Blistering barnacles! You arrive at Stockel metro station to see Captain Haddock peering at you through the carriage window. How Belgian, you might think.
Hergé made the sketches for Stockel station just before his death in 1983. The murals incorporate 140 different characters taken from 22 Tintin albums.
The first Tintin cartoon was published on 10 January 1929 in the weekly magazine Le Petite Vingtième. This gave Belgians the hero they needed at a time of economic chaos. A smart little kid who takes on the world’s villains.
He’s possibly the most famous Belgian. Everyone knows Tintin. Even if you have never read a comic book in your life, you know about the smart Belgian boy with the funny hair and the white dog.
Derek Blyth’s hidden secret of the day: Derek Blyth is the author of the bestselling “The 500 Hidden Secrets of Belgium”. He picks out one of his favourite hidden secrets for The Brussels Times every day.
