But sometimes near-death crashes elicit laughter. A recent report showed a half-page photo of the crash scene with the headline Nero aan de dood ontsnapt - Nero escapes death. A car lies on its roof just a few centimetres from the Nerocafé in Hoeilaart, having just missed hitting the three-metre tall statue of the man himself, Nero. The occupants of the car we can forget (that's a very frontal, almost Dutch-looking sentence): they were fit enough to take to their heels.

Everyone in Flanders knows who Nero is. No, it's not the emperor. Nero is one of the creations of Marc Sleen, who lives in Hoeilaart. Nero features in the more than 200 stripverhalen - comic strips, which Sleen drew and wrote (every word) himself for daily publication in De Standaard newspaper. Sleen is now in his 80s and has put down his pen, but Nero and the other characters live on.

Nero is recognisable by his large nose, two strands of hair and red bow-tie. Sleen is a typical Belgian author; his characters are far from the extraordinary heroes of Marvel Comics. Madame Pijp (she smokes), for example, could not be further from Wonder Woman. Nero's not the brightest of characters himself, but his motto is well worth employing: Lach voor je blij bent - Laugh before you are happy - want anders zou je wel eens kunnen sterven zonder te lachen - because otherwise you could well die without having laughed.

Sleen started as a political cartoonist and retained his sharp view on topical events in his Nero stories. Some years ago, the Belgian king featured in Nero's last story, Zilveren Tranen - Silver Tears. He had heard that Nero is soon to stop: "Ga je ermee stoppen? - Are you going to stop? Moedig! - Brave!"

These words can be interpreted as a reference to the king's own role, which was then being questioned. More recently, when it seemed impossible for a national government to be formed, Sleen came out of retirement to draw a full page for De Standaard in which he had Nero giving Albert II advice on how to get out of the impasse.

A Nero museum has just opened opposite the Comic Strip Museum in Zandstraat in the centre of Brussels in the same building where Sleen drew his first Nero stripverhalen.

If you're learning Dutch, why not let Nero and his son Adhemar help you?

www.marc-sleen.be