Matt Tuckey is a writer from Oldham, England. He covers celebrities, night life, Manchester, fitness, creative writing, social media, psychology and events. Some of this may, in some way, help others. Or maybe it'll just entertain you for a while.
I’ve just spent the last month researching my Viking ancestry, and immersing myself in all things Viking. I’ve been trying to find out about my ancestors, the Toki tribe, that would have lived as Vikings until doing a deal with one of the British kings – between 793AD and 1070AD – to convert to Christianity.
My dad tells me that, before I was born in 1982, he and my mum visited a museum somewhere – they can’t remember where – in which they found a ceremonial spoon, handed either to the Catholic Church from Toki, or vice versa, as a confirmation of their conversion to Christianity.
I’ve asked loads of Viking museums. No-one knows of it. I still don’t know which of the Scandinavian countries Toki were from, or when they arrived in Britain.
I have, however, found tons of other information, which you can find by trawling back through the months posts: runestones, Old Norse lessons, Viking-inspired music, an 8th-century haircut, The Last Kingdom binge-watching (I’m in the 5th and final season and it’s complicated still), Viking-themed podcasts, conversations with museum employees, and with cultural organisations.
I’ve received wads of PDFs relating to the Viking era, featuring the odd mention of Toki here and there, but nothing solid about my ancestry.
I’ve also been eating twice a day, as Vikings did. My diet has consisted of mostly porridge and root vegetables, with a bit of meat thrown in. A lot of fish. All of this is in the tenet of Viking lifestyle, but that said, when you’re only eating twice a day, it takes a certain amount of time to get through the food that you have. I still have 2 packs of cereal on the go, and tons of processed food in my freezer (although a lot less than I had a month ago).
I’ve had a good go at beating personal bests at the gym, tailoring my workouts to that which Vikings would have done: rowing (including a 10-minute record of 2330m, around 100m more than my previous record), deadlift, chin-ups, dips, and using the pulley frame to simulate the movement of wood chopping.
Now, just before my birthday at the end of July, the plan is to move things from a more investigative stance to a more practical one. Don’t worry, no murdering with axes, raping or pillaging, but more authentic food, more workouts and hopefully some outdoor cooking.
I have not quite attained his physique as of yet. 2 meals a day are steadily paying off though. This week I obliterated my 10 minute row record, adding on another 120 metres.
I wondered if anyone had blended 2 of my big interests – Viking history, and contemporary House music. It seems they have:
I sat down and scrolled through the weighty supply of PDFs kindly donated by Emily North of Yorkshire Museums Trust. All of this was fascinating material, but I was specifically searching for anything pertaining to my Toki ancestors.
One of these documents was titled ‘Place Names and Personal Names,’ a thesis by Gillian Fellows-Jensen of the Institute for Name-Studies. In this there’s a mention of Tockwith, a village in York, about 63 miles (102km) northeast from me. The meaning is ‘Toki’s Wood.’
In a document saved as 11-7-Gibson, there’s a segment of a book. It’s titled RUNIC INSCRIPTIONS: ANGLO-SAXON AND SCANDINAVIAN, dated 10th March, 1859. A. Craig Gibson, author, details many findings of hogbacks and runestones, inscribed stones from the Viking era. One passage details the Toki runestone that I mentioned was displayed in The Museum of London.
“Of the other two Danish Runic inscriptions known to exist in England, the next date of discovery is that found in St Paul’s Churchyard in London in 1852; which is to the following effect: - KONAL LET LEGGJA STEN THENNSI AUK TOKI; in English, ‘Konal caused this stone to be laid, and Toki.’ A sentence very meagre and insignificant so far as regards historical interest.”
A few pages later, Gibson purports that in 1066 ‘this King of Norway invaded the dominions of his Saxon Namesake, in alliance with the rebel brother of the latter, Totsi the outlawed Earl of Nothumberland; and that the allies were both slain with 30 thousand of their army at the Battle of Stamford Bridge near York… Though defeated, this invasion was most disastrous in its consequences to the Saxons of England. Harold had to hasten southward, all unprepared, to meet the Normans; and, but for this Norwegian invasion, and the hard won fight of Stamford Bridge, the battle of Hastings might have had a different result.’
Another interesting find came in Durham E-Theses: Anglo Scandinavians in north east England and south east Scotland between the eighth and eleventh centuries.
In this, John Luke Carson claims that Toxside in Midlothian Scotland is ‘possibly derived from the Old Norse personal name “Toki” and a misunderstood use of the old English word “heafod” meaning height.’
Furthermore, this thesis draws from The Boldon Book, a survey conducted in 1183.
