Aad van den Heuvel


Aad van den Heuvel was a Dutch journalist, presenter and writer.

Biography

Van den Heuvel was born in Rotterdam; after the German bombing of Rotterdam he moved with his parents to Sliedrecht where he grew up along the Merwede. He attended HBS and studied to become a sports teacher, but became eventually a freelance reporter for several newspapers.

Career

In 1959 he visited KRO director Jan Castelijns for an interview, who thought he came to apply for a job. He was hired.
One of his first reportages was in 1961 when the Berlin Wall was built. After this reportage, they founded the actuality program Brandpunt.
In 1967 he interviewed the president of Indonesia, Sukarno, just before he was overthrown. His reportage during the Nigerian Civil War showed the world what happened between Biafra ans Nigeria He interviewed Martin Luther King just before his death.
Until 1973 Van den Heuvel was Brandpunt reporter and presenter, and traveled around the world. Brandpunt became well known due to the reportages.
After 1973, Van den Heuvel started a few television programs like J.C.J. van Speykshow, Cursief and Alles is Anders-show, followed by De Ver van mijn Bed-show and KRO Middageditie. He became especially known at the end of the 1980s with Ook dat nog!. Van den Heuvel was the anchorman of the humoristic program, working together with Sylvia Millecam, Erik van Muiswinkel, Hans Böhm and Gregor Frenkel Frank. Van den Heuvel founded in 1993 the production company Mediaat.
In 1997 he was the main presenter for the KRO television program De Nieuwsgier, a program of quality interviews, columns and persiflages. He was assisted by Coen van Vrijberghe de Coningh, Wivineke van Groningen, Fred Florusse and Han Oldigs.
To make more reportages about the Third World, like he did during his Brandpunt period, he founded De Nieuwe Omroep in 2000. In 2004 it merged with Nútopia into De Nieuwe Omroep Nútopia and in 2005 into LLiNK. This channel went bankrupt in 2010.
As a radio presenter Van den Heuvel presented Blik op morgen and Op de valreep. He wrote a weekly column for Broadcast Magazine.

Personal

Van den Heuvel was married and had two children, including television reporter Caroline van den Heuvel.
Van den Heuvel died at Loenen aan de Vecht in June 2020, aged 84.