One on One | All stories

The new documentary The Old Man and the World explores the life of one of the greatest of Czech travellers, Miroslav Zikmund. The exploits of Zikmund (now almost 96) and his partner Jiří Hanzelka made them big stars in a period beginning in the late 1940s. The film is directed by Petr Horký, a traveller who has himself shot in around 80 countries around the world. Before we discussed the documentary, I asked Horký when his own wanderlust began.

When I asked Paul Goldsmith by phone if he knew where Czech Radio was he said, I think so, but the last time I saw it it was on fire. At just 19 he had found himself in the middle of the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia after deciding to visit Prague while travelling through Europe. A keen photographer, he captured those events in pictures that were soon picked up by the international media. Now, after being compiled for a book, his photos are on show at two concurrent exhibitions in Prague. When Goldsmith came to Czech Radio, we began by discussing

The company Nanovo trades in classic design items from Czechoslovakia’s Communist era. With a name that translates as ‘again’ or ‘afresh’, Nanovo sells everything from kitschy chandeliers to simple plastic phones to old-fashioned armchairs. Jirka Mrázek is one of two Praguers in their late 20s behind the firm, which since last summer has been operating out of a small warehouse in Vysočany, an old industrial part of the city. There, surrounded by a treasure trove of stuff, I asked Mrázek where he and his partner had got the idea for their

Lukáš Houdek is a man of varied interests. As well as being a photographer who has explored the post-war massacres of Czechoslovakia’s ethnic Germans, he is co-curator of an exhibition entitled Transgender Me that gets underway in Prague on Monday. In addition, Houdek, a Romani Studies graduate, writes for a leading Roma affairs website; indeed, for much of our interview I was under the mistaken impression that he himself was a member of the ethnic minority.

Last month Prague’s FAMU placed a very impressive fourth in a Hollywood Reporter list of top international film schools. How has the Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts, to give it its full title, managed to acquire such a reputation around the world? That’s one of several questions I discussed the other day with the head of FAMU International, teacher and documentary maker Vít Janeček. But I first asked Janeček how the range of subjects in his programme compares to the “regular” Czech-language FAMU.

Next Monday a group of fans of Bohemians 1905 are setting off on a huge adventure. The supporters are heading to Australia to retrace a famous 1920s tour that gave the Prague soccer club both their name and their “kangaroo” logo. Among the party visiting 10 cities Down Under will be Darek Jakubowicz, whose family company are coincidentally majority shareholders and main sponsors of Bohemians. When he visited our studio, I first asked Darek how the original tour had come about.

Along with Charter 77 and the Committee for the Defence of the Unjustly Persecuted, the Czechoslovak Helsinki Committee was a key dissident organisation in the communist period, pressuring the government to adhere to its human rights commitments. Today known as the Czech Helsinki Committee, it is still active, advocating for people who often have nowhere else to turn. I discussed the committee’s work with its director, Lucie Rybová. But I first asked her about the reasons for its establishment, in November 1988.

Prague’s Kubelíková St. is home to Nanoantik, a small antique shop packed with everything from Brussels ’58 design objects to funky lamps to African sculptures. It’s owned by Slovak-born Rado Turko, who does freelance graphic design in the back whenever the store is empty. When I stopped by recently, our conversation took in numerous aspects of the antiques business today. But I first asked Turko what items his customers were particularly interested in.

An expert on the history of Prague, architect Petr Kučera regularly posts fascinating galleries on Facebook documenting the city’s development. He draws on an extensive archive of photos and plans to show how districts have changed, as well as highlighting unrealised projects that would have transformed Prague even further. In addition, the 29-year-old works for Cigler Marani, the architecture firm charged with rejuvenating Wenceslas Square. When we met at his office, I asked Petr Kučera what had led him to start creating his online galleries.

Steve Fisher has a humorous column in the weekly Reflex that regularly provides a highly amusing take on Czech life from a foreigner’s perspective. The US-born author has had a host of other jobs in over two decades in Prague, including radio DJ, bit-part actor and voiceover artist. In recent years, however, he was forced to work less, after surviving an extremely serious illness that left him handicapped. We discussed all of those things at his Prague 3 apartment last week. But I first asked Fisher about his initial impressions of the city, when