‘The entry for Preston recorded that land was held by Orm son of Toki, both Old Norse names (BB1982, 55) and that land at Carlton was held by William son of Orm, again showing possible links to Scandinavia (BB 1982, 57).’
‘Apart from Coniscliffe, the other ‘vills’ were recorded in The Boldon Book in addition to the three other ‘vills’ not mentioned in the HSC, which now formed part of the Darlington grouping (Johnson-South 2001, 112). One of these later ‘vills’ was Whessoe, where The Boldon Book recorded that two brothers, Orm and Toki, held land (BB 1982, 63). Both are names of Norse origin. The ‘vills’ making up the Darlington estate formed a continuous and coherent block of settlements and The Boldon Book recorded that tenants at three of these ‘vills’ had obligations commonly associated with composite estates (Johnson-South, 2001, 112), suggesting that either a new composite estate was being created or an older, fragmented estate was being reconstructed (Johnson-South 2001, 112).’
So, from this we can ascertain that the Toki surname had not changed into Tuckey until the 13th century at the earliest.
The last document in the email was Sculpture and Viking Age London, which has no author name or date, but was probably written by staff at St Paul’s Cathedral. It sheds further light on the Toki runestone that I’ve previously mentioned from my findings. Here’s a key excerpt:
“One of the most famous sculptures in England is this runestone discovered in the churchyard of St Paul’s cathedral in London in 1852. The runestone reads ‘Ginna and Toki had this stone set up.’ It shows a creature which may be a lion or dragon with its front paws entangled with a snake. The ringerike style is one of a series of Viking Art styles that were introduced to England in the 9th to 11th centuries. Ringerike style is characterised by plant and animal motifs with extended tendrils and knots, the animals have small heads and slender sinuous bodies and almond-shaped eyes. The style takes its name from a region north of Oslo and it was in fashion from c. 980-1070. The runestone in St Paul’s Cathedral was probably erected in the early 11th century, when Danish king Cnut ruled England from 1016-1035.”
Finally, away from this research, I’ve been trying to mix up the food I eat yet still stay inside the Viking principle. Have you ever had Basa fish? A first for me. My god. Taste sensation. With a few sweet potato chips and herb-infused breadcrumbs (marjoram was popular a thousand years ago in Scandinavia, so I banged some of that in), and natural yoghurt to stick the coating to the fish, these elements all fused to make a great Viking-era dish.
I turned to the Hairy Dieters cookbook recently to see what recipes match up with the kind of things my ancestors would have cooked a thousand years ago. This month and next, I’m doing a little Viking project, researching some family history (Tuckey comes from the Norse ‘Toki,’ a tribe that invaded Britain some time between 745 and 1069).
It turns out a lot of Viking diet would have been vegetables. So a veg soup recipe sounded just right.
Hairy Bikers recipes are always a good shout – they take a bit of time to put together (this one took me an hour and 40, and an hour of that was just chopping; you might not take as long) but the end result is usually delicious. I’m not sure 9th century Norsemen had mains-supplied stick blenders, so their soups may have been a little chunkier, but the veg – butternut squash, carrots, parsnips, onions – would have been a staple part.
The end result, with a little fat free yoghurt and dried chives to season, tasted good. A lot of effort, though. That said, I had enough for a few meals, and seeing as I’m only eating 2 meals a day, I was eating soup for a while…
A drawback I didn’t notice ‘til later: I was cooking this in a large non-stick pan. When it came to liquidising, I used a stick blender. The blade is protected by a plastic rim, but the rotating pole attached to the blade seems to have protruded a little – I bought it in 2002 I think and it seems to have given a bit - and has scored the Teflon in the pan. I should probably have poured the whole thing into a blender instead.
Steadily viewing Last Kingdom Season 4. Complex, brutal Viking drama seeing Saxon-born Uhtred, a Danish warrior, getting ever closer to reclaiming his ancestral homelands. Still a challenge for my feeble brain though. What is going on in it?!
Historic England got back to me about family Viking ancestry – that’s not their field. Fair enough.
Sarah from St Paul’s Cathedral replied, explaining that they don’t have the teaspoon I’m looking for, but her team also knew of the Toki Runestone mentioned by a couple of other places. Described as “an Anglo-Scandinavian grave-marker in the Ringerike style of the second quarter of the 11th century,” it “was found in 1852 during the construction of a warehouse in St Paul’s churchyard. On one side of the stone a runic inscription reads: ‘Ginna and Toki had this stone laid’. The original is now held at the Museum of London.”
Toki Runestone
Open to suggestions.
