Norway invented the sport of skiing, and the words ski and slalom are Norwegian! A Norwegian called Sondre Norheim invented ‘modern day’ skis that allow skiers to jump and turn without losing their skis.

It is now thought that the Vikings may have been using the telescope hundreds of years before Dutch spectacle makers supposedly invented it in the late 16th century.

Norway is famous for its explorers, and a Norwegian was the first person to reach the South Pole. His name was Roald Amundsen, and on December 14 1911 he placed a Norwegian flag on the South Pole, a month before England’s Captain Scott died trying to do so.

Although Alfred Nobel was a Swede (1833-1896) he decided that world famous Nobel Peace Prize would be voted for by a Norwegian Committee every year.

There is evidence that Leiv Eiriksson and NOT Christopher Columbus discovered America. Eiriksson was a Norwegian Viking living in Iceland, who made it to North America around the year 1000 AD by sailing his ship off course when looking for Greenland.

Norway’s capital Oslo is the oldest of the Scandinavian capitals, and the biggest of Norway’s cities. It was founded back in 1050 and, like London, a Great Fire burnt Oslo to the ground in 1624.

The paper clip was invented by a Norwegian inventor called Johan Vaaler in 1899.

A Norwegian called Thor Bjørklundtook invented the cheese slicer! One lunchtime he found that his knife was too blunt to cut his cheese, and turned to his toolbox for the answer. First he tried a wood saw, but found that his wood plane was more effective, and based his cheese slicer design on it!

Like Britain, Norway has a Royal family. The current King of Norway is Harald V.

Norway is one of the few countries in the world who still hunt for and catch whales.

Norway's coast is surprisingly warm thanks to the Gulf Stream, warm sea waters that flow across the Atlantic Ocean from the Caribbean.

Norway’s forests cover over a quarter of the country, but they are being destroyed by acid rain coming from British, German and Russian factories.

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