World Almanac

Norway is famous for the Vikings who discovered America long before Colombus. It is also the home of the 1920 winner of Nobel Prize for Literature, Knut Hamsen as well as the acclaimed composer Edvard Grieg. Additionally, Oslo, Norway's capital was the first to host the Winter Olympic Games.

Products:

• Telemark skiing – a technique used in downhill skiing
• The cheese slicer – 
• The paper clip – 
• Helly Hansen outdoor clothing - originally started in Moss, Norway
• Salmon – Norwegian salmon is farmed and shipped all over the world
• Open sandwiches – less carbs but tricky to eat… 
• Oil – Norway is the 3rd largest exporter of oil in the world – 

People:

• Edvard Grieg – Composer (1843-1907)
• Roald Amundsen – Led the first Antartic expedition to the South Pole explorer (1872-1928)
• Roald Dahl – (Norwegian-British) Author (1916-1990)
• Thor Heyerdahl – Explorer and Archeologist (1914-2002)
• Henrik Ibsen - wrote the play Peer Gynt
• Edvard Munch – Expressionist painter – painted The Scream (1863-1944)
• Vikings - these Norsemen used their longships to explore new countries (including England)

Events:

• Winter Olympics – were first held in Oslo in 1952
• Nobel Peace Prize - is presented anually in Oslo
• Host of Eurovision 2010

Places:

• Fjords – Monty Python’s dead parrot pined for them.  They are awesome.
• North Norway – made famous in the UK by Joanna Lumley when she saw the Northern Lights

Music:

• a-ha – Famous Norwegian band from the 80′s  (don’t ever say that they are Swedish!)
• Alexander Rybak - winner of the 2009 Eurovision with Fairytales