After all you need to know about the Belgians, Scots, Welsh, Swiss, Swedes and Dutch, now it is the turn of those pesky occasional invaders and winners of the European football championships — the Danes.

The Danes.

1. The Danish architect Jorn Utzon designed the iconic Sydney Opera House, although due to disputes over money and interior design he never visited it after it was finished.

2. Lego building bricks originally came from Denmark. It has been calculated that enough have been produced for every person on earth to have 56 of their own.

The Tivoli Gardens was the inspiration for Walt Disney and his ‘Disneyland’ Theme Parks in America – although his were done with considerably less taste…4BR

3. Famous Danes include storyteller Hans Christian Andersen, physicist, Niels Bohr, European Footballer of the Year Allan Simonsen (who went on to play for Charlton Athletic), adult actress Maria Dea, entertainer, Victor Borge and criminals the Blekinge Street Gang, who sent stolen money to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

4. Famous Danish exports include Danish Bacon, Carlsberg beer, Lurpak butter and the very desirable Bang & Olufsen entertainment and audio systems.

5. Royal Copenhagen porcelain and hand painted china has been produced since 1775 and is regarded as some of the finest of its type in the world ever since.

6. Floaty pens – pens with floating elements in their tops were invented by Peder Eskesen in 1951. They are not regarded as the finest of their type in the world though…

7. The world’s most famous pleasure garden is to be found in Copenhagen. The Tivoli Gardens was the inspiration for Walt Disney and his ‘Disneyland’ Theme Parks in America – although his were done with considerably less taste…

8. The Heavy Metal pop star Lars Ulrich of the group Metallica was born in Denmark. You may have not heard of him, but you will certainly have heard his music coming from the bedrooms of thousands of misunderstood hormonal teenage boys ever since.

9. Denmark was the first country to legalise same sex marriages and offer the same legal rights for gay couples.

10. The Danish Vikings once threatened to ransack Paris around a thousand years ago. The cowardly French Mayor paid them off with a cache of money called ‘Danegeld’. The word is now used to describe any coercive payment to unwanted guests.