News

20-05-2013 14:29 CEST | Jan Velinger

• President Miloš Zeman has explained why he refused to name as professor a leading Czech intellectual.  
• Descendants of shoe magnate Jan Antonín Baťa are demanding that the Czech state return billions of crowns worth of property to them.  
• A trial involving five former City Hall officials over the controversial Opencard system has been adjourned indefinitely.  
• The Czech crown jewels will be returned to their vault in St. Vitus’ Cathedral on Monday afternoon.  
• The number of home births in the Czech Republic has increased markedly in the last two decades.  

One on One

Gisela Cheffer: “I even sat on the lap of some Nazis. Of course, they had no idea that my father was Jewish”

20-05-2013 13:16 | Ian Willoughby

Gisela Cheffer was born Gisela Duschinský in Brno in 1932. Her Viennese father was Jewish, which made her a target for the Nazis, and her baptism as a Roman Catholic very likely saved her life. She later came close to being forced to leave during the mass expulsion of Czechoslovakia’s German population after the war. But she stayed – until, that is, a meeting with a Finn led to a life abroad.  More

Sunday Music Show

Josef Špaček – unforgettable at Prague Spring

19-05-2013 02:01 | Jan Velinger

In this week's Sunday Music Show we feature works from Czech violin virtuoso Josef Špaček's debut. More

Play: (29:20)

Special

Prague students bring the past to life for the radio’s 90th birthday

18-05-2013 02:01 | David Vaughan

It is exactly 90 years since the very first regular radio broadcasts in Czechoslovakia began on 18 May 1923. These were humble beginnings, starting in a borrowed scouts’ tent on the edge of Prague. But within just a few years, radio became central to the lives of millions of Czechoslovaks and over the decades the archives here in the Czech Radio headquarters have become an Aladdin’s Cave of sound, a living audio source for anyone wanting to research into twentieth century Czechoslovak history. More

Play: (29:37)

Arts

Best-selling author Robert Fulghum: all the ‘real’ writing happens when I am doing other things

17-05-2013 15:56 | Pavel Novák, Jan Velinger

It’s no secret that American writer Robert Fulghum loves the Czech Republic and that his books, published by Argo, have proven immensely popular here. He has been back at least ten times over the years to promote his work, from his famous All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten to his latest, Memories of One Adventure. More

Play: (07:00)

Marketplace

Planned university reform seeks to improve cooperation with industry

15-05-2013 | Jan Richter

Czech universities are set for the biggest change in years. After several failed attempts in the past, the Education Ministry is finalizing reform legislation that should help universities adapt to the changing environment; the reform seeks, among other things, to diversify the universities and change their financing. It should also improve cooperation between universities and industry. But how does the business sector see the ministry’s efforts?  More

Play: (09:26)