Kooky bloke writing a song in his bedsit, Bye Adam will be attempting to be too cool for ESC with "Kedvesem" in 2013. It's not offensive, and it's here
Compact Disco wil attempt to re-ignite the Magyar passion for the event following the damp squib of a performance in 2011. With mild splashes of Sneaker Pimps - 6 Underground, "the Sound of our Hearts" is probably the best straight pop efforts this year.lt's here
The year off seems to have worked. 2011 sees Kati Wolf attempting to shake off recent weak results, and it's a shining light in a dark dark year. She will be belting out "What About my Dreams", and let me tell you, it's got a chance. Read about it here
I'm guessing Zoltan Adok is gay. He's asking us to "Dance with me" in 2009. I won't take him up on his kind offer, but you can learn about his likes and dislikes here
If it ain't broke...Can Hungary follow up their classy ballard of 2007 with another solid vocal in semi 2 from Csezy, a female. Read all about her here

The Tourist Guide says

"Yellow trams rattling down grand boulevards, faded neo-Baroque interiors, facades marked with signs of revolution, streets of cobblestone, grand turn of the century apartment blocks. Like the bathers lingering in the steam of Budapest's famous baths, this is a country infused with memories and history.
Hungary celebrated the 1000th anniversary of the Hungarian State at the end of the last century. During the tumultuous thousand year history of Hungary and the Central European Region, rulers came and went and empires rose and fell, but Hungary's distinctive charms have never waned nor its welcome ever been less than genuine."

Budapest

"The city known as Budapest actually consists of three cities: Óbuda, the oldest section, with Celtic and Roman ruins on the Buda side of the Danube; Buda in the gently rolling hills on the western bank, famous for its historic Castle Hill and beautiful residential area; and bustling Pest with its shopping, government and commercial districts on the flat plain of the east bank. United in 1873, Budapest is renowned as the location of one of the most beautiful World Heritage sites.
Only Budapest can say of itself that it has Europe's largest Parliament, largest functioning synagogue and the continent's first underground railway."

A Hungarian spa resort has banned locals from keeping pigs, cows and chickens in apartment buildings.
Hotel owners in Harkany complained the smell was putting off visitors and demanded action to protect tourism.
The ban, which was passed by the city council, applies to all farm animals that locals have been keeping in their homes.
Officials have said that each household from now can have only two cats or dogs weighing less than eleven pounds - or one larger dog.
Harkany is a quaint spa town that has been popular with tourists for its Mediterranean climate for over 200 years.

An elderly Hungarian is set to become a millionaire after finding a priceless Stradivarius violin hidden above his chicken coop. Imre Horvath, 68, makes a living from the poultry and egss he sells from his home on a smallholding, near Debrecen.
He believes the violin was hidden in the roof space by his musician father, Zoltan, before he went off to fight in the war.Zoltan was killed in the war and never had a chance to tell his family where the instrument was hidden.

Imre said he had no use for the instrument, and had taken it to an expert in Debrecen to have it valued because it looked like it was particularly good quality. Only about 650 genuine Stradivarius violins are believed to exist today and one recently sold in the US for more than £1million.
896 The founding date of Hungary. 1526 Ottoman Turks defeat forces of Hungarian king at Battle of Mohacs 1575 Hungarian mines abolished child labor. 1699 Austrian Hapsburgs expel Turks. 1867 Hungary becomes autonomous partner in Austro-Hungarian Empire. 1918 Austro-Hungarian Empire is broken up. Hungarian republic is proclaimed following a revolution. 1920 Hungary loses large part of territory to Czechoslovakia, Romania, Russia & Yugoslavia. 1939 Hungary joins Anti-Comintern Pact of Germany, Japan and Italy. 1941 Hungary declares war on Soviet Union. Much of the Hungarian army destroyed. Hungary declares war on the UK & US. 1944 Hungarian Nazis install puppet regime. Jews & gypsies deported to death camps. 1945 Soviet forces drive Germans out of Hungary. Large parts of Budapest reduced to rubble by the fighting. 1947-48 Hungary aligns itself with the Soviet Union. 1949 Industry nationalised, agriculture collectivised and a wave of police terror launched. 1956 National uprising. Soviet forces crush the rebels. 1989 Border with Austria is opened. 1991 Soviet forces withdraw from Hungary. The Warsaw Pact is dissolved. 1999 Hungary joins Nato. 2004 Hungary joins EU.

An international businessman has paid £320,000 for a Concorde nose cone at an auction of spare parts from the supersonic aircraft.
To loud applause from other bidders at the sale in Olympia, west London, the hammer finally came down on a bid from Hungarian-born Ferenc Gaspar, 45.

Famous Magyars

Erno Rubik (of the Rubiks Cube fame)
Bela Bartok, Franz Liszt
Zsa Zsa Gabor
Harry Houdini, Peter Lorre, Bela Lugosi, George Soros
Granville from "Open All Hours" (well, at least Half Hungarian)

 
 

Life expectancy

 67.55 men 76.55 women
Airports 43
Radios 689 per 1,000 people
Internet Users 587.7 per 10,000 people
Railway Network 4,789 miles
Death Penalty abolished in 1990