Strange but True Facts

• Brussels sprouts have been grown in the Brussels area for over four hundred years.
• The most famous monument in Brussels is the Manneken Pis, a statue of a young boy urinating.
• Ypres is the site of the Cat Festival. This dates from the medieval ritual of throwing cats off the top of the belfry. Today's politically correct society dictates that stuffed toy cats be hurled instead.

Famous Belgians

• Actress Audrey Hepburn, probably most famous for her role in the film Breakfast at Tiffany's, was born Edda van Heemstra Hepburn-Ruston in Brussels.
• Charlotte and Emily Bronte spent nearly a year in Brussels learning French. Charlotte spent a further year there teaching English; Villette and The Professor draws on her time in Belgium.
• Jean-Claude Van Damme, known as The Muscles from Brussels, has been one of the most successful film action heroes of the last ten years.
• Eddy Merckx, the Belgian racing cyclist was known as "The Cannibal" and won the Tour de France five times.

Historical Facts

• The Menin Gate in Ypres was built in memory of the British and Commonwealth soldiers who were killed there during the First World War.
• Edith Cavell, the famous British nurse, was executed in Brussels during the First World War for helping Allied soldiers to escape to the Netherlands.
• Leo Hendrick Baekeland, the inventor of Bakelite, was born on 14 November 1863 in Ghent, Belgium. When Baekeland died in 1944, his products were in use by nearly every industry and his life's work had been recognised by numerous scientific and academic bodies throughout the world. For many people, he is 'the father of the plastics industry'.

Fun Facts

• The little blue cartoon creatures known as Smurfs are Belgian, created by Peyo.
• The cartoon character TinTin was created by the Belgian cartoonist George Remi, better known as Herge.

Interesting Facts

• There are more castles per square mile in Belgium than anywhere else in the world.
• Antwerp, the world's fourth largest port is one of the world's main centres for diamond dealing, cutting and polishing.
• Antwerp Zoo is one of the oldest and largest in Europe, housing over 4,000 animals.
• The Belgian railway network, with a total of 2534 miles, is the densest in the world.
• Christmas comes early in Belgium; St Nicolas Day, 6th December, is the first day of gift giving.
• Tulips have been around in Belgium, longer than Holland - the first bulbs arrived in Antwerp in 1562.
• German Shepherds were the first dogs trained for police work- beginning around 1900 in Ghent, Belgium.
• The twinning link between Nottingham and Ghent was formally established in 1985.
• The first recorded lottery to involve buying a ticket and distribution of prize money was held in Bruges on 14 February 1466.  It was held to raise money for the poor of the town.

Food & Drink Facts

• Belgium produces 172,000 tons of chocolate per year in over 2,130 chocolate shops. Our chocolate has pure cocoa flavour because we don't use vegetable shortening.
• There are over 400 different types of beer in Belgium running the gamut from white to raspberry beer. Most beers have their own glass in which only that beer may be served. Some of the most famous are made by Trappist monks.
• Belgium and Flanders are particularly famous for waffles and chips. Belgian chips are often eaten with mayonnaise or served with mussels. Chicory is a popular vegetable, as are, of course, Brussels sprouts. Sea food is plentiful and trout is fished in the rivers. Soups include waterzooi which is more like a stew. Beer features in a number of recipes.
• Belgian "national dishes" are fries with mussels , rabbit with plums, eel in green sauce ( Paling in't Groen in Dutch) and meatballs with "rabbit sauce" - also called "hunter sauce" - (literal translation of respectively Boulets sauce lapin and Boulets sauce chasseur in French).
• Brussels has 138 restaurants per square mile.
• Belgium is a gourmets paradise, boasting many Michelin star-rated restaurants.
• Famous Flemish brewery Hoegaarden was founded by a milkman.
• Beers such as Kriek and Framboise are often served in champagne glasses to bring out their full flavour.
• When producing its Kriek beer, Belle-Vue uses one pound of cherries for every three litres of beer.
• On the 31st of January 2009, whisky lovers from all over the world came to Ghent to taste six fine malt whiskies in an attempt to stake a claim in the Guinness World Records. They had to beat the previous record of 1221 people and they did so by 932 as they had 2153 whisky drinkers.