Les plus grands Belges
Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Les plus grands Belges (French for The Greatest Belgians), was a television show that aired in 2005 on the Belgian French-speaking public channel RTBF. In the program the audience could vote for the greatest Belgian by using the website, sending an SMS or using the telephone. In total several hundred thousand votes were cast.
A separate vote "De Grootste Belg" by the Belgian Dutch-speaking public channel VRT was held around the same time, producing strikingly different results, such as both top-10s sharing only three personalities. To some this illustrates the low significance of any national cultural identity that remains shared among the two predominant language communities of the country.
Because Father Damien holds the highest average ranking of the three shared personalities (third on this list and first on the Flemish list) it has been argued that he is the only one to be entitled "Greatest Belgian", as voted by all Belgians.
Top 10
- Jacques Brel, singer
- King Baudouin,
- Father Damien, priest and humanitarian
- Eddy Merckx, cyclist
- Sœur Emmanuelle, nun and humanitarian
- José van Dam, opera singer
- Benoît Poelvoorde, comedian, actor and film director (Man Bites Dog)
- Hergé, cartoonist (The Adventures of Tintin)
- René Magritte, painter
- Georges Simenon, author (Inspector Maigret)
11 to 100
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- Paul-Henri Spaak Prime Minister
- King Albert I
- King Leopold II
- Justine Henin tennis player
- Ernest Solvay chemist, industrialist and philanthropist
- Victor Horta architect and designer
- Godfrey, Lord of Bouillon, a leader of the First Crusade and first ruler of the Kingdom of Jerusalem
- André Franquin comic artist (Gaston Lagaffe)
- Andreas Vesalius anatomist, physician, and author of one of the most influential books on human anatomy, On the Structure of the Human Body
- Adolphe Sax musical instrument designer and musician, best known for inventing the saxophone
- Peter Paul Rubens painter
- Philippe Geluck, cartoonist (Le Chat)
- Zénobe Gramme, inventor of the dynamo
- Raymond Goethals, soccer player and coach
- Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne, film directors
- Annie Cordy, singer and comedian
- Marguerite Yourcenar author
- Amélie Nothomb, author
- Dirk Frimout, astronaut and first Belgian in space
- André Ernest Modeste Grétry, composer
- Jacky Ickx, racing car driver
- Luc Varenne, sports journalist
- Peyo, comic artist (The Smurfs)
- Salvatore Adamo, singer
- Maurice Grevisse, grammarian
- King Albert II
- Jules Bordet, microbiologist
- King Leopold I
- Stéphane Steeman, comedian
- Eugène Ysaÿe, violinist
- John Cockerill, industrialist
- Maurane, singer
- Émilie Dequenne, actress
- Toots Thielemans, jazz musician
- Maurice Carême, author and poet
- Haroun Tazieff, geologist
- Gerard Mercator, cartographer
- Edith Cavell, nurse
- Queen Fabiola
- Ambiorix, tribal chieftain
- Pierre Rapsat, singer
- Albert Frère, industrialist
- Christine Ockrent, journalist
- Gerard Mortier, opera director
- Paul Delvaux, painter
- Olivier Strelli, fashion designer
- Jules Delhaize, industrialist
- Pieter Brueghel The Elder, painter
- César Franck, composer
- Franco Dragone, theatre director
- Jaco Van Dormael, film director
- André Delvaux, film director
- Jules Destrée, politician
- Queen Elisabeth
- Christiane Lenain, comedian
- Kim Clijsters, tennis player
- Emile Verhaeren, author
- Princess Astrid
- Gerard Corbiau, film director
- Father Pire, priest and humanitarian
- Jean-Michel Folon, artist
- Ilya Prigogine, scientist
- Pierre Bartholomee, composer
- Lise Thiry, politician and scientist
- Jules Bastin, singer
- Django Reinhardt musician
- Henri Vernes, author
- Georges Lemaître, astronomer, creator of the Big Bang Theory
- Morris, comic artist (Lucky Luke)
- Maurice Maeterlinck, author
- Prince Philippe, Duke of Brabant, duke
- Paul Vanden Boeynants, Prime Minister
- Arno Hintjens, singer
- Elvis Pompilio, fashion designer
- Gabrielle Petit, spy
- Jean-Joseph Charlier
- Emile Vandervelde, socialist politician
- Isabelle Gatti de Gamond, feminist
- Gaston Eyskens, Prime Minister
- Godfried Danneels, cardinal
- James Ensor, painter
- André Renard, politician
- François Bovesse, politician
- Pierre Kroll, cartoonist
- Arlette Vincent, TV presenter
- Gustave Boël, industrialist
- Paule Herreman, TV presenter and comedian
- Edgar P. Jacobs, comic artist (Blake and Mortimer)
- Jean Neuhaus, chocolate designer
- Jean Roba, comic artist (Boule et Bill)
