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Nils Olav the Penguin Achieves Knighthood |
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Written by Andrew Brigmond
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Friday, 15 August 2008 |
 Well, it's official, any bird brain can become a knight. Nils Olav, a king penguin at the Edinburgh Zoo in Scotland, was honored by decree of King Harald V of Norway as knight. King Harald V noted that Nils "in every way qualified to receive the honour and dignity of knighthood".
So, how did this quest for knighthood begin? In 1972 lieutenant Nils Egelien's unit adopted a penguin which they named for Nils and King Olav V of Norway. The penguin was then giving the rank of visekorporal (lance corporal) and each time the unit came to visit he was advanced in rank. Here's a list of his changes in rank and the corresponding year:
1972: Lance Corporal
1982: Corporal
1987: Sergeant
1993: Regimental Sergeant Major
2005: Colonel-in-Chief (The zoo was also presented with a 4" statue of Nils Olav at this time as well)
Sadly shortly after his promotion to sergeant the original Nils Olav died and he was replaced with another penguin ...it's a good thing all penguins look alike to the untrained eye. My question is, after dying, the new Nils got to advance in rank automatically, so, how do they know how well he'll be able to perform his duties? Fine fine...so...being the King's Guard's mascot isn't THAT complicated to pull off.
So, here at v00.org, we salute Nils Olav on his new found status in the kingdom! Looking for more info about Nils? Check out his Wikipedia entry here.
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 16 August 2008 )
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