KesterTester127 - It certainly looks popular here, judging by the queue outside the door.
A wistful looking guy at the door of a Postabank branch in the Hungarian Capital
Hello - I don't know the guy's name (that would be difficult!), but I don't think this week's KesterTester will really test many readers given the experience I've had wth you sleuthers over the years.
Whatever, it's pretty simple question: What was the day/date this photo was taken? You have to work it out or guess. :)
Answers by an email or via the site messaging system, please - with the magic KT127 code in the title if you would - remember, global celebrity status and the chance to buy me two beers awaits the winner!
UPDATE: Comments, Competitors and THE WINNER!
Dear All, Many apologies about lateness to all this, I've been rather busy in the last few weeks, but now getting down sorting through what, I must admit, was more entries than I expected.
A rather (over?) confident Les Szabo was one early bird.
“Ah ha! An easy one for once, either when their shares were floated back in mid 90's or the banking crisis in 2007 - l can smell the beer already!” sayeth he.
Dear Les, that's two answers, sort of, there. The competition committee has ruled you out on grounds that this is not allowed. It's more than our European Union Competition licence is worth, whatever the veracity of one or more of your answers, very sorry.
Jorge Oliveira was in for a punt on this one.
“Sometime around 1999... “
Yes, Jorge – but we needed a single date, please!
Martin Dale A. swooped next.
“Dear Kester!
Tomorrow, a few years ago – on February 28 1997.
With very best wishes, Dale”
Michael Roddy must have been disturbed from reading his latest James Joyce novel.
“Szia,
…
As for your Postabank KT, I give up ... without really trying. PB's history is way too complicated to try to figure out.
Szia”
Oh, the youth of today, eh?
Greg Dorey popped up for this one. Nice to see you, Greg!
“Hi Kester,
A day in March 1997, but it could have been one of several!
Hope all is well, Greg”
But Greg, I need one date – not take my pick out of 31!
Steven Nelson felt in the mood to buy me a beer or two.
“Hey Kester,
I'm guessing that picture was taken on Feb. 28, 1997, 30 years ago today, when news spread that Postabank was nearly insolvent and panicked account holders made a run on the bank. The government had to eventually bail out Postabank for 150 billion Ft. (which was a lot of money back then), thereby nationalizing it and I guess liquidating it as there is no more Postabank today.
Have a great day, Steven”
Well, not so correct on your latter musings, Steven! The Horn government saved it, the Orbán govenmen recapitalised it 1998 (with an awful lot of capital to boot) and then the Medgyessy government (I think it was) put it up for auction again. In around 2003-4. It was gobbled up by Erste Bank for a pretty penny – or an even prettier euro on the day. I remember at the press conference the then CEO, Júlia Király, uttered a very strong expression on hearing the sale price. (In private, she didn't know I could hear :))
Elka Kristo Nagy thought it must be around jingle bells' time.
“KT127-it must be around christmas time, judging by the fenyö nestled among the wintery wardrobed crowd. Perhaps the wistful young man is dreaming about the lovely holiday present and fenyö he too will buy his wife once the bank opens. : )”
Zsolt Maroti's visit was customarily short and sweet.
“Szia Kester
28 February 1997, Zs”
Stephen Saracco pitched in.
“Kester - Don't remember the actual date but it was the run on Postabank.”
But Mr Saracco, the question is … - Ah, a second email has arrived:
“I do think it is the run on Postabank...maybe 1997 Feb 28?
Stay Well, Stephen”
László Jakabfi was determined not to miss out on this one.
“February 28, 1997,” said he (that's even shorter than Zs)
Tom Chilton <has been quiet of late, but he was jolted out of his torpor with this tester.
“Hi KJ,
I guess these are people queuing to get their money out of Postabank.
I remember there was a run on Postabank and the internet tells me this followed the publication of a report by an ÁB-Aegon official on February 28, 1997 that claimed that Postabank was on the verge of collapse.
February 28th was a Friday in 1997 (as it is this year) so I guess the queues formed outside Postabank branches the following Monday - March 3rd 1997.
üdv. TLC
Gene Brown thinks his time has for some celebrity status.
“Hi Kester! Finally a question I might have the answer to! KT127 was likely taken on Friday, February 28, 1997, the day that everyone lined up to withdraw their funds from Postabank. Attached, please find another photo for extra credit. Gene Brown”
And still they kept rolling in. This from Pál Varga Koritár:
“Hi Kester,
I guess the date was 28 of February of 1997, when the Hungarian clients - on a not baseless rumour - made assaults on branches of Postabank to take out their money.
Best regards: Pál Varga Koritár”
Then there was David McCall, emailing from the west coast of the USA.
“Hi Kester,
Had you not shown the sign, nor referenced PostaBank, this photo could have been shot in many places. Even, for example, when shares for Pick were made available to the public, either in exchange for cash or those land vouchers!
This is clearly a photo of the day when customers descended on PostaBank to withdraw funds.
I'm not sure whether it's a head cold I'm recovering from, or just my assumption that you would be more devious, but I had to google the date. Imagine my surprise when I saw it was exactly 28 years ago. Given your talent for being right there on top of things, I suspect you took this pic on the first day of the run, i.e. February 27, 1997.
Alas, Gábor Princz was not able to convince the crowd amassed around the branches of Hungary's 2nd largest bank as well as Jimmy Stewart did when he played George Bailey in It's a Wonderful Life, so PostaBank went by the wayside, and Princz lived out his wonderful life in the coffee shops of Vienna.
You know the old saying, If March comes in like a lion, it goes out like a lamb, and vice versa?
Well, if that holds true, then by the end of March, I anticipate my local weather will be horrible, and there will be peace and calm in Washington, DC. (I'm going to go out and mow my lawn today, perhaps in shorts.)
Have a good weekend! David McCall”
Not to be left by the wayside, and constantly thirsting for global celebrity status, not to say the change to by me two beer, Hubert “Le Poirot” Warsmann thought he knew this one:
“Good evening Kester,
Thx for the reminder of a world gone by.
Dead easy for oldtimers, this was 28 Feb 1997, the day of the run on Postabank.
At the time, it was quite an event, Postabank being the third largest bank in the country with a huge retail footprint. They were at some point a challenger to OTP but collapsed in 1997 following hazardous business decisions.
Its CEO, Gábor Princz, was well connected across the political spectrum but elected to move to Vienna after the 1998 elections. He was certainly not hiding and I remember seeing him entering a posh 1st district restaurant one weekend there, in 1998 or 1999.
He was tried in a series of cases in Budapest for the Postabank collapse and was eventually convicted,
Although he made several attempts to start various and largely unsuccessful businesses in Hungary in the later years, He remained based in Vienna and died there a few years ago, at a fairly young age I believe.”
62, I read in a report, Hubert.
Finally, Mihály “I'll have a go” Hollós wrote in.
“Hello Kester,
The piccie shows the bank run at the financial institution, so it must have been taken at the very end of February 1997 (February 28). Best, Misi”
Well, that's an awful lot of entries.
But you know what? Nobody has the correct answer! Yes, really! You see it's true that the run on Postabank began on Friday, February 28th, 1997, but the bank branches remained open on the Saturday, in the hope of reducing the panic. This piccie was taken that day, March 1st, on József Nádor tér. From memory, it