The Greatest Czech

In June 2005, Czechs voted, in a contest modeled on the BBC’s Greatest Briton program, for the Greatest Czech (Nejvetsi Cech) of all time. Citizens first picked a top 100 and then ranked the top 10 during a live broadcast. Unlike other countries who have largely picked contemporary figures as their greats – Churchill in England, Adenauer in Germany, de Gaulle in France – the Czechs turned back to the fourteenth century and their king Charles IV. While Charles certainly put his mark on the country – one can hardly turn around without running into something named after him – there is the minor problem that, as comedian Jan Kraus put it, he was greatest Frenchman to rule the Czechs. Curiously, the initial voting was led by the fictional character Jara Cimrman who was later removed from the contest and given a special award. The entire list (in Czech) can be found here -www.ceskatelevize.cz/specialy/nejvetsicech/oprojektu_top100 - while the choices of other countries can be found here - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greatest_Britons.

Favorite Cartoons

A neat contest to choose television viewers’ favorite Večerniček (evening cartoon) can be found here: www.ceskatelevize.cz/specialy/vecernicek40/naprani.html. The winner - though it has been criticized for perpetuating anti-German stereotypes – was Krkonošská pohádka which tells the story of young Anča and Kuba, servants to the self-important Trautenberk, who find an ally in the lord of the mountains, Krakonoš. In second place was About the Little Mole and in third Pat and Mat Return.

menu.

Almost all restaurants offer a lunchtime special – called a menu but pronounced meny – that features soup and a main course for a price that is about half the regular amount. These cheap specials keep most restaurants and pubs filled to bursting during lunch hour.

Burian, Zdenek (1905-1981).

Artist and illustrator. Generations of Czech children have grown up with Burian’s lifelike illustrations to classics by Jules Verne, Rudyard Kipling, and Karl May. As well known is his collaboration with the paleontologist Josef Augusta through which Burian produced masterful renderings of the ancient world replete with dinosaurs, wooly mammoths, and prehistoric man.