Největší Čech

King Charles IV, the winner of the poll.

Největší Čech (The Greatest Czech) is the Czech spin-off of the BBC Greatest Britons show;^[1] a television poll of the populace to name the greatest Czech in history.^[2] The series was broadcast by the national public-service broadcaster, Česká televize.^[1] The moderator of the programme was Marek Eben,^[3] who was also nominated to be in the Top 100; however, since he was moderating the show he was not eligible to be included in the final list.

The counting and ranking of the nomination votes took place during January 2005; the top 100 were announced on 5 May; and the final rankings were announced on 10 June 2005. Many voices received the fictional genius Jára Cimrman but he was disqualified.^[4]

List of Greatest Czechs

1. King Charles IV, Bohemian king (1346–1378) and Emperor (1355–1378), founder of Charles Bridge and Charles University – 68,713 votes
2. Tomáš Garrique Masaryk – first Czechoslovak president (1918–1935) – 55,040 votes
3. Václav Havel – last Czechoslovak (1989–1992) and first Czech president (1993–2003) – 52,233 votes
4. Jan Amos Komenský – 17th century "Teacher of nations"
5. Jan Žižka – 14th/15th century Hussite general, leader of Czech resistance to the Roman Empire and Catholic Church
6. Jan Werich – 20th century actor, playwright and author
7. Jan Hus – 14th/15th century religious reformer
8. Antonín Dvořák – 19th century composer
9. Karel Čapek – 20th century writer, in his work R.U.R. has popularized the word "robot" (invented by his brother Josef Čapek)
10. Božena Němcová – 19th century female writer (Babička)
11. Bedřich Smetana – 19th century composer
12. Emil Zátopek – 20th century olympic athlete
13. Karel Gott – 20th century pop singer
14. George of Podebrady – 15th century utraquist king
15. František Palacký – 19th century historian and politician
16. Přemysl Otakar II – 13th century king, known as "Iron and Gold King"
17. Saint Wenceslas – duke (922–935) and patron saint of Bohemia
18. Václav Klaus – second president of the Czech Republic (2003 to present)
19. Jaroslav Heyrovský – 20th century chemist, Nobel prize laureate
20. Saint Agnes of Bohemia – 13th century princess and saint, founder of first Prague hospital
21. Tomáš Baťa – 19th/20th century first republic businessman
22. Edvard Beneš – second Czechoslovak president (1935 – 1938, in exile 1940 – 1945, 1945 – 1948)
23. Otto Wichterle – 20th century chemist, inventor of contact lenses
24. Jaroslav Seifert – 20th century poet, Nobel Prize laureate
25. Zdeněk Svěrák – 20th century playwright, screenwriter, actor and "cimrmanologist"
26. Ema Destinnová – 19th/20th century opera singer
27. Jaromír Jágr – 20th/21st century hockey player
28. Maria Theresa – 18th century queen
29. Karel Kryl – 20th century dissident singer-songwriter
30. Miloš Forman – 20th/21st century film director
31. Vlasta Burian – 20th century actor, "king of comedians"
32. Roman Šebrle – 20th/21st century decathlete, Olympic athlete
33. Ivan Hlinka – 20th century hockey player and coach
34. Karel Havlíček Borovský – 19th century journalist and writer
35. Daniel Landa – 20th/21st century singer
36. Milada Horáková – 20th century victim of Nazism and later communism (hanged in 1950)
37. Vladimír Menšík – 20th century actor
38. Jaroslav Hašek – 19th/20th century writer (author of The Good Soldier Švejk)
39. Alfons Mucha – 19th/20th century art nouveau painter
40. Jan Evangelista Purkyně – 19th century biologist and physician
41. Pavel Nedvěd – football player (European footballer of the year 2003)
42. Jan Janský – 19th/20th century neurologist and psychiatrist, discoverer of four blood types
43. František Křižík – 19th/20th century inventor, engineer and industrialist
44. Jan Železný – 20th/21st century Olympic athlete
45. Jan Palach – protester against Soviet invasion of 1968 (self-immolated)
46. Věra Čáslavská – 20th century Olympic athlete
47. Leoš Janáček – 19th/20th century composer
48. Alois Jirásek – 19th/20th century playwright and author
49. Jaromír Nohavica – 20th/21st century musician
50. Jan Masaryk – Czechoslovak secretary of foreign affairs (1940–48)
51. Bohumil Hrabal – 20th century writer
52. Jan Neruda – 19th century writer
53. Josef Jungmann – 18th/19th century linguist and translator
54. Gregor Mendel – 19th century geneticist, "father of genetics"
55. Franz Kafka – 19th/20th century writer
56. František Tomášek – 20th century archbishop of Prague
57. Saint Adalbert – 10th century saint
58. Josef Bican – 20th century football player
59. Josef Kajetán Tyl – 19th century playwright
60. Lucie Bílá – 20th/21st century pop singer
61. Karel Hynek Mácha – 19th century poet
62. Saint Ludmila – 9th/10th century grandmother of the Czech patron St. Wenceslas
63. Boleslav Polívka – 20th/21st century actor
64. Rudolph II, Holy Roman Emperor – 16th/17th century king
65. Josef Dobrovský – 18th/19th century philologist
66. Josef Lada – 20th century painter
67. Rudolf Hrušínský – 20th century actor
68. Wenceslaus II of Bohemia – 13th/14th century king
69. Madeleine Albright – 20th century politician, US secretary of state
70. Aneta Langerová – 21st century pop singer, winner of the Pop star (Superstar in Czech) competition
71. Přemysl Otakar I – 12th/13th century king, conqueror
72. Ludvík Svoboda – 20th century communist president
73. Dominik Hašek – 20th/21st century hockey player (goaltender)
74. John of Luxemburg – 14th century king, father of Charles IV
75. Milan Baroš – 21st century football player
76. Karel Jaromír Erben – 19th century poet
77. Saint Zdislava – 13th century saint
78. Jaroslav Foglar – 20th century writer
79. Ladislav Smoljak – 20th century actor and writer, actor and "cimrmanologist"
80. Olga Havlová – 20th century wife of Václav Havel, former Czechoslovak and Czech president
81. Martina Navrátilová – 20th/21st century tennis player
82. Helena Růžičková – 20th century actress
83. Pavel Tigrid – 20th century writer
84. Elisabeth of Bohemia (1292–1330) – queen
85. Milan Kundera – 20th/21st century writer
86. Vladimír Remek – 20th/21st century cosmonaut and politician
87. Boleslav I of Bohemia – 10th century king
88. Magdalena Dobromila Rettigová – 19th century writer
89. Mikoláš Aleš – 19th/20th century painter
90. Emil Holub – 19th century physician, traveler and writer
91. František Fajtl – 20th century aircraft pilot in World War II
92. Klement Gottwald – First Communist president of Czechoslovakia (20th century)
93. Zdeněk Matějček – 20th century pediatrist
94. Jiří Voskovec – 20th century actor
95. Marta Kubišová – 20th/21st century singer and actress
96. Jiřina Bohdalová – 20th century actress
97. Miloslav Šimek – 20th/21st century actor
98. Sigmund Freud – 19th/20th century psychiatrist, teacher of Carl Gustav Jung
99. Samo – 7th century ruler of the so called Samo's Realm
100. Miloš Zeman – 20th/21st century politician

