Czechs go crazy as pop singer Gott turns 80

Hundreds of people from home and abroad queued in steady rain in central Prague on Sunday to buy a "Zero Euro" souvenir banknote depicting Czech pop singer Karel Gott in honour of his 80th birthday.

Some eager fans and collectors had waited for days, arriving as early as Thursday, to buy the zero-denomination banknote for the equivalent of two euros from special ATMs in the shop of a local record company.

A man shows "Zero Euro" souvenir banknotes.

One fan, Lukas Gandzala, said he had slept outside the store after coming all the way from the northern Slovak city of Poprad, some 450 kilometres (280 miles) from Prague.

"We arrived at 6:00 am on Saturday. We slept in sleeping bags on the pavement," he told AFP.

Unlike Slovakia, with which it formed a single state until 1993, the Czech Republic has not yet introduced the euro and its government has no plans to replace its koruna currency in the near future.

Created by Frenchman Richard Faille in 2015 and authorised by the European Central Bank, the Zero.

People queue to buy "Zero Euro" souvenir banknotes.

The Gott banknote was issued in a limited edition of 5,000 and sold out in four hours.

Each buyer could snag a maximum of two banknotes.

Dubbed "Divine Karel" for his impeccable tenor voice, Gott has been voted the most popular singer 42 times in the annual Golden Nightingale poll of Czech music fans.

The zero-denomination banknote is the equivalent of two euros.

Gott has released almost 300 LPs and CDs, selling dozens of millions of them.

Fans in neighbouring Germany, relishing the singer's hits as well as the title song for the "Maya the Bee" children's TV series, have in turn dubbed Gott "the Golden Voice from Prague".

Gott was trained as an electrical fitter before studying to be an opera singer.

At that time, German papers described him as the "Sinatra of the East".

Gott, who is also a skilled painter and an occasional actor, has won awards in countries including Germany, Poland and Russia.

Agence France-Presse