„Džuno“ aneb Životní cesta novináře Jana Jůna
| Stránky | 3–34 |
|---|---|
| DOI | 10.37520/cnm.2025.001 |
| Klíčová slova | Jan Jůn, Czechoslovak Exile, Space, Astronautics, Journalism, Londýnské listy, Velehrad, RFE |
| Citace | HANÁKOVÁ, Jitka. „Džuno“ aneb Životní cesta novináře Jana Jůna. Časopis Národního muzea. Řada historická. Praha: Národní muzeum, 2025, 194(1-2), 3–34. DOI: https://doi.org/10.37520/cnm.2025.001. ISSN 1214-0627. Dostupné také z: https://publikace.nm.cz/periodicke-publikace/casopis-narodniho-muzea-rada-historicka/194-1-2/dzuno-aneb-zivotni-cesta-novinare-jana-juna |
“Džuno” – The Life Journey of Journalist Jan Jůn
The life of Czech-British journalist Jan Jůn (1945–2022) was profoundly shaped by the political history of the
second half of the 20th century. Jan Jůn was born in Prague to a civil servant father, Jan Jůn, Sr. After the February
1948 communist coup, his father went into exile abroad and the family found itself the victim of communist persecution.
Jan Jůn was unable to attend high school and instead sent to a factory as a blue-collar worker, completing
his education later at an evening school for working people. The liberalisation era during the 1960s allowed Jan Jůn
to study journalism. But in 1974, during the “normalisation” era, he also went into exile. In London Jan Jůn became
involved in the life of the Czech exile community at the expatriate Velehrad centre, led by the Jesuit priest Father
Jan Lang. He co-founded the monthly Londýnské listy of the Naarden Movement and also worked as an editor for
Time & Tide magazine, later serving as editor-in-chief for the British magazines Property Monthly Review and
Property Gazette. After 1989 he began working for the Czech section of Radio Free Europe, and also became a
regular contributor to Czech Radio and Czech Television. He also published articles in magazines such as Přítomnost,
Vesmír, and the journal Prostor. In 1999 he was awarded the Ferdinand Peroutka Prize. Jan Jůn had a life-long
passion for astronomy and astronautics. Back in the 1960s he guided visitors at Prague’s Štefánik Observatory,
where he earned the nickname “Džuno” in reference to the American space rocket JUNO. He also became a member
of the SPACE astronautics club, for which he helped publish the Space News Herald magazine. In later years,
Jan Jůn was a guest contributor for Czech radio programs about space-related matters; and in London, he was a
longstanding member of the British Interplanetary Society.
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