# 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)
* 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 (1753–1829) – 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) – communist president
* 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 (since 2013)

## 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). 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."