Józsi takes a ciggi break - where?

KesterTester100 - A toughie to celebrate 100 Testers - UPDATED AGAIN WITH ANOTHER TWIST!

Photo: I rather like this portrait of artisan József Muskovits standing at the door of his workshop, cigarette in hand. It was taken, if I remember correctly, in 1993.

It's the 100th KesterTester, and since up to now I've not won a single round of my own competition, I think this just shows what a soft heart I am. But enough is enough, and I've decided to make you sleuth hard for your money on this one.

Where exactly was this photo taken? I don't mean the town or city, I mean the street and house number. It may seem impossible, but I believe for any genuine sleuth worth the title, it's sleuthable, even if you are located in Bradford or The Bronx. (OK, it might help to speak some Hungarian, but I think you could still do this without. )

And, to reflect the importance of reaching this historic milestone, I will grant the winner the right to buy me three Pilsner Urquell beers instead of the regular two. :)

So, answers via an email or the site messaging system if you would.

I think I need to add another clue for KT99 next week as Gary is struggling in frustration.

Happy sleuthing and have a great weekend!

UPDATE II – The Results and Winner! Humble apologies! I've been very remiss with my duties on this one hundredth KesterTester. Ridiculous, really, as this was the contest I'd decided I should win, allowing me to award myself three Pilsner Urquells. But as we all know, Pride cometh, etc

Let's see who had a go first. Leader of the pack was Tom Chilton, who confidently predicted “1223 Budapest XXII. ker. Kelenvölgyi út 23. (Assuming he hasn't moved since 1993)” That is a bit hopeful, Tom, isn't it? Second entry, all the way from Oregon, was from David McCall. “Dear Kester, Can't say that I've ever visited the guy, but a quick Google search tells me that his place of business is in Budapest XXII, Kelenvölgyi út 23.” Greg Dorey was another favouring Kelenvölgyi út 23 (though he gently offered it as a question). But swooping in from Sweden, Peter Karlsson had other ideas. “Jó reggelt, Kester, Is Mr Muskovits the former sports cyclist, mentioned in A magyar sport kézikönyve 1972? Ooooh. I don't know, Peter. “In any case it’s Nagydiófa utca 9, according to a number of ads in Taxisok Világa.” Oh, you think so, do you? Csaba Wolf reverted to the mainstream. “Hi Kester, My guess would be Kelenvölgyi Út 23., 1223 Budapest, XXII. Kerület, Budafok-Tétény” György Drucker is another one for District VII. “Dear Kester, IMHO 1072 Budapest, Nagydiófa u. 9. Best regards,Gyuri” And suddenly, Misi Müller was another keen on Nagydiófa “Hi Kester, The sign was very familiar to me, but still, it took some time to find it. Nagydiófa utca 9. Budapest. Probably the shop on the right, but not sure. The guy is still running a car repair business at Kelenvölgyi Út 23., Budapest, and at Érd, Diósdi út 69. Kindest regards, Misi” Hmm. Now I'm beginning to wonder myself. Misi Hollós reverted to XXII “Hello Kester, Józsi’s workshop is located at 23 Kelenvölgyi út, District 22, Budapest. Best, Misi.” Csilla Davalovszky chipped in with some congrats (thank you Csilla)! “Hello Kester, First of all, congratulations on the 100th Kester Tester! It’s a real milestone to be celebrated! Locals and non locals, we have all learnt a great deal thanks to your quizzes! I’d say, the “street and house number” where the photo was taken (in the 90s) of József Muskovits is 1223 Budapest, Kelenvölgyi út 23. Cheers, Csilla” Zsolt Maroti fired in the final email: “Szia Kester, 1072 Budapest Nagydiófa utca 9. Just a guess Zs” Well, sorry to say, but I thought you were all awry, and I was heading for three Plsner Urquells. Yes, I knew that you could google the name and come up with23 Kelenvölgyi út, but good grief, I wasn't going to make it that easy. But from memory, I took this pic up the road from me, on Városmajor utca, near the Csaba utca crossroads. I was originally confident about that. But these entries for Nagydiófa utca had me wondering. My good friend Péter Fábry lived and lives in Nagydiófa utca, and it could easily have been that I had wanted to shoot off some FP4 back in the day and used Péter's darkroom to develop the film. There seemed to be only one way to find out for sure, namely dial the telephone number where, it seemed, Mr Muskovits now had his business. (Which is what I had expected all super-sleuths to do to solve this.) But when I finally got around to doing so this past week, I found three of the numbers listed on various websites didn't work. Finally, a fourth did, and I explained my request to the gentleman who answered. He was not Jozsef Muskovits, but he had worked for him. Sadly, however, Mr Muskovits had died about a year ago. And no, there had never been a repair shop on Városmajor utca – the old one had been – yup, you've guessed it, on Nagydiófa utca. But there was a final twist to the tale. Telling him about the photo on the blog, he looked it up on his computer. “Oh no, this is not Jozsef,” said he, “It is Nagydiófa, but I don't know who it is. Must be one of his workers. Phone me next week and I'll ask around who it is.” Well, all that was left was to do the draw, with just four numbers going into the Afghan hat.

I can assure you all, it was a tense moment, after all, this was the 100th KesterTester draw, but after many a shuffle of numbers before, accompanied by gasps from the TV audience, out came number 4 – meaning Zsolt Maroti had sleuthed the 100th Tester!

Well, one lives and learns.

Congratulations Zsolti - global celebrity status now awaits you! Indeed, congratulations to all who got the right answer, I wonder how you did it? And thanks to all who entered. Now I've got to find another piccie suitable for KT101. Have a good week!

ANOTHER UPDATE (10/07/2023)

HA! Just when I thought I'd finally put this to bed, this morning I got a phone call from József Muskovits' son - unfortunately I didn't catch his Christian name.

Whatever, the news - sorry Zsolti - is that this is not on Nagydiófa utca, but an earlier location in the next parallel street - Nyár utca 11. (Both streets are not too far from Blaha Lujza tér, it helps.)

"It was in a building long ago demolished," Muskovits Jnr said.

The chappie having the ciggi goes by the name of István Komlós, but Mr Muskovits Jnr said he hasn't had any contact with him for 25 or more years.

So, this block-buster news must mean that I've won my first KesterTester, with three Plsner Urquells now awaiting to be supped! That is, assuming I can get past the fans demanding selfies :) :) :)

Ah - and I did ask for Peter Karlsson if József Muskovits was a successful sports cyclist - 'fraid not, Peter.

At least, not until I get another phone call!