Talk:Nils Olav

Did You Know
I'd love to see this on the Main Page on April 1st next year, whether it's in the "Did you know" section or even a featured article... H AM  17:39, 7 May 2006 (UTC)
 * Second that~. This talk page would become quite interesting. Brainman 18:57, 16 May 2006 (UTC)


 * Oh yes! This page has a lot of potential. (Boy it is tempting to classify him as "Norwegian military personnel" and tag him with a -bio-stub. (ROFL)) Valentinian (talk) / (contribs) 23:37, 30 October 2006 (UTC)


 * I have to say that when I stumbled on this article I thought it had to be a hoax! Especially since the only link was in Norwegian.  After a little search, though, I'm very pleased to discover it's all true.   So I added some links in the article.  --- Deville (Talk) 19:43, 9 December 2006 (UTC)


 * I've read the Norwegian page, and I contacted a Norwegian editor who confirmed that it is the real thing. But I know what you mean. Valentinian (talk) / (contribs) 21:00, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

Thirteen years on, it's finally happened! Ham II (talk) 12:22, 1 April 2019 (UTC)

Picture of the statue?
It would be nice if someone could upload a picture of the penguin statue. Brainman 18:57, 16 May 2006 (UTC)

I couldnt find a picture of the statue but i wonder if could be added. Oddly though there is no mention of Nils Olav on the Norwegian wiki. --RND 12:59, 26 June 2006 (UTC)


 * He is mentioned here: no:Edinburgh Military Tattoo (bottom). Valentinian (talk) / (contribs) 09:08, 8 January 2007 (UTC)


 * I added reqphotoin. The specific photo is one of a bronze statue of the subject in Edinburgh Zoo. The actual penguin is also there, though he may be more difficult to identify. --Cherry blossom tree 13:45, 7 January 2007 (UTC)


 * This page has pictures of the statue, but the images are most likely copyrighted. Valentinian (talk) / (contribs) 09:08, 8 January 2007 (UTC)


 * uploaded pic of statue - its now on the article  &mdash;ÅñôñÿMôús Dîššíd3nt 01:33, 18 April 2007 (UTC)
 * The reason why I didn't add it myself is that I very much doubt that it will live up to the new firmer policy on fair use images. The picture featuring both the guard and the penguin is close to irreplaceable due to the infrequent visits of the guard, but the image of the statue can be recreated by anyone visiting the zoo. We need somebody in Edinburgh to go there and take a new photo. Valentinian T / C 10:05, 18 April 2007 (UTC)
 * I was at the Edinburgh Zoo just this past week, and so have uploaded a photo that I took. First photo I have uploaded in Wikipedia, hope I have done it correctly. I have other photos of Nils Olav, but it didn't seem necessary to me to add any of them. Farmer erik 01:14, 7 May 2007 (UTC)


 * Nicely done, thank you! --Stlemur 02:18, 7 May 2007 (UTC)


 * Nice image. Thanks. Valentinian T / C 08:34, 7 May 2007 (UTC)


 * yeah, it's better quality than mine. Well done. Anonymous Dissident  Utter 10:31, 19 May 2007 (UTC)

Patron or mascot?
I think it is interesting that his role as Colonel in chief is not mentioned in Norwegian articles. His rank as major and status as mascot is highlighted, but there is no mention of him being some sort of honorary patron or head og the Guard. I wondered a bit when I first saw the English articles stating a penguin had been given the same role in the Guard King Harald had in the Green Howards. It's just too silly. I think it's safe to say the penguin is the mascot, but someone has let themselves get carried away with the colonel in chief bit.

http://www.mil.no/haren/hmkg/start/article.jhtml?articleID=79889

http://www.mil.no/haren/hmkg/start/article.jhtml?articleID=45314

Inge 11:30, 19 July 2007 (UTC)


