FACTBOX-Five things Belgium has given the world

BRUSSELS, Sept X (Reuters) - Belgium is most famous for giving the world praline chocolates, cartoon hero Tintin and trappist beer and is the headquarters of the European Union.

Here are some other contributions that Belgium has made to the world.

*The saxophone. Invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. A Belgian-born instrument maker.

*The Smurfs (Les Schtroumpfs). A cartoon about little blue men with white hats. Often wrongly described as Dutch or French. Brought to the world by cartoonist Peyo in the late 1950s. The characters replace various nouns and verbs with the word smurf.

*The Body Mass Index. Invented by mathematician Lambert Adolphe Quetelet and still used as a benchmark for obesity.

*A plethora of sports stars including tennis star Justine Henin, presently ranked world number one, and cyclist Eddy Merckx whose victories included five Tours de France and 4 world championships during his career which spanned the 1960s and 70s.

*Jazz musician Toots Thielemans. Born in Brussels in 1922 and still performing. Most famous for his harmonica playing and his whistling.