Belgium For Beginners Trivia Quiz

Answer: you must fry them twice, first time they must be cooked but when you take them out they must still be pale-gold, then after cooling them you fry them again so they are brown and crispy

It's widely believed that the timing of the 'interrupted' frying is the most decisive factor. The Dutch restaurantkeepers living along the Belgian border, have understood this and occasionally advertise ' Vlaamse Friet' as a decisive argument to overcome Belgian shyness over 'foreign-made chips'.

Answer: Belgian endives

Hop shoots are as delicious as asparagus but much harder to find and very expensive. Chicory is what the British use as a term for Belgian endives. Brussels sprouts are completely unrelated, though also a delicacy when properly handled.

Answer: the singing of a patriotic song at the end of an opera-performance at the Mint Theatre in Brussels

The opera was ' La Muette de Portici' or the ' Mute Girl of Portici'. In this opera the revolutionary songs by Massaniello a Napolitan fisherman had that magic spark that starts off sudden enthusiasms.

Answer: Leopold I (1831-1865)

Leopold I arranged the marriage of his niece Queen Victoria of Britain to Prince Albert of Saxe Coburg Gotha, the husband whom Victoria mourned so deeply after his death that suddenly all over London there popped up 'Albert' toponyms such as Albert Bridge, Albert Embankment, Albert Hall, Albert Memorial, and of course the 'V and A Museum' .

Answer: Leopold II, the scourge of Congo

Leopold II had various 'large-scale' plans for the re-structuring of Brussels. He was the driving force behind the lay-out of the more impressive avenues of Brussels and also was behind the building of Poelaert's (pretentious ) 'Palais de Justice' that dominates the Brussels skyline. His critics called it the largest pile of stones in Europe. Baudouin was born in 1930 and died in 1993.

Answer: Raymond Ceulemans

Ceulemans (born July 12, 1937) scored an average of 1,678 points per inning in the 1978 World Tournament in Las Vegas, Nevada. He won 17 world-titles (first time in 1962). At the age of 63 he still became champion of Belgium, beating the 1999 worldchampion in the process! Georges Lemaitre was an astronomer who influenced Einstein and can be considered as the 'inventor' of the Big Bang Theory. Robert Campin, also known as the Master of Flemalle, born at Tournai, had Rogier Vanderweyden as his disciple, and is considered as one of the more important 'Flemish' Primitives. Flemish is a misnomer in this case as the School of the 'Flemish Primitives' was a rather cosmopolitan mix of painters working for Flemish patrons. Ilya Prygogine won Nobelprize for chemistry in 1977.

He discovered that, contrary to the Second Law of Thermodynamics there are reactions in biochemistry that increase in complexity rather than decrease.

Answer: Toots Thielemans

Toots Thielemans is the author of 'Bluesette' and a virtuoso of the mouth-organ. Ronnie Scott ran a famous jazz place in Soho, London but is not a Belgian at all. Louis Hennepin was a 'Belgian' but probably never heard any jazzmusic in his life. He was born at Ath on 12 May 1626. Travelled to Quebec in 1675.

In 1678 he accompanied de la Salle in an expedition through the Great Lakes to the Illinois River. He explored the Falls of St. Anthony , present-day Minneapolis. At a given moment he overreached himself in his claim for fame when suggesting he had 'discovered' Louisiana. Django Reinhardt grew up among a gypsy family. An accident obliged him to develop a special skill : the two-finger playing-technique of the guitar.

Answer: music

Des Pres was born in Hainaut. Probably around 1450. He became a singer at the Cathedral of Milan. Worked for the Dukes of Milan, a Cardinal of the same Sforza family, the Pope, the Duke of Ferrara. He returned to Hainaut in May 1504, and spent the rest of his life as Provost of the Church of Conde sur Escaut.

He died in 1521. He has been considered to be one of the giants in the development of Western (polyphonic) music. Johannes Ockeghem (1420-1496) served as composer and choirmaster to three successive French Kings. Orlando di Lasso (1532-1594) was probably the most important composer of the sixteenth century.

Born at Mons, his career was mainly Italian: Milan , Naples, Rome. Returned to the Low Countries by the Sea in 1554 and worked for some time in Antwerp. Later he traveleld again and was employed by the Duke of Bavaria. Cesar Franch is a much more recent Belgian composer.

He was born at Liege in 1822. He was a teacher at the Parisian conservatory, a great organist and a composer of religious music.

He died in 1890.

Answer: Audrey Hepburn

Edda van Heemstra Hepburn - Ruston was born in Brussels where her father was a banker. Among her most successful films must be counted : Roman Holiday {1953;} War and Peace {1956;} The Nun's Story {1959;} Breakfast at Tiffany's {1961;} My Fair Lady 1964. Dirk Bogarde was related to the Vandenbogaerde family in Flanders, but was born in England (1921). Died in 1999. Margot Fonteyn the ballet dancer was neither Flemish nor Dutch, but English.

Born in 1919 at Reigate, Surrey as Margaret Hookham.Fonteyn was her husband's name. Willem de Kooning as his Dutch name suggests was born in the Netherlands. Rotterdam 1904.

He arrived in New York in 1926. Died in 1997.

Answer: Binche ( Carnival on Shrove Tuesday)

At the Cat Festival cats made of cloth are hurled from the tower of the Town Hall . Up to 1817 they were real ones! The Foire du Midi is a matter of shooting-galleries, dodgems, helter skelters..and also moules frites, Bratwurst, waffles, etc. The 'Boetprocessie' at Veurne ( Furnes) shows Spanish influences in its procession of penitents in spooky, hooded monks' outfits. Most of them carry heavy wooden crosses and hide their faces behind masks.