Stories: Belgium

Stories connected to Belgium.

• A little luck, baked into a waffle.Lukken are thin waffles from West Flanders. Their name comes from the Dutch word for luck. Children tradition…
• He qualified for the Olympics. Then chose a law exam.Belgian athlete Philippe Housiaux competed in sprinting and long jump at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. He qu…
• They made intricate lace. Some of their songs were gruesome.Lacemakers' short chants, known as lace tells, accompanied work in parts of Europe. Some English examples wer…
• Olympic gold in boxing. Twelve years later, gold on ice.American Eddie Eagan won light-heavyweight boxing gold at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp. At the 1932 Wi…
• A big board game became a game for two. The spinoff sold twice as fast.Released in 2015, 7 Wonders Duel reworked 7 Wonders for two players. It sold one million copies in five years…
• His bat-like flying machine worked once. Ten days later, it crashed.On 29 June 1874, Vincent de Groof descended from a balloon in his winged apparatus and landed safely near Lon…
• A phenakistoscope is viewed through its discA typical phenakistoscope places sequential images and slots around a cardboard disc. The viewer spins it bef…
• An iron plate could pass heat through the wallIn parts of southern Belgium and adjacent France and Luxembourg, iron plates behind kitchen fireplaces radiat…
• Dutrieu’s bicycle acts already left the groundBelgian cyclist Hélène Dutrieu moved from racing to stunt performance. In 1903 she rode a vertical loop and d…
• A jacquemart makes the clock’s action visibleA jacquemart is a mechanised wooden or metal figure that strikes a bell with a hammer. Often positioned on a…
• Long, skinless and deep-friedFrikandel is a long meat snack popular in the Netherlands and Belgium. It resembles a sausage but has no casi…
• One doorway has an address in each countryBaarle’s Belgian and Dutch territories interlock, and some borders cross buildings. A border-straddling doorw…