//podcastplus.net/feed/podcast~7b5278c7c0e7f6900e59a754acfae22e1be892cbde905b14907a01c5b412d3d8 Welcome to North by Norway. I’m Scottish-Norwegian, I’ve lived and worked in Norway for over 40 years, and I’ve got a lot to tell you about this extraordinary country. Norway exerts a magnetic attraction on most people. Perhaps the romance of the Vikings and the fjords. Perhaps the modern saga of social democracy. Well, this podcast will range across history, culture, nature, and today’s society.Let’s travel North by Norway!  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Tue, 08 Sep 2026 23:11:12 +0000 https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/63234ba56042d8001323fb02/e/63f9f9b26c3fc0001113661c/media.mp3 Sun, 26 Feb 2023 06:00:31 +0000 https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/63234ba56042d8001323fb02/e/63f9f9b26c3fc0001113661c/media.mp3 https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/63234ba56042d8001323fb02/e/63f9f9b26c3fc0001113661c/media.mp3 Sun, 26 Feb 2023 06:00:31 +0000 https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/63234ba56042d8001323fb02/e/63f9f9b26c3fc0001113661c/media.mp3 https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/63234ba56042d8001323fb02/e/63eb6ebd2d25dc00117aa97b/media.mp3 Hitler demanded that Vidkun Quisling should be Prime Minister. The king said: No! With that, all possibility of compromise was closed off for King Haakon and his government. It was a decision that put them in extreme danger. No monarch or head of state was killed by the Nazis during the war – but on April 11th 1940, they not only tried to assassinate King Haakon, they were also convinced they had succeeded. In fact, the king and politicians evaded the bombing raids on Elverum and Nybergsund. They moved northwards from place to place – to avoid detection and to bolster the spirits of the ever-more beleaguered defence forces. But they finally had to sail for England and exile. As the figurehead of Norwegian resistance, the king’s work from England was of huge significance for Norway’s people. EPISODE PHOTO King Haakon seeks cover in a birch grove during an air raid on Molde in late April 1940.  Photo: Per Bratland Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 NO CONTACT Twitter: (a)northbynorway E... Sun, 19 Feb 2023 06:00:57 +0000 https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/63234ba56042d8001323fb02/e/63eb6ebd2d25dc00117aa97b/media.mp3 https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/63234ba56042d8001323fb02/e/63eb6ebd2d25dc00117aa97b/media.mp3 Hitler demanded that Vidkun Quisling should be Prime Minister. The king said: No! With that, all possibility of compromise was closed off for King Haakon and his government. It was a decision that put them in extreme danger. No monarch or head of state was killed by the Nazis during the war – but on April 11th 1940, they not only tried to assassinate King Haakon, they were also convinced they had succeeded. In fact, the king and politicians evaded the bombing raids on Elverum and Nybergsund. They moved northwards from place to place – to avoid detection and to bolster the spirits of the ever-more beleaguered defence forces. But they finally had to sail for England and exile. As the figurehead of Norwegian resistance, the king’s work from England was of huge significance for Norway’s people. EPISODE PHOTO King Haakon seeks cover in a birch grove during an air raid on Molde in late April 1940.  Photo: Per Bratland Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 NO CONTACT Twitter: (a)northbynorway E... Sun, 19 Feb 2023 06:00:57 +0000 https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/63234ba56042d8001323fb02/e/63eb6ebd2d25dc00117aa97b/media.mp3 https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/63234ba56042d8001323fb02/e/63dfd0470615f7001078a5a8/media.mp3 Today’s podcast is about the greatest drama of modern Norwegian history. What Norwegians call ‘Aprildagene’ – the fateful days of the 9th, 10th and 11th of April 1940. The greatest drama? How else to describe three days that start with King Haakon in his bed in the palace in central Oslo, and finish with the king and government hunted by the Nazis from town to village to farm. Three days that finish with them stumbling through snow as German planes strife and bomb the ground around them in an assassination attempt. How else describe three days that see a coup d’etat by a politician whose party – at the most recent general election – gained a meagre 1,8 percent of the popular vote. Today, Act 1 of the drama: the 9th of April. The climax of the 10th and 11th comes in the next podcast.  EPISODE PHOTO King Haakon VII of Norway in 1930 Photographer: Ernest Rude Public Domain  CONTACT Twitter: (a)northbynorway Email: northbynorway(a)gmail(.)com MORE INFO andrew... Sun, 12 Feb 2023 06:00:42 +0000 https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/63234ba56042d8001323fb02/e/63dfd0470615f7001078a5a8/media.mp3 https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/63234ba56042d8001323fb02/e/63dfd0470615f7001078a5a8/media.mp3 Today’s podcast is about the greatest drama of modern Norwegian history. What Norwegians call ‘Aprildagene’ – the fateful days of the 9th, 10th and 11th of April 1940. The greatest drama? How else to describe three days that start with King Haakon in his bed in the palace in central Oslo, and finish with the king and government hunted by the Nazis from town to village to farm. Three days that finish with them stumbling through snow as German planes strife and bomb the ground around them in an assassination attempt. How else describe three days that see a coup d’etat by a politician whose party – at the most recent general election – gained a meagre 1,8 percent of the popular vote. Today, Act 1 of the drama: the 9th of April. The climax of the 10th and 11th comes in the next podcast.  