 * I don't think an editor has got carried away. At the 2005 ceremony, the Norwegian military referred to NO as "Colonel-in-Chief" and they also had that title engraved on the plaque beside his statue. You will also find him referred to as "Colonel-in-Chief" on the official website of the Norwegian Consulate in Edinburgh, which is an official site of the Norwegian Crown!
 * http://www.norway.org.uk/edinburgh/events/nopromotion.htm
 *  Timothy Titus Talk To TT  11:23, 31 December 2007 (UTC)

Moving the page?
Now that Nils Olav is a knight, should the page be moved to Sir Nils Olav, with a redirect to that page from the current page?

ihatefile007 (talk) 23:45, 15 August 2008 (UTC)


 * Nope. Look at the names of the articles for Sir Alex Ferguson, Sir Tom Farmer, Sir Sean Connery, etc, etc, etc, nearly ad infinitum. --Mais oui! (talk) 05:19, 16 August 2008 (UTC)


 * Makes sense. Thanks for clearing this up. Good thing i wasn't bold this time... ihatefile007 (talk) 07:15, 19 August 2008 (UTC)

Third Nils Olav?
According to this msnbc article: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26219632/ There have been three Nils' (is that how I pluralize it?), yet, I've only been able to find info on the first and second, and then all the articles I've read just say that Nils is currently on his third incarnation, but nothing about when the 2nd one died, or retired to live out his twilight years with his wife and one-flippered son, or whatever. At the very least, shouldn't it say somewhere one the Wikipedia page that there are 3 Nils Olavs? Zivlok (talk) 22:00, 13 March 2009 (UTC)

Knighthood
What order of knighthood does he belong to? 95jb14 (talk) 09:01, 25 March 2009 (UTC)


 * Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav I would presume. Ose (talk) 11:45, 8 September 2009 (UTC)

Quote:He is the first penguin to receive such an honor in the Norwegian army.
I'm pretty sure he's the only penguin to receive such any honor in any army, and if no one can prove me wrong, the only non-human. But if someone can that would be hilariously awesome. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.136.237.184 (talk) 23:45, 26 July 2009 (UTC)


 * See William Windsor (goat) --Joshua Issac (talk) 20:31, 8 September 2009 (UTC)

Yes, but that's a goat. Completely different from a penguin. 65.185.124.35 (talk) 22:34, 8 October 2010 (UTC)
 * which honor, the knighthood or the position of colonel in chief? do other Norwegian regiments have colonel in chiefs? 98.206.155.53 (talk) 05:34, 1 March 2011 (UTC)

This is pretty much the best line in Wikipedia. john k (talk) 05:14, 24 April 2013 (UTC)

Mascot
Quote: "In Norway he is consistently referred to only as the mascot of the King's Guard [citation needed], although both the plaque on his statue, and the website of the Norwegian Government's Consulate in Edinburgh, refer to his promotion to Colonel-in-Chief." The word "although" seems to imply a contradiction between being the mascot and being a Colonel-in-Chief. No reasonable person would think that the penguin had received this rank due to his outstanding service in HMKG, he has received it because HMKG has a certain love for this individual penguin. To insist on this contradiction seems odd, and I don't quite see what point the article is trying to get across with this sentence. V85 (talk) 12:37, 3 July 2010 (UTC)
 * That despite being a CiC, he's not referred to as such generally in Norway. It doesn't suggest a contradiction between being a Mascot or CiC, only in how he's depicted/titled; it requires a citation still anyway. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.23.57.46 (talk) 13:40, 30 May 2011 (UTC)

He's in our school now.
He's attending William Penn Middle School and he's our mascot. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 199.231.179.30 (talk) 14:07, 17 October 2017 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified one external link on Nils Olav. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20051116062952/http://www.mil.no/haren/hmkg/start/article.jhtml?articleID=103051 to http://www.mil.no/haren/hmkg/start/article.jhtml?articleID=103051

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot  (Report bug) 03:04, 4 December 2017 (UTC)

