A Humorous Guide to Switzerland

Switzerland is famous for its mountains, chocolate, watches and cheeses but have you ever wondered if there are any famous Swiss people? In sports Roger Federer is well known and loved all around the globe, Henry Dunant founded the Red Cross and had great impact on world health, Julius Maggi changed the kitchens of the world with his Maggi sauce, and Sepp Blatter was the (very controversial) head of FIFA. There are more Swiss people, e.g. scientists and scholars, who have or are well known for their achievements. However, I believe the most famous Swiss person has never actually lived but rather leads a fictional life in many books and television series all over the world: Heidi . The Creation of Heidi Heidi was created by Swiss author Johanna Spyri  and two books covering her adventures and life in Switzerland were first published in 1880 . As a young orphan Heidi is sent to live with her grandfather, the Alp-Öhi, who after some initial resentment takes to the girl and gr...

Ask any Swiss person about Mani Matter and they will start singing one of his many songs. Many of us who were not yet born when Matter was publishing his songs learned his songs in school or sang them at the local scouts meeting. The sound of his voice singing in the Bernese dialect and his guitar playing are almost iconic by now. And every now and then a Swiss artist will use the Matter's great lyrics and melodies and create a cover version (e.g. the project Matter Rock by several Swiss artists as a tribute to Matter's work). Who was Mani Matter? Who was this modern day troubadour? His biography in short: His real name was Hans Peter Matter and he was born in 1936 in Herzogenbuchsee and grew up in Berne (which explains his Bernese accent). Mani was his scout name and he adopted it as a stage name. After school he studied law and practiced for a few years until he became a popular dialect artist in Switzerland. From the late 1960ies he began giving concerts together with t...

While I was thinking about what Swiss thing to write about next, I was contemplating famous Swiss musicians. I already wrote about Swiss troubadour Mani Matter  but now I was looking for a Swiss musician who was or is well known outside of Switzerland as well. I didn't find any. There is ' DJ Bobo ' who has earned some recognition in a few European countries but is far from famous abroad. There is also Celine Dion who won the European Song Contest for Switzerland in 1988 but she isn't really Swiss. So, instead of writing about a musician who is already famous abroad, I decided to take a chance and write about a great Swiss band that is very well known and loved in Switzerland but barely heard of outside of it.. A Swiss Band called 'Gotthard' Gotthard, named after a famous Swiss mountain, is a Swiss hard rock band from the canton of Ticino, which is the Italian speaking southern part of the country. They recorded and produced several hit albums in ...

Just a few days ago, Roger Federer turned 30. He might just be the best known Swiss person ever. Everyone knows that he is one of the worlds best tennis players and some might say he is the GOAT. I must admit that I am not much of a tennis expert and have never been very much into watching tennis on television but if Roger is playing I make sure to at least have a look. More often then not I'm rewarded with an interesting match. Despite stardom and the enormous amounts of money Roger earns every year through tennis, add campaigns and more, it seems like he remains a very likable and Swiss person . I've thought about it and figured the following could be some of the reasons why. 5 Reasons everybody likes Roger Federer He speaks Swiss German with a Basle accent  and English with a Swiss German accent.  He keeps his private life private and if he decides to publish some private moments he does it through his Facebook site. So far, I haven't seen him sell the pictures ...

Yesterday, I stumbled upon a youtube video of two Swiss comedians the 'Schmirinkis'. Even though they ended their career as comedians, Stefan Schmidlin and Rene Rindlisbacher are still two of the most popular comedians in Switzerland. Whereas Schmidlin has pulled back from the public, Rindlisbacher was hosting a game show on Swiss television called "The Million Trap" (Die Millionenfalle) for a while. If you're not from Switzerland, chances are you have never heard of the Schmirinskis. Much like the Swiss tv series 'Fascht e Familie ', they were and are popular almost exclusively in Switzerland and its Swiss German speaking audiences. Who were the Schmirinkis? The name "Schmirinskis" is made up of the first few letters of the two comedian's last names  Schmi dlin and  Rin dlisbacher.  Schmirisnkis are famous for getting into staged fights while performing. The fight usually starts when they start discussing which of them the better com...