Norwegian Odyssey
By Steve Sharp
The Beatles song Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) was about an extramarital affair that John Lennon was involved in. In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine, he said…
"I was trying to write about an affair without letting my wife know I was having one. I was sort of writing from my experiences – girls’ flats, things like that. I was very careful and paranoid because I didn't want my wife, Cyn, to know that there really was something going on outside of the household. I'd always had some kind of affairs going on, so I was trying to be sophisticated in writing about an affair, but in such a smoke-screen way that you couldn't tell.”
Begs the question, why write a song about it to be heard by millions?
Norwegian wood is a fake wood used in the manufacture of inexpensive furniture; a 1965 version of Ikea!
Last weekend Kate and I enjoyed a long weekend in Oslo in search of art and ancestry.
Kate’s first post-school course was in costume design in Wellington New Zealand where she first met a flamboyant young Māori man, Ron Te Kawa.
They eventually both went on to become artists and Ron was invited to exhibit in the Norwegian capital. The highly acclaimed launch was last Saturday at Nitja Art Centre.
Using those early skills, Ron is a textile artist, and he creates stunning wall hung quilts which tell stories of Māori culture, beliefs, and legends.
There are two strands to the ancestry element of our trip.
Firstly, that my father, a paratrooper during the war was sent to Norway as part of the liberation forces. They were charged with removing the Germany forces occupying the country and ensuring they did not destroy more infrastructure on the way out.
The story of occupation, resistance and liberation is told in graphic detail in Oslo’s Resistance Museum.
The citizens had suffered terribly under the regime and so once liberation was complete the population celebrated with the troops who had helped secure it.
King Olaf returned from exile in England and my dad, and his colleagues were commended by him.
And speaking of my dad, my mum Nancy, and both of their families going back in time; the whole history of my ancestors is lived near the Northeast Coast of England. East Yorkshire to County Durham.
The majority of them fair haired and blue eyed… like me.
Unsurprisingly my DNA test showed a decent proportion of Norwegian/Danish ancestry. Viking!
Whilst they had a savage reputation for killing and taking whatever and whoever they fancied, many were settlers, especially in the area around York.
They were eventually defeated in September 1066 at The Battle of Stamford Bridge, in the East Riding of Yorkshire. (Not the one in Chelsea where too many defeats have also taken place recently!)
I was interested to spend a day looking into Viking culture and history, and also curious to see if in Oslo, given my appearance, I might be taken for a local.
Whilst the latter was occasionally true, Norwegians generally are much taller. Why didn’t I inherit some of those genes?
The main Viking Museum. Closed until 2025/6!
The only available offering was Viking Planet, a digital experience with films, avatars and holograms produced in collaboration with Ridley Scott.
Call me old fashioned but strapping on a virtual reality headset whilst seated in a chair that moves as if you are on a ship doesn’t really count as academic research.
The only thing I learnt was that Vikings did not have horns on their helmets!
Steve
