Actually, I was clinging to the coat tails of our esteemed editor who was one of the guest speakers at the Viking banquet in Aarhus (well, he is the only team member old enough to remember the launch of the famous butter brand!). The hospitality was lavish and, as usual, the pre-meal talk centred on the days when their first butter salesmen, the Vikings, sailed up the Tyne and proceeded to rape grocers' wives as a formal part of their introductory butter sales campaigns around the north-east. Could that be why so many of today's independent grocers on Tyneside bear such a resemblance to those early invaders? But the oddest sound of the night came from two fearsome, bearded Vikings who were greeting guests with their famous lur horns. They're a sort of traditional early form of Scandinavian saxaphone. The pair created mirth among the UK contingent with a rocking rendition of Amazing Grace ­ leading to suggestions they could be the long awaited follow up band to Abba. But amid all the talk about butter and spreadability, there was much banter about Sweden's most famous export to Britain ­ Sven Goran Eriksson and how he's transformed our soccer lads. But then Arla Foods, present day carrier of the Lurpak banner, sponsors the Danish national side. And that creates a problem for Arla's UK boss, David Salkeld, a passionate Anglo with a leaning towards Leeds United. Expect the fur to fly in the VIP boxes if England meets Denmark in the World Cup. {{COUNTERPOINT }}

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