2008 in Norway

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Events in the year 2008 in Norway.

Contents 1 Incumbents 2 Events 3 Popular culture 3.1 Sports 3.2 Music 3.3 Film 3.4 Literature 4 Anniversaries 5 Sport 6 Notable births 7 Notable deaths 8 References 9 External links

Incumbents

• Monarch - Harald V of Norway
• Prime Minister - Jens Stoltenberg (Norwegian Labour Party)

Events

• January 1 – The Agency for Public Management and eGovernment is established.^[1]
• January 1 – Nordic Battlegroup consisting of military forces from Sweden, Finland, Norway, Ireland, and Estonia under the control of the European Union, is established.^[2]
• January 1 – Mercury becomes banned from use in Norway.^[3]
• January 11 – Norwegian police announce that they have arrested a 55-year old man suspected of being the sexual predator known as The Pocket Man.^[4]
• January 21 – The OBX Index drops 6.4%, then the second biggest fall since August 1991 and the third largest in its history.^[5][6]
• February 5 – The Standing Committee on Scrutiny and Constitutional Affairs opens the case to decide whether three Supreme Court Justices will be impeached over their involvement in the Fritz Moen wrongful conviction.^[7]
• February 14 – A political case centering on Manuela Ramin-Osmundsen forces her to resign from her post as Minister of Children and Equality and Ida Hjort Kraby to resign from her newly appointed position as Ombudsman for Children in Norway.^[8]
• February 21 – An earthquake measuring 6.2 on the Richter scale hits Svalbard, the strongest earthquake ever to hit Norway.^[9]
• February 23 – The 8 km Eiksund Tunnel near Volda in Møre og Romsdal is opened.^[10]
• February 26 – The Svalbard Global Seed Vault is officially opened.^[11]
• February 29 – Anniken Huitfeldt is appointed Minister of Children and Equality.^[12]
• February – Former Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland is entangled in a political scandal over cancer treatments paid for by the Norwegian state, which she was not entitled to having previously changed her residency abroad.^[13]
• March 1 – Austrian Matthias Lanzinger collides with a gate during a World Cup Super-G run at Kvitfjell, resulting in injuries that lead to his left leg being amputated below the knee two days later.^[14]
• June 11 – Norway legalises same-sex marriage.^[15]
• September – 2008 psychic phone call controversy: it was revealed that the Norwegian politician Saera Khan had racked up extremely high phone bills using the mobile phone with which she was provided for free by the Parliament.^[16]
• September 9 – The OBX Index drops 5.57%, then the fourth biggest drop ever.^[5][6]
• September 29 – In conjunction with the global liquidity crisis the index of Oslo Stock Exchange drops 8.3%, then its third largest drop ever in one day, but eclipsed only one week later.^[17]
• October 6 – The OBX Index drops 9.71%, the third largest drop ever in one day.^[6]
• October 8 – The OBX Index drops 6.44%^[18]
• October – Bangladeshi-Norwegian parliamentarian for the Labour Party Saera Khan withdraws her candidacy for next year's elections when it is revealed that she has spent large sums using her parliament paid-for mobile phone to call psychic hotlines and then consistently lied to cover up the fact.^[19]
• October – Controversy erupts when Holocaust denier and historian David Irving is invited to the 2009 Norwegian Festival of Literature at Lillehammer, to discuss his concept of truth,^[20] ending in Irving's invitation being withdrawn.^[21] Author Stig Sæterbakken resigns as the festival's content director in protest over the decision.^[22]
• October 15 – The OBX Index drops 8.81%^[23]
• October 24 – The OBX Index drops 9.24%^[24]
• December 13 – Six people die in a fire in an apartment building in Oslo,^[25]

Popular culture

Sports

• October – Tromsø's bid to become host city to the 2018 Winter Olympics is cancelled when the sports board of Norwegian Confederation of Sports votes 9 against 3 to withdraw the application for government financial guarantee.^[26]

