Noggin the Nog

Noggin himself is the simple, kind and unassuming "King of the Northmen" in a roughly Viking Age setting, with various fantastic elements such as dragons, flying machines and talking birds.

[3] The stories were based around the central character of Noggin, the rather simple but good-natured son of Knut, King of the Nogs, and his queen Grunhilda.

Other regular characters include: Although the individual stories vary, any trouble encountered by the heroes is usually caused by Nogbad the Bad, who never gives up trying to claim Noggin's throne for himself.

The on-screen title is "The Saga of Noggin the Nog", since the stories were based on the principle of a Norse saga, and episodes began with the words, "Listen to me and I will tell you the story of Noggin the Nog, as it was told in the days of old", or "In the lands of the North, where the Black Rocks stand guard against the cold sea, in the dark night that is very long, the Men of the Northlands sit by their great log fires and they tell a tale ... and those tales they tell are the stories of a kind and wise king and his people; they are the Sagas of Noggin the Nog.

Visually, the series was primarily inspired by the Lewis chessmen (of Norse origin);[5] one of the stories is about Noggin playing chess with Nogbad the Bad.

All the books were written by Oliver Postgate, illustrated in full colour by Peter Firmin, and published by Kaye & Ward.

Noggin was played by Piers Rogers, with Jane Sandbrook as Nooka, Paul Chapman as Nogbad and Stuart Knee as Prince Knut.

A programme produced to accompany the production included this explanatory note: "The tale of The Rings of Nudrug is a hitherto unknown story.

Noggin has received an accolade achieved by very few Norse characters – he appeared with the Ice Dragon reading him a note from Nogbad, on a British commemorative postage stamp (SG1804) in January 1994.