Největší Čech (The Greatest Czech) is the Czechspin-off of the BBC Greatest Britons show;[1] a television poll of the populace to name the greatest Czech in history.[2] The series was broadcast by the national public-service broadcaster, Czech Television.[1] The presenter of the programme was Marek Eben,[3] 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.[4][5]
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)
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
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). The fact that he is not 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."[7]