(10 July 192322 June 2012) was a Swedish historian and popular TV and

radio Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...

personality. Villius received his

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

in history in 1951 with his dissertation ''Karl XII:s ryska fälttåg: Källstudier'' (" Charles XII's Russian campaign: A Source Study.") in which he critically analysed the narrative sources of Charles XII's officers during the campaign. In 1957 Villius joined Swedish Radiotjänst (now

Sveriges Radio Sveriges Radio Aktiebolag, AB (; "Sweden's Radio") is Sweden's national publicly funded radio programming, radio broadcaster. Sveriges Radio is a public limited company, owned by an independent foundation, previously funded through a television ...

), Sweden's national public radio corporation, and began making popular historical documentaries and programming until he moved to

Sveriges Television Sveriges Television AB ("Sweden's Television aktiebolag, Stock Company"), shortened to SVT (), is the Sweden, Swedish national public broadcasting, public television broadcaster, funded by a public service tax on personal income set by the Riksd ...

(SVT) in 1966. It was at SVT that Villius began working with TV-producer Olle Häger, a very productive collaboration that would span some two decades. During the 1980s and 1990s, Häger and Villius produced several popular documentaries like ''Fyra dagar som skakade Sverige'' ("Four days that shook Sweden") in 1988 about the Swedish " Midsummer crisis" during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and ''Raoul Wallenberg - fånge i Sovjet'' ("

Raoul Wallenberg Raoul Gustaf Wallenberg (4 August 1912 – disappeared 17 January 1945)He is presumed to have died in 1947, although the circumstances of his death are not clear and this date has been disputed. Some reports claim he was alive years later. In ...

- prisoner in the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

.") as well as one of SVT's biggest and most popular documentary productions ever, ''Hundra Svenska År'' ("One Hundred Swedish years"), consisting of eight one-hour documentaries on the history of Sweden during the 20th century from many different perspectives. Other than his dedication to entertaining and educating, Villius was most famous for his narrating both his own and others' documentaries, and his soft Kalmar-accent is instantly recognizable to millions of Swedes (even to those who do not know his name). He also played the Minister of Justice in

Bo Widerberg Bo Gunnar Widerberg (; 8 June 1930 – 1 May 1997) was a Sweden, Swedish film director, screenwriter, writer, film editing, editor and actor. Biography Early life Widerberg was born in Malmö, Malmöhus County, Sweden. Career Bo Widerberg began ...

's thriller '' The Man from Majorca'' (1984). His voice has almost become a concept of its own, intimately associated with serious educational programming and spawning many parodies (e.g., in TV-commercials) and imitations among comedians.

Bibliography

* Karl XII:s ryska fälttåg : källstudier (1951) * Glimtar från det gamla Malm (1955) * Kassettbrevens gåta : Maria Stuart och mordet på * Darnley (1956) * Makten, äran och helvetet : ögonblicksbilder ur modern och äldre historia (1959) * Rättegångar som skakat världen (1961) * Ryktbara rättegångar (1962) * Åsyna vittne : ögonvittnen berättar om dramatiska händelser i historien (1990) * Sex dagböcker från fem sekler (1992) * Åsyna vittne 2 : ögonvittnen berättar om den första månlandningen och andra dramatiska händelser i historien (1995) with Olle Häger * Det bortförlovade landet : krig och kris i Mellanöstern (1970) * Stalin : porträtt av en diktator (1970) * Rebellernas rike : Cuba och Castros revolution (1970) * Högt spel i tändstickor : Ivar Kreuger och hans värld (1970) * Solen går upp i väst: vätebombens historia (1970) * Skotten i Dallas : mordet på president Kennedy (1971) * Brännpunkt Prag : Tjeckoslovakiens dramatiska historia 1918-1968 (1971) * Nu är det snart slut på hela härligheten : ryska revolutionen (1971) * Ett spel om en väg som till himla bar : raketforskningens historia (1971) * In i det kalla kriget : Sverige mellan stormakterna 1946-1952 (1971) * Rök : gåtornas sten (1976) * Ett satans år : Norrland 1867 (1978) * 1000 år : en svensk historia (1980) * Svart på vitt (1990) with Elsa Villius * You, the jury : a trial of Mary, Queen of Scots, for complicity in the murder of her husband, Lord Darnley (1962) * Fallet Raoul Wallenberg (1966)

Discography

* Det mest formidabla klot jag någonsin skådat (1996) * Skrivet i lönndom (1999) * Svart gryning (2000)

References

External links

Internet Movie Database IMDb, historically known as the Internet Movie Database, is an online database of information related to films, television series, podcasts, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and biograp ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Villius, Hans 1923 births 2012 deaths 20th-century Swedish historians Swedish television personalities People from Lund Raoul Wallenberg Diabetes-related deaths