An auspicious day

[Nick Armstrong]

But you've left out Patrick Sercu, and no mention of Tom Boonen, Philippe Gilbert, or Axel Merckx!

I was relying wholly on this website, which seemed from its title to meet the case admirably!

http://www.famousbelgians.net/

Not that I have heard of the four gentlemen you mention

[Nick Armstrong]

I like their Beer!!

Yes the founder of the Abbaye de Leffe has probably had as much influence on my life as any other Belgian!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leffe

[Mr Pee]

Yes the founder of the Abbaye de Leffe has probably had as much influence on my life as any other Belgian!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leffe

Me too!!

You might find this of interest, Cali:-

http://www.thebelgianbeercompany.com/index.aspx

[MrGongGong]

[verismissimo]

No Hercule Poirot, Cali?

[verismissimo]

And how about Cezar Franck?

[Flosshilde]

the Council House - which we must now call City Hall

Quite right too - there aren't any council houses since the Tories sold them off & New Labour finished the job by handing the rest over to housing associations.

[ARBurton]

The current top ten are:


1. Eddy Merckx

2. Adolphe Sax

3. Herge (George Remi)

4. Audrey Hepburn

5. Plastic Bertrand

6. Peter Paul Rubens

7. Rene Magritte

8. Georges Lemaitre

9. Albert Claude

10. Leo Baekeland


Yes, Audrey was a surprise to me too... but she was born Edda van Heemstra Hepburn-Ruston in Brussels.



I like Belgians.

Can we not substitute Jacques Brel for Plastic Bertrand...?

[Nick Armstrong]

Can we not substitute Jacques Brel for Plastic Bertrand...?

Volontiers!!!

[ARBurton]

Back to the topic - as R3 celebrate with Msinger overture, T+I Prelude & Liebestod, and DW Act 3, and Bayreuth with DW Act 1 T+I Liebestod, Msinger overture, I`m prompted to wonder what RW himself would have programmed by way of celebration of his own 200th.

[EdgeleyRob]

Famous Belgian.

[Bert Coules]

I`m prompted to wonder what RW himself would have programmed by way of celebration of his own 200th.

Surely something rather different from those offerings. Could Bayreuth really find no better way to mark old Wilhelm's 200th birthday than with the sort of concert performance of extracts that is the staple fare of virtually any provincial concert hall?

Maybe the composer would have taken the opportunity to give his loyal followers some rarities and esoterica: the Hochzeit fragments, some of his reworkings of other peoples' operatic arias, the Kinderkatechismus, a few of his non-Wesendonck songs, a march or two, a couple of piano pieces, the bit he cut from Lohengrin's act three narration...

[gradus]

Toots Thielemans - a great musician and still going strong at 91 but not, as far as I know, connected in any way to RW.

[BBMmk2]

My birthday is on the LSO's!!

[Serial_Apologist]

Quite right too - there aren't any council houses since the Tories sold them off & New Labour finished the job by handing the rest over to housing associations.

I thought it was known as the Count's Louse by Bristolians!