Karl was born in the Red Light district of Amsterdam, The Netherlands. After falling into a canal at the age of 6 he was nicknamed "Flipper" after the famous dolphin in the television series. He is related to funk guitarist Marcel Kaatee and to George and Frits Kaatee of the Dutch Swing College Band. Karl took the name Hammer from his stepfather after his own father had died.

Media

In the early 80's Karl worked for Dutch pubcasters like AVRO. In 1988 he was invited to join the introduction of the first private radio station "Cable One". Soon thereafter he was also involved in launching the first private television station (RTL). His discovery of a maze in the media legislation opened the doors for private radio stations to not only broadcast by cable but also in the ether. This had a enormous impact on the industry. During the 90's Karl worked for major media throughout Europe and could be found at prestigious events such as MITV, NATPE and the film festivals of Cannes and Berlin. Karl also coaches youngsters on their way into the media.

After his successful career in radio and television Karl turned to becoming an author. His books distinguish themselves by in-depth research combined with a very accessible choice of words, combining fascination with information. For example, in his first book "The Secret of the Sacred Panel" Karl dug into the occult motives behind history's most bizarre art theft. For his second book "The Tears of the Wolf" he traced the whereabouts of Hitler's personal diamonds and a stash of Nazi gold. Attentive readers will notice that Karl's books always contain some spiritual and social undertones.

Next to all else Karl is an accomplished photographer and, just like in his books, always seeks added value to his photo's. To him "looking" is not always the same as "seeing" and an image often contains a theme and tells more than one would expect at first glance. His photo's of the natural world are credited as 'wonderful'.