Olav Midttun (8 April 1883 – 5 January 1972) was a Norwegian

philologist Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources. It is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics with strong ties to etymology. Philology is also defined as the study of ...

, biographer, magazine editor, and media executive. He edited the cultural magazine '' Syn og Segn'' for more than fifty years, and was the first national program director of the

Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation The Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (), commonly known by its initialism NRK, is a Norwegian state-run, government-influenced radio and television public broadcasting company. The NRK broadcasts three national TV channels and thirteen nat ...

(NRK).

Personal life

Midttun was born in Mauranger as a son of teacher Jørgen Midttun (1855–1938) and Marta Øvrehus (1847–1920). He was a brother of Gisle Midttun. He was married twice, first from October 1909 to Mietze Bentsen, née Sandkuhl (1877–1942), then from 1950 to Borghild Skarmann.

Career

Graduating as cand.mag. in 1910, Midttun lectured at the

University of Oslo The University of Oslo (; ) is a public university, public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation#Europe, oldest university in Norway. Originally named the Royal Frederick Univ ...

from 1917 to 1934. He edited the cultural magazine '' Syn og Segn'' for more than fifty years, from 1908 to 1960. He was program manager of NRK from its start in 1933. He was fired in 1940 by the Nazi regime during the

occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany The occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany during the Second World War began on 9 April 1940 after Operation Weserübung. Conventional armed resistance to the German invasion ended on 10 June 1940, and Nazi Germany controlled Norway until th ...

, and returned after the Second World War as program manager from 1945 to 1947. He was later a professor at the

, and wrote several biographies. He was also a member of

Bærum Bærum () is a list of municipalities of Norway, municipality in the Greater Oslo Region in Akershus County, Norway. It forms an affluent suburb of Oslo on the west coast of the city. Bærum is Norway's fifth largest municipality with a populatio ...

municipal council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough cou ...

References

1883 births 1972 deaths People from Kvinnherad Academic staff of the University of Oslo Norwegian magazine editors Norwegian biographers Norwegian male writers Norwegian male biographers NRK people Bærum politicians Liberal Party (Norway) politicians 20th-century Norwegian philologists {{Norway-writer-stub Norwegian republicans