EPISODE PHOTO King Haakon VII of Norway in 1930 Photographer: Ernest Rude Public Domain  CONTACT Twitter: (a)northbynorway Email: northbynorway(a)gmail(.)com MORE INFO andrew... Sun, 12 Feb 2023 06:00:42 +0000 https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/63234ba56042d8001323fb02/e/63dfd0470615f7001078a5a8/media.mp3 https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/63234ba56042d8001323fb02/e/63dcfe310012cb001062dd06/media.mp3 ‘I walked one evening along a road – on one side lay the town, and the fjord lay below me…’ In this way begins Edvard Munch’s account of how he came to paint The Scream . Besides the Mona Lisa , it is probably the most recognisable image ever created. Munch painted in order to ‘explain my life to myself’. And for the same reason, he wrote constantly in notebooks about his anxieties, his unhappy love life, his disappointments and his creative ideas. His writings are often witty and – from the man who gave modern anxiety its visual language – full of searing insights into the challenges of life and society. For today’s podcast, I have rummaged around in these sources to let Norway’s great artist speak for himself. ‘I know I have to return to the road by the edge of the cliff – that is my road.’ EPISODE PHOTO Edvard Munch: Self-Portrait (1905)  Public Domain  Owner: Nasjonalmuseet for kunst, arkitektur og design CONTACT Twitter: (a)northbyno... Sun, 05 Feb 2023 06:00:38 +0000 https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/63234ba56042d8001323fb02/e/63dcfe310012cb001062dd06/media.mp3 https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/63234ba56042d8001323fb02/e/63dcfe310012cb001062dd06/media.mp3 ‘I walked one evening along a road – on one side lay the town, and the fjord lay below me…’ In this way begins Edvard Munch’s account of how he came to paint The Scream . Besides the Mona Lisa , it is probably the most recognisable image ever created. Munch painted in order to ‘explain my life to myself’. And for the same reason, he wrote constantly in notebooks about his anxieties, his unhappy love life, his disappointments and his creative ideas. His writings are often witty and – from the man who gave modern anxiety its visual language – full of searing insights into the challenges of life and society. For today’s podcast, I have rummaged around in these sources to let Norway’s great artist speak for himself. ‘I know I have to return to the road by the edge of the cliff – that is my road.’ EPISODE PHOTO Edvard Munch: Self-Portrait (1905)  Public Domain  Owner: Nasjonalmuseet for kunst, arkitektur og design CONTACT Twitter: (a)northbyno... Sun, 05 Feb 2023 06:00:38 +0000 https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/63234ba56042d8001323fb02/e/63dcfe310012cb001062dd06/media.mp3 https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/63234ba56042d8001323fb02/e/63c66b0df0c1a60010520bab/media.mp3 On the 28th of July this year, it will be exactly 100 years since an extraordinary event took place in the tiny mountain village of Lesjaskog. In the cultural history of modern Norway – well, there’s nothing quite like it. On a simple, blue kitchen chair, one of Europe’s greatest artists was carried to the top of a nearby mountain. A round trip of nearly 8 hours. After 20 summers in Norway, it would be his last view of the mountains for the ailing composer. It was a huge feat of endurance – and of love – by those closest to him to get him to the top and down again. Today, I tell the story of how that Englishman came to love the Norwegian mountain landscape, and how he let if fill his music. For his friends, it was important to let him see the mountains one last time, before his eyesight failed.  EPISODE PHOTO This simple blue chair made possible an extraordinary event.  CONTACT Twitter: (a)northbynorway Email: northbynorway(a)gmail(.)com webpage: andrewjboyle(.)com ... Sun, 29 Jan 2023 06:00:41 +0000 https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/63234ba56042d8001323fb02/e/63c66b0df0c1a60010520bab/media.mp3 https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/63234ba56042d8001323fb02/e/63c66b0df0c1a60010520bab/media.mp3 On the 28th of July this year, it will be exactly 100 years since an extraordinary event took place in the tiny mountain village of Lesjaskog. In the cultural history of modern Norway – well, there’s nothing quite like it. On a simple, blue kitchen chair, one of Europe’s greatest artists was carried to the top of a nearby mountain. A round trip of nearly 8 hours. After 20 summers in Norway, it would be his last view of the mountains for the ailing composer. It was a huge feat of endurance – and of love – by those closest to him to get him to the top and down again. Today, I tell the story of how that Englishman came to love the Norwegian mountain landscape, and how he let if fill his music. For his friends, it was important to let him see the mountains one last time, before his eyesight failed.  EPISODE PHOTO This simple blue chair made possible an extraordinary event.  CONTACT Twitter: (a)northbynorway Email: northbynorway(a)gmail(.)com webpage: andrewjboyle(.)com ... Sun, 29 Jan 2023 06:00:41 +0000 https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/63234ba56042d8001323fb02/e/63c66b0df0c1a60010520bab/media.mp3