Music

Film

Literature

Anniversaries

• 200 years since the birth of the poet Henrik Wergeland on June 17, 1808^[27]
• 140 years since the founding of the Norwegian Mountain Touring Association (January 21)^[28]
• 100 years since Norway national football team played its first international game on July 12, 1908 in Gothenburg, Sweden^[29]
• 100 years since the sports club SK Brann was established (September 26)^[30]
• 100 years since the birth of the poet Olav H. Hauge on August 18, 1908^[31]
• 100 years since the birth of the composer and pianist Geirr Tveitt October 19, 1908^[32]
• 70 years since the death of Queen Maud of Norway on November 20, 1938^[33]

Sport

For football, see 2008 in Norwegian football

• January
  • The 2008 European Men's Handball Championship is hosted by the Norwegian Handball Federation with venues in Bergen, Drammen, Lillehammer, Stavanger and Trondheim.
• March 29– The Norwegian Premier League 2008 (association football) kicks off, lasting through November 2.^[34]
• November 2– The Norwegian Premier League 2008 ends.^[34]

Notable births

• September 29 – Emma Tallulah Behn, the daughter of Princess Märtha Louise of Norway and Ari Behn.^[35]

Notable deaths

• 3 January – Bjarne Aagaard Strøm, politician (b. 1920)^[36]
• 4 January – Bjørn Odmar Andersen, soccer player (b. 1943)^[37]
• 14 January – Bjørn Paulson, high jumper and jurist (b. 1923)^[38]
• 14 January – Carsten Thomassen, journalist, killed in terrorist attack (b. 1969)^[39]

• 19 January – Astrid Løken, entomologist (b. 1911)
• 23 January – Stein Rønning, karateka (b. 1965)^[40]
• 24 January – Johannes Heggland, author and politician (b. 1919)^[41]
• 26 January – Einar Sverre Pedersen, aviator (b. 1919)^[42]
• 28 January – Dagfinn Grønoset, author (b. 1920)^[43]
• 28 January – Marie Takvam, author and actor (b. 1926)^[44]
• 9 February – Nils Retterstøl, psychiatrist (b. 1924)^[45]
• 10 February – Ove Jørstad, footballer (b. 1970)^[46]
• 10 February – Arne Barhaugen, Nordic combined skier (b. 1932)^[47]
• 10 February – Thorleif Arneberg, politician (b. 1922)^[48]
• 15 February – Inge Thun, footballer (b. 1945)^[49]
• 15 February – Magnar Hellebust, politician (b. 1914)^[50]
• 16 February – Per Erik Monsen, politician (b. 1946)^[51]
• 22 February – Gerd Olaug Berger, politician (b. 1915)^[52]
• 5 March – Erik Wiik-Hansen, yacht racer (b. 1934)^[53]
• 7 March – Julius Paltiel, Holocaust survivor (b. 1924)^[54]
• 10 March – Marianne Gullestad, social anthropologist (b. 1946)^[55]

• 14 March – Ingvald Ulveseth, politician (b. 1924)^[56]
• 14 March – Guri Tambs-Lyche, activist (b. 1917)^[57]
• 16 March – Victor Sparre, artist (b. 1919)^[58]
• 22 March – Arne Skarpsno, "Father of the street children" (b. 1926)^[59]
• 24 March – Odin Sivertsen, politician (b. 1914)^[60]
• 30 March – Halvor Roll, writer (b. 1929)^[61]
• 31 March – Stein Haugen, discus thrower (b. 1933)^[62]
• 5 April – Oskar Edøy, politician (b. 1916)^[63]
• 9 April – Haaken A. Christensen, art collector (b. 1924)^[64]
• 11 April – Magne Haraldstad, politician (b. 1937)^[65]
• 19 April – Klaus Halvorsen, politician (b. 1942)^[66]
• 21 April – Ola M. Hestenes, politician (b. 1919)
• 23 April – Haagen Ringnes, journalist and author (b. 1928)^[67]
• 29 April – Julie Ege, actress and model (b. 1943)^[68]
• 5 May – Astrid Gunhilde Karlsen, politician (b. 1920)^[69]
• 15 May – Tove Billington Bye, politician (b. 1928)^[70]
• 15 May – Ottar Grønvik, philologist and runologist (b. 1916)
• 18 May – Odd Strand, civil servant (b. 1925)
• 19 May – Kjell Kristian Rike, sports commentator (b. 1944)^[71]
• 2 June – Geir Kjetsaa, literary historian, translator and author (b. 1937)
• 9 June – Christian Lerche, physician (b. 1917)^[72]
• 11 June – Gunnar Solum, politician (b. 1929)^[73]
• 15 June – Ole-Jørgen Nilsen, actor and theatre director (b. 1936)^[74]
• 19 June – Antonio Bibalo, Italian-born pianist and composer (b. 1922)^[75]

