blok was born on 4 january 1922 in statenkwartier, the hague, as the second of four children. his father was teacher and his women house wife. when he was young he did fencing and boxing. during world war ii he has to leave his home as the germans occupied the area. with having a student card he didn’t had to move to germany. near the end of the war he moved to sleeuwijk with an illegal document, with false ss stamps. he helps distributing food from biesbosch farmer to gorinchem. after the war he moved back to the hague, where he graduated in 1946 and became teacher. in 1958 he married to annet, a student he met when he was teacher at the sports academy. they had three children (son michiel, and dochters marlie and dorien) and eight grand children. he retired in 1987. in november 2021, at the age of 99, he gave his last interview.