- Was the regular Dutch conductor in the Eurovision Song Contest from 1957-1971. He refused to conduct the winning Dutch entry in 1969 as he couldn't forgive General Franco in the war.
- Between 1957 and 1971, van der Linden conducted 13 Dutch Eurovision entries, amongst which two winners (in 1957 and 1959 - the latter song, "Een beetje", written by the pianist of his orchestra, Dick Schallies).
- In 1995 he was awarded a Golden Harp for his outstanding achievements for entertainment music in the Netherlands; at the ceremony, he conducted the Metropole Orchestra for the last time.
- In the 1960s, his orchestra accompanied several editions of the Grand Gala du Disque, an annual award show organized by the Dutch recording industry and broadcast live on national TV, giving him the opportunity to accompany such international guest stars as Marlene Dietrich, Caterina Valente, and Petula Clark.
- At seven years, his father taught him the first principles of the violin, after which young David vigorously started taking violin and piano lessons.
- In 1980, he retired and his successor as chief conductor of the Metropole Orchestra was Rogier van Otterloo.
- In the 1970s, Dolf van der Linden tried to rejuvenate and modernise his orchestra. I.
- On 22 June 2015, which would have been van der Linden's 100th birthday, the Metropole Orchestra played a concert of his compositions and arrangements. At this occasion, the first copy of van der Linden's biography, written by Bas Tukker, was presented to Dolf's younger brother Rob.
- In 1945, he was asked by Dutch authorities who had arrived back from their exile in London to form an orchestra for light music. Picking musicians he knew from all over the Netherlands, he thus managed to create the Metropole Orchestra.
- Due to his passion for music, he never finished secondary education, leaving regular school when he was fourteen.
- In 1957, van der Linden conducted the winning Dutch entry to the Eurovision Song Contest, "Net als toen", sung by Corry Brokken. In the year after, he and his orchestra accompanied the Eurovision Song Contest which was organised by Dutch TV in Hilversum.
- David Gijsbert van der Linden, the son of a salesman of musical instruments, was born in Vlaardingen, near Rotterdam.
- His colleagues started calling him "Dolf", because he reminded them of a former colleague with that name.
- In '44, German singer Evelyn Künneke toured the Netherlands with Van der Linden as her musical director. Shortly afterwards, he was captured and forced to do hard labour on a railway track near Bielefeld, Germany. He escaped to the Netherlands and, helped by friends, went into hiding until the war ended.
- Before World War II, he played in some different bands as a pianist and tried his hand at arranging music for these bands.
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