• 22 June – Odd Aukrust, economist (b. 1915)^[76]
• 22 June – Jens Petter Ekornes, entrepreneur and politician (b. 1942)^[77]
• 22 June – Hans Haga, agrarian leader (b. 1924)^[78]
• 22 June – Einar W. Sissener, businessperson (b. 1929)
• 26 June – Asbjørn Haugstvedt, politician (b. 1926)^[79]
• 27 June – Sasha Gabor, Hungarian-born pornographic actor (b. 1945)^[80]
• 30 June – Annemarie Lorentzen, politician (b. 1921)
• 3 July – Harald Heide-Steen Jr., actor, comedian and singer (b. 1939)^[81]
• 8 July – Erling Rønneberg, resistance member and politician (b. 1923)^[82]
• 9 July – Hans Hjelle, politician (b. 1916)^[83]
• 10 July – Kåre Rodahl, physician (b. 1917)^[84]
• 14 July – Henki Kolstad, actor (b. 1915)^[85]
• 21 July – Knut Boye, civil economist (b. 1937)^[86]
• 30 July – Erik Himle, civil servant and politician (b. 1924)
• 30 July – Terje Thoen, ice hockey player (b. 1944)^[87]
• 1 August – Tore Breda Thoresen, theatre director (b. 1924)^[88]
• 2 August – Rolf Bae, mountaineer (b. 1975)^[89]
• 2 August – Helga Gitmark, politician (b. 1929)^[90]
• 2 August – Kåre Grøndahl Hagem, politician (b. 1915)^[91]
• 8 August – Ann-Mari Aasland, politician (b. 1915)^[92]
• 12 August – Helge Hagerup, writer (b. 1933)^[93]
• 15 August – Thor Pedersen, rower (b. 1924)^[94]
• 18 August – Ole Frithjof Klemsdal, politician (b. 1923)^[95]
• 2 September – Andreas Zeier Cappelen, politician (b. 1915)^[96]
• 6 September – Aril Edvardsen, evangelical preacher and missionary (b. 1938)^[97]
• 11 September – Nils Johan Ringdal, historian (b. 1952)^[98]
• 14 September – Knut S. Heier, geochemist (b. 1929)
• 23 September – Arne Haugestad, barrister (b. 1935)^[99]
• 27 September – Olaf Poulsen, speed skater and official (b. 1920)
• 28 September – Ivar Kåre Mathisen, politician (b. 1921)^[100]
• 6 October – Anne Margrethe Strømsheim, resistance member (b. 1914)
• 18 October – Tormod Haugen, author (b. 1945)^[101]
• 14 October – Bodil Finsveen, politician (b. 1934)^[102]
• 23 October – Liv Marit Moland, politician (b. 1948)^[103]
• 30 October – Nils Kåre Jacobsen, publisher (b. 1929)^[104]
• 8 November – Bodil Aakre, jurist and politician (b. 1922)^[105]
• 14 November – Knut Bjørnsen, sports commentator and journalist (b. 1932)
• 24 November – Rolf Ketil Bjørn, businessperson and politician (b. 1938)
• 13 December – Kjartan Slettemark, artist (b. 1932).^[106]
• 15 December – Anne-Catharina Vestly, children's author (b. 1920)^[107]
• 27 December – Arild Andresen, footballer and ice hockey player (b. 1928)

References

External links

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