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 especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as th ...

, biographer, magazine editor, and the first national program director of the

Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation NRK, an abbreviation of the Norwegian ''Norsk Rikskringkasting AS'', generally expressed in English as the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, is the Norwegian government-owned radio and television public broadcasting company, and the largest ...

(NRK). He was born in

Mauranger Mauranger is the northernmost district of Kvinnherad municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The district is centered on the Maurangsfjorden on the western side of the vast Folgefonna glacier. Mauranger consists of the villages of Sundal, Au ...

as a son of teacher Jørgen Midttun (1855–1938) and Marta Øvrehus (1847–1920). He was a brother of

Gisle Midttun Gisle Midttun (1881–1940) was a Norwegian cultural historian and museologist. He was born in Kvinnherad, and was a brother of philologist Olav Midttun. Midttun was assigned with the Norwegian Museum of Cultural History Norsk Folkemuseum ...

. He was married twice, first from October 1909 to Mietze Bentsen, née Sandkuhl (1877–1942), then from 1950 to Borghild Skarmann. 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 the ...

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

University of Oslo The University of Oslo ( no, Universitetet i Oslo; la, Universitas Osloensis) is a public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the highest ranked and oldest university in Norway. It is consistently ranked among the top universit ...

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

Bærum Bærum () is a municipality in the Greater Oslo Region in Norway that forms an affluent suburb of Oslo on the west coast of the city. Bærum is Norway's fifth largest municipality with a population of 128,760 (2021). It is part of the electoral ...

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, rural counci ...

References

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