X is for X-List (Celebrities and a Top Secret Nuclear Site)

DISCLAIMER

This post is a work in progress. If you're in Lithuania, tell me your favourite Lithuanian celebrity in the comments at the bottom.

Here's a quick run down of some of Lithuania's most famous people...

Many of Lithuania's most famous citizens have long since died - most notably MK Ciurlonis, who was a composer and artist in the early 20th Century. Even fictional characters have roots in Lithuania - Hannibal Lector is supposed to be born on the outskirts of Vilnius and the captain of the Red October, as played by Sean Connery is based on a similar story involving a Lithuanian sailor.

However, who's still alive?

Basketball is often described as being like religion in Lithuania. The comparison works if you're religious and most of the country goes to church or mosque and enthusiastically celebrates every religious festival and saints' day. If you're from the UK or the rest of Western Europe and most of the Europe for that matter, let me help you understand - basketball is like football.

Basketball players are the Beckhams and Roonies of Lithuania. Lithuania look promising to pick up a medal in the basketball having already beaten Russia in the Olympics. (Lithuania got its first medal when Mindaugas Mizgaitis took bronze in the men's Greco-Roman 120kg wrestling. Now that's a proper olympic sport!)

Also in sport Žydrūnas Savickas is a big man who've I've seen on TV a lot, mostly lifting blond ladies and advertising some sort of food. He came second in the World's Strongest Man competitions of 2002-2004.

Jurga is one of Lithuania's most succesful music artists. Last November she won an MTV Europe award for Best Performer. Check out her website at http://www.jurgamusic.com/ and one of her videos below. I saw her supporting Bjork where she danced the robot, heavily pregnant and gave an amazing performance.

Hearts FC, from Edinburgh, Scotland have a number of players from Lithuania.

Also under X-List come Lithuania's Top Secret Nuclear Missile Silos. Hidden deep in the forest near Plunge in North-West Lithuania lies Plokstines Missile Silo, the mouth from which death and destruction would have been spat had the late 60's and 70's ever turned hot. Okay, so they're not secret any more, and for a fee a lady will organise a mini bus to take you there and give you a full tour of the tubes. There are no missiles left as the Russians kindly took them away in 1978 when the CIA discovered the location of the site. A visit here is sobering as you walk around the clammy, rusting control rooms and look down the launch tubes themselves (so I've been told. My friend has been, but I haven't personally).