Queen Libussa was a legendary witch in central Europe. But you won’t have heard of her. She lived a thousand years ago. One day, in a trance like state, while she was standing on the edge of a cliff, looking down at the River Vltava and the forest on its far side, she spoke a prophecy saying: “I see a great city. Its glory will touch the stars”.

Then she said to one of her courtiers, “In the forest below there is a clearing. There you will find a man making the best use of his teeth at midday. That is the place where this city will be founded.”

The courtier did as the Queen had bade him, descended from the cliff and rode into the forest. There he saw some men. They were building a house but it was midday, so they had taken a break to eat their lunch, (making the best use of t heir teeth as she said) well all except for one man. He was still working, sawing a block of wood. The courtier went up to him and asked: “What are you making?”. He replied: “A threshold for a house”. In the Czech language the word for a threshold is a prah.

Libussa’s prophecy was right. The city that grew up on that sight is today called Prague, in the English, which means threshold - praha.

In these programmes I’m going to tell the story of three very dramatic moments in the life of that great and beautiful city. The misfortune of Czechoslovakia in 1938, was the gift to the world today of one of the great cities of Europe, left intact from the devastation of World War 2. So I should begin my story in 1938 and leave the mystical Queen Libussa on her cliff.

Tag words: Queen Libussa; River Vltava; Prague; Praha; Czechoslovakia; Bohemia; King Wenceslas; Adolf Hitler; President Hindenberg; Edvard Benes; President Woodrow Wilson; Vladimir Putin; Great Depression; Sudetenland; Tatra mountains; Nazis; Konrad Henlein; Lord Halifax; Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain; President Biden; Blum; Edouard Daladier; Josep[h Goebbels; Lord Runciman; Berchtesgaden; Benito Mussolini; Prime Minister Syrovy; Winston Churchill; Ukraine;