Hans Olav Lahlum

Last updated
Hans Olav Lahlum Hans Olav Lahlum (2011).jpg
Hans Olav Lahlum

Hans Olav Lahlum (born 12 September 1973) is a Norwegian historian, crime author, chess player and organizer, and politician. He has written biographies on Oscar Torp and Haakon Lie, and a history book about all the Presidents of the United States.

Contents

On May 22–23, 2013, he was interviewed by VG for 30 hours, 1 minute and 44 seconds, setting a Guinness World Record for the longest interview ever, beating the previous record by over four hours. [1]

Career

Born in Mo i Rana, [2] Lahlum grew up in Rødøy, a small community that he did not find enjoyable; he called his own childhood "gloomy". [3] Lahlum finished his cand.philol. degree (master's degree) in history from the University of Oslo in 2002, including subjects in political science and history of religion. [4] [5] Since completing his studies, he has at times been a lecturer and advisor at the Lillehammer University College. [6]

Biographies and history books

His first biography was a 560-page book on former prime minister Oscar Torp, which was published in 2007. [7] The history book on the US presidents was published in 2008. The biography included regular biographical coverage of each president's policy, but also more "tabloid" coverage about matters such as relationship trouble and drinking habits. [8] The conservative website Minerva credited the book as a good, well-written reference work, finding most of the book to be well balanced. It was more critical of the coverage on George W. Bush, which it found unbalanced. [9]

Lahlum was in contact with the former Labour Party secretary Haakon Lie in the last years of his life, and worked with Hilde Harbo on publishing Lie's book Slik jeg ser det nå in 2008. In 2009 Lahlum published a full 848-page biography on the then late Lie, entitled Haakon Lie. Historien, mytene og mennesket (Haakon Lie, the history, the myths and the person). The book debunked several of the negative rumors surrounding Haakon Lie, including allegations that Lie was a CIA agent. [10] The biography also found that Lie was highly critical of Thorbjørn Jagland, Yngve Hågensen, Trond Giske and Helga Pedersen. [11]

In 2013, Lahlum's biography of Håvard Vederhus (1989-2011) was published. Vederhus was a former leader of the School Student Union of Norway and a Workers' Youth League member who was killed at Utøya during the 2011 Norway Attacks. The book was titled Et kvart liv (literally translated: "A quarter of a life"). [12]

Crime novels

Lahlum published his first crime novel, The Human Flies (In Norwegian: Menneskefluene), in 2010. [13] The next novels in the series were Satellite People (Satelittmenneskene) in 2011 and The Catalyst Killing (Katalysatormordet) in 2012. The novels are written in classical style, take place in the late 1960s, and feature inspector Kolbjørn Kristiansen as the protagonist, assisted by the young and disabled Patricia Louise Borchmann. [14]

Politics

Politically, Lahlum represents the Socialist Left Party (SV) and became the leader of the county chapter in Oppland in February 2010. [15] He has also served as leader of SV's local chapter in Gjøvik. [16] In the 2017 Norwegian parliamentary election he was their top ballot candidate in Oppland. [17]

Chess player and organizer

Lahlum is an active chess player with a FIDE rating of 2109 as of May 2022, having been an International Arbiter since 2000. [18] Lahlum played in the top section of the Norwegian Chess Championship in 2001, and was in the sole lead after four rounds, but a string of losses left him at +3=2-4 and 10th place in the end. [19]

Lahlum plays for the chess club in Porsgrunn, and has been captain for his club in team chess events. He is otherwise well known for organizing and arbitrating several tournaments. [20] He was editor of the Norwegian Chess Federation's publication Norsk sjakkblad in 2006. [6] Lahlum's style in organizing tournaments is also original, with round reports featuring a description of every game played, player portraits, and grading each player's performance. [21]

World record interview

In early May 2013, it was announced that Lahlum would cooperate with Norwegian newspaper Verdens Gang in an attempt to set a world record for the longest interview ever made, setting their goal at 30 hours. Interviewing would be experienced journalist and interviewer Mads Andersen.

On May 22 at 11:00, local time, the interview began in the lobby of the newspapers main office in Oslo, with the public allowed to visit and watch the event during the opening hours. It was also shown live on the newspapers own internet television channel, VGTV, where it had more than 370 000 viewers during the broadcast. The following day, at 13:00:05, local time, they beat the previous record, which was 26 hours and 4 seconds, but was set to reach their goal of 30 hours.

