INTERVIEW: Professor Stefan Brink, Scandinavian Studies at the University of Cambridge
Guess why it's called Normandy in France and Norway? And guess where words such as egg, anger, knife, elves and trolls, and even the days of the week, like Thursday ("Thor's day"), come from? Also, you don't want to know – but you secretly will – about the "blood eagle" torture method of the gggghaaaaarrr ... Vikings!
The Vikings invaded the world in 10s00 AD, and a brand-new six-episode historical documentary series, Vikings: The Rise and Fall – produced by Dash Pictures and Night Train Media – is filled with fascinating Viking lore you wish you knew for your high school assignment.
Professor Stefan Brink, a professor of Scandinavian Studies at the University of Cambridge – and no, he's definitely not Afrikaans or from South Africa – is an expert in Vikings and Old Norse culture at the University of Cambridge and is one of the people who appears in the new documentary series on National Geographic on Wednesday nights.
After previewing the six episodes of the new series, Channel24 sat down with him to ask him about the frightening and fascinating Viking culture.
Vikings: The Rise and Fall is on National Geographic (DStv 181 StarSat 220) on Wednesdays at 21:00.
Click 'read more' to find out what the world inherited from Vikings.
