Freelance journalist/broadcaster based in Prague. Views here my own and not those of BBC/DW/RTÉ/ORF/CBC/Monocle Radio. https://robjcameron.substack.com/
Yeah Mel was pissed. I’d asked him about Jewish opposition to him being at KVIFF. Then got the name of his film wrong. One of many moments in a 22-year career with the BBC. Which ends today. Read why - and how I feel about it - here: robjcameron.substack.com/p/goodbye-to...
Today marks the end of my 22 years as the BBC Prague Correspondent. This isn't really about leaving the BBC. It's about being a freelance correspondent in today's unforgiving media environment. And why, after all these years, I still just want to write. robjcameron.substack.com/p/goodbye-to...
Long before Kremlin opponents were falling from windows, Prague had its own political mystery. Jan Masaryk was the last non-Communist minister in Czechoslovakia's government. Two weeks later, he was dead. Nearly 80 years on, his death remains unsolved. robjcameron.substack.com/p/the-man-wh...
Is there a word for nostalgia for a time and place that you yourself never actually experienced? I bet there’s one in German. Anyway read my love letter to Bratislava. It’s steeped in it. 👇 robjcameron.substack.com/p/to-the-cas...
Prague changes completely as the sun goes down. The crowds thin, the heat eases, and an older city emerges. Join me and historian Alex Went in search of lost streets, vanished gardens and forgotten bridges. robjcameron.substack.com/p/the-city-b...
On this day in 1914, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, plunging Europe into conflict. Field Marshal Joseph Radetzky was, of course, long dead. But the empire he had spent a lifetime defending had just set the clock ticking on its own destruction. 👇 robjcameron.substack.com/p/the-radetz...
Every age seems to produce a businessman who believes he can reshape society - for good or for ill. Henry Ford. Elon Musk. In the early 20th century, Czechoslovakia had Baťa. The extraordinary story of the company that controlled (almost) everything 👇 robjcameron.substack.com/p/the-everyt...
One of the last cool-ish days before what looks like a scorching week. Fancy a walk through the Prague that only exists in the history books? Join me and historian Alex Went as we uncover the city beneath your feet. robjcameron.substack.com/p/the-city-b...
A new Roman military camp has been uncovered in Slovakia, shedding fresh light on the campaigns that reached as far as Trenčín 1,850 years ago. I wrote about their most remarkable surviving trace - an inscription carved into the rock beneath Trenčín Castle. robjcameron.substack.com/p/the-roman-...
He was born in Bohemia and spoke Czech. He fought Napoleon and became one of the Habsburg Empire's greatest military commanders. A century after his statue was torn down, should it return? My latest essay: robjcameron.substack.com/p/the-radetz...
Bratislava is reliving its royal past this weekend. For nearly 300 years, kings and queens of Hungary - including Maria Theresa - were crowned here. I photographed the Coronation Days event a few years ago. Here's the history behind the spectacle. robjcameron.substack.com/p/to-the-cas...
Quite a spirited response (both at home and abroad) to my article on Prague's decision to return the Radetzky monument. If you're wondering what all the fuss is about... 👇 robjcameron.substack.com/p/the-radetz...
Field Marshal Joseph Radetzky was 91 when he died. He fought in the Napoleonic Wars, but lived long enough to be photographed. Born in Bohemia and a Czech speaker, he spent his life fighting for the Habsburg Empire. Does he deserve to be honoured? robjcameron.substack.com/p/the-radetz...
Should a democracy restore a monument to an imperial field marshal? More than a century after Prague removed the Radetzky statue, it's coming back. Some call it restoring history. Others see it as honouring the wrong past. robjcameron.substack.com/p/the-radetz...
"When they first studied the inscription in the 19th century, one historian claimed it was a forgery." Historian Vladimír Pinďák explains how a discovery thousands of kilometres away in Algeria settled the argument. robjcameron.substack.com/p/the-roman-...
Long before Amazon or IKEA, there was Baťa. The Czech shoe company built one of the world's first global businesses - and reshaped entire cities in the process. One of my favourite stories from the Based in Bohemia archive. robjcameron.substack.com/p/the-everyt...
Looking back, this is still one of my favourite Based in Bohemia essays. It begins with an extraordinary photograph of Adolf Hitler in 1938, gazing across the Danube at Bratislava. It became a journey through centuries of Central European history. robjcameron.substack.com/p/to-the-cas...
One unexpected result of this story: readers keep sending me suggestions for other Roman sites across Slovakia and Moravia. Keep them coming - I have a feeling this rabbit hole is only just beginning. robjcameron.substack.com/p/the-roman-...
I hadn't expected one of my most-read essays this month to be about a Roman inscription in Slovakia. But perhaps that's because it isn't really about Rome. It's about Europe. robjcameron.substack.com/p/the-roman-...
Nearly two thousand years ago, Roman soldiers campaigning far north of the Danube left an inscription in what is now Slovakia. I travelled to Trenčín to see it - and found a story about borders, identity and cities that outlive empires. robjcameron.substack.com/p/the-roman-...