Things you may not know about Portugal

Today's Euro 2004 competition at work: Submit 5 things Portugal is famous for. After trawling the internet, here's what I found

1. In 1872, Portuguese man, Pere Fansata was the first man to walk unaided across the Bay of Biscay. His oversized inflatable shoes were made entirely of seal skin (due to its useful waterproof properties) and were sewn together by his wife, Marie. He was such a sight that to this day, local Biscay residents still use the phrase "walking like Pere" to refer to anybody walking in oversize footwear.

2. The boat based TV series, Triangle, was filmed entirely off the western coast of Portugal. This was for tax reasons - Portugal was the only (non-landlocked) country in Europe that did not levy a tax on offshore drama. In parts of Finland the tax was as high as 32% of gross dramatised profits. In later years, European leaders realised that the celluloid-shipping industry was being stifled, and the majority of the taxes were removed in 1993.

3. 13th century Portuguese Pope, Pope John XXI was so unhappy living in Vatican City that he temporarily moved the centre of the Catholic Church to Lisbon. Upon his death in 1272, it returned to Rome, but some remnants of his reign remain in Lisbon. There is in fact a whole (small) museum devoted to Lisbon's brief Church-leading industry, and artifacts there include Pope John's Papal Chair, woodcuts of the palace in which he lived (The Basilica de Lisbon) and several official Papal proclomations.

4. The sweets known in England as Jelly Babies were actually first made and popularised in Portugal. Confectioner Bert Basset holidayed there in 1894 and was so impressed with the sweets that he "borrowed" the idea and started producing his own in his Derbyshire factory, upon his return to England. They were an insant success, rapidly outselling all other Bassets sweets, even the Liqourice Allsorts for which he was most well known. The original Jelly Babies are still popular in Portugal where they are known as "Bebês da Geléia".

5. The wild horses that roam the plains of Southern Portugal were the inspiration behind The Osmonds' hit, "Crazy Horses". Whilst watching a film about Portugal in their US ranch, Donny exclaimed - "Cra-zee Horses" and the others, on the spur of the moment went "Whhhhaaaaahhhhh". A song was born, and the brothers never looked back.

I'm sure you'll agree that those are most interesting facts.