Mini-Vikings

The Guardian reports that the latest TV advert for the Mini features a bunch of marauding Vikings driving Minis off their boat to terrorise the innocent bikini-clad, volleyball-playing denizens of a warm beach somewhere. You can watch the ad by following this link. Naturally, the 'Vikings' have horned helmets, and rather curious ones at that, with long thin horns (a bit like this picture) and not those big fat cow horns they sometimes have. The advert ends with the slogan 'BAN BOREDOM.COM'. Well, I suppose we can agree the Vikings weren't boring!

The Vikings Were Fishmongers!

Good to see James Barrett's research reported in a 'cod-piece' in today's Guardian. James has been a fish-bone nerd for many years, but also knows everything there is to know about Vikings in Scotland.

The Battle for Asgard

Today's Observer has a review of a computer game called Viking: Battle for Asgard. The blurb for it suggests the authors have a rather superficial understanding of Norse mythology... This trailer clip suggests a rather heavy influence from the Lord of the Rings films, but it does have a brief glimpse of quite a nice Viking ship...

Call Me Didda

I was once told that if I lived in Iceland, I wouldn't be called by my name, but that some nickname would be used, probably Didda. This Icelandic habit of nicknaming is explained in Iceland Review Online. It should be noted that, although bearing some vague connection with my real name, Didda can be used 'for any name', according to the article. So I remain a mystery!

Viking Age Hoard Found in Sweden - No Fooling!

On the 1st of April, archaeologists working near Arlanda airport found a Viking Age silver hoard, deposited around 850 AD, containing many Arabic coins. The hoard was found during excavation of a much earlier burial site. See the report on the BBC website: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7330540.stm

The Ice-Cream Ship Thor

On Tuesday, a replica Viking ship, made out of 15 million ice-cream sticks and called Thor, set sail from the Netherlands for England. There's a good video of it (and a short piece in Icelandic) here: http://www.mbl.is/mm/folk/frettir/2008/04/09/vikingaskip_ur_ispinnum/

For an article in English, see: http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/articlenews.aspx?type=oddlyEnoughNews&storyid=2008-04-08T163302Z_01_L08821661_RTRIDST_0_OUKOE-UK-DUTCH-SHIP.XML

Balestrand

Just a little plug for the delightful fjordside community of Balestrand, in Sogn, where I spent a few days on a recent visit to Norway. The place boasts both genuine antiquities, in the form of ancient burial mounds, possibly from the Viking Age, and lots of evidence of the 19th-century fascination with the period. So a statue of the legendary King Beli, who supposedly gave his name to the place, has been placed atop one of the mounds. Even more delightful is a pastiche stave church built in 1897, belonging to the Church of England (under the aegis of the Bishop of Gibraltar), where services are held in English during the summer season. The church was commissioned by an English lady who lived there and has, as well as many stave-churchy features, some nice Victorian stained glass depicting an array of saints appropriate to the medieval and British Isles theme: SS Margaret, Columba, Sunniva, Clement, Olav, Bride, George, Swithun and Halvard.