h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

And finally, Godefroy de Bouillon, from Bouillon in Wallonia, led one of the successful Crusades that took Jerusalem, I think.

Sprout

And did it land him in the soup?

I'd show you the door if you weren't the author.

B

I can only give you a stock answer, I'm afraid...

B

Let us know when you've made the amendments, Guy!

I've worked out the Van Eyck/ Van Dyck thing.

Van Dyck was a court painter to one of the British monarchs. Pretty boring stuff really.

Van Eyck was one of the most amazing of the Flemish Primitives. His painting 'the Holy Lamb' (not sure of title) in the cathedral in Ghent is phenomenal, luminous colours, interesting structure etc.

Sprout

OK, several updates and I have salved my conscience on the ep[hemeral fame of sports stars by making a reference in that section.

I wish peer review was always this good - how many times have we seen Entries make the front page, only to have three corrections posted in the first morning?

Thanks, all, looking forward to further famous Belgians. Any famous Walloons, perchance?

'Escappe to Victory' ???

Was Jacques Delores from Belgium?

That's the French pronunciation.

Delors is from Northern France.

As part of my campaign to have some more famous Walloons and Bruxellois in this, here is a potted history of Godefroy de Bouillon. Dodgy translation is not mine. He was born in Baisy (Belgian Ardennes) in 1061.

"Duke of Basse Lorraine, marquis of Anvers and duke of Bouillon, Godefroy complies with
Urbain II request for the liberation of Christ's grave. He sells his castle and on the 7the of August 1096 he sets off at the head of one of the four first crusade's army : that of the Knights from Meuse and Rhin.
After a very trying journey, Jerusalem is conquered in July 1099. He is the first to tread on his walls.
Out of humility Godefroy refuses to be appointed as King of Jerusalem as is offered him and only agrees to become Attorney of the Holy Sepulcher.
He soon deserves well of his part by beating off the Turkish attack in Ashquelon , in 1099.

After his death, legend takes hold of him and his sword that is said to have attended Jeanne d'Arc in her campaigns."

Convincing stuff eh?

Little bit on Delvaux and Brel will follow shortly...

Sprout

Wonderfully-written sport section - I have three more famous sporting Belgians for you, and I promise that's the lot!

The fantastically-named Ludo Phillippaerts (his website is http://www.ludophilippaerts.be/) is Belgium's greatest-ever showjumper... fourth at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, part of the victorious Belgian Team in the 2001 Nation's Cup in Aachen, and the same year second in the European Championships in Arnhem. According to said website... "35 years on horse-back. Belgian's most successful jumping-rider ever. Still motivated. Becoming a legend in his own time"

Famous Wolloons - two more footballers... Jean-Marie Pfaff was one of the best goalkeepers in the world, and was between the posts for Belgian football's finest hour, having a brilliant tournament as they reached the 1986 World Cup Semi-Finals, losing 2-0 to eventual champions Argentina. Before the game, he famously declared that Diego Maradona was nothing special... and then looked on as the Argentinian scored two brilliant goals - the first a little flick with the outside of his left foot, and for the second he dribbled past four defenders and slotted the ball past Pfaff. These days, Jean-Marie is Belgium's equivalent of Ozzy Osbourne, starring with his family in a popular reality TV show called 'The Pfaffs'.

(Probably worth a quick mention for two other members of the 1986 World Cup side, midfielders Jan Ceulemans and Enzo Scifo, who would make most people's top three Belgian footballers of all time.)

Marc Wilmots is the most famous footballer in Belgium today - a classy and inventive midfielder/striker, he inspired the national side to outclass Brazil in the 2002 World Cup and provided grist to the mill of conspiracy theorists everywhere. He scored a perfectly good goal in the first half, which was disallowed for reasons that never became clear - Brazil went on to win 2-0, and it was argued that FIFA couldn't allow Brazil to lose, as their elimination in the Second Round would have left a World Cup devoid of the glamour teams. Wilmots had the good grace not to protest about the referee's decision, even though he had every justifiable reason to go bananas.

Superb entry! And very entertaining soup 'jokes' in the thread too. Just Zis Guy, you've been very patient and responsive to the comments made so far. Can you stretch to incorporating Number Six's above? Then we'll definitley curl it straight in to the top corner of Edited Guide.

Can't find anything very compact or anglophone on Brel, Solvay or Delvaux, but type their names into a search engine and you'll see what I mean - I would reckon people will still be appreciating their work long after Wilmots, the tennis players and Plastique Bertrand have bitten the celebrity dust...

Marc Wilmots is now in the process of doing a Seb Coe by the way. He's standing as a conservative candidate for the Belgian Senate.

Sprout

Much better and surely heading straight to be edited!

Thanks for putting the tennis players in, but one minor nitpick - I think I completely forget to mention this, but Sabine Appelmans and Dominique Van Roost are retired. Sorry! The others are famous though -in tennis circles, at least.

Dont know if this is any good: http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/alabaster/F37183?thread=109797 and there is an entry on Belgium as a whole which has some info on this: A297128

I note that Brel's Ne Me Quitte Pas was played at Nina Simone's funeral - respect!

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Woohoo! Great entry, Guy! Congratulations!