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.