On May 23, at 16:01:44 local time, the interview was ended by Andersen, simply saying: "Hans Olav Lahlum, thank you very much for the chat.", having just finished their last topic, US presidential elections from 1912 to 2012. While the new record was first stated to be 30:01:15, it was later made official as 30 hours, 1 minute and 44 seconds, as the digital clock on-screen next to the stage had been started 30 seconds too late after one of the breaks. [22]

During the 30-hour interview the two participants had five minutes of break time allocated for every hour, which they were allowed to save up for longer breaks. They were also served food and beverages at regular intervals, which had been pre-selected by the participants themselves, and were allowed to freely stretch their legs during the interview, as long as they didn't stop talking. The longest pause during the interview, excluding the breaks, was only four seconds.

During the thirty-hour interview, Lahlum covered a vast number of pre-selected topics, including a near five-hour runthrough of all US presidents, and a two-hour runthrough of all US presidential elections since 1912. The interview has since been made available for free viewing in its entirety online. Full interview.

Style

Lahlum is known for his unconventional style, which once included letting his beard grow only on the left side of his face. In chess tournaments, Lahlum has on occasion sported large earmuffs. [23] He has profiled some of this eccentricity in chess tournaments he organizes. [21] [24]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Haakon, Crown Prince of Norway</span> Heir apparent to the Norwegian throne (born 1973)

Haakon, Crown Prince of Norway is the heir apparent to the Norwegian throne. He is the only son of King Harald V and Queen Sonja.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thorbjørn Jagland</span> Norwegian politician

Thorbjørn Jagland is a Norwegian politician from the Labour Party. He served as the Secretary General of the Council of Europe from 2009 to 2019. He served as the 32nd Prime Minister of Norway from 1996 to 1997, as the minister of Foreign Affairs from 2000 to 2001 and as the president of the Storting from 2005 to 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Håkon Wium Lie</span> Norwegian software engineer

Håkon Wium Lie is a Norwegian web pioneer, a standards activist, and the chairman of YesLogic, developers of Prince CSS-based PDF rendering software. He is best known for developing Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) while working with Tim Berners-Lee and Robert Cailliau at CERN in 1994. He was the Chief Technology Officer of Opera Software from 1998 until the browser was sold to new owners in 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Magne Furuholmen</span> Norwegian musician and visual artist

Magne Furuholmen is a Norwegian musician and visual artist. Also known by his stage name Mags, he is the keyboardist of the synthpop/rock band A-ha and co-wrote hits such as "Take On Me", "Stay on These Roads", "Manhattan Skyline", "Cry Wolf", "Forever Not Yours", "Analogue ", "Minor Earth Major Sky", "Touchy!", "You Are the One", "Move To Memphis" and "Foot of the Mountain". A-ha has sold more than 50 million albums worldwide. He was named Knight First Class of the Order of St. Olav by King Harald for his services to Norwegian music and his international success.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jens Christian Hauge</span> Norwegian resistance member (1915–2006)

Jens Christian Hauge was a Norwegian who was leader within the World War II resistance—and one of the two incumbent Milorg Council members in May 1945. He served as Minister of Defence from 1945-1952 and Minister of Justice from January to November 1955.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Per Sandberg</span> Norwegian politician (born 1960)

Per Sandberg is a Norwegian politician for the Capitalist Party and formerly the Progress Party who served as the Norwegian Minister of Fisheries from 2015 to 2018. Sandberg was a member of the Norwegian parliament from 1997 to 2017, and served as chair of the parliamentary standing committees on Justice, and Transport and Communications. He has additionally held the position of first deputy leader of the Progress Party from 2006 to 2018. In 1997 he was convicted of assault and battery of an asylum seeker. His status as a convicted felon has made him controversial in Norwegian politics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Haakon Lie</span> Norwegian politician

Haakon Steen Lie was a Norwegian politician who served as party secretary for the Norwegian Labour Party from 1945 to 1969. Coming from humble origins, he became involved in the labour movement at an early age, and quickly rose in the party system. After actively working for the resistance movement and the exiled government during World War II, he was elected to the second-highest position in the party after the war, and his years in office were the most successful in the party's history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arne Bendiksen</span> Musical artist

Arne Joachim Bendiksen was a Norwegian singer, composer and producer, described as "the father of pop music" in Norway.

