“I still love the coast and I am not a West Fleming. There is a huge difference between West Flanders and the coast. If you go inland about a kilometre you're up to your ankles in clay immediately . Whereas for me the coast is a fashionable location. As children we had casinos, we walked on beaches with women in bikinis, and we heard French, German and English. I saw Jacques Brel perform, I'm just saying, at the time the ambiance was entirely different. It had nothing to do with that very closed deep-down narrow-mindedness of the rest of West-Flanders.”

Thank you. You were from Zeebrugge. That's Bruges isn’t it?

“Zeebrugge is a port, we'd already seen black people there. It might not have been the biggest port but, well, we’d already heard the blues. That was a bonus. It's quite an advantage if you compare it with the interior of Belgium. We always had the endless sea, it gives you a broad outlook.”

So somebody from Zeebrugge is not really from Bruges?

“There is a distinction. Bruges is the capital of West-Flanders. Bruges is inland. Bruges of course has the advantage of being a tourist city which means you are confronted with the world, but I always found Bruges more closed. Bruges is still a city I love enormously. It's a city with amazing possibilities which, I feel, are not always used to their full potential. It’s a city you can be passionately in love with. And you can't say that about every city.”

Do you still go to Bruges?

“Not as much anymore of course. My parents are both dead. I still have a couple of brothers living in Bruges, nobody at the coast. I don't make it there very often. If I need to perform there I always tend to leave earlier, and maybe drive to the beach area and see what is left standing. In that sense my story is somewhat like a ‘Terug naar Oosterdonk’ story. (Flemish television series about a lost village). Where I used to live and play everything is gone, it's all port now.”

Are there any spots you still know?

“A drive to Zeebrugge is always worth your while, even if it's just to eat. Zeebrugge has always had a culinary reputation. In my childhood the king regularly – albeit incognito – dined here. Many restaurants from those days have gone. Others have replaced them. And when I go there I want to eat fish. What else? When I go to ‘Channel 16’ I am spoiled with correct, fresh fish at the correct price. Nothing beats a platter of langoustines. When it's fresh out of the sea it's divine. For my palate, they don’t need much preparation.”

Bruges is also the city which produced people such as Frank Vanhecke and Filip Dewinter.

“Yes, but they are two losers, aren't they. What is their place in the world? They really don't mean a thing, they never did in fact. Briefly maybe, because their populism was a hit. These people will only be a footnote in history, more specifically in the history of the Flemish movement. But for the rest these people really don't mean a thing. They are products of the closed, narrow-minded province of West-Flanders. That's true.”

And one of them followed you to Antwerp.

“You can't stop people migrating. Actually, Filip Dewinter is an assimilated migrant. Or rather, in certain aspects. He learned some Antwerp dialect, he can put away his bolleke beer, but what he can't do, when it all comes down to it, is open the doors. That’s exactly what Antwerp has done all the times that the city was great over the course of its history. If Antwerp isolates itself, it becomes a small port again. He should realise that. And in fact we are slowly getting sick and tired of him here. Bruges can have him back.”

How difficult was it to grow up as a gay person in narrow-minded West-Flanders?

“I had the most amazing childhood you can imagine. And that is down to different factors of course. On the one hand the family I come from of course. The word ‘warm’ is an understatement here. I was born in a family where protection, warmth, love, affection and care were all important. It was a feast growing up in this environment. On the other hand I had a beach right outside the door, I had girl-friends from half of Europe. When I was nine, I was in love with a girl from The Hague who taught me to speak Dutch. Afterwards, when I was a little older and the titillating world out there was beginning to stamp its authority, bus loads of girls arrived from the interior with whom I had great fun. I used to watch all the jazz greats perform at the Casino of Blankenberge. I went to the Caveau in Blankenberge to rock concerts. I even sang in my own band. Actually, my youth was one big party. It was a pleasure growing up in Zeebrugge and I look back at it very fondly.”

It's true you sang in a band with Jean-Marie Aerts.

“Yes, I grew up with Jean-Marie. Jean-Marie Aerts, Paul Couter, often came to our house. Paul Couter was one half of Tjens Couter and Jean-Marie Aerts became the guitar player of TC Matic. But before that we all had bands and I was always the singer.”

