Biography

Has two sons; Thomas Pieter Achilles Claus (b. 1963) from his marriage with Elly Claus, and Arthur Kristel (b. 1975) from his relationship with Sylvia Kristel.

He spent much of his childhood in strict Catholic boarding schools, where he was a rebellious student.

His dramatic sketch Masscheroen was first staged at Knokke Casino and featured an all-nude cast: three naked men were given the task of portraying the Christian Holy Trinity of God the father, God the son, and the Holy Spirit; the work also made light of the Holy Virgin, a Belgian saint, and the Three Wise Men. Attacked as blasphemous and deleterious to the public's moral well-being, the light-hearted play's performance triggered a notable legal case in which Claus was prosecuted: convicted on charges of public indecency, Claus was ordered to pay a ten-thousand-Belgian franc fine and serve a four-month prison sentence. The prison term was reduced to a suspended sentence after a public outcry.

He was a "contrarian", of "anarchist spirit". Journalist Guy Duplat recalls that Claus had organized in Knokke the election of a "Miss Knokke Festival", which was a typical beauty contest, except for the Claus ruling that the members of the all-male jury would have to be naked.

He was an artist, poet, playwright and novelist. His books dealt with repression and hypocrisy in bourgeois society in his native northern Belgium (Flanders).