A Famous Belgian

[Geronimo 3]

Words I've just posted on The Dead, thread. Whaddya reckon?

 

 

 

I wonder, if we exclude famous incomers buying homes on Britain's islands, how many of those said islands have a native famous enough for the DL? I mean, Evelyn Glennie is from Islay so some definitely count but......could a native Manx person, other than Handrejka, make the DL?

 

Er...isn't this about famous Belgians? The Bee Gees are all Manx men. But they are not Belgian.

[Guest Gurgler]

Words I've just posted on The Dead, thread. Whaddya reckon?

 

 

 

I wonder, if we exclude famous incomers buying homes on Britain's islands, how many of those said islands have a native famous enough for the DL? I mean, Evelyn Glennie is from Islay so some definitely count but......could a native Manx person, other than Handrejka, make the DL?

 

Er...isn't this about famous Belgians? The Bee Gees are all Manx men. But they are not Belgian.

Belgians and BeeGees are all the same.

[maryportfuncity 10,651]

Barry was born in Manchester, the twins on the IOM, which was one step on a journey that led them to Australia after the family took the £10 deal to travel there. They were bordering on a problem family until they focussed on being entertainers and the British police were amongst those encouraging them to emigrate.

[Canadian Paul 97]

Well Godot may be gone, but Belgians live on. What about Soeur Emmanuelle, the Belgian nun? If Abbe Pierre got a notice in the the UK, surely she would as well?

 

No health news though.

[maryportfuncity 10,651]

Tintin; the most famous Belgian. How many other real countries could say their most famous person is a fictional character?

[Guest Guest]

Tintin; the most famous Belgian. How many other real countries could say their most famous person is a fictional character?

 

The thing is that Belgium's two most famous people are fictional (Poirot).

[Cowboy Ronnie 78]

Tintin; the most famous Belgian. How many other real countries could say their most famous person is a fictional character?

 

The thing is that Belgium's two most famous people are fictional (Poirot).

 

It depends on how one looks at it. As of today, I'd say more people in the world know who Justine Henin or Kim Clijsters is than have heard of Hercule Poirot. Poirot has been around for 70 or so years, and for 62 of those no one knew the tennisers. But in the future, more people will have heard of them than him.

 

Probably. Tintin wins regardless, especially if as rumoured there are to be Hollywood films about him.

 

http://desicritics.org/2007/05/26/032318.php

[Monoclinic 39]

What about Rene Magritte? Or Paul Rubens (technically Flemish as it was pre-existence of Belgium)?

 

Or more importantly The Muscles from Brussels himself?

 

If you really want to knock yourself out then you can peruse this list...

 

http://www.famousbelgians.net/categories.htm

 

Of course Johnny Hallyday as yet does not qualify having only a paternal link to Belgium and with the paperwork that they love to create here its doubtful he ever will be!

 

 

 

PS: I am not "A Belgian" so I too cannot qualify.

[Entropy 5]

Queen Fabiola must be about 200 years old, and she's been looking rather frail in recent years. She's originally Spanish, but being Queen of Belgium for over 30 years must count toward being Belgian.

[Lard Bazaar 3,799]

Has Plastic Bertrand been mentioned?

 

Ah, yes, I see he has right at the beginning - sorry.

[Handrejka 1,904]

Liz Claiborne has died

 

http://community.livejournal.com/obituary/187767.html#cutid1

[Octopus of Odstock 2,200]

They're dropping like flies

 

Leon Jeck, World Cup footballer for Belgium in the 1970's, is dead.

[Octopus of Odstock 2,200]

Somewhat surprised that in all this talk of famous Belgians & those likely to die that Pierre Harmel has not been mentioned.

 

Former Belgian Prime Minister, Foreign Minister, UN diplomat, and tireless European legislator. Wikipedia entry

 

Born in 1911, so that makes him one of the oldest living ex-Premiers around.

 

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On another note, Paul Frere is going nowhere - he has made a full recovery from his injuries sustained whilst testing a sportscar & was at Spa chatting to Mr. Coulthard, who is now the grand-daddy in F1.

Frere & Coulthard. Paul Frere is 90, by the way.

 

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Maybe both of these deserve a mention in other threads (I & P's & F1 motor racing respectively) but why not mention two Belgians at once, especially as another Belgian, young Tintin, is involved in a racial slur.

 

 

[harrymcnallysblueandwhitearmy 1,689]

A John Redwoodesque moment. And there was me thinking Jackie B's Le Moribond was the Belgian national anthem...

[Cowboy Ronnie 78]

A John Redwoodesque moment. And there was me thinking Jackie B's Le Moribond was the Belgian national anthem...

Hmmm, that's strange, I thought the national anthem for both Belgium and France was "Deutschland ueber alles".

[Cowboy Ronnie 78]

Because it's Belgium nobody's noticed, but for the past three months there's apparently been some sort of constitutional crisis, and the upshot is that it's possible that the country might be divided. Into Flanders and Wallonia, which I thought were two of the countries Gulliver visited on his travels, but apparently they're the two largest regions. Whatever way they slice it, zero divided by two is still zero.

 

Would we miss it?

 

Is it possible to nominate Belgium for DL 2008?

[Monoclinic 39]

Because it's Belgium nobody's noticed, but for the past three months there's apparently been some sort of constitutional crisis, and the upshot is that it's possible that the country might be divided. Into Flanders and Wallonia, which I thought were two of the countries Gulliver visited on his travels, but apparently they're the two largest regions. Whatever way they slice it, zero divided by two is still zero.

