Největší Čech

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, Czech Television. The presenter of the programme was Marek Eben, who was also nominated to be in the Top 100; however, since he was presenting 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

King Charles IV, Bohemian king (1346–1378) and Emperor (1355–1378), founder of Charles Bridge and Charles University – 68,713 votes

Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk (1850–1937) – first Czechoslovak president (1918–1935) – 55,040 votes

Václav Havel (1936–2011) – last Czechoslovak (1989–1992) and first Czech president (1993–2003), dissident and anti-communist activist

John Amos Comenius (1592–1670) – philosopher and pedagogue, "Teacher of Nations"

Jan Žižka (1360–1424) – Hussite general, leader of Czech resistance to the Holy Roman Empire and Catholic Church

Jan Werich (1905–1980) – actor, playwright and author

Jan Hus (1369–1415) – religious reformer

Antonín Dvořák (1841–1904) – composer

Karel Čapek (1890–1938) – writer, author of R.U.R.

Božena Němcová – writer, author of The Grandmother

Bedřich Smetana (1824–1884) – composer

Emil Zátopek (1922–2000) – athlete, Olympic winner

Karel Gott (1939–2019) – pop singer

George of Poděbrady (1430–1471) – utraquist king

František Palacký (1798–1876) – historian and politician

Ottokar II of Bohemia (1233–1278) – king, known as "Iron and Gold King"

Saint Wenceslaus (907–935) – duke (922–935) and patron saint of Bohemia

Václav Klaus (1941–) – second president of the Czech Republic (2003–2013)

Jaroslav Heyrovský (1890–1967) – chemist, Nobel prize laureate

Saint Agnes of Bohemia (1211–1282) – princess and saint, founder of first Prague hospital

Tomáš Baťa (1876–1932) – first republic businessman

Edvard Beneš (1884–1948) – second Czechoslovak president (1935–1938, in exile 1940–1945, 1945–1948)

Otto Wichterle (1913–1998) – chemist, inventor of contact lenses

Jaroslav Seifert (1901–1986) – poet, Nobel Prize laureate

Zdeněk Svěrák (1936–) – playwright, screenwriter, actor and "cimrmanologist"

Emmy Destinn (1878–1930) – opera singer

Jaromír Jágr (1972–) – ice hockey player

Maria Theresa (1717–1780) – Bohemian queen

Karel Kryl (1944–1994) – dissident singer-songwriter

Miloš Forman (1932–2018) – film director

Vlasta Burian (1891–1962) – actor, "king of comedians"

Roman Šebrle (1974–) – decathlete, Olympic winner

Ivan Hlinka (1950–2004) – ice hockey player and coach

Karel Havlíček Borovský (1821–1856) – journalist and writer

Daniel Landa (1968–) – singer

Milada Horáková (1901–1950) – victim of Nazism and later communism (hanged in 1950)

Vladimír Menšík (1929–1988) – actor

Jaroslav Hašek (1883–1923) – writer, author of The Good Soldier Švejk

Alfons Mucha (1860–1939) – art nouveau painter

Jan Evangelista Purkyně (1787–1869) – biologist and physician

Pavel Nedvěd (1972–) – footballer (European footballer of the year 2003)

Jan Janský (1873–1921) – neurologist and psychiatrist, discoverer of four blood types

František Křižík (1847–1941) – inventor, engineer and industrialist

Jan Železný (1966–) – Olympic athlete

Jan Palach (1948–1969) – protester against Soviet invasion of 1968 (self-immolated)

Věra Čáslavská (1942–2016) – Olympic athlete

Leoš Janáček (1854–1928) – composer

Alois Jirásek (1851–1930) – playwright and author

Jaromír Nohavica (1953–) – musician

Jan Masaryk (1886–1948) – Czechoslovak secretary of foreign affairs (1940–48)

