He and his wife, Jirina, were on holiday in Western Europe when they heard the news of the Warsaw Pact invasion, and rushed back to Prague.There Kyncl put his energies into the heroic rearguard action to protect the liberties of 1968, and later into clandestine opposition. He lost his job at the radio and was banned from journalism; he was reduced to work as a hospital clerk and then an ice-cream vendor. But his fluent English and his courage made him a natural contact for Western visitors trying to reach the Czech opposition. This was to cost him two spells in prison, and many years under close surveillance and virtual house arrest.As he said to one British journalist, leading him out of doors to evade the wall microphones, “I am in a prison within a prison (Czechoslovakia) within a prison (the Soviet empire).”In 1983, international protests supported by Chancellor Bruno Kreisky of Austria and by the novelist Graham Greene induced the regime to let him out of gaol and expel him.

Kyncl settled in London, where he was followed by his wife and eventually by his son, Ivan, who had become almost the official photographer for the “Charter 77″ opposition.In London, Kyncl was welcomed at Charing Cross by another Czech exile, George Theiner, editor of the magazine Index on Censorship. This led to a job which he often said was more enjoyable than anything he had done in the rest of his life. From 1983 to 1991, Kyncl worked for Index as editor for Central and Eastern Europe, publishing smuggled-out texts from Vaclav Havel, Ivan Klima and many others.The collapse of the Communist regime in November 1989 faced Kyncl with a dilemma Back in Prague, he was welcomed and offered high promotion. But in the end he decided to remain in London, accepting the post of correspondent for Czech Radio. This was partly because he felt somehow a little out of place in his own country, sensing – with his usual acuteness – that the new mood was moving away from his own intellectual generation of ex-Communist idealists.But it was also because he felt immensely proud that he had constructed a successful life for himself in Britain, starting as a penniless exile, and he was reluctant to put that achievement behind him. He and Jirina, with Ivan’s help, had somehow moved her massive pieces of family furniture into a small council flat on a concrete housing estate in Peckham and there, in touch with a wide circle of friends, he intended to stay.Karel Kyncl, with his lean frame, high cheekbones and broad smile, was always the centre of any party he went to. He had all the melancholy wit and sense of the absurd which have helped the Czechs to survive this century But he was a romantic too.

Asked once if he would rather be invaded by the Soviet Union or the United States, he replied: “If there’s a choice, I would prefer the fist with a glove on. But I am enough of an idealist to believe there can be a third way.”Neal AschersonKarel Kyncl, journalist and broadcaster: born 6 January 1927; married (one son, one daughter); died Prague 1 April 1997.. Max Clifford, 53, is a purveyor of PR to the famous and infamous, from Frank Sinatra to Antonia de Sancha. The latest story he has broken concerns the Tory MP Jerry Hayes and his alleged lover Paul Stone Further – damaging – revelations are expected shortly

Family values? Life was pretty hard for my parents. My father was one of 10 children and I was the youngest of four.

My parents instilled into us the importance of education, but there wasn’t any pressure when it came to exams.
Mad Max? I settled in quite OK at Pelham Primary School in South Wimbledon. On my first day at All Saints Junior School I had a fight with a boy called Andrew Baxter and he got a bloody nose. He turned out to be the headmaster’s son.Maximum effort? I didn’t push myself I was one of those kids who did just enough. I had a creative imagination; I would make an excuse for someone who was late, or teach them how to get away with it.Exam scandal shock horror: I failed the 11-plus. My sister, who did extremely well at school and was a top scholastic achiever in Surrey, tells me I spent most of the exam drawing on the papers. My parents weren’t very happy.Secondary chance? I had a lot of friends at Pelham Secondary Modern, but I didn’t take any of the academic opportunities I wasn’t remotely interested in being in class It wasn’t the fault of the staff; I wanted to be outside I played football – often in midfield. That is in the thick of the battle, creating opportunities for others to score goals and get the glory.