I took this week off so I could email a ton of places, but I seem to have exhausted them all already. Netflix Viking shows it is!
Insomnia? Drop off with some Viking ASMR:
Fancy some lectures on Old Norse from an expert and Wyoming resident? See Jackson Crawford’s YouTube. Fascinating discussions on the origins of the English language, with added roaming wildlife.
No real plans for the week now I've made these enquiries. More Last Kingdom and chinups. Which suits me.
I finished for annual leave on the 14th and am not back in work until the 26th.
I’ve so far poured tons of time and effort into Viking research, polishing off Season 3 of The Last Kingdom, which sees Saxon / Dane Hybrid Uhtred cursed by a seer and reluctantly teaming up with – and eventually facing off against—the weaselly Prince Aethelwold.
As British Viking history was largely recorded by the British kings’ scribes and other church historians, the Danes’ history of Britain went largely unrecorded, so the production writers are free to paint, within reason, what ever history they like. But a lot of the characters – both British and Danish - are historical, so who knows how much of this is accurate and how much is fiction.
Fun, but I find it very complicated. Thanks, Wikipedia, for the synopses!
I contacted a list of museums that may have some Viking knowledge, in an attempt to find this historical spoon, a personal family heirloom of sorts relating to my Viking ancestry.
Some museums couldn’t help, but the Dock Museum in South Cumbria explained they did have a few Viking artefacts. I managed to speak to Alex Whitlock, Finds Liaison Officer, who was at the time working with an archaeologist at The Dock visiting to identify objects. Neither specialised in the Viking Era, and Mr Whitlock explained that I’d be better speaking to a Norse specialist, probably found in York or the North East.
An email from Emily North from the Yorkshire Museums Trust proved fruitful. They had nothing in their collection with Toki inscribed, however Emily provided me with a horde – not of preserved artefacts - but of PDF documents relating to the Viking era and its etymology, how certain names and words have prevailed. I still need to sit and read through them all, but from a quick glance they look fascinating.
I have a lot more time available now to power through the research, but now that my main enquiries have been made, a lot of this will be watching Viking shows on Netflix.
I also made a grotesque but nutritious vegetable stew, and scranned this folowed by a bought-in apple pie and yoghurt, and a cheese and ham toastie, all of which Vikings would have been perfectly capable of making, according to my research.
Away from the Viking theme, this week saw 2 entertainment icons pass away. Cormac McCarthy, author of No Country for Old Men and The Road, died aged 89. The Purlitzer winning novelist was easily one of the best writers to live in the 21st century so far. His western epic Blood Meridian – bloodily violent but an astonishingly unique western tale - is in preproduction at the moment. Outer Dark is also a terrifying, twisty short novel but incredibly tense.
Actor Treat Williams also passed away this week in a road accident. Famous for the movie Hair – think Grease in a barbershop (I’d presume, I’ve not seen it) Williams has appeared in a ton of great movies, including – if you ask me – the greatest ever made: Once Upon a Time in America.
He also gave a great turn as lunatic Critical Bill in 90s gangster flick / Tarantino nod Things to do in Denver when You’re Dead.
This week has been Loneliness Awareness Week, hosted by The Marmalade Trust. ‘Marmalade Trust is the only charity in the world specifically dedicated to raising awareness of loneliness.’
From Active Care Group: Mind UK state that some people ‘describe loneliness as the feeling we have when our need for social contact and relationships isn’t met. But loneliness isn’t the same as being alone. You may feel content without much contact with other people. Others may find this a lonely experience.’
I have short term memory difficulties, a lifelong condition. I think when you grow up trying to get to know people but forgetting the vast majority of what they tell you, it can be difficult to get close to someone, to know who someone is. You forget what people tell you about themselves. You don’t learn the social cues. You don’t pick these things up through osmosis, through life generally, like most other people do. You have to work to be normal. You have to learn to listen, to gauge people’s responses to your behaviour. To adjust and adapt to be accepted. You have to make the same social mistakes a few times.
In that way, I’ve always felt I can’t quite meet my own needs, and that connecting to people was a huge effort. To make matters worse, as I get older, my patience with people diminishes.
I’ve also felt that memory difficulties, plus depression and anxiety, would put women off. People tell me this is nonsense.
I dunno.
Anyway. If you’re dealing with similar issues, you should combat them. Talk to your GP. Look for a support group. Try Hub of Hope for local groups.
Independent of this (according to scientists in Iran, at least) is the issue of anxiety. Psypost reports that anxious people will focus on threat detection (the threat of being outcast socially, for example, or the threat of physical harm) but that this can be reduced through training. ‘Focusing instead on neutral stimuli’ – i.e. distracting yourself from what it is causing the anxiety – is something I’ve seen mentioned in several places over the last few months.
