Jan Blokker

Jan Andries Blokker, Sr. (May 27, 1927 – July 6, 2010) was a Dutch journalist, columnist, publicist, writer, and amateur historian. In The Netherlands, Blokker was best known for his columns in De Volkskrant, which he wrote between 1968 and 2006.

Biography

Blokker, born in the Admiralenbuurt in Amsterdam, grew up in a secular liberal family. His father was office clerk. At the age of seven, he and his father weekly visited the Cineac theatre for the Polygoon newsreel.

Blokker went to the HBS on the Keizersgracht. In 1944, after getting his gymnasium-alpha diploma, he went on to study Neerlandistiek and history. He never completed them.

In 1950, Blokker made his debut as a novelist with the novelle Séjour, for which he won the Reina Prinsen Geerligs award. Two more novels followed, Bij dag en ontij (1952) and Parijs, dode stad (1954). In 1952, Blokker became student reporter for the Dutch newspaper Het Parool. After a while, Simon Carmiggelt asked him to write film reviews. In 1954 he became film critic at Algemeen Handelsblad. At the art section of the news paper, he met important Dutch writers like Henk Hofland and Harry Mulisch.