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Jra Da CimrmanJra Cimrman is a popular Czech fictional character created by Jiř Šebnek and Zdeněk Svěrk. He made his first appearance on a regular radio programme Vinrna U pavouka (Wine bar "By the Spider") on December 23, 1966. One of the reasons for why the character was created was to make fun of the Czech nation itself, its history and national peculiarities. The aim was not to create an artificial national hero. The Žižkov Theater of Jra Cimrman was founded later as a natural consequence of the story. The theater is one of the most frequented theaters in Prague. Several theater plays and movies were written, created and performed during decades following the discovery of Cirman's chest in 1966. The fictional biography of Jra Cimrman Jra Cimrman was born in Vienna between 1853 and 1859, the precise date of his birth being uncertain. He was last seen in Liptakov in Jizersk hory (Isergebirge) in the north of Bohemia in 1914. His mother, Marlen Cimrman, was Austrian and his father, Leopold Cimrman, was Czech. Cimrman considered himself to be Czech. He was one of the greatest Czech playwrights, poets, composers, teachers, travellers, philosophers, inventors, detectives and sportsmen of his era. However, he did not gain recognition during his lifetime. The European public only became acquainted with his genius following the discovery of a chest with his belongings by Dr Evžen Hedvbn in Liptkov on February 26, 1966. Cimrman's Work Jra Cimrman proposed the Panama Canal to the US government, including a libretto for an opera of the same name. He reformed the school system in Galicia. With Count Zeppelin he constructed the first rigid airship using Swedish steel and Czech wicker (the wicker being for the cabin). He was deported from Germany as an anarchist and his personal documents carried a note that he was "a source of unrest." This led the Swiss company Omega to offer him a job to improve the fly-wheel for their Piccolo line of ladies' watches. Simultaneously, he introduced (and performed for some time) the function of an obstetrician here under the difficult Alpine conditions. He led investigations about the life of arctic tribes who eat their fellows and once on the runaway before one furious tribe, he missed te northern pole by mere seven meters. In Paraguay he founded the first puppet-show. In Vienna he founded a criminologist, music and ballet school. For a long time, he led a huge correspondence with G.B. Shaw, but unfortunatelly the dogged Irishman didn't reply. He invented yoghurt. He voluntarily helped many great figures: on his own back he brang fourty five tubs of pitchblend to the basement of Mr. and Mrs. Currie, he assisted prof. Burian with his first plastic surgery, he reworked the electrical contact on the Edison's first bulb, he found an underlease for Mr. Eiffel. He is the creator of the philosophy of externism. Because of his enthusianism for natural sciences, he discovered the monopole (as oposed to the then well known dipole), but this discovery fell into oblivion and later it was confusedly adopted by 20th century economists. The Greatest Czech In early 2005, the Czech Television started a contest to choose The Greatest Czech. The contest was based on a British reality show that was duplicated in a number of other countries, including the Czech Republic. The obvious candidates included pop singers, Czech kings and national heros. Suprisingly, on January 15th it seemed that most of the votes (by SMS, the Internet or mail) have gone to Jra Cimrman. When the information was made public, several Czech newspapers picked up the story. Most observers concluded that the story shows the humorous nature of the Czech nation. However, the Czech Television announced publicly that only real people can participate in the contest, and hence that the votes for Jra da Cimrman are not valid. Britsk listy, an influential Czech Internet magazine, published an article that strongly criticized the decision and the incompetence of the Czech Television in dealing with a situation that did not fit their previously prepared scenario. Sources In Czech An English source A Prague Post article on the contest See also
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