Bouvet
Tommy Hodges
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "WVDXA DX Reflector" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to wvdxa+un...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/wvdxa/3D2171B1-5D6F-45C8-AB59-44FF9D8D70EF%40gmail.com.
Credits: Edinburgh Zoo.
Everyone, meet Major General Sir Nils Olav III, Baron of the Bouvet Islands. Yes, that’s his full title, yes, he’s a penguin, and yes, he genuinely has a military rank. Sir Olav is the official mascot of the King's Guard of Norway, and he lives at the Edinburgh Zoo.
Huh, that’s odd, we hear you say. Like why Scotland Yard is in London, or why ‘abbreviation’ is such a long word.
Well, it all dates back to 1961, when a member of the Norwegian king’s elite guard (in Scotland for the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo) paid a visit to the local zoo and checked out the king penguin colony (first gifted by a Norwegian family back in 1913, btw).
That soldier observed that these penguins were strutting around like his own drill team’s march, so Major Nils Egelien arranged to adopt one, which the zoo named after both him (Nils) and the then-king (Olav). The current penguin is now the third in that line.
Extra fun fact: Norway regularly sends Sir Olav fish and Christmas cards.
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "WVDXA DX Reflector" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to wvdxa+un...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/wvdxa/3D2171B1-5D6F-45C8-AB59-44FF9D8D70EF%40gmail.com.