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; a television poll of the populace to name the greatest Czech in history. The series was broadcast by the national public-service broadcaster, Česká televize. The moderator of the programme was Marek Eben, 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. The first round was won by the fictional genius Jára Cimrman, but he was disqualified.

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)
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 2013)
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 - Czech politician

The Greatest Villain

At the same time as the nominations, an Internet vote for the greatest villain of Czech history was held. 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 humorists 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, as the rules 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."

External links

• Official site