© 2007-09 Chris Farnham

Adolphe Sax was born in 1814 the son of a Belgian instrument maker. After an apprenticeship making clarinets Adolphe moved to Paris where, through the early 1840’s, he developed his wonderful instrument (patented 1845). However Adolphe Sax is more famous for being the world’s most famous Belgian.

There is a game where competitors have to name five famous Belgians in a prescribed time. The premise behind the game is obviously that Belgium is such a dull place it has failed to produce its fair share of the eminent. Is this true? Have the other smaller European countries, the ones with populations no greater than England’s West Midlands, failed to produce a Famous Five?

There is a web site, www.famousbelgians.net that claims to dispel the myth that there are no famous Belgians. The site contains a long list of over 250 worthy scientists, writers, and sportsmen etc. Paradoxically the list proves exactly what it sets out to disprove. I have never heard of any of them.

Let me interrupt myself now, because I know what you are thinking - Hercule Poirot is a fictional character and therefore doesn’t count.

There are in fact eight famous Belgians - here they are;

Herge; the bloke that wrote Tintin.

Plastic Bertrand; One hit wonder punk singer Roger Jouret.

Eddy Merckx; Champion cyclist - probably the world’s greatest.

Jean-Claude Van Damme; “The Muscles from Brussels” Hollywood star.

Django Reinhardt; Digitally challenged jazz guitarist.

Eddy Wally; Self proclaimed Voice of Europe.

Jan Van Eyck; Antwerpian painter.

and Adolphe Sax; see above.

“Hey,” you are saying, “what about so-and-so?” Well yes you may be able to name a racing driver or two, or an obscure sportsman, but ask yourself “Has he won a world championship?”. “Are the leading players of badminton household names?” No, let’s face it they are all D listers. The eight people above are the only famous Belgians.

Let’s go through the list. Jan Van Eyck is the least famous of the great masters; Eddy Wally is only famous because he’s crap; Django Reinhardt was a great artist but not known widely outside of jazz; Jean-Claude Van Damme makes the kind of films no one remembers after five years; Eddy Merckx will in time be surpassed by another athlete; Plastic Bertrand is vanishing into obscurity as we speak; and Herge will only be remembered fondly for a generation or so.

Ladies and Gentlemen - I give you Adolphe Sax (1814-1894) the most famous Belgian in the world!

– Oh yeah, and he invented the saxophone.

Grahame Poole 2007