Frans Masereel (31 July 1889 – 3 January 1972) was a Belgian painter and graphic artist who worked mainly in France. He is known especially for his woodcuts which focused on political and social issues, such as war and capitalism. He completed over 40 wordless novels in his career, and among these, his greatest is generally said to be Passionate Journey.
Masereel's woodcuts influenced Lynd Ward and later graphic artists such as Clifford Harper, Eric Drooker, and Otto Nückel.
Florence Marie Louise Cassez Crépin (born 17 November 1974) is a French woman convicted in Mexico of belonging to the kidnapping gang Los Zodíacos (The Zodiacs). She received a 60-year sentence for the crimes of kidnapping, organized crime, and illegal possession of firearms. The sentence and a possible extradition to her home country created diplomatic tensions between France and Mexico. Cassez denies all charges.
On 23 January 2013, the Supreme Court of Justice of Mexico ordered Cassez's immediate release due to police simulating her arrest for the purpose of filming the day after her actual arrest. She was repatriated to France on 24 January 2013.
Mary Dresselhuys (January 22, 1907 – May 19, 2004) was primarily a Dutch stage actress, although she also appeared in a number of films. She was born in Tiel, the Netherlands, and died in Amsterdam.
Dresselhuys portrayed more than 150 characters during her long career. She acted in a wide range of roles but was most known as the Queen of Comedy, and continued to performed well into her 90s. After she turned 80, she asked Paul Haenen to write a play, Een bijzonder prettig vergezicht ('A particularly pleasant view'), in which she and her daughter Petra could perform together. At the age of 85 she played a part in the movie Eline Vere, and at 90 she was back on stage to do a retrospective of her career, together with Paul Haenen.
Johan Daisne was the pseudonym of Flemish author Herman Thiery (2 September 1912 – 9 August 1978). Born in Ghent, Belgium, he attended the Koninklijk Atheneum before studying Economics and Slavic languages at Ghent University, receiving his doctorate in 1936. In 1945 he was appointed chief librarian of the city of Ghent.
Hendrik ("Henk") Timmer (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈɦɛn.drɪk ˈtɪmər.]; 8 February 1904 – 13 November 1998) was a Dutch sportsman, who primarily played tennis. Born in Utrecht, Timmer also won golf tournaments, became Dutch squash champion, played badminton and hockey. He died aged 94 in Bilthoven, four days before his former doubles partner Kea Bouman. Apart from being a Dutch tennis champion, he was Swiss, Welsh and Scottish indoors champion as well.
Chriet Titulaer (May 9, 1943 – April 23, 2017), born in Hout-Blerick, Venlo, Limburg, was a Dutch astronomer, television presenter and popular science and technology writer. He lived in Houten, Utrecht.
Gilbert Desmet (born 2 February 1931 in Roeselare), nicknamed Smetje van Lichtervelde, is a former Belgian cyclist who was professional from 1952 to 1967. In the 1956 Tour de France, he wore the yellow jersey for 2 days, and in the 1963 Tour de France he wore it for 9 days. Desmet won 101 professional races, including Paris–Tours, La Flèche Wallonne and Four Days of Dunkirk. His best result in the Tour de France was his 4th place in 1962. He finished second in the 1959 Paris–Roubaix.Throughout his career, he was often confused with Gilbert De Smet, another Belgian cyclist with a similar name.
Gerard Kornelis van het Reve (14 December 1923 – 8 April 2006) was a Dutch writer. He started writing as Simon Gerard van het Reve and adopted the shorter Gerard Reve [ˈɣeːrɑrt ˈreːvə] in 1973. Together with Willem Frederik Hermans and Harry Mulisch, he is considered one of the "Great Three" (De Grote Drie) of Dutch post-war literature. His 1981 novel De vierde man (The Fourth Man) was the basis for Paul Verhoeven's 1983 film.
Reve was one of the first homosexual authors to come out in the Netherlands. He often wrote explicitly about erotic attraction, sexual relations and intercourse between men, which many readers considered shocking. However, he did this in an ironic, humorous and recognizable way, which contributed to making homosexuality acceptable for many of his readers. Another main theme, often in combination with eroticism, was religion. Reve himself declared that the primary message in all of his work was salvation from the material world we live in.
Gerard Reve was born in Amsterdam, Netherlands, and was the brother of the Slavicist and essayist Karel van het Reve, who became a staunch anti-communist in his own way; the personal rapport between the brothers was not good. They broke off relations altogether in the 1980s.
Greet Hofmans (23 June 1894 – 16 November 1968) was a Dutch faith healer and "hand layer". For nine years she was a friend and advisor of Queen Juliana, often residing at Palace Soestdijk. She became the former Dutch queen's confidante in the 1950s, but was removed from the royal court after an affair that in the Netherlands is often referred to by her name, the Greet Hofmans affair.
Albert Haanstra (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈɑlbərt (bɛrt) ˈɦaːnstraː]; 31 May 1916 – 23 October 1997) was a Dutch director of films and documentaries. His documentary Glass (1958) won the Academy Award for Documentary Short Subject in 1959. His feature film Fanfare (1958) was the most visited Dutch film at the time, and has since only been surpassed by Turkish Delight (1973).