In other news, depressing but unsurprising: DWP admit nearly all its websites were rated ‘very high risk’ on access, and could be breaking the law, exacerbating the already outrageous waiting times to get through on the phone.
But, this is what happens when you cut the budget to public services. I’ve sat on the line to DWP in the past. You really need a competent Welfare Rights officer to step in and do it for you – their phone line bypasses the queue, and they know what to say.
I’m eating – partly – what they ate. Lots of veg soup. I’ve finished the bananas. Tons of cereal left, though. Won’t be buying any more of that until August. Still just eating twice a day.
Pushing through Last Kingdom Season 3. Complex but hella violent Viking show on Netflix. Great stuff.
I’ve been listening to Vicast, a podcast set up by Amy Bailey who plays Queen Kwenthrith in History Channel’s Vikings show. I’ve not listened to many podcasts, but this one has tons of behind the scenes info, plus Bailey invites on guest contributors from the show who share showbiz gossip plus historical knowledge of the Viking era. Well worth listening to if you’re into the show.
Next month sees Heysham Viking Festival, featuring cosplayers, 9th-century food and traditional Norse crafts like weaving and woodwork. I’m intrigued.
I’ve noticed a lot of psychology-related news over the last few weeks, but not enough to make a blog post out of. Here’s a psych-based mish-mash for you:
The Department of Work and Pensions have confirmed that Personal Independence Payment – the disability benefit – will stay non-means tested, which is a start. Still waiting for them to scrap humiliating private assessments, one of which I had. I may blog about it in time. What exactly working disabled people will do when Working Tax Credits ends in 2024, I don’t know. Some of us are not eligible for Universal Credit due to hours of work being below the threshold.
A few resources are popping up on social media- End Loneliness UK ‘believe that people of all ages need connections that matter.’ I concur.
Silver Cloud ‘offer Internet-based Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (iCBT) through a series of digital tools.’ The aim is to support NHS staff in the job, at a time when staff are experiencing unprecedented levels of stress.
Togetherall describe themselves as a ‘community of real people who understand.’ It’s a mental health support community available to people who have certain employers: universities or the Armed Forces seem to be the main criteria. That said, I’m sure my employer brought it to my attention. I’m in the public sector, but they’re not listed on the site. I gather location plays a part too. As I’m happy with Andy’s Man Club I’m unlikely to investigate further. Let me know what it’s like!
This was from back in February, but PsyPost reports that CBD - a non-psychoactive component of cannabis – can improve verbal recall, allowing more of what we hear. I have a bottle of CBD from an event that took place before the pandemic, but I never got into it. It was touted as an anxiety treatment, but I didn’t use it regularly. It might be worth doing a little month-long project in which I take CBD daily and see what happens, staying as social as possible.
Further research has emerged about the use of MDMA to treat PTSD, reports PsyPost. It worked for me back in 2016. Nothing I’ve tried since then – illicit nor prescribed – has worked as effectively. Every barrier that I felt – every doubtful thought – dissipated that night. Sadly, I cannot risk becoming a massive pillhead. It was bad enough spending 4 years on prescription drugs that didn’t work.
That’s your lot for the moment, but I have at least 2 more #psychologysaturday posts to come.
“I’m really excited to be here in… where am I?” Actor Danny Glover looks over at American presenter and Monopoly Events compare SoCalVal. Then, modifying his iconic Lethal Weapon line, he tells the crowd, “I’m not too old for this shit!”
The 76-year-old Predator 2 star is with us – he remembers - here in Yorkshire Events Centre, Harrogate, and is the first panel guest at Comic Con Yorkshire, the first of Monopoly’s productions in the region. He’s returning to the company after also being a headlining guest at For the Love of Sci Fi back in 2019, this time a little slower on his feet, but still full of enthusiasm for his trade.
SoCalVal asks about his background.
“Both my grandparents live to 99 years old.," Glover tells us. "When I did Places in the Heart, (set in the Texan cotton fields of depression era 1930s), it was for my mother. My grandfather said, ‘what you know about picking cotton?!’”
Audience questions unsurprisingly bring up 1987’s Lethal Weapon, that which springboarded Glover into public consciousness.
“’I’m getting too old for this shit’ wasn’t in the original script,” Glover tells us. “On set, director Richard Donner said, ‘show me something.’” And the iconic line was born.
He tells of his early days in local government, and finding community theatre that sparked his love for – and career in – acting.
