Thread by @Howsito

"This is democracy manifest!"

Now I want to talk to you about this legendary piece of internet gold.

The gentleman in this video is widely reported as being none other than Charles Dozsa.

Charles who you ask?

Let's start the beginning...

Pal Charles Dozsa was born in Szegad, Hungary on the 20th of January, 1940.

Not much is known about his early life, but he claimed to be of noble blood. A descendant of Hungarian nobleman György Dózsa.

In 1965 Pal or 'Paul' as he would later go by, arrived in Australia.

It's not exactly known why (one can can guess though) but upon arrival he reportedly he was wanted by police in Hungary, Indonesia and alledgedly on Interpol's radar.

Chess was one of Pal's passions and he was considered a Hungarian master. In fact he was a leading junior drawing in Debrecen in 1956 where Hungarian chess grandmaster Lajos Portisch (pictured below) was an entrant.

Dozsa's love for chess was only rivaled by his passion for fine dining and the high life.

So much in fact that during his travels between Australia and New Zealand for chess competitions, he would stay in 5 star hotels (using a variety of aliases) and fled before paying the bill

Hotels weren't the only one to fall victim to his ways. Dozsa was also known to rent luxurious apartments paying some rent in advance, he would lease expensive furniture, sell it and disappear.

It was restaurants where Dozsa took his finesse game to the next level. The former chef would dine out in Sydney's fanciest of restaurants and would use a variety of tactics to avoid paying the bill.

Some of these need to be read to be believed. Allow me to elaborate...

One method he employed was the "my wallet is in the car" trick, off he'd go to retrieve it, never to return.

Often times he would make out a cheque to pay the bill that would inevitably bounce.

This was but the tip of the iceberg of the craftiness of the artful meal dodger.

Perhaps the greatest trick the Dozsa ever pulled was this one.

He would finish a meal, then say to the restaurant staff that he was very ill and ask for an ambulance to be called. The manager would be overly concerned and the medics would arrive to take him to hospital.

He would spend the night in hospital, make a miraculous recovery and get away without paying for yet another succulent meal.

His tried and tested scam came undone one night when an ambulance driver who had picked him up prior recognized him and caught him in the act.

This wasn't the first time he'd been caught and it wouldn't be the last.

By the 3rd of June 1986 he'd been charged on fifteen separate occasions for ducking out without paying.

The key words in this excerpt from the @smh are "like he's trying to set some kind of world record".

By November 4th, 1988, Dozsa had been convicted a whopping FIFTY FOUR times for 'chucking a runner'.

The best part? He'd given a false address to the court that ended up being a cafe he regularly frequented.

Oh Paul you loveable rogue, you.

Later that month he was back at it again. This time old Paul had a hankering for Thai.

There's not a lot on record of his exploits from '88 to '95, but know PCD stayed busy, hitting well over another 42 restaurants up for a free feed.

The Hamburglar ain't got shit on him!

On this occasion in Janurary of 1995 the courts got the last laugh.

This time it wasn't a wrap on the knuckles for old mate Dozsa, he was headed back to the big house for yet another stint behind bars.

Ahhh yes, one might say he knew the judicial system well.

By May of 1995, Dozsa had made his way to Canberra and he a record to break. Dozsa claimed a British man (name unknown) held the 'dine and dash' world record.

107 was the number to beat.

By the time Paul 'Dodger' had run afoul of the law once again, the record was his.

For the record, Dozsa's favourite meal was Coq Au Vin (a succulent French dish comprised of
braised Chicken with wine, lardons, mushrooms, and optionally garlic).

Chateaubriand with Bearnaise sauce another fave of the former chef.

Post 1995 there isn't much to find on-line in regards to his 'eat and run' exploits, but it's well documented within the chess community forums that the self-proclaimed world record holder had clocked up 150 convictions over the course of his life.

Now this is where Dozsa's tale takes an interesting turn. Within those same chess forums there is some conjecture that it is actually Dozsa in that timeless video (read: bit.ly/2HUY21o)

This is the Dozsa familiar to those who battled him on the chess table.

There are definitely some similarities between the two distinguished gentlemen (the Captain Lou Albano inspired goatee is a glaring difference though).

Is it a copycat? A case of mistaken identity? Or merely the case of the video taken on a mythology all on its own?

Sadly in his later years it appears Paul went into somewhat of a mental decline. I'm not going to get into his thoughts on mind control and being a subject of the Warsaw Pact Military Research. You can read about that here if you're interested: aussiechess.com.au/showthread.php…

There are some funny tales of his exploits in that thread and here also: chesschat.org/showthread.php…

Sadly, Pal passed away on the 10th of October 2003 after succumbing to an aggressive brain tumor.

I don't condone his crimes, just wanted to shed some light on his colorful life.

In fact I think his life has all the elements for a great crime/drama. Think Catch Me If You Can. I can picture @JonahHill in the role or @galifianakisz perhaps?

Make it happen Hollywood!

Holy crap it only dawned on me now that Dozsa is wearing a sweater emblazoned with a picture of a dude dunking a basketball.

Dozsa was a fan of the round ball.