Hans Julius Gabrielsen was a Norwegian jurist and politician for the Liberal Party. He is best known as County Governor of Finnmark and County Governor of Oppland, as well as Consultative Councillor of State for Finnmark Affairs in 1945.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Olav Meisdalshagen</span> Norwegian politician (1903–1959)

Olav Meisdalshagen was a Norwegian politician for the Labour Party best known for serving as the Norwegian Minister of Finance from December 1947 to November 1951 and as the Norwegian Minister of Agriculture from January 1955 to May 1956. He was also a Member of Parliament for a long time, being elected for the first time in parliamentary election of 1936 and serving until his death, except for the period between 1940 and 1945 when the Parliament of Norway was de facto defunct due to the occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany. His death in 1959 came halfway through his fifth term in Parliament, and shortly after a parliamentary speech.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Olav Gunnar Ballo</span> Norwegian politician (born 1956)

Olav Gunnar Ballo is a Norwegian former politician for the Socialist Left Party (SV). Ballo changed party to Arbeiderpartiet in 2011. Ballo was elected to the Norwegian Parliament from Finnmark in 1997. He studied medicine at University of Würzburg, and has worked as a medical doctor. Ballo represented SV in Alta municipality council from 1991 to 1997. Ballo was the leader of the National Forensics Institute in Norway between 2009 and 2010/2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frode Elsness</span> Norwegian chess player

Frode Elsness is a Norwegian chess player who holds the title of International Master, as well as the 2008 Norwegian Chess Championship. Elsness plays for the chess club in Moss. Apart from chess, Elsness is a medical doctor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brage Prize</span> Norwegian literary award

The Brage Prize is a Norwegian literature prize that is awarded annually by the Norwegian Book Prize foundation. The prize recognizes recently published Norwegian literature.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Olav Njølstad</span> Norwegian historian, biographer and novelist

Olav Njølstad is a Norwegian historian, biographer and novelist. He is director of the Norwegian Nobel Institute.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Death of Kaja Ballo</span> Norwegian student

Kaja Bordevich Ballo was a Norwegian university student who took her own life in Nice, France, on March 28, 2008, shortly after taking an Oxford Capacity Analysis (OCA), a personality test administered by the Church of Scientology, earlier the same day. Family and friends state that Ballo was happy prior to taking the OCA, and that her mood dramatically shifted after receiving the results; she jumped from the fourth floor of her dorm room hours later. In addition to a suicide note, Ballo's family found the OCA among her belongings. French police investigated connections between Scientology and Ballo's death, and interviewed two leaders of the Church of Scientology in France; prosecutors stated in December 2008 that they were unable to establish a causative link.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">41st Chess Olympiad</span> 2014 chess tournament in Tromsø, Norway

The 41st Chess Olympiad, organised by the Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE) and comprising an open and women's tournament, as well as several events designed to promote the game of chess, was an international team chess event that took place in Tromsø, Norway, between 1–14 August 2014. The organiser was Chess Olympiad Tromsø 2014 AS on behalf of FIDE.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aryan Tari</span> Norwegian chess grandmaster (born 1999)

Aryan Tari is a Norwegian chess grandmaster. Tari was Norwegian champion in 2015 and 2019 and won the World Junior Chess Championship in 2017. As of September 2023, he is the second-highest ranked player from Norway, after only former world champion Magnus Carlsen.

<i>Magnus</i> (2016 film) 2016 Norwegian film

Magnus is a 2016 documentary film by Benjamin Ree about the early life of Norwegian chess prodigy Magnus Carlsen, him becoming a Grandmaster at age 13 and winning the FIDE World Chess Championship in 2013. The film premiered at Tribeca Film Festival in 2016, and was sold to 64 countries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Katrine Tjølsen</span> Norwegian chess player (born 1993)

Katrine Tjølsen is a Norwegian chess player.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oppland (Storting constituency)</span> Constituency of the Storting, the national legislature of Norway

Oppland is one of the 19 multi-member constituencies of the Storting, the national legislature of Norway. The constituency was established as Opland in 1921 following the introduction of proportional representation for elections to the Storting. Its spelling was settled as Oppland in 1950. It consists of the municipalities of Dovre, Etnedal, Gausdal, Gjøvik, Gran, Lesja, Lillehammer, Lom, Nord-Aurdal, Nord-Fron, Nordre Land, Østre Toten, Øyer, Øystre Slidre, Ringebu, Sel, Skjåk, Søndre Land, Sør-Aurdal, Sør-Fron, Vågå, Vang, Vestre Slidre and Vestre Toten in the county of Innlandet. The constituency currently elects five of the 169 members of the Storting using the open party-list proportional representation electoral system. At the 2021 parliamentary election it had 132,383 registered electors.

