Mixed Belgium Trivia

1. Animals. What kind of animal is Hao Hao, the mammal who gave birth to a cub in 2016 in the Pairi Daiza Zoo?

From Quiz Belgium in Twenty Categories

Answer: Giant panda

Pairi Daiza is a zoo in Brugelette (province of Hainaut, in the southwest of Belgium) that opened in 1993 - then under the name Parc Paradisio. The name was altered to Pairi Daiza in 2009. In 2014 Pairi Daiza obtained two giant pandas: the male Xing Hui and the female Hao Hao. June 2, 2016, the couple had a cub, named Tian Bao. Giant pandas are listed as "vulnerable" on the International Union for Conservation of Nature list, and the survival of the species can only be guaranteed by special management measures. Reproduction of giant pandas in captivity is rather rare. So the news that a giant panda cub had been born in a Belgian zoo made international headlines, and Pairi Daiza attracted many more visitors than before. The official website of the Pairi Daiza Zoo contains a diary of Tian Bao, and several of his activities are posted on YouTube. You can for instance watch Tian Bao "helping" to mop the floor.

From Quiz If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium

Answer: Jean-Claude Van Damme

Jean-Claude Van Damme was born with the surname Van Varenberg in a Brussels suburb in 1960. He started martial arts at the age of ten, and competed in various karate and kickboxing competitions until 1982. In that year, he decided to move to the USA and start an acting career. As his birth name is not quite evident for American usage, he adopted the alias "Jean-Claude Van Damme" - a typical Belgian name, quite easy to pronounce in English. Van Damme's movie career includes several action titles in which he can demonstrate his martial arts. Let's name only a few of his movies: "Bloodsport", "Cyborg", "Kickboxer", "Double Impact", "Hard Target". For the red herrings to this question, I've chosen three other actors from "The Expendables 2" who have been born in Europe. Schwarzenegger was born in Austria, Willis was born in Germany and Statham was born in England.

From Quiz Sightseeing in Belgium

Answer: Oostende

In Oostende there is always something to do. It was the first city in Belgium where Halloween was celebrated and in April 2001 there is the Kama Sutra Week.

From Quiz Belgium in Twenty Categories

Answer: Ypres

In Belgium many cities carry a dual name: one in Dutch and one in French. This specific city is known as Ieper in Dutch and Ypres (pronounced Ippre) in French. But when the British Expeditionary Force came to Belgium at the start of the first World War, they did not get used to the French pronunciation. So they made their own pronunciation, somewhat like "wipers". Ypres was the last major Belgian city held by the Belgian army and the British and French allies against the German forces in August 1914. It stayed in Belgian hands up 'til the end of the war, but each and every building was destroyed by the heavy guns. After the war, the city was rapidly rebuilt. The Lakenhalle (Cloth Hall) and the Saint Martin's Cathedral were rebuilt in the original style, while the rest of the city was reconstructed in a modern architecture. The Menin Gate is an impressive memorial to all the Commonwealth soldiers who died in and around Ypres and have no identified grave. Every evening at 8 o'clock there is the Last Post ceremony to remember those who died. If you want to have a good outlook at the ceremony, be certain to take up your place at 7 o'clock - before the masses arrive. Ypres is also the place of a traditional Cat's Parade once every three years. This was a remark my cat insisted to add - she'll always try to catch my attention. Luckily she didn't insist on writing questions herself, I'm afraid none of you would decipher it.

From Quiz If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium

Answer: Antwerp

Antwerp has one of the largest ports in Europe, surpassed only by the Dutch port of Rotterdam. Worldwide the busiest ports are found in Asia, while both Rotterdam and Antwerp surpass any American ports in the category of container transport. Ostend lies on the North Sea shore, while Bruges and Ypres are situated within 20 miles of the coast.

From Quiz Belgium in Twenty Categories

Answer: Jean-Claude Van Damme

Jean-Claude Van Vaerenberg was born in 1960. Between 1976 and 1982, he had a career in karate (semi-contact and full contact) and kickboxing. In 1982 he moved to the USA to start a movie career, and adopted his alias Jean-Claude Van Damme. His breakthrough was the movie "Bloodsport" (1988). Other important movies were "Kickboxer" (1989), "Double Impact" (1991), "Universal Soldier" (1992), "Hard Target" (1993), and "Sudden Death" (1995). All four of the actors I've mentioned here played in the movie "The Expendables 2" (2012). Statham (born 1967) is a Brit, Stallone (born 1946) is an American, and Schwarzenegger was born in Austria in 1947.

