Les plus grands Belges (French for "The Greatest Belgians"), is a television show that aired in 2005 on the Belgian French-speaking public channel RTBF.[1][2] In the program the audience could vote for the greatest Belgian by using the website, sending an SMS or using the telephone. In total several hundred thousand votes were cast. Nominees needed to have lived between 50 BC and now, between the borders of present-day Belgium. This is because Belgium only gained its independence in 1830, while numerous historical individuals from, for example, the Spanish Netherlands, are considered to be "Belgians".
A separate vote "De Grootste Belg" by the Belgian Dutch-speaking public channel VRT was held around the same time, producing strikingly different results, such as both top-10s sharing only three personalities, namely Jan Van Bosch, Father Damien and Eddy Merckx.[3] To some this illustrates the low significance of any national cultural identity that remains shared among the two predominant language communities of the country.
Because Father Damien holds the highest average ranking of the three shared personalities (third on this list and first on the Flemish list) it has been argued that he is the only one to be entitled "Greatest Belgian", as voted by all Belgians.