Hamburg – He is a legend of German television, the “Aktuelle Schaubude” made him immortal. Cult presenter Carlo von Tiedemann (79) is still the voice of NDR on the radio today. Heartthrob, bon vivant, dry alcoholic. Today he is a recipient of an Order of Merit, a loyal family man – and still on the microphone!
The legend turns 80 on October 20th – and looks back on an eventful life with BILD.
The legendary “Funk-Eck” (since 1950) on Rothenbaumchaussee. Carlo has been coming for 45 years. Today he eats his cereal here every morning before the show. Things used to be different.
He laughs: “I’ve heard a lot of funny stories here. I used to come here after long nights, sometimes not sleeping at all. Then there was herring and crabs on brown bread to get me fit for the day, to get the peak of the day.”
Carlo in conversation with BILD reporter Stefan Schneider
And further: “It was the case that after the show booth we were forced to go to a bar with a large group. That was the end of the evening.” Carlo with a wink: “With lots of tea and pastries…”
In fact, the alcohol was flowing freely! In the Hamburg scene he was considered a “legend of the night”!
Carlo continued: “Those were the wild times. We could do whatever we wanted. Radio was a wild bunch. We stuck together like a gang. In the radio studio we often played without sleep. We could play whatever we wanted. First AC/DC and then Heino. My motto sometimes on the show in the morning was: ‘It’s better for everyone if I don’t say anything for half an hour’. We also flirted with what we went through. But this is not a glorification of alcohol. This is simply a throwback to the old days. There were no disgruntled faces, just happiness.”
Carlo with his father Carl Rudolf Gerhard von Tiedemann, a Prussian lieutenant general
Carlo lived life to the fullest. The cult presenter: “It was a party every day. And that for years. How many times have we sat under the table at ‘Uncle Pö’? Everyone can at the table. With legends like Udo. Then it was said: ‘Mr Lindenberg, can it be another double Pineau?’ The times were wonderful and wonderfully chaotic. But we always knew where we could go.”
Carlo as a child with his beloved bicycle
The Quickborner by choice with his father Carl and mother Fides, aunt and grandmother
But at some point Carlo went a step too far. He took cocaine, the debts piled up, he fell for a prostitute in the late 1980s and was stopped by the police. Today he doesn’t want to talk about it anymore: “I promised that to my family and myself.”
On Saturday, October 14th (8:15 p.m.) the NDR congratulates Carlo with the special program “Sensational and beautiful work!”.
The cult presenter never missed a party for years and indulged in plenty of alcohol. Here he celebrated with Friedrich Freiherr von Stumm
Alida Gundlach and Carlo hosted the “Aktuelle Schaubude” on NDR for years
In Plön, the presenter did a wheelbarrow race in the “Schaubude”.
Carlo has coped well with the difficult years – even though he now suffers from an incurable heart disease.