Use of "Sir"
The title of "Sir" seems to be unique to British knighthoods, whereas the penguin received a Norwegian one. I don't know enough about the Norwegian honours system to determine what the corresponding honorific would be - if there is one - but the style currently given strikes me as wrong. Robin S. Taylor (talk) 02:50, 2 May 2020 (UTC)
 * ref 9 quotes a zoo spokesperson: 'He'll be a "sir" now', and that usage is universal among the later sources. I have no idea whether that is technically correct under the Norwegian honours system, or if 'sir' is simply an English translation of the correct Norwegian word. Either way, there's no need to change the article without a reliable source saying it's wrong. Modest Genius talk 11:17, 4 May 2020 (UTC)

Rank vs appointment
There seems to be some confusion between the penguin's rank and his honorary appointments. Nils Olav has received three distinct things:


 * His military rank, currently major general in the Norwegian army
 * His noble title, currently Baron of the Bouvet Islands
 * His honorary appointments, currently mascot and colonel-in-chief, both in the King's Guard

These should not be mixed together. There is no such thing as 'major general of the King's Guard', just as there's no such thing as 'baron of the Norwegian Army'. The confusion presumably stems from the term 'colonel-in-chief' sounding like a rank, but it actually isn't one - it essentially means 'patron' and is a separate concept from a rank. Please stop mixing them up. Modest Genius talk 11:39, 31 January 2024 (UTC)

"Baron of the Bouvet Islands" Origin
Is there any source on where/when the Baron of the Bouvet Islands title came from? The earliest mention of it I've found is from what I assume is an update to an article from August 2016 in The Times (the update happening sometime before July 30 2021, more than 2 years before Sir Nils Olav was promoted to Major General). I've been unable to fully read the article, but it is the earliest mention I've ever seen of the Baron of the Bouvet Islands title. "Brigadier Sir Nils Olav was also given the title of Baron of Bouvet Island, one" (That's as much as it lets me read without a subscription)

The snapshot of The Times article that was taken in 2016 doesn't include any mention of the Baron title, although it's certainly possible that it was there and the only thing that changed was how much of an article The Times' website shows you before asking you to subscribe. The Edinburgh Zoo webpage for Sir Nils Olav was updated to include the Baron title after his promotion in August 2023, and almost every other news article I've seen that includes the Baron title is from after August 21, 2023, the only exception being this one from May 21, 2023.

A thought that has occurred to me (though I don't really believe it) is that the title is just totally made up by The Times.

-On the one hand, no other article from 2016 seems to mention Nils Olav receiving the title of Baron, and to my knowledge the Norwegian Kingsguard didn't visit him between 2016 and 2023 so it probably wasn't a "promotion" he received between Brigadier and Major General. And yet, someone called him Baron of the Bouvet Islands 2 years before anyone else did. Also, I've always seen the title written as "Baron of the Bouvet Islands" but there's only one Bouvet Island, it's not part of a chain or anything. The Norwegian Wikipedia article on Sir Nils Olav doesn't mention the Baron of Bouvet Islands or even the island itself at all.

-On the other hand, the Edinburgh Zoo's website does refer to him as Baron of the Bouvet Islands, and I would hope they know whether or not that's real.

There's evidence of him having the title before 2023, but no dates for when he actually got the title. If anyone knows more, I'd love to hear it. Thribby ribby (talk) 17:06, 23 March 2024 (UTC)


 * How strange. I too don't have access to the Times article, but outside the paywall there's no declaration that it has ever been modified, so the differences on archive.org are probably just in the length of the preview. I would be surprised if a reputable newspaper would make up a noble title, or add it to the article years later with no notice of the change. The title has been reported by later reliable sources, including the BBC and Edinburgh Zoo itself, with no sign of anyone disputing it, so it's verified. I can only assume that most press in 2016 found the rank more interesting to report than the barony, or the barony was only mentioned in the Norwegian-language press release. I also wonder what the exact title is in Norwegian - if it refers to Bouvetøya & Larsøya that would explain the plural when translated into English. Modest Genius talk 13:12, 27 March 2024 (UTC)