ROB CAMERON

BBC Prague Correspondent
Articles tagged 'Prague'

TitleHeadlineSummaryMediaDatehf:tags
River Vltava in Flood 2024
FloodsFears of further flood deaths as rain lashes Europe

Catastrophic floods have swept through Central Europe, leading to dozens of deaths and widespread destruction of houses and infrastructure. In the Czech Republic, the worst flooding has been in central and eastern parts of the country, especially North Moravia, where around a dozen people have lost their lives. Towns such as Krnov and Jeseník have been completely cut off.

BBC News2024-09-15czech environment floods prague
Sid
SidIn search of Sid

A random face in a documentary about the Prague Spring led to a wild goose chase to track down its owner. It belonged to Zdeněk ‘Sid’ Kučera, a jazz trumpeter and singer whose band was filmed performing Georgie Fame’s Bonnie and Clyde in a Prague club. Sid emigrated not long after the Soviet tanks arrived – but finally got in touch from his adopted home in Switzerland.

BBC From Our Own Correspondent2020-03-19communism czech czechoslovakia music prague soviet-union
Skeleton
SkeletonMystery of the skeleton hijacked by Nazis and Soviets

For decades, archaeologists have grappled with the identity of a 10th-Century skeleton discovered at Prague Castle. The remains were exploited by both the Nazis and Soviets for ideological purposes, claiming it as proof of a pre-existing Germanic – or Slavic – presence. But attempts to pin a clear ethnic label on a 1,000-year-old corpse perhaps reveal more about us than him.

BBC News2019-10-28communism czech czechoslovakia nazis prague soviet-union
Stones
StonesThe European capital cobbled with Jewish gravestones

For a quarter of a century tourists and locals passing through the bottom of Prague’s Wenceslas Square were stepping unaware on Jewish gravestones. They were looted from abandoned cemeteries in the 1980s and cut up to make cobbles. The truth about the stones came to light thanks to the head of Prague’s Jewish Museum – who slipped a few into his pocket as a young man.

BBC From Our Own Correspondent2019-01-12communism czech czechoslovakia holocaust jews prague world-war-two
View of the Old Town of Prague from the Charles Bridge at dawn
SpooksPrague: The city watching out for Russian and Chinese spies

Czech counter-intelligence has issued stark warnings of intensified espionage activity by Russia and China. Both countries are pursuing a long-term strategy of undermining the West, according to the Security Information Service (BIS). Moscow has continued its hybrid warfare strategy to gain influence over this EU and Nato member, it says.

BBC News2018-12-23czech milos-zeman politics prague russia soviet-union spies vladimir-putin
Fair
FairCzech parliament due to debate historic gay marriage bill

The Czech lower house is to begin debating a bill to introduce same-sex marriage. If successful, the Czech Republic would become the first country in the former eastern bloc to allow gay people to marry – similar legislation was introduced in Slovenia, but was later overturned in a referendum. However even some prominent gay politicians are against.

BBC News2018-11-14czech politics prague
Jan Kubiš (left) and Jozef Gabčík (right)
HeroesCzechs search for dead heroes who killed SS chief Heydrich

The assassination of senior Nazi official Reinhard Heydrich by Czechoslovak paratroopers Jan Kubiš and Jozef Gabčík in 1942 was one of the outstanding feats of daring in World War Two. The killing led to terrible reprisals, not least for the pair themselves, who took their own lives after being surrounded. But one question has long troubled historians: where are their bodies?

BBC News2016-08-03communism czechoslovakia holocaust nazis prague world-war-two
Charles IV Holy Roman Emperor
CharlesCzechs mark 700th birthday of Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV

Events are being held in the Czech capital Prague to mark the 700th anniversary of the birth of Charles IV, who was King of Bohemia and then Holy Roman Emperor. The events – taking place at a number of famous landmarks in the city which bear his name – will be attended by a distant descendant, the Grand Duke of Luxembourg.

