Remove control from another control

[Yourself]

I have the following .aspx code:

<%@ Page Language="vb" AutoEventWireup ="false" Explicit="True"
Inherits="Whate ver.DefaultPage " CodeFile="Defau lt.aspx.vb" %>
<%@ Register TagPrefix="what ever" TagName="someth ing"
Src="~/Whatever/Whatever.ascx" %>
<asp:placeholde r id="fred" runat="server"> </asp:placeholder >
<whatever:somet hing id="something" runat="server" />

the Default.aspx.vb code adds some controls to the 'fred' placeholder in the
Page_Init method.

I want to remove all of the controls added to the 'fred' placeholder, within
my user control 'whatever:somet hing'.

My Whatever.ascx.c s Page_Init method looks like this:

// get the fred placeholder (this line works and returns a placeholder which
!= null)
System.Web.UI.W ebControls.Plac eHolder fred =
(PlaceHolder)Pa rent.Page.FindC ontrol("fred");

// clear all of freds controls
if (fred != null)
{
fred.Controls.C lear();
}

The fred.Controls.C lear() doesn't work, all of the controls that fred has
added (within Default.aspx.vb ) are still there :(

Is it something to do with the order in which the Page_Init methods are
called? Are they called in any specific order?

Any ideas? Please help!