Czechs in History | All stories

Jan Spata would have celebrated his 74th birthday on October 25 if he hadn't died in August this year after a short and serious illness. A documentary maker, cameraman and professor at the FAMU film school, he made more than 300 documentaries and 107 feature films. Such as Carpe Diem, The Biggest Wish, Respice Finem, Is the Sun Shining?, Heart in Hand and many others. During his life he won 60 Czech as well as international awards.

Petr Novak's unmistakeable, delicate tenor voice is synonymous with Czechoslovak society of the late 1960s. This talented musician shot to fame in this country at the time of the Prague Spring, when his gentle love songs influenced by Western pop groups like The Beatles were hugely popular among young Czechs. His success during this era, however, proved to be short-lived and his career subsequently stagnated under the influence of communist repression and his own problems with alcohol.

In an extended special edition of Czechs in History we visit the town of Trebon, some 150 kilometres south of Prague. This is where the Schwarzenberg nobility resided until the Second World War. A dominant building in Trebon is the Schwarzenberg tomb. Join me as I take a tour with my guide Paul Stasek.

"I perceive everything as a game and maybe that is the reason why I am not a writer but a screenwriter," said Jaroslav Dietl about his life and work. 'The father of the Czech serial' as he has been labeled was often criticized because of his uncritical attitude towards the communist regime. At the same time he won the affection of viewers who loved his great skill in developing a story. No other Czech screenwriter has ever matched him.

In today's Czechs in History we are going to look at Antonin Langweil and his unique paper model of Prague. The model, on a scale of 1:480, takes up an area of two-by-two metres and shows the city as it looked 150 years ago.

Hugo Haas was one of the stars of Czechoslovak cinema's golden age of the 1930s. This versatile actor and director was hugely popular in the First Republic and he appeared in a number of classic films from that era. Despite his success, however, Haas's life and career - like that of so many other Czechs who lived during this period - was blighted by the tide of history that swept through Czechoslovakia in the 20th century.

Vaclav Kral was one of the Czech Republic's most prolific automobile designers, a veritable legend in his field. Last year, when he died unexpectedly at the age of just 69, it understandably came as a shock to his loved ones and friends, but even caught countless fans who never knew him, off guard. He had been working on a new project - Autodesign & Styling magazine, as well as a planned exhibition of some of his best work in the town of Roztoky near Prague, where he lived for many years. The exhibit was meant to mark his 70th birthday and his lifelong

In today's Czechs in History we look at one of the most illustrious periods of the kingdom of Bohemia - the rule of the Luxembourgs - reflected in an important exhibition now underway at Prague Castle: Charles IV - Emperor by the Grace of God. The exhibit, which had an immensely successful run last autumn at New York's Metropolitan Museum opened in Prague mid-February to great expectations. Opening the exhibit curator Jiri Fajt explained the period of the Luxembourgs, between 1347 and 1437, was among the most artistically important the kingdom

Today we look at fascinating wartime documents that reveal Churchill's plans to destroy German villages in revenge for the Nazi massacre in the Czech village of Lidice. We see behind the scenes into Churchill's war cabinet, and witness how the shockwaves from the Lidice massacre reached as far as the corridors of power in London.

In the history of Czech film there have been few animators who have been more important than Karel Zeman, whose career spanning from the late 1940s to the '80s continues to be admired today. The author, often compared to the French film wizard Georges Melies, was himself a master of fantasy, capturing the imagination of countless young viewers. One of his most famous films, Cesta do praveku - Journey to Prehistory, or Journey to the Beginning of Time, celebrated its 50th anniversary last year. It is at this seminal work by Karel Zeman, that we