7 January – It’s understood in Skagaströnd and Timbuktu

Stuck for a songwriting partner? If in doubt, ask your dad. Zoë Straub did it in Stockholm and it didn’t do her any harm. But it’s been done before. Back in 1996 – again in somewhere Nordic – birthday girl Anna Mjöll Ólafsdóttir employed the skills of her dad Ólafur Gaukur Þórhallsson, who’s apparently a renowned musician. Of course, Ólafsdóttir is not a surname but just a patronymic. If you’re not Icelandic, what would your patronymic name be? As my father was also called Riigi, I’d be Riigi Riigisson. How dull.

Anna Mjöll is 47 today.

Til hamingju með afmælið, Anna Mjöll!!