Actually they are Belgian

Did you know?  Belgians have made major contributions to science, literature, music, and even fast-food, but they don’t always get credit for it. Here are some of Belgium’s best—but sometimes misattributed—claims to fame:

• Chips  – They’re widely known as “French fries,” but chips are actually a Belgian creation. Start ordering “Belgian fries” at your favourite friterie, and maybe the name will catch up with reality.
• Big Bang Theory - Although the term was coined by English astronomer Fred Hoyle in 1950, the actual concept behind the theory was published in 1927 in the Belgian journal Annals of the Brussels Scientific Society. The concept was introduced by Catholic priest Monseigneur Georges Lemaître of Charleroi, Belgium.
• Spa - The widely-used term “spa” came from the town of Spa, Belgium, a city full of thermal baths. Today, “spa” has become synonymous with any kind of thermal treatment, but the Belgian Spa is the original.
• Inspector Maigret  – Some of the world’s most widely translated books detail the adventures of Inspector Maigret, a creation of Liege -born author Georges Simenon.
• “Pump up the jam, pump it up” - Don’t pretend you didn’t dance to this 1989 hit by Belgian band Technotronic.
• Jacques Brel – He may be “Alive and Well and Living in Paris,” but don’t let the name of the musical fool you. Jacques Brel is a Belgian national of Flemish origin.
• Roller skating – In 1760, John Joseph Merlin of Huy, Belgium, debuted the world’s first-ever pair of roller skates at a masquerade party in London.
• “Dominique, nique, nique...” - Remember this song by the singing nun Soeur Sourire? The lady behind the habit was Belgian Jeanne Deckers, and her album sold more than 1.5 million copies. It became a n°1 hit worldwide, and it even managed to briefly top The Beatles on the charts.
• Saxophone –Adolphe Sax, a Belgian from the town of Dinant, designed the saxophone.
• Belgian Herman van Rompuy dug his home country out of a political crisis in 2008 and was very quickly stolen by Europe to become the first long-term, fulltime President of the European Council.

Some of the 20th century’s most iconic performers weren’t Belgian but still have connections to the country.

• Johnny Hallyday: American? Belgian? French? Swiss? At the beginning of his career, in the 60s, Jean-Philippe Léo Smet (his real name) liked to let people think that he was of American origins, but he actually has stronger family connections to Belgium. Born to a French mother and a Belgian father, Johnny inherited the French nationality from his mother (he could have inherited his father’s nationality if his father hadn’t been married to another woman at the time). Then, in 2005, Johnny introduced a dossier to become Belgian, a move that was believed to be more based on the desire to flee the French tax authorities than any real affinity for his fatherland. When Belgium rejected Hallyday’s dossier, he sought refuge in Switzerland, much to the displeasure of French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
• Audrey Hepburn – Although she’s not actually Belgian, she was born on Belgian ground, in Ixelles in 1929. Unfortunately, she left the country shortly afterwards.