PRAGUE (REUTER) - Bohumil Hrabal, the Czech writer of "Closely Observed Trains" and other works, fell to his death from the fifth floor of a Prague hospital on Monday, CTK news agency said. Nova independent television quoted a doctor at the hospital as saying 83-year-old Hrabal, who was being treated for severe arthritis, had fallen while trying to feed birds. Hrabal`s books adorn most Czechs` shelves and include titles such as "I served the King of England", and "Closely Observed Trains" which was made into an Oscar-winning film in the 1960s. His subtly political works were suppressed under the Czechoslovak communist authorities but were widely circulated in samizdat photocopies in dissident circles. Czech President Vaclav Havel, a former dissident playwright, often paid tribute to Hrabal in his writings. Hrabal, regarded as the grand old man of contemporary Czech literature, shared a beer in his favourite Prague bar, The Golden Tiger, with Bill Clinton during the U.S. President`s visit in 1994. Many of Hrabal`s more than 50 works deal with the theme of the problems of the little man in everyday life. Hrabal, a doctor of law, had his own reserved seat in The Golden Tiger. "There will be one less seat here," Nova quoted one regular as saying.