russia to the north-east, and the Skagerrak Strait to the south, with Denmark on the other side. Norway has an extensive coastline, facing the North Atlantic Ocean and the Barents Sea.

King Of...

King Of... was a television comedy talk show made by Big Talk Productions for Channel 4. It was first broadcast on 17 June 2011 and was hosted by Claudia Winkleman. The show featured two celebrity guests per episode and a studio audience. The guests discussed what is the 'king of' various categories.

On 24 June 2011, Channel 4 announced that King Of... was to be cut short due to Winkleman's pregnancy. The final 2 episodes, with Ruby Wax & Johnny Vegas and Billie Piper, were not recorded.

Episodes

Series 1

References

External links

Olav V of Norway

Olav V (Alexander Edward Christian Frederik; 2 July 1903 – 17 January 1991) was the King of Norway from 1957 until his death. A member of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, Olav was the son of Haakon VII and Maud of Wales.

He became heir apparent when his father was elected king in 1905. He was the first heir to the Norwegian throne to be brought up in Norway since Olav IV, and his parents made sure he was given as Norwegian an upbringing as possible. In preparation for his royal duties, he attended both civilian and military schools. In 1929, he married his first cousin Princess Märtha of Sweden. During World War II his leadership was much appreciated and he was appointed Norwegian Chief of Defence in 1944. At his death, he was the last surviving grandchild of Edward VII of the United Kingdom and Alexandra of Denmark.

Due to his considerate, down-to-earth style, King Olav was immensely popular, resulting in the nickname Folkekongen ("The People's King"). In a 2005 poll by the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, Olav was voted "Norwegian of the century".

Harald V of Norway

Harald V (Norwegian pronunciation: [ˈhɑrːɑɫ]; born 21 February 1937) is the King of Norway. He succeeded to the throne upon the death of his father Olav V on 17 January 1991. The son of the then-Crown Prince Olav and of Princess Märtha of Sweden, Harald was born at the Crown Prince Residence at Skaugum, Akershus, Norway.

A member of the House of Glücksburg, a house originally from Northern Germany, Harald became the first Norwegian-born prince since Olav IV, who was born in 1370. Harald V is the formal head of the Church of Norway and the Norwegian Armed Forces. He has two children, Princess Märtha Louise (b. 1971) and Crown Prince Haakon (b. 1973), the heir-apparent to the throne.

He is closely related to other European monarchs. He is the first cousin once removed of King Philippe of Belgium and Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg, the second cousin of Queen Margrethe II of Denmark and Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, and the second cousin once removed of King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden.