I left university without any clear idea of what I wanted to do. At first I wanted to be a novelist, but soon discovered that I found sitting by myself all day with my thoughts far too lonely. Armed only with the knowledge that I liked writing and languages, I moved from the UK, where I’d grown up with a Czech mother and Slovak father, to Prague, the city my mother hails from, to teach English. I quickly discovered teaching was not for me, but at a loss as to what else I could do with my degree and experience, I carried on.
In my mid-twenties I discovered podcasts and started consuming them in large quantities, finding that they combined my love of fascinating stories, sound and the spoken word with an intimate, personal medium that I could consume while still looking at the world around me. It took me a while to realise that journalism was about a lot more than just news and politics, but once I did, I knew that radio journalism was where I wanted to go. Eventually I got some freelance work with Radio Prague, and after writing a few pieces, I was lucky enough to be offered a job here. I’ve never looked back.
articles by the author
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Highest ever price tag for painting sold at Czech auction
Bohumil Kubišta’s painting Old Prague Motif was sold on Sunday at auction for CZK 123.6 million, the most a painting has ever sold for at a Czech art auction.
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Anthropoid: Czechoslovakia’s greatest resistance story
Operation Anthropoid was the only successful government-organized assassination of a top Nazi official. On its 80th anniversary, we look back at how it unfolded.
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Ostrava’s plan for tallest building encounters geological stumbling block
Ostrava is set to become the home of Czechia's new tallest building – despite the fact that a recent geological survey forced the architects to change the design.
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Events marking 80th anniversary of Operation Anthropoid to commence this week
This year marks the 80th anniversary of the assassination of Heydrich by Czechoslovak soldiers. The event is being commemorated with a special exhibition.
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Second Effective Altruism conference held in Prague
Most people have not heard of the Effective Altruism movement. But it is gaining increasing visibility, and not only in the Anglophone world – it is also active in Czechia.
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Czech-African Health Forum biggest event of its kind in decades
A Czech-African Health Forum began at Prague’s Černín Palace on Wednesday. We spoke to Deputy Foreign Minister Martin Tlapa to find out why Africa is important to Czechia.
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Prague exhibition showcases work of Chinese dissident artist
A new exhibition focuses on the work of Chinese dissident artist Badiucao. The show has made news after the local Chinese Embassy tried to get it cancelled.
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The Czech Tiger King
The Netflix series Tiger King may have struck Europeans as something that could only happen in the US. But Czechia has its own subculture of keeping exotic animals as pets.
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Expert questions plan for Ukrainian Roma refugees
Amid reports of Ukrainian Roma refugees sleeping at Prague’s Main Train Station, a tent city has been erected in the Troja district to provide accommodation for them.
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77th edition of Prague Spring Festival opens on Thursday
The Prague Spring festival was disrupted during the last two years due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but is happy to return in full force once again with a special programme.