While the stage panel is happening, there’s a lot more going on. Here’s a tour of the stage show area, signing area, stalls, a gaming area, movie and TV set builds and movie cars.
A Predator cosplay troupe had their own set:
And a cosplay competition resulted in a Gangnam Style dance-off.
The last stage panellist is Monty Python founder John Cleese, with whom I paid for a photo at great expense.
In classic Python style, he opens with an apparent joke about being cast in Ben Hur (didn’t happen) and Harry Potter (a 42-second role), which he describes as “one of the most miserable roles I’ve ever had.” The sound effects man, Cleese claims, “lived in a cave and had no experience with human beings.”
“He asked me, ‘can you look surprised at half speed?’
“I made up for it by working in Bond with Pierce Brosnan. It’s all gone now because they shot it in the Czech Republic, and they aim it at the Asian market.”
At this point an audience member seems to stand up and vacillate slightly.
“Are you alright there?” Cleese asks. “If you don’t like it you can go and kill yourself.”
The guy in question walks off.
Cleese raises his eyebrows. “I’ll be in trouble with the Daily Mail tomorrow.”
(As of yet, he isn’t.)
An audience member begins the Q+A by asking about his viewing habits.
“I like the cricket,” Cleese tells us. “I can’t watch comedy any more. Commissioning Editors (who make the decisions about what goes on air and what doesn’t) know fuck all. They refer to committees; the BBC has become a bureaucracy. In my day, people knew what they were doing. After we did the first episode of Monty Python, 6 out of 8 execs thought it wasn’t funny. When you work with (Ronnie) Barker and (Ronnie) Corbett, you find out what comedy is all about. But without that, you don’t know comedy.”
AQ: How did you come up with the name Monty Python?
“It’s a boring story. It’s inspired by Monty -the WWII Field Marshall. I was going to call it A Fish Called Wanda (A film Cleese later starred in) but I was told to change it.”
The idea for the car-thrashing scene in Fawlty Towers, he tells us, “wasn’t the slightest bit funny. The branch was too rigid. The next branch was too floppy. The third had just the right level of floppiness.”
An audience member claims this to be ‘the highlight of his day.’
“Of your life,” responds Cleese. “You best go home and end it. Write an undertaker sketch.”
Cleese then dives off into a monologue about how sex and violence on screen, although still a taboo, makes great comedy (I agree), including a scene where the audience invades the sketch in protest. He brings up A Fish called Wanda, in which Michael Palin kills an old lady’s pet dogs (due to where the event is held, he prefers to call them ‘Lancashire Terriers’), and the Holy Grail Black Knight sketch where Cleese lops the knight’s arms and legs off.
A question brings up voiceover work, which Cleese describes as “so good, because the lines are right there. The Shrek team (Cleese played King Harold in Shrek 2 and Shrek the Third) are really good. They listen to ideas.”
An audience member refers to Cleese’s time in the States, during Monty Python’s inception.
“We took Monty Python to WGBH Boston,” Cleese recalls. "The exec thought it was shit; we never heard from him again. It was turned down in New York, Boston, LA. Eventually we found Ron Devillier in Dallas – if he hadn’t have put us there, we’d never have been heard of."
Cleese doesn’t mention this, but with no Monty Python on Stateside TV… there’d be no South Park and probably no Family Guy either.
AQ: What about the planned Fawlty Towers remake? (Radio Times are reporting the BBC won’t be involved.)
JC: People say it won’t be as good. My daughter convinced me to do it completely different. I’ve been thinking about it for a week, but that’s as far as we got. We’ve also got Life of Brian and Fish called Wanda stage plays. There’s a planned programme about lookalikes, but Arnie will be playing his lookalike.
An audience question brings up current events.
JC: I read the news first thing in morning. We (the British) are last for trust in printed media. Out of all the countries. (Statista certainly has us low down at 38%.) We need the introduction of proportional representation. The corruption of Tory party has been incredible. I couldn’t have conceived it 30 years ago. When Piers Morgan says “When are you gonna be funny again? It’s been 30 years,” I said, “When are you going to be honest? It’s been a lifetime.”
AQ: What was the inspiration for Manuel?
JC: A century ago British food was poor because there was an empire to run. We needed food for fuel. Then, in the 60s, we started to get Italian restaurants, where you usually had a 50% chance of getting what you ordered. Not having communication is very funny. If someone plays Hamlet, it doesn’t mean they hate Danes and are suicidal. Just because you portray 1 person as something, doesn’t mean you mean the whole country.
To round off, SoCalVal asks what his advice would be to people.
“If you want to stay active late in life, get yourself involved with a terribly ruinous divorce.”
