# Who is Alvin Tostig?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-alvin-tostig/460089>\
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\
**Created:** [August 15, 2008, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-alvin-tostig/460089 "2008-08-15T12:58:28Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\
**Post date:** [August 15, 2008, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-alvin-tostig/460089/1 "2008-08-15T12:58:28Z")

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The Staff Report by SDSTAFF David, [“In the Elton John song “Levon,” who is Alvin Tostig?”](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mlevon.html), it is noted that there was a historical “Tostig,” who was the Earl of Wessex back in the 1040s.

[Tostig Godwinson](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tostig#Tostig_in_Fiction) (1026? – September 25, 1066) was an Anglo-Saxon earl of Northumbria (1055) and traitorous brother of King Harold II of England, the last crowned Anglo-Saxon King of England. His father, Godwin, was Earl of Wessex.