Josef Jiří Kolár
Josef Jiří Kolár (9 December 1812 – 31 January 1896) was a Czech theatrical actor, director, translator, and writer. Early life He was born Josef Kolář (later also spelled Kollar or Kolar) in Prague as the last of three sons to a family of a clothes trader who had twelve children altogether. His parents gave him good education which he broadened at schools so that he could read Homer in Greek before university. He also learned German, French, Italian and English. He started studying philosophy (influenced by Augustin Smetana), natural science and philology at Charles University in 1830 and became interested in the Czech revival movement. He interrupted the studies in 1833 when he became a tutor to a Hungarian noble family in Pest. There he studied medicine and made friends with Ján Kollár. Once he had an argument with a Hungarian nobleman about Hungarian and Slavic languages which ended up with a duel – Kolár was seriously injured and spent several weeks in bed. He also travelled a great deal in Western Europe. He added the middle name Jiří to his name for his admiration for George Gordon Byron. Theatrical career After three years Kolár had to return to