Real Estate Czech Republic

Today in Mailbox: driving habits in the Czech Republic, response to Letterfrom Prague, the “Forward Left” signature tune. Listeners quoted: ColinRose, Charlie Cockey, Andrea Lazzeri. Welcome to Mailbox, Radio Prague’s listeners’ feedback programme.Let’s take a look at your e-mails that we received over the past week.Colin Rose follows our programmes both in the UK and in the CzechRepublic. A recent Talking Point titled “What is to be done to make Czechroads safer?” inspired him to write in:“I drive for three months of the year in Czech Republic and find thestandard of driving appalling. In Prague it is bad but probably no worsethan in many other cities. Elsewhere is the biggest problem. Overtaking isa national pastime. The preferred place is the brow of a hill or a blindbend; the purpose is to get in front. When achieved you then slow down tostop the car behind getting in front again. Headlights are an incentive forsuch dangerous action, maybe it makes the driver feel he is now an officialin a position to scare others off the road (I do remember seeing this inthe ‘previous’ times when two spotlights were the sign ofofficialdom).”On a happier note, our listener Charlie Cockey from Brno enjoyed lastSunday’s Letter from Prague by Christian Falvey: “Just a short note to say bravo for a delightful piece on the haplessFinn’s unfortunate experiences during his hostel stay in Prague. They saythat humor and misfortune go hand in hand, but it requires a sure hand inthe telling to raise a series of misfortunes such as these from thepathetic to the hilarious - hilarious to all except of course the poor,and eventually besotted Finn. Humor is NOT easy to write, and Mr Falvey hasmanaged it in high fashion - so, once again, Bravo! I’m still laughing- or, as I like to say, ‘Charlie chuckles’…”And if you missed that particular Letter from Prague, you can go back toit on our website at
www.radio.cz/english and click Letter from Prague in the menu on the left hand side.Andrea Lazzeri writes from the Italian city of Pisa:“From the ’70s to 1989 I used to listen the Italian Service of RadioPrague. I was very familiar with its tuning signal. From your website Iknow that this signature tune was the ‘Forward Left’ anthem. Can youtell me more about it (full title, author) or give me directions where tofind more information?” The song “Kup?™edu lev??” or “Forward Left”, celebrating thecommunist takeover of 1948, was composed by Jan Seidel and the lyrics werewritten by Bed?™ich Bobek. Jan Seidel was born just over a hundred yearsago, on December 25, 1908 in the central Bohemian town of Nymburk where hestudied high school. He went on to study civil engineering, architecture,fine arts and later composition at Prague’s conservatory under JosefBohuslav Foerster and Alois H??ba. Among his works are a number of songscelebrating the communist regime but also the score to the film version ofThe Good Soldier ? vejk. He was a teacher, art director in theatres andrecord companies and for a period of time he was director of Prague’sNational Theatre Opera and also the Prague Spring music festival. JanSeidel died on May 23, 1998, away from media attention. Just a reminder that you have a few more hours until the deadline of ourmonthly competition in which you are asked to send us the name of themystery man who was born in 1862 in the North Bohemian village of Ji?™et?­npod Bukovou into a family of a glass cutter. He went on to start his ownglass cutting business in Austria and his surname today is a brand name forprecision cut crystal glass. Next week you will find out whether your guesses were correct and whetheryou are one of the lucky winners of our prize. The addresses for yourletters and e-mails are english@radio.cz or Radio Prague 12099 Prague.Thanks for listening today and until next week bye-bye.

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