Wim Meuldijk

Wim Meuldijk is best known for his work in television, as the creator of the popular children's show 'Pipo de Clown', but he is also the artist and writer of the classic comic series 'Ketelbinkie'. Born in Rotterdam, Meuldijk started his career during World War II with the text-comic 'Sneeuwvlok Eskimo', that appeared in Het Volk and Voorwaarts.

Starting on 14 July 1942, the comic lasted for 1253 episodes until 30 December 1944. After the war, Meuldijk and Ton van Heusden launched the magazine Sneeuwvlok appeared, of which ten issues appeared in 1945-46. Besides a new episode of 'Sneeuwvlok', Meuldijk made 'Pirandello' and 'Plukkie Buksjek' for the magazine.

In 1945, Meuldijk began his popular 'Ketelbinkie' strip in the local newspaper Rotterdamsch Parool. The strip, about a boy from Rotterdam, soon appeared in many other Dutch newspapers. Because of the character's popularity, Meuldijk and Van Heusden renamed the Rotterdam edition of Sneeuwvlok magazine to Ketelbinkiekrant. In 1952, Sneeuwvlok and Ketelbinkiekrant were renamed Rob's Vrienden, after the popular comic 'Kapitein Rob' by Pieter Kuhn. Meuldijk remained his position as editor, and made a text balloon version of 'Ketelbinkie' for the magazine, of which the final issue was printed in 1957.

In the late 1950s, Meuldijk made an important move in his career. He began a fruitful career as a writer for television, which resulted in among others the creation of the television series 'Pipo de Clown'. The show was also adapted into a balloon strip, which was drawn by Jan van der Voo and written by Meuldijk for the Donald Duck weekly in 1969. Also for Donald Duck, Meuldijk wrote new adventures with 'Ketelbinkie', this time drawn by Van der Voo and Jan van Haasteren. When the 'Pipo de Clown' show was cancelled, Meuldijk settled in Spain, where he continued to write for the television show 'Sesamstraat'. In 2003, he was awarded by the Dutch Stripschap with the Bulletje & Boonestaak-schaal. He passed away in December 2007.