Coordinates: 49°44′48″N 13°23′14″E / 49.746758°N 13.387243°E / 49.746758; 13.387243

Plzeňský Prazdroj (IPA: [ˈpl̩.zɛɲskiː ˈprazdroj], Original Source of Pilsner), known better by its German name Pilsner Urquell (IPA: [ˈpɪlznɐ ˈʔuːɐ̯ˌkvɛl]), is a bottom-fermented beer produced since 1842 in Pilsen, part of today's Czech Republic. Pilsner Urquell was the first pilsner beer in the world. Today it is a prominent brand of the global brewing empire SABMiller, which has also started brewing Pilsner Urquell in Poland and Russia.

Pilsner Urquell is more strongly hopped than most pilsner beers. Saaz hops, a noble hop variety, are a key element in its flavour profile, as are the use of soft water and fire-brewing. It is available in a 330 ml (third of a litre), as well as 12oz {355ml}, and a 500ml (half litre) in both aluminium cans and green bottles.

Almost all draft Pilsner Urquell available throughout the world is served via keg dispense under carbon dioxide pressure, and has been since the 1960s. However, small quantities of the beer in cask conditioned form, dispensed from wooden casks are sometimes made available in the Czech Republic and have also been seen in the United Kingdom during 2012.

Bedřich Smetana (Czech pronunciation: [ˈbɛdr̝ɪx ˈsmɛtana] ( listen); 2 March 1824 – 12 May 1884) was a Czech composer who pioneered the development of a musical style which became closely identified with his country's aspirations to independent statehood. He is thus widely regarded in his homeland as the father of Czech music. Internationally he is best known for his opera The Bartered Bride, for the symphonic cycle Má vlast ("My Fatherland") which portrays the history, legends and landscape of the composer's native land, and for his First String Quartet From My Life.

Smetana was naturally gifted as a pianist, and gave his first public performance at the age of six. After his conventional schooling, he studied music under Josef Proksch in Prague. His first nationalistic music was written during the 1848 Prague uprising, in which he briefly participated. After failing to establish his career in Prague, he left for Sweden, where he set up as a teacher and choirmaster in Gothenburg, and began to write large-scale orchestral works. During this period of his life Smetana was twice married; of six daughters, three died in infancy.

Emil Holub (October 7, 1847 – February 21, 1902) was a Czech physician, explorer, cartographer, and ethnographer in Africa. In a 2005 poll, he was voted #90 of the 100 greatest Czechs.

Holub was born in Holice in eastern Bohemia (then within the Austrian Empire, now the Czech Republic) in the family of municipal doctor. After studying at German-language grammar school in Žatec (Saaz), he was admitted at Prague University where he obtained a degree as a doctor of medicine (1872).

Inspired to visit Africa by the diaries of David Livingstone, Holub travelled to Cape Town, South Africa shortly after graduation and eventually settled near Kimberley to practise medicine. After eight months, Holub set out in a convoy of local hunters on a two-month experimental expedition, or "scientific safari", where he began to assemble a large natural history collection.

In 1873 Holub set out on his second scientific safari, devoting his attention to the collection of ethnographic material. On his third expedition in 1875, he ventured all the way to the Zambezi river and made the first detailed map of the region surrounding Victoria Falls. Holub also wrote and published the first book account of the Victoria Falls published in English in Grahamstown in 1879.