Mies Bouwman, television presenter of the first hour and ‘queen of Dutch television’ died on Monday aged 88.

The popular presenter and journalist shot to fame when in 1962 she hosted an unprecedented 23 hours of live television for charity Open het Dorp which brought in over 12 million guilders to finance a community for the disabled.

Bouwman was not comfortable with the label of darling of the public and showed a sharper side in the satirical news programme Zo is het toevallig ook nog eens een keer. A parody of the Lord’s prayer angered many and resulted in a threat to kidnap her eldest child.

She also hosted one of the first talkshows, Mies en Scène, in which she interviewed many famous personalities of the time, such as writer Godfried Bomans and comedian Wim Zonneveld.

Her relationship with married tv producer Leen Timp cost her her job at catholic broadcaster KRO. She went on to marry Timp who was the love of her life and from whose death in 2013 she never recovered.

Later in her career Bouwman became mostly associated with the popular quiz show Een van de Acht with its famous conveyor belt challenge.

“We hopen dat televisie de band tussen de volkeren zal verstevigen”, zei ze in de jaren ’50 tegen de kijkers. Het leven van Mies Bouwman is de geschiedenis van de Nederlandse tv. 📺 → https://t.co/cPqiVQ51jv pic.twitter.com/HV7ZF3XOIR

— NOS (@NOS) February 26, 2018

#JohanCruyff with #MiesBouwman pic.twitter.com/0RgTnBZ6wU

— OldFootballPhotos (@OldFootball11) February 26, 2018