Born in Horní Libina by Šumperk, he studied the primary and secondary schools in Ostrava; there he also spent a year learning English, Russian, French and Italian at a language school. In 1968, he travelled through the Western Europe immediately after the exams, spending most of the time in England and Scotland. During this time, he earned money for example as a busker. He returned to occupied Czechoslovakia and studied English and philosophy, at first in Olomouc (Palacký University), then in Brno (Masaryk University). He graduated in 1974. Not willing to collaborate with the communist regime in any way, he worked as a waiter until the 1989 revolution.