Bohumil Hrabal (1914–1997) – writer

Jan Neruda (1834–1891) – writer

Josef Jungmann (1773–1847) – linguist and translator

Gregor Mendel (1822–1884) – geneticist, "father of genetics"

Franz Kafka (1883–1924) – writer

František Tomášek (1899–1992) – archbishop of Prague

Saint Adalbert (956–997) – saint

Josef Bican (1913–2001) – football player

Josef Kajetán Tyl (1808–1856) – playwright

Lucie Bílá (1966–) – pop singer

Karel Hynek Mácha (1810–1836) – poet

Saint Ludmila (860–921) – grandmother of the Czech patron St. Wenceslaus

Boleslav Polívka (1949–) – actor

Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor (1552–1612) – king

Josef Dobrovský (1753–1829) – philologist

Josef Lada (1887–1957) – painter

Rudolf Hrušínský (1920–1994) – actor

Wenceslaus II of Bohemia (1271–1305) – king

Madeleine Albright (1937–2022) – politician, US secretary of state

Aneta Langerová (1986–) – pop singer, Česko hledá SuperStar winner

Ottokar I of Bohemia (1155–1230) – king, conqueror

Ludvík Svoboda (1895–1975) – Commander of the 1st Czechoslovak Army Corps in the Soviet Union during World War II and communist president (1968-1975)

Dominik Hašek (1965–) – ice hockey player

John of Bohemia (1296–1346) – king, father of Charles IV

Milan Baroš (1981–) – footballer

Karel Jaromír Erben (1811–1870) – poet

Saint Zdislava (1200–1252) – saint

Jaroslav Foglar (1907–1999) – writer

Ladislav Smoljak (1931–2010) – actor and writer, actor and "cimrmanologist"

Olga Havlová (1933–1996) – wife of Václav Havel, former Czechoslovak and Czech president

Martina Navratilova (1956–) – tennis player

Helena Růžičková (1936–2004) – actress

Pavel Tigrid (1917–2003) – writer

Elisabeth of Bohemia (1292–1330) – queen

Milan Kundera (1929–2023) – writer

Vladimír Remek (1948–) – cosmonaut and politician

Boleslaus I, Duke of Bohemia (915-972?) – king

Magdalena Dobromila Rettigová (1785–1845) – writer

Mikoláš Aleš (1852–1913) – painter

Emil Holub (1847–1907) – physician, traveler and writer

František Fajtl (1912–2006) – fighter pilot in World War II

Klement Gottwald (1896–1953) – first Communist president of Czechoslovakia

Zdeněk Matějček (1922–2004)– pediatrician

Jiří Voskovec (1905–1981)– actor

Marta Kubišová (1942–) – singer and actress

Jiřina Bohdalová (1931–) – actress

Miloslav Šimek (1940–2004) – actor

Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) – psychiatrist, teacher of Carl Gustav Jung

Samo (600–658) – ruler of the so-called Samo's Realm

Miloš Zeman (1944–) – third Czech president (2013—2023)

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:

Klement Gottwald (1896–1953) – first Communist president of Czechoslovakia (1948–53)

Stanislav Gross (1969–2015) – 20th/21st-century politician, Czech Republic PM

Václav Klaus (1941–) – 20th/21st-century politician, president of Czech Republic

Vladimír Železný (1945–) – 20th/21st-century television businessman, founder of TV Nova, charged with an extensive tunnelling fraud

Miroslav Kalousek (1960–) – 20th/21st-century politician, leader of Christian Democratic party

Miroslav Grebeníček (1947–) – leader of Communist Party of Moravia and Bohemia

Viktor Kožený (1963–) – 20th/21st-century financial figure, fugitive financier, nicknamed "the pirate of Prague"

Milouš Jakeš (1922–2020) – 20th-century politician, General Secretary of Czechoslovak Communist Party before and during Velvet Revolution

Zdeněk Škromach (1956–) – former minister of work and social affairs

Gustáv Husák (1913–1991) – 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).