Henk van Gelder

(1946) is a freelance journalist for newspapers such as NRC Handelsblad. He is particularly well known as a writer of variety artists biographies. He wrote amongst others De vriendelijkste kerel van de wereld: Jaap van de Merwe (The friendliest chap in the world: Jaap van de Merwe) (1994), in which, as a journalist, historian and critic, he explores the work of Van de Merwe. In Carmiggelt, het levensverhaal (Carmiggelt, the biography) (1999), Van Gelder succeeded, with the help of testimonies from friends and contemporaries, and by analysing thousands of unknown columns, to create a much more multi-faceted and fascinating image of Simon Carmiggelt than was known up to now. The biography De spookschrijver - het raadsel van Jacques van Tol (The ghost writer, the mystery of Jacques van Tol)(2001), is about the most succesful, and at the same time the most mysterious script writer of the Netherlands during the nineteen thirties. In March 2005 appeared De Schnabbeltour (The moonlight tour), about the lost episodes of the Dutch amusement industry during the post-war reconstruction years.

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