From Quiz Sightseeing in Belgium

Answer: Mechelen

From Quiz If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium

Answer: Beer

Jupiler is a lager distributed by the world's largest brewery concern, AB Inbev. Duvel is a blonde strong ale produced by Moortgat Breweries. Palm is an amber ale produced and distributed by the eponymous brewery. If you're a bit adventurous, you might try and find some local special beers in Belgium. Some of my favourites include Orval (a bitter, dark Trappist ale), Boon Ancient Geuze (a tart, opaque lambic ale) and Rodenbach Grand Cru (a red Flemish ale, with tart and sweet flavours). True adventurers might even try out some very original Belgian beers such as Oesterstout, Pannepot Riserva, Newton or Florisgaarden Chocolate.

From Quiz Sightseeing in Belgium

Answer: Rubens

From Quiz Belgium in Twenty Categories

Answer: The Fearless Triplets

"The Fearless Triplets" (2004) tells the story of triplet sisters Lien, Sien and Fien, born into a dysfunctional family and behaving rather impishly. When they accidentally burn down their school, they are banned to a private reformatory. Much to their surprise, they are pampered by the staff. Surely the staff wants to get something from them. And why have many of the other children all these scars on their backs? "The Fearless Triplets" is based upon the books of the Belgian author of kid literature Marc de Bel (born 1954). The red herrings are three movies based upon the works of the British author of kid literature Roald Dahl (1916-1990).

From Quiz Sightseeing in Belgium

Answer: Euro Space Center

From Quiz Belgium in Twenty Categories

Answer: According to superstition, whoever touches the arm will have a year full of love

Everard 't Serclaes (1320-1388) was a Brussels citizen who drove the enemy out of town in 1356. In a later conflict he died at the hands of the lord of Gaasbeek. In 1898, the Brussels city council ordered Julien Dillens to make a statue of 't Serclaes, to be put up next to the Grand Place. Soon after the inauguration of the statue, some market vendor spread the story that whoever strokes 't Serclaes' arm, will have a year full of love and happiness. Other variations are that a tourist stroking 't Serclaes, would make sure he would once return to Brussels. Whatever the superstition, people started to reach out and touch the statue - or even the wall, when the statue was just removed for restoration in 2011. In 2013 a replica was put in place, and the original statue was stored indoors in a museum. The red herrings are all figments of my imagination - one even more fantastic than the other. The acid rain story may be a bit believable, and I could understand some sculptor trying to emulate Dali's extremely thin elephant paws. But the inferior material is of course pure poppycock.

From Quiz If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium

Answer: Pallieter

Timmermans (1886-1947) was a prolific author. He used to write in the local dialect. "Pallieter", published in 1916, tells us about an adolescent youth who doesn't quite fancy the strict rules on school. At the fair he falls in love with Marieken, whom he marries. A few years later, when Pallieter and Marieken have three young kids, Pallieter decides to leave home and travels through Flanders. "Tijl Uilenspiegel" is the short title of a book by Charles De Coster (1827-1879), based on medieval folklore involving a young rogue. "De Witte" was authored by Ernest Claes (1885-1968). Once again, the title character is a little rascal. "Malpertuis" finally is a book by Jean Ray. It is named after a mansion, where allegedly the Gods from the Olympus would live.

From Quiz Sightseeing in Belgium

Answer: Boudewijnpark

From Quiz If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium

Answer: La petite bande

Sigiswald Kuijken (born 1944) is a violinist and violist. He and his brothers Barthold (playing the flute and the recorder) and Wieland (playing gamba and cello) attempt to bring baroque music on authentic instruments. In 1992, Sigiswald founded La petite bande, with his two brothers and Gustav Leonhardt. The name for this ensemble was chosen as a tribute to the group of 21 string players performing Rameau's operas during the 17th Century. The repertoire brought by La petite bande is quite impressive: French opera (Lully, Rameau, Campra), Italian string concerti (Corelli, Vivaldi), German cantatas (Bach, Buxtehude), Austrian music (Mozart, Haydn)... During their first forty years, La petite bande has published on average about two full CDs a year. The Huelgas ensemble was founded by Paul Van Nevel in 1971. It concentrates on polyphonic and renaissance music. Collegium Vocale is a choir founded by Philippe Herreweghe in 1970. It interprets polyphonic music, Bach cantatas, romantic music and even classical music form the twentieth century. Contrary to the other groups mentioned in this question, the English concert is not a Belgian music ensemble. It is a British Baroque orchestra founded in 1972 by harpsichordist Trevor Pynnock.

