Saga's End

Hold your Súrsaðir hrútspungar (deliciously cured ram's scrotum) aloft in grief; there has been another celebrity death this week. Magnús Magnússon has gone to meet his Quizmaker, to be interrogated forever, strapped into the big black armchair in the sky. Yes, I'm talking about the Mastermind one, though not the scary looking bloke standing next to the oriental bird on the front of the board game. Apparently the Mastermind theme tune was encalled 'Approaching Menace', a fitting name for the scary man, but not for cuddly old Magnús (possibly less cuddly now). Neither am I talking about 'The World's Strongest Man' Magnús Ver Magnússon, who is very much still alive (I think). No, it is definitely the magn(ús)ificently eyebrowed (eggbrowed) ma(g)n(ús).

Looking at his obituary it seems his father's name was Sigursteinn Magnússon, but Maggie (as I liked to call him) was born in Reykjavík. Under Icelandic naming conventions children take on their father’s first name as a last name, so he should've been called Magnús Sigursteinsson, which doesn't quite have the same ring to it. And if you think that's a mouthful, his mother's name was Ingibjorg Sigurdardottir, a name that requires at least two tongues to pronounce I should think (in a slightly xenophobic stylee). Meanwhile, at the Icelandic Naming Committee, who get to vet all new first names, experts have approved the use of Eberg, Tristana, Asía and Rikharður on small children, but have rejected the name Magnus (as opposed to Magnús) presumably on safety grounds.

I do like to wonder if his last words were, "I've started so I'll finish", spoken just as his heart monitor started to beep in that familiar way. Maybe that raises the prospect of the ghost of Magnús returning every so often to enunciate the tail end of a random question, and then disappear in a puff of mystery, without giving us the answer. Unless by 'finish' he meant 'die', in which case, job well done.


Currently listening: In Shock by Kristin Hersh