Kalevi Keihänen

[1] Keihänen became known for his extravagant behaviour, long hair and unique style of dress – in advertisement photography, he wore a chinchilla fur coat with only a pair of swimming trunks underneath.

Keihänen started his career in the travel business in 1954 by organising trips for sportspeople to the EM sports championships in Bern, Switzerland.

[4] In 1965 Keihänen founded his own travel agency Keihäsmatkat, which began selling cheap trips to holiday resorts in southern Europe for Finns in the late 1960s.

[2] The Keihäsmatkat head office on Kaisaniemenkatu in central Helsinki soon became a meeting spot of contemporary celebrities; friends of Keihänen included actor Tarmo Manni and publisher Urpo Lahtinen among others.

[4] From 1969 to 1970 Keihänen bought a residential house named Korpilinna in Pohjois-Tapiola, Espoo from Lieutenant Colonel Antti Hämäläinen's widow Anna-Liisa, which he converted into an apartment for his family from 1971 to 1972.

In the courtyard there were a children's play cabin, a smoke sauna, a fountain and an artificial pool where Keihänen raised rainbow trout.

"Seuramatkat", another song by Juha Vainio, was about the liquor-infested flights of the Härmä boys to holiday resorts in southern Europe, full of sunshine and cheap booze.

The cheerful refrain "Nää on suuret suomalaiset seiväsmatkat" ("These are the great Finnish spear flights") was a reference to Keihänen's company Keihäsmatkat.

Kalevi Keihänen's character, played by Seppo Sallinen, appears in Timo Koivusalo's film Rentun ruusu which is about Irwin Goodman's life.

There is also the character of travel agency entrepreneur Kille Kiekkonen, modelled after Kalevi Keihänen, in Matti Kassila's 1973 film Meiltähän tämä käy, played by Pekka Autiovuori.