Aalborg and the northern dunes, the meeting point of two seas, have lured artists, writers and nature-lovers for generations – a cultured haven fusing style with tradition. James Pembroke was captivated
Niels Jensen represented my first experience of the happy-go-lucky Danes. Admittedly, it took place in the confines of an all-male boarding school. But, then, Scandinavia was as remote a location as the rest of England – so none of us ever asked Niels, who was in my year, why on earth he had swapped the land of blond free love for Victorian sadism and over-indulgent tradition. Instead of withdrawing into an introspective vortex of parent-blaming, it was wholly Danish of Niels to see his absurd plight as a cause for yet more giggling. His accent was thoroughly pukka and, on leaving school, he joined the Irish Guards after a spell at Sandhurst. On his first day, one of his men approached him with a serious complaint. ‘Sorr, I was told this was the Irish Army – not the British Army. I’ve joined the wrong side.’ Niels was able to give...
I’m afraid this isn’t one of our four free articles available in full, which are set out in the first two rows of the ‘Magazine’ page.
Please click here to find them.
To buy a digital version of this issue for just £2.99, click here
