How Strange, Just A Couple Of Days Ago,

I mentioned that in an episode of Bloody Britain a Viking chief was thrown to his death in a pit of adders, than they hit the news, or at least one of them does, whilst walking through the New Forest in Hampshire, nine-year-old Tylar Butcher was bitten by one, her entire leg turned black after she was bitten on the foot while enjoying a bank holiday stroll with her family, She was rushed to Southampton General Hospital's intensive care unit after an allergic reaction caused her leg to turn black, Mr Butcher said that Tylar was recovering well and looking forward to telling all her friends at Grove Road School in Tring about what had happened, well we are all thankful about her recovery, but in the UK one of the last things to be worried about is being bitten by a poisonous snake, there are ten recorded cases of death from an adder bite in the last century but thankfully no one has died from one in Britain during the last 20 years,

unlike Viking chieftain, Ragnar Lothbrok who was thrown into a pit of adders for attacking parts of East Anglia, in a stroke of luck his woolen clothes protected him from being bitten, so Aelle, the Northumbrian leader had his clothes removed and threw Ragnar back into the pit where he was bitten to death, also if you have ever wondered about the term of some one 'going berserk', it also comes from these times, the ‘Berserks’ were among the most fearsome Viking warriors and madmen in battle, hence the term, ‘to go berserk’, they wore bearskins, rather than more protective hides, because they believed they were protected by Odin and were superhuman, if you want to see an example of one look no further than Erik the Viking, a very funny film with a bit of Monty Python thrown in.