References

  1. ↑ "Lahlum avviser ikke nytt rekordforsøk".
  2. ↑ "Hans Olav Lahlum". Store norske leksikon (in Norwegian). Retrieved 6 November 2009.
  3. ↑ Lillebø, Sandra (15 November 2008). "Glemte minner". Klassekampen (in Norwegian). p. 26.
  4. ↑ Barstad, Lars Henie (15 January 2003). "Gudfaren Gerhardsen". Universitas (in Norwegian). Retrieved 22 June 2012.
  5. ↑ Nyhagen, Christine Skogen (19 November 2008). "Sammendragskriveren". Universitas (in Norwegian). Retrieved 22 June 2012.
  6. 1 2 "Hans Olav Lahlum" (in Norwegian). bokavisen.no. Retrieved 2009-11-03.
  7. ↑ Steen, Reiulf. "Elektrikeren fra Skjeberg" (in Norwegian). Archived from the original on 2010-11-08. Retrieved 2009-11-03.
  8. ↑ Backe, Anne Hoff (2008-10-01). "Hans Olav Lahlum: Presidentene Fra George Washington til George W. Bush". Oppland Arbeiderblad (in Norwegian). Retrieved 2009-11-03.
  9. ↑ Snoen, Jan Arild (2008-10-06). "Fra Washington til Bush". Minerva (in Norwegian). Retrieved 2009-11-03.
  10. ↑ Strand, Harry. "Han som elsket Amerika" (in Norwegian). Adresseavisen. Retrieved 2009-11-03.
  11. ↑ Helljesen, Vilde (2009-11-02). "Haakon Lie slaktet Jagland" (in Norwegian). Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation . Retrieved 2009-11-03.
  12. ↑ "En biografi om et altfor kort liv" (in Norwegian). VG/NTB. 21 May 2013. Retrieved 26 May 2013.
  13. ↑ Kleppo, Kristine (29 August 2010). "Lahlums metode" (in Norwegian). ABCnyheter. Retrieved 18 September 2011.
  14. ↑ Ekelund, Torbjørn Lysebo (8 August 2011). "For den som liker klassisk krim" (in Norwegian). Dagbladet. Retrieved 18 September 2011.
  15. ↑ "Nytt fylkesstyre i Oppland SV" (in Norwegian). Socialist Left Party. Archived from the original on 2012-07-30. Retrieved 2011-02-13.
  16. ↑ "Hans Olav Lahlum" (in Norwegian). Socialist Left Party. Archived from the original on 2011-07-24. Retrieved 2009-11-03.
  17. ↑ "Hans Olav Lahlum: – Jeg er en ukonvensjonell førstekandidat". Oppland Arbeiderblad (in Norwegian). 21 March 2017. Retrieved 26 January 2018.
  18. ↑ "FIDE Chess profile Lahlum, Hans Olav (FIDE rating card)". FIDE. Retrieved 2009-11-03.
  19. ↑ "Result list 2001, Kristiansund". Archived from the original on 2001-09-07. Retrieved 2009-11-03.
  20. ↑ Ingul, Tormod (2008-11-06). "Oslo Schakselskap favoritt i serien" (in Norwegian). NRK sport. Retrieved 2009-11-03.
  21. 1 2 Svensen, Tarjei J. (2005-10-20). "A report on the Arnold J. Eikrem Memorial". ChessBase News. Retrieved 2009-11-03.
  22. ↑ "Lahlum avviser ikke nytt rekordforsøk".
  23. ↑ Stenberg, Ola E.; Opsahl, Per (2008-02-05). "Halvbarbering, sjakk og USA-presidenter" (in Norwegian). Verdens Gang. Retrieved 2009-11-03.
  24. ↑ For example, in ( "Gausdal Classics, 2008" . Retrieved 2009-11-03.) Lahlum profiles his facial expressions, and a self-deprecating description
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.