Jan Blokker
(1927-2010, Amsterdam) was a publicist. For a while he studied Dutch and history. In 1951 his novella Séjour appeared, for which he was awarded the Reina Prinsen Geerlings prize. He worked as an apprentice journalist for the newspaper Het Parool, became film editor for the Algemeen Handelsblad and then head of television for the VPRO. He wrote book reviews, of which some have been collected in Het eeuwige examen (The eternal exam) (1977). Blokker is well known for his contributions to the television programme 'Zo is het...' (1963-1964), and for his columns in the Volkskrant. His columns are characterized by a sharp and satirical handling of current affairs. In 1960 Blokker's first children's book appeared: Op zoek naar een oom (Looking for an uncle), which was crowned by the CPNB. He wrote film scripts (Fanfare by Bert Haanstra) and the libretto for the opera Esmée (1995) by Theo Loevendie. In 1992 Blokker was appointed as extraordinary professor of journalism at Rotterdam University. He died in 2010.
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Mr Blokker, how do you do that?
'There is not one square meter of Dutch earth that does not have an education centre, a youth club, a cultural centre, or a shelter with a staff led by somebody called Dick, John or Arnold, wearing a beard and talking the whole day about communication patterns and tolerance limits'. There are very few columnists in the Netherlands that are able to pinpoint the Dutch character and give a twist to events so well as columnist Jan Blokker. How does he do that? Writer Abdelkader Benali questions him thoroughly on this. Dutch spoken.