 

Would we miss it?

 

Is it possible to nominate Belgium for DL 2008?

 

Vous m'oubiez! It's been four months since the Federal election, took over a month to decide who was going to be PM and then ever since they've been arguing over the coalition. You see there are benefits for having a two horse race (US, UK etc.) rather than 57 million parties, some which span the linguistic divide and others which blatantly don't. None of this hung coalition shenanigans at every election.

 

To boot, these Belgians pay a fine if they don't vote, so in the effort to overcome apathy they are rewarded with this farce!

 

I'm all up for living through a revolution as long as it doesn't involve anymore paperwork. I wouldn't want to have to re-register as a foriegner in Luxembourg, France, Quebec or wherever it is that Flandres wants to annex Wallonie to.

[Madame Defarge 21]

Because it's Belgium nobody's noticed, but for the past three months there's apparently been some sort of constitutional crisis, and the upshot is that it's possible that the country might be divided. Into Flanders and Wallonia, which I thought were two of the countries Gulliver visited on his travels, but apparently they're the two largest regions. Whatever way they slice it, zero divided by two is still zero.

 

Would we miss it?

 

Is it possible to nominate Belgium for DL 2008?

 

Vous m'oubiez! It's been four months since the Federal election, took over a month to decide who was going to be PM and then ever since they've been arguing over the coalition. You see there are benefits for having a two horse race (US, UK etc.) rather than 57 million parties, some which span the linguistic divide and others which blatantly don't. None of this hung coalition shenanigans at every election.

 

To boot, these Belgians pay a fine if they don't vote, so in the effort to overcome apathy they are rewarded with this farce!

 

I'm all up for living through a revolution as long as it doesn't involve anymore paperwork. I wouldn't want to have to re-register as a foriegner in Luxembourg, France, Quebec or wherever it is that Flandres wants to annex Wallonie to.

 

I would like to nominate the State of Florida. Think the Walloons would mind too much if it were annexed to them, at least til the end of November, 2008?

[Godot 149]

Raymond Ceulemans could be one to watch. According to this account there could be a real danger of him suffering frostbite in his left index finger, thus leading to gangrene and an early departure.

[Monoclinic 39]

I've just found out that Andrée De Jongh is resisting death no more.

 

Here's an obit. Does the obit qualify for my WDP team? Or do I have to look elsewhere.

 

 

Edit - I can't believe I have actually posted a death! I can't believe that this death has slipped passed some of the eagle-eyed "let's post anybody who has died with an obit famous or not" posters either.

 

Either that or the search function is like the Belgian government, "en panne".

[Cowboy Ronnie 78]

I've just found out that Andrée De Jongh is resisting death no more.

 

Here's an obit. Does the obit qualify for my WDP team? Or do I have to look elsewhere.

 

 

Edit - I can't believe I have actually posted a death! I can't believe that this death has slipped passed some of the eagle-eyed "let's post anybody who has died with an obit famous or not" posters either.

 

Either that or the search function is like the Belgian government, "en panne".

 

C'mon Mono, surely you know the rules - Belgians don't count on Death List. On the wiki article it says she was part of something called the "Belgian Resistance" during WW2, which is surely an oxymoron.

[Anubis the Jackal 77]

Ronnie,

 

Surely the Belgian Resistance would have been like the French Resistance which seemingly gained almost unanimous support across the country some time in early 1946

 

C'mon Mono, surely you know the rules - Belgians don't count on Death List. On the wiki article it says she was part of something called the "Belgian Resistance" during WW2, which is surely an oxymoron.

[Cowboy Ronnie 78]

A couple more things to hate about Belgium - first of all, the capital, Brussels. The most boring major city in the world. Their star tourist attraction? A puny statue of a small boy having a pee. The most common reaction by tourists seeing it for the first time is apparently, "That's it?" Then there's the Atomium, Belgium's idea of technology, which looked like it was out of date from the moment it opened in 1958. People raved "Oh, you must see the central square", which I did - an empty town square. Such inspiration.

 

Then there's the Brussels sprout. A food that when cooked makes your whole house smell like the bog. Delightful.

 

(I always throught it was Brussel sprout, which of course doesn't make sense, but apparently there's an "s" on the end.)

[Godot 149]

Cowboy Ron, thou dust go too far, prompting me to make a list of 10 good things about Brussels and Belgium:

 

1. It's easy to get a beer and chat to the barman in English, nice beers too.

2. Good chips

3. Good place for battle sites: Ypres, Waterloo.

4. Everyone speaks English (did I mention that?).

5. Van Eyck was a decent artist (no relation to David Icke)

6. Bruges is nice if a bit smelly in high summer.

7. Ostend has an excellent pavement.

8. Tin Tin

9. Ghent has a very fine alter piece (by Van Eyck)

10. Tin Tin's dog, Snowy.

[Bald rick 9]

Cowboy Ron, thou dust go too far, prompting me to make a list of 10 good things about Brussels and Belgium:

 

1. It's easy to get a beer and chat to the barman in English, nice beers too.

2. Good chips

3. Good place for battle sites: Ypres, Waterloo.

4. Everyone speaks English (did I mention that?).

5. Van Eyck was a decent artist (no relation to David Icke)

6. Bruges is nice if a bit smelly in high summer.

7. Ostend has an excellent pavement.

8. Tin Tin

9. Ghent has a very fine alter piece (by Van Eyck)

10. Tin Tin's dog, Snowy.

Hmm, methinks that you were running out of steam by number 6, Monsieur Godot. I would have stopped at about the second item on your leetle list.