In 1981-82 you performed as Kurt V.E.

“Yes, later on I recorded a couple of singles with Jean-Marie, ‘Coole Jongen’ and ‘China Jon’ and the like… That was in the early eighties, the time of Hitring. We were slightly older then, we were twench as people like to say here and at the ICT studios in Brussels we recorded a number of songs. It is quite remarkable. Just last week I received an e-mail from a very young guy who said: ‘in Paris in a nightclub I heard the song ‘China Jon’, and I have always been a big fan of yours,’ he writes, really (laughs), ‘but this is very remarkable and I would like to find out more about this,’ he also says. You see, my music has started to lead a life of its own, but more importantly, it is still played.”

For sure: Italian cosmic superstar DJ, Daniele Baldelli, regularly plays ‘China Jon’ in his sets. Apparently it's turning into a real cult record.

“Really? (Roars with laughter.) That's great. It gives me great pleasure to hear that. I really didn't know. I must pass it on to Sabam (Belgian Association of Authors, Composers and Publishers) (Roars with laughter). Imagine, thirty years later. They were weird records, let's be honest. I know for sure that one day I will do something with Jean-Marie again. Every time we see each other, we want to tinker. We'll see. What it will be, I have no idea.”

How is the rest of your career going?

“I have to be honest, I have never worked as hard as I am now. Most people at my age are starting to take it easy. In my case it's the other way round. I work for Klara and I am making more and more programmes. Sometimes I fill twenty hours a week. Other weeks it's only five hours, but for some people that’s already a lot as well. Because you need to prepare everything of course. I have the feeling that because of the nature of my work I am in a continuous learning process. I just keep on studying. It's a great feeling.”

Is Klara your real biotope? Is it the place where you feel at home?

“If you look at my training and my earlier interests I suppose you can indeed say it’s a home coming. I have returned to the arts after a relatively long excursion in the world of variety shows which I don't regret for a single second, because, quite the contrary, occasionally I enjoy dabbling in variety. I find it great fun. I would hate being labelled. I don't fancy that. But at the same time I am glad that Flemish people don't always label people. I feel fully accepted in the cultural world, whereas for most people I will always be the presenter of ‘De Drie Wijzen’, no matter how long ago that was.”

I asked about your experiences as a gay person at the coast, and you talk about the girls you knew. I actually wanted to know whether as a gay person and a public figure you felt you had a mission?

“Those girls, I was sowing my wild oats. I am gay, but I am not the kind of person who will stand on the barricades. That's not for me. It is what it is. I don't deny it. I never talk about my private life either. Apart from the fact that it is going very well, everybody's allowed to know that. And in that sense I might be a role model. There are still a lot of boys and girls who struggle with their sexuality. There are still youngsters who commit suicide because they are gay and I want to tell these people that I am incredibly happy with my situation, and my marriage as a gay person, and that it is all so very normal that I am almost not enjoying it anymore (laughs).”

True, what are you going to have to do now to be different? Any dreams?

“That's the thing isn't it, I don't have a specific dream, I have an attitude, and that attitude is waking up in the morning thinking: ‘today it all has to start.’ And it's high time because I am getting older. This attitude that I still want to do a lot of things and being open to everything, has been with my all my life. I take what comes along and is interesting. I have never made plans and I don't regret it at all, because by not making plans I have experienced a thousand-and-one things. Too many to mention. I look back very fondly at all the things I have done and I look forward even more to the things that will come.”

Will we see you on television again?

“Everything is possible. I just don't really feel the need. It would have to be something I really enjoy. Because television usually means waiting around a long time for nothing. I don't have the patience anymore. As a radio producer I am used to working very quickly now. I interview the greatest musicians and authors and I am constantly experiencing new things. The popularity that goes with television I don't need either anymore. Everyone knows me in Flanders, that's enough (laughs). Jan Hautekiet came to me today and said : ‘My grandchildren loved your performance of that song you recorded with Kapitein Winokkio, ‘Het loze vissertje’. Right, fine, the future is assured. My career can go on a little longer. It's all about to start.”