BBC Radio 42016-05-14czech prague
Corruption
CorruptionCorruption redefined as tourism in Czech Republic

A company has started offering whistle-stop tours of ostentatious villas, over-budget public construction projects and the echoey corridors of local government to highlight the problem of rampant corruption. “Corruption is not just money spent in the wrong way. Corruption is trust misused,” said Petr Sourek, founder of ‘Corrupt Tour’ – the world’s first corruption tour agency.

BBC News2014-06-02crime politics prague
Brent
BrentPrague premieres first ever stage version of The Office

A theatre in Prague has premiered the world’s first ever stage version of the cult BBC series, The Office, starring Ricky Gervais. Kancl is running at Prague’s Municipal Theatre, and features Vasil Fridrich as legendary Wernham Hogg boss David Brent. The production has received the blessing of Ricky himself, who spoke to the BBC.

BBC World Service2012-11-10arts prague
Vimperk
VimperkBohemia revisited: The holiday that changed my life

Holidays can expose the traveller to cultures, languages and adventures they would never have experienced at home. Trying to recreate them many years later however can be a bit of a challenge. In the summer of 2012, I returned to the idyllic town of Vimperk in South Bohemia – the place where twenty years previously I’d decided to start a new life.

BBC From Our Own Correspondent2012-09-05communism czech czechoslovakia prague
Anthropoid
AnthropoidCzech pride in men who mortally wounded Nazi Heydrich

Czechs and Slovaks are marking the 70th anniversary of the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, one of the most senior figures in Nazi Germany. Heydrich was mortally wounded by Czechoslovak parachutists Jan Kubiš and Jozef Gabčík on May 27, 1942. The BBC spoke to fellow resistance fighter Alois Denemarek, one of the last people to see Kubiš alive.

BBC News2012-05-27czechoslovakia holocaust nazis prague world-war-two
Gone
GoneLeaders gather for state funeral of Václav Havel in Prague

Václav Havel died at his country home – Hrádeček – on the morning of Sunday, December 18th, 2011. He’d appeared a few months previously at the unveiling of a statue to Woodrow Wilson, looking frail and gaunt. However his death – at the age of 75 – still came as a great shock. Havel’s state funeral five days later was a momentous and immensely moving experience.

BBC World Service2011-12-23communism czech czechoslovakia politics prague vaclav-havel velvet-revolution
Tycho
TychoDanish astronomer Tycho Brahe exhumed to solve mystery

The body of 16th century astronomer Tycho Brahe has been exhumed in Prague to ascertain the cause of his death. According to one legend the Danish nobleman – who served as royal mathematician to Emperor Rudolf II – died when his bladder exploded because he was too polite to rise from the royal table before the emperor. Others claim he was murdered.

BBC News2010-11-15bohemia crime prague science
Gustav
GustavBorn in Bohemia and Moravia ... but forgotten by us?

Sigmund Freud, Gustav Mahler, Ferdinand Porsche … most of us would describe these well-known personalities as ‘German’ – and we’d be half-right; German was their mother tongue. But they weren’t born in Germany or even Austria – they were born here in what is now the Czech Republic. A new exhibition is trying to correct the country’s rather cold relationship to them.

BBC World Service2010-09-03austria culture czechoslovakia germany jews prague
Epic
EpicCzech battle over art nouveau epic by Alphonse Mucha

A fierce legal struggle is under way in the Czech Republic over the fate of 20 enormous paintings by Alphonse Mucha, creator of the style known as art nouveau. The paintings – entitled the Slav Epic – have spent the last half a century hanging in a chateau in the Moravian town of Moravsky Krumlov. But officials in Prague now want them moved to the capital.

BBC News2010-08-11culture czechoslovakia prague
Velvet
VelvetHavel reflects on 20th anniversary of Velvet Revolution

The anniversary of the Velvet Revolution on November 17th 1989 is now a national holiday. It’s an opportunity to look back on a defining moment and take the temperature of Czech (and Slovak) society. For the 20th anniversary, those who were at the heart of the revolution – including the shy playwright who became president – shared their memories and thoughts.

BBC Radio 42009-11-17communism czech czechoslovakia politics prague vaclav-havel velvet-revolution