In the overcrowded market of stand-up comedy competitions, this has to be the strangest yet.

While talent hunts have already been set up in the name of everything from Cup-A-Soup to disposable razors, tourism chiefs in York have launched given their competition an even more bizarre twist.

For the comic who wins their £500 prize will have to restrict their entire ten-minute set to material about Vikings.

New acts Owen Niblock, Liam Mullone, Luke Wright, Helena Hennessy, Cherry Green, Kier Mcallister and Matt Hollins have all risen to the challenge, and will compete for the Jorvik Lite title.

And just in case they are tempted to make up facts about the Norse culture – the panel of judges will include archaeologists from York Archaeological Trust.

But their sets don’t just have to be about ancient Viking history. They are also permitted to cover “the discovery of the York archaeological finds in the late Seventies, through to the creation of the Jorvik Viking Centre.”

The competition on June 8 forms part of the York Comedy Festival, which runs from June 5 to 12.