Bohumil hrabal biography

In 1956, Hrabal married Eliška Plevová (known as "Pipsi" to Hrabal, and referred to by that name in some of his works), the 30-year-old daughter of Karel Pleva, procurator and manager of a wood factory in the South Moravian town of Břeclav.

She worked there with her future husband, František Hrabal (1889– 1966); one František Hrabal was listed as Bohumil's godfather when he was baptised on 4 February 1914, but František was also the first name of Bohumil's future step-grandfather, a soft-drinks trader.

In his youth Hrabal was influenced by a highly talkative uncle who arrived for a two-week visit and stayed 40 years. Though Hrabal received a law degree from Charles University, he never practiced; instead, he worked as a salesman, in a theatre, and at factory and office jobs.

Hrabal's two best-known novels are Closely Observed Trains ( Czech: Ostře sledované vlaky) (1965) and I Served the King of England (1971), both of which were made into movies by the Czech director Jiří Menzel (in 1966 and 2006, respectively).