entertainment">Slagter visited Paulusma last Saturday, a day before the iconic weatherman died in hospital in Leeuwarden. “He saw me, and one of the first things he asked me was if I had a camera with me,” Slagter said on Tuesday in the special broadcast of Time for MAX about the life of Pete. “He said: ‘Jan, would you like to tell the Dutch that I am very happy that they have always looked at me. And I want to thank them for that.’”
entertainment">According to Slagter, Piet thought it was ‘an honor’ to be able to perform it again on radio and television for more than 25 years. “At the end of the conversation he also said: ‘In four years, Jan, there will be an Elfstedentocht. And will you think of me then?’ That was also Pete. It was about many things, but also mainly about his work and the weather, and about what he has meant for the Netherlands.”
‘sick man’
entertainment">The Frisian icon deliberately kept quiet last year that he had cancer. “He thought that people would only talk about his illness,” says Slagter. “That people, if they looked at his weather forecast, would think: oh, there is a sick man. He didn’t want that.” According to Slagter, this was sometimes difficult for his family, because it meant that they could not talk about it with anyone.
entertainment">The children of Paulusma, his ex-wife Joke and twin brother Lume also spoke in the broadcast. A number of interviews had already been recorded in November at the request of Paulusma.
—