^[5]

The Greatest Villain

At the same time as the nominations, an Internet vote for the greatest villain of Czech history was held.^[6] The top ten were:

1. Klement Gottwald – first Communist president of Czechoslovakia (1948–53)
2. Stanislav Gross – 20th/21st century politician, Czech Republic PM
3. Václav Klaus – 20th/21st century politician, president of Czech Republic
4. Vladimír Železný – 20th/21st century television businessman, founder of TV Nova, charged with an extensive tunnelling fraud
5. Miroslav Kalousek – 20th/21st century politician, leader of Christian Democratic party
6. Miroslav Grebeníček – leader of Communist Party of Moravia and Bohemia
7. Viktor Kožený – 20th/21st century financial figure, fugitive financier, nicknamed "the pirate of Prague"
8. Milouš Jakeš – 20th century politician, General Secretary of Czechoslovak Communist Party before and during Velvet Revolution
9. Zdeněk Škromach – former minister of work and social affairs
10. Gustáv Husák – 20th century politician, last Communist president of Czechoslovakia

Jára Cimrman

The first round of official voting for Greatest Czech was won by the fictional character Jára Cimrman created by Czech humourists Jiří Šebánek, Zdeněk Svěrák (who himself took the 25th place) and Ladislav Smoljak (79th). The fact that he isn't a real person disqualified him from taking the title. Česká televize disregarded the rules, which clearly stated, that "it is only possible to vote for someone who was either born on, lived on, or in any way acted on the soil of Bohemia, Moravia or Czech Silesia." While Cimrman neither lived, nor was born in any of these countries, he indisputably acted (since 1966) and acts on the mentality of local people.^[7]

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "BBC expanduje se svou zábavou" (in Czech). Týden. 25 January 2008. http://www.tyden.cz/rubriky/media/media-v-zahranici/bbc-expanduje-se-svou-zabavou_40907.html. Retrieved 6 October 2011. 
2. ^ "Souboj titánů" (in Czech). ČT24. 21 February 2010. http://www.ceskatelevize.cz/ct24/exkluzivne-na-ct24/osobnosti-na-ct24/81729-souboj-titanu/. Retrieved 6 October 2011. 
3. ^ "ČT bude hledat Největšího Čecha". novinky.cz. 2 December 2004. http://www.novinky.cz/kultura/45052-ct-bude-hledat-nejvetsiho-cecha.html. Retrieved 6 October 2011. 
4. ^ Navara, Luděk (23 February 2005). "Ctíme Cimrmana. Jsme normální?" (in Czech). Mladá fronta DNES. http://zpravy.idnes.cz/domaci.aspx?r=domaci&c=A050222_222823_domaci_sas&t=A050222_222823_domaci_sas&r2=domaci. Retrieved 6 October 2011. 
5. ^ "Největší Čech – O projektu – Top 100". Ceskatelevize.cz. http://www.ceskatelevize.cz/specialy/nejvetsicech/oprojektu_top100. Retrieved 14 April 2011. 
6. ^ "Vedle Největšího Čecha lidé vyberou i padoucha" (in Czech). novinky.cz. 1 April 2005. http://www.novinky.cz/koktejl/53314-vedle-nejvetsiho-cecha-lide-vyberou-i-padoucha.html?ref=boxA. Retrieved 6 October 2011. 
7. ^ The Prague Post

External links

• Official site