From Quiz Sightseeing in Belgium

Answer: In Flanders Fields

From Quiz Belgium in Twenty Categories

Answer: Neutral Moresnet

The history of Neutral Moresnet is quite astounding. After Napoleon's defeat, the victorious countries (Austria, Prussia, Russia and England) redesigned the map of Europe with vague hopes of eliminating future conflicts. To deny France the harbour of Antwerp, they decided to create an independent nation (the Netherlands) which took up roughly what nowadays is the Benelux region. But there was a zinc spar mine in the region, and as there were only a few mines of that type, it had a tremendous strategic impact. So both the Netherlands and Prussia were eager to lay hands on this mine. As a compromise, the area of the mine and the housing of its employees (an area of roughly 3.5 square kilometres, and a population of 3,000) was declared a neutral and independent state. Neither Belgian independence from the Netherlands (1830) nor the independence of Luxembourg (1839) had any impact on the status of Neutral Moresnet. When the mine became exhausted, the inhabitants of Neutral Moresnet sought means to keep their independence. There was a call to make Neutral Moresnet the first nation with Esperanto as national language, and a national anthem in Esperanto was prepared. Many inhabitants took courses in Esperanto, and the new name proposed for the country was Amikejo (translated: Friendship). Canton Island is an island in the Pacific Ocean, attributed to the Republic of Kiribati in 1979. Sikkim was a small monarchy in the Himalayas, integrated into India in 1975. Saarland was briefly a protectorate of France, but joined (West-) Germany in 1955.

From Quiz Sightseeing in Belgium

Answer: Albert I

From Quiz Sightseeing in Belgium

Answer: Manneken Pis

From Quiz Belgium in Twenty Categories

Answer: Paul Delvaux

Paul Delvaux was born in 1897 in the province of Liège (Wallonie). He studied architecture in Brussels and worked for the last years of his life in Veurne (Flanders), where he died in 1994. His surrealist paintings frequently portray nude women in decors consisting either of classical Greco-Roman architecture, or of train stations as they were constructed around 1900. Another frequent theme is a departing train in the moonlight. A typical painting is "Street of the Trams": on the left foreground, we look into a mansion with two nude women, while across the street a woman in a red shirt (bare-legged up to the navel) is sitting on a balcony. In the background a tram is leaving. Memling (1430-1494) and Rubens (1577-1640) lived long before the train was invented. Khnopff (1858-1921) created impressionist and surrealist paintings with female nude, but as far as I've found he was not fascinated by trains or trams, as Delvaux was.

From Quiz Sightseeing in Belgium

Answer: Brussels & Brussel & Bruxelles

From Quiz Belgium in Twenty Categories

Answer: Hugo Claus

Claus (1929-2008) was a versatile author. He wrote novels, theatre plays and poetry, most of which has not been translated into English. "The Sorrow of Belgium" is a novel about a young boy (Louis Seynaeve, born 1928) growing up in the 1930s in a family that sympathized with the Nazi party in Germany. The first half of the book ("The Sorrow") is written as Louis Seynaeve's autobiography up to 1940, while the second half ("Of Belgium") is a third-person overview of what happened in the period 1940-1949. In a certain way, Louis Seynaeve is the alter ego of Hugo Claus: most details from "The Sorrow" also apply to the real life of Hugo Claus. Mulisch (1927-2010), Reve (1923-2006) and Hermans (1921-1995) were famous Dutch authors.

From Quiz Belgium in Twenty Categories

Answer: Rosetta

Luc (born 1954) and Jean-Pierre Dardenne (born 1951) started in 1987 with writing and directing their movies together. In 1992 they started producing their movies together, too. The movies they wrote, directed and produced were very successful in the movie festival in Cannes. "Rosetta" (1999) and "Le fils" ("The Son", 2002) won the Golden Palm, while subsequent movies were nominated for the Golden Palm: "L'Enfant" (2005); "La silence de Lorna" ("Lorna's Silence", 2008); "Le gamin au vélo" ("The Kid with a Bike", 2011); "Deux jours, une nuit" ("Two Days, One Night", 2014); "La fille inconnue" ("The Unknown Girl", 2016). "Rosetta" is a typical Dardenne movie: it tells the story of a young unemployed girl in a dysfunctional family.

From Quiz Belgium in Twenty Categories

Answer: Eugène Ysaye

Ysaye (1858-1931) started playing the violin at age five. He went on grand concert tours (from the USA over Europe to Russia). In 1886 he became a teacher in the Brussels Conservatory. One of Ysaye's pupils was Elisabeth of Bavaria, the Belgian queen from 1909 onwards. She started the Queen Elisabeth Contest in 1937, named in the first two editions (1937 and 1938) after Eugène Ysaye. Ysaye left various compositions, among others the "Six Sonatas for Solo Violin" - each one dedicated to and written in the style of one of his contemporary colleagues. In 1931 Ysaye completed the opera "Pierre il houyeu" ("Peter the Miner"), the only opera with a libretto in the Walloon dialect of French. Paganini (1782-1840) and Corelli (1653-1713) were famous Italian violinists. Menuhin (1916-1999) was a great violinist born in the USA.

