Just in case you are unexpectantly held up in a lift at the Stavanger Concert Hall with a bunch of people from the lovely country of Belgium, 4BR has an emergency list of conversation starters for you...

New found friends

The hours will just fly by as you will be able to regal your new found friends from the country that brought you the current European Brass Band Champions, with these useful facts...

The world’s greatest invention, Stella Artois, was first brewed in Belgium in 13664BR

1. The colours of the Belgian flag of black, yellow and red vertical strips represent the blood spilt by those who gave their lives in the war for independence (red), the riches of the country (yellow) and for mourning the dead of revolutionary battles (black).

2. Actress Audrey Hepburn, probably most famous for her role in the film ‘Breakfast at Tiffany's’, was actually born Edda van Heemstra Hepburn- Ruston in Brussels

3. The Belgian national delicacies are fries with mussels, rabbit with plums, eel in green sauce and meatballs with ‘rabbit sauce’ — also called ‘hunter sauce’.

4. Ypres is the site of the famous ‘Cat Festival’. This dates from the medieval ritual of throwing cats off the top of the local church belfry. Today's politically correct society dictates that stuffed toy cats be hurled instead.

5. Brussels sprouts have been grown in the Brussels area for over four hundred years.

6. The little blue cartoon creatures known as Smurfs are Belgian, created by the artist Peyo.

7. Belgium produces 172,000 tons of chocolate per year in over 2,130 chocolate shops. Belgian chocolate does not use vegetable shortening.

8. Belgium is the only country that has never imposed censorship for adult films.

9. There are more castles per square mile in Belgium than anywhere else in the world.

10. The world’s greatest invention, Stella Artois, was first brewed in Belgium in 1366, it’s later name dervied from the Latin for ‘Star’, and the surname of the master brewer Sebastian Artois in 1708. It was launched initially as a seasonal beer especially for the Christmas holiday market.