Can You Cache a Czech? Trivia Quiz

Answer: Franz Kafka

Kafka was born in Prague to Jewish parents and would become one of the major figures in literature of the twentieth century. His works were a mixture of fantasy and realism, and he produced protagonists who were alienated and isolated. Often his works bordered on the absurd, creating environments that were confusing, suffocating and, above all, surreal. So notable were these themes that it has led to the creation of the phrase "Kafkaesque", which essentially means "living in absurdity". Kafka's most famous contributions to literature include "Metamorphosis" (1915), "The Trial" (1925), "The Castle" (1926) and "Amerika" (1927). Those last three were published posthumously. Kafka passed away in 1914.

Answer: Milos Forman

Born in Caslav, in what is now the Czech Republic in 1932, Forman was one of the prime promoters of the Czechoslovak "New Wave" movement in cinema during the 1960s. His 1967 film "Fireman's Ball" was a biting satire of Eastern European Communism, which didn't endear itself to officials as the film was banned from cinemas in the country.

It may have also led to his dismissal from his studio in 1968. Forman moved to the United States where he became professor of film at the University of Columbia. Directorial success soon found him with the release of his 1975 film, "One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest".

The film succeeded both critically and commercially, and it became the second film to win all five major Academy Awards - Best Picture, Best Director, Actor in a Leading Role, Actress in a Leading Role and Best Screenplay.

In 1978 he had success with "Hair", and "Ragtime" in 1981 would garner eight Oscar nominations. His 1984 film, "Amadeus", would collect eight Academy Awards from eleven nominations, including Milos' second Oscar for Best Director.

Answer: Sigmund Freud

Technically speaking, Freud was not born in the Czech Republic. He was born in the town of Freiberg, which, at the time (1856), was a part of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire. He sneaks in for me because, today, the town is called Pribor and it is a part of the Czech Republic.

Whether or not his psychoanalysis theories and techniques are still effective treatment tools today are subjects of great debate, however, his thoughts have definitely broadened the horizons in respects to positions between the psychoanalyst and the patient. Freud's techniques included the use of free association and discovered transference, making these tools the core of his process. He looked into sexuality, formulated the Oedipus complex and analysed dreams in reaching conclusions. Most famously, though, he is remembered for his model of the id, the ego and the super-ego psychic structures.

Answer: Karel Capek

Capek was born in the village of Male Svatonovice in 1890. A writer of science fiction, he and his brother, Josef, introduced the word "robot" in their 1920 play, "R.U.R", which stood for "Rossum's Universal Robots". He was a fierce campaigner for free expression and did not hold back in his writings, with many of his works driven by the turmoils of his times. Amongst his most memorable works are the dystopian satire "War with the Newts" (1936) and the "Noetic Trilogy" (1933-34). Capek received a staggering seven nominations for the Nobel Prize for Literature but was unable to secure the award.

Answer: Bedrich Smetana

Smetana developed a musical style that was so close to the heart of his country's cultural and political desires, that he became one of Bohemia's most revered composers. It certainly helped that he composed works during times of upheaval in the country.

His first workings of nationalistic music were composed in 1848, at the time of the Prague Uprising. Whilst the opera, "The Bartered Bride", (1866) established him internationally. It was his cycle of six symphonies between 1874 and 1879, entitled "Ma vlast" ("My Fatherland"), which endeared him most to his homeland.

Answer: Milan Kundera

Kundera was born in Brno in 1929, and is viewed as one of the twentieth century's best contemporary writers. His trio of novels "The Joke" (1967), "Life is Everywhere" (1969), and "Farewell Waltz" (1972), which were written with a serious intent but delivered with a humerous undertone, ended up painting vivid descriptions of a post-war Czechoslovakia.

Whilst it drew praise around the globe, it didn't endear him to his nation. He lost his teaching job, struggled to find work, and found his books banned from local libraries.

As a result, in 1975 he fled to Paris and became a naturalised French citizen. The move coincided with a change in his writing style, which produced his classic "middle period" novels; "The Book of Laughter and Forgetting" (1978), his most famous work "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" (1984), and "Immortality" (1990).

It was in these novels that he managed to find his true voice and a willing audience. He was at the peak of his powers in the 1980s when it seemed almost fashionable to be reading "The Unbearable Lightness...". Ironically he would receive the Czech Republic's Franz Kafka Award for Literature in 2020.

Answer: Charles IV

Born in 1316 with the given name Wenceslaus, Charles was the first Bohemian king to become Holy Roman Emperor. He ascended to the throne in 1346 after his father was killed at the Battle of Crecy, and he became the ruler of all of the kingdoms of the Holy Roman Empire in 1365.

He then made Prague the centre of that empire. Under his guidance the city would rise to be one of the most advanced in the world and he oversaw the establishment of several important sites. Amongst these are the Charles University, Prague's oldest university, the spa town of Karlovy Vary, the New Town Park, and the Charles Bridge.

Answer: Ivan Lendl

Born in Ostrava in 1960, Ivan Lendl rose to be one of the greatest tennis players of all time. With a game built on a powerful forehand, laced with heavy top-spin, he was the world's number one ranked player for a period of 270 weeks, won 94 singles titles, which included the above named 8 majors, and finished as the runner-up in eleven other Grand Slam tournaments. With a perceived weakness on grass, the only major he failed to win was Wimbledon.

He did, however, reach the final in both 1986 and 1987.

As a nod toward the title of this quiz, Lendl lost the 1987 Wimbledon final to Australia's Pat Cash, which prompted an Australian newspaper headline "Cash is better than Czech".

Answer: Gregor Mendel

Mendel was born in Heinzendorf, which is now known as Hyncice, in 1822. His experiments with peas would end up yielding three laws (Mendel's Laws) of inheritance. These are known as the Laws of Dominance, Segregation, and Independent Assortment. His studies examined seven different characteristics in the plants, including height, pod shape, seed shape and colour.

He identified "hidden factors", which we now know as genes, and came up with the terms recessive and dominant in respect to them. His findings introduced us to the modern world of genetics though, sadly, the importance of his work was not recognised until well after his death.

Answer: Antonin Dvorak

Dvorak was born in Nelahozeves (not far from Prague) in 1841, and was a young man when fellow composer Bedrich Smetana, was at the height of his power. Whether he was influenced by Smetana is unknown, but he took his predecessor's example and wove rhythms from his native Bohemia with elements of folk music from Morovia, another of the historical Czech lands, into a style that became uniquely his.

He made an early impression in Prague and, once he turned thirty, sought wider recognition and began entering competitions in Germany and Austria, with the latter earning high praise from Johannes Brahms.

In 1891 he was made professor at the Prague Conservatory and it was during this time that he completed one of his most popular piece, "Dumky Trio".

In 1892 he moved to the United States and it was here that he was inspired to write one of his most successful works, the symphony "From the New World", which enhanced his fame across the globe.