From Quiz Belgium in Twenty Categories

Answer: Leopold II

Leopold II was born in 1835 and succeeded his father as King of the Belgians in 1865. He believed firmly that a nation could only thrive if it had one or more colonies. In 1885 he finally managed to obtain on an international conference the rights to Congo Free State, the territory which nowadays corresponds with the Democratic Republic of Congo (with capital Kinshasa). But instead of making Congo Free State a full Belgian colony, Leopold bought the territory himself (with a loan from the Belgian government). The profits of this vast territory contributed to making Leopold a very rich man, and he funded many (Belgian) buildings with these profits. According to Leopold's last will and testament, Congo finally became a colony of Belgium. Leopold died in 1909. In 1960 independence was proclaimed in Congo, and the new independent nation chose Leopoldville (renamed Kinshasa) as its capital city. Albert I (1875-1934), the nephew of Leopold II, succeeded him as king of Belgium in 1909. He was succeeded by Leopold III. Baudouin (1930-1993) was the fifth King of the Belgians, from 1951 until his death. He was succeeded by his brother Albert II. Philippe (born 1960) succeeded his father Albert II in 2013.

From Quiz Belgium in Twenty Categories

Answer: Saint Dymphna

Dymphna was born in Ireland at some time in the Seventh Century - exact dates cannot be ascertained. When she was 14, she took the vow of chastity and prepared to enter a convent. At that moment, her mother died and her father, grief-stricken, began to show symptoms of mental illness. Most notably, her father became obsessed with marrying another noblewoman resembling his late wife. Alas, the only woman bearing enough resemblance to the late Dymphna's mother, was Dymphna herself... Dymphna fled from her enraged father to Belgium, where he found her in the vicinity of the town of Geel (nowadays province of Antwerp, in the northern part of Belgium). Reconciliation failed and her father beheaded Saint Dymphna in a fit of madness. The city of Geel has ever since had the tradition of volunteers (not necessarily trained in the trade) taking care of people with mental deficiencies. Because of the emphasis on professional nursing, this tradition is slowly becoming obsolete. Saint Barbara, the patron saint of dangerous professions, was also beheaded by her own father. Saint Lucia was perhaps another martyr, but sources are deemed untrustworthy. Contradicting sources state that either she blinded herself to avoid marriage to a pagan, or that she was blinded as one of the tortures she was submitted to. Saint Agatha was another martyr. One of the tortures she would have endured was the removal of her breasts (without anaesthetics, of course).

From Quiz Belgium in Twenty Categories

Answer: Ilya Prigogine

Ilya Romanovich Prigogine was born in Russia in 1917. His family moved to Germany in 1921 and to Belgium in 1929. In 1949 Prigogine obtained Belgian nationality. Pirgogine studied chemistry in Brussels, and became a professor of the Université Libre de Bruxelles in 1950. His best known research was the behaviour of dissipative structures in thermodynamic systems far from equilibrium. Some examples of these structures are cyclones and living cells. In 1977, Prigogine received the Nobel Prize for Chemistry thanks to this specific research. It was the tenth Nobel Prize awarded to one or more Belgians, and the first Nobel Prize in Chemistry for Belgium. Bordet (1870-1961) won the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1919. Heymans (1892-1968) did the same in 1938. Christian de Duve (1917-2013) and Albert Claude (1899-1983) shared the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1974.

From Quiz Belgium in Twenty Categories

Answer: Ingrid Berghmans

Belgian sports journalists vote for the sports woman of the year since 1975 (as a spin-off of the title sports man of the year installed in 1967). Ingrid Berghmans was born in 1961. She practiced judo and won six world championships (twice in her weight class, and four times in the open class). Moreover she won seven European championships, and in 1988 she topped her career with Olympic gold. Berghmans was the first to win the title of Sports Woman of the Year eight times: 1980, 1982-1986 (five times in a row), and 1988-1989. Kim Clijsters, the tennis player born 1983, won the title Sports Woman of the Year also eight times (between 1999 and 2011). Justine Henin (born 1982, tennis) won four times (between 2003 and 2007). Carine Verbauwen (born 1961, swimming) was the first Sports Woman of the Year in 1975 and also won in 1978 and 1979.

From Quiz Belgium in Twenty Categories

Answer: Tik Tak

"Tik Tak" is the only Belgian show mentioned in the options. Some of the items were a little shepherd's house where a number of sheep went out and back in (sometimes followed by a shepherd dog or by a cat), a nine-piece puzzle revealing a well-known animal (for instance a duck or a parrot) and the silhouette of a young girl rearranging a number of random shapes into something familiar (for instance a pile of shapes that together make an ice cream cup, when everything is placed exactly where it belongs). "Teletubbies" was a British show running from 1997 until 2001. This was another show for pre-school kids. "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" was an American show. It ran from 1968 until 2001. "Sesame Street" was an American show which debuted in 1969. "Sesame Street" and "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" were made for Kindergarten school kids.

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