One on One | All stories

Over the course of the year we have interviewed a great many interesting and unusual people in our popular weekly slot called One on One. For this special programme we have put together some of the best bits of the most memorable interviews broadcast in 2002.

In this week's One on One Jan Velinger's guest is the well-known Czech-Canadian Sinologist Milena Dolezelova, who has worked in the field of East Asian studies for more than thirty years, teaching at both the University of Toronto and later, at Charles University in Prague. Learn about her first experience in China during the Great Leap Forward, and don't miss the story of The Glasses, which shows how far a mistake in interpretation can go... That and more in this week's One on One.

Today's guest on "One on One" is Michal Lobkowicz, who in 1998 served as the Czech Republic's youngest defence minister ever. If you had to pick the most impressive aspect of Mr Lobkowicz's biography, it would perhaps be the fact that he rose to public office at such a young age. During the Velvet Revolution he was 25 and a member of Civic Forum, and in 1990 he was elected to the Czech parliament. It was in 1998, at the age of 34, that he became defence minister in the interim government of Josef Tosovsky, a government that lasted for just over

The American animator Gene Deitch came to Prague in 1959, fell in love, and has been here ever since. For 40 years or so Mr Deitch has lived and worked near Charles Bridge on Mostecka street, and - since the fall of communism - has seen his old neighbourhood transformed into a hub of Prague's tourism industry. Gene Deitch had a unique perspective on the communist system and records many interesting observations and stories in his entertaining book 'For the Love of Prague'. One story he tells is of how he came to draw cartoons for a magazine put

The Oscar-winning American animator Gene Deitch first came to Prague in 1959, and - incredibly - he has been here ever since. In the mid-1990s he published 'For the Love of Prague', a fascinating and evocative account of his experiences both under communism and as the system fell. Gene Deitch, who is now 78, continues to live and work a stone's throw from Charles Bridge, on the Mala Strana side. When I spoke to him there recently, he recalled how he'd been looking for financing for a film called 'Munro' when an American producer he didn't know

Rob Cameron's guest on this week's One on One is Colonel Petr Uruba, a distinguished pilot, RAF veteran and former Colditz inmate, who like many of his fellow officers was persecuted by the Communist regime after returning home. Colonel Uruba was delighted to see NATO meet in the Czech capital last week - he actually received a medal from the alliance for promoting NATO membership. When he came into the studio, Rob began by asking him if flying had always been a passion.

As thousands of delegates descend on Prague for the NATO summit, and thousands of demonstrations arrive to disrupt the meeting, it's easy to forget that there are people who want to challenge NATO through peaceful discussion and debate. One of them is Englishman Tony Addy, who works for the Czech office of the European Contact Group (ECG), an ecumenical network involved in a number of alternative seminars and events during the summit. Rob Cameron began by asking Tony to describe what the ECG was all about.

After years as a dissident, Jiri Dienstbier's life changed overnight during the 1989 Velvet Revolution when he became the foreign minister of Czechoslovakia. He was later appointed United Nations special rapporteur for human rights in the former Yugoslavia, and was opposed to the NATO bombing of Serbia and Kosovo. When I spoke to Jiri Dienstbier at his Prague flat, our conversation was wide-ranging.

In this week's One on One join Jan Velinger in conversation with acclaimed Czech filmmaker Petr Zelenka, the director of such popular films as The Year of the Devil and the highly original The Buttoners. Among the topics discussed in the interview: Petr Zelenka's approach to filmmaking as well as his latest project, The Best Films of Our Lives.

Cyril Svoboda, who is the leader of the Christian Democrats, was appointed Czech foreign minister after elections to the Chamber of Deputies in June. The director of Radio Prague, Miroslav Krupicka, recently interviewed Mr Svoboda; with world opinion mixed to say the least on a possible United States-led attack on Iraq, Mr Krupicka asked the Foreign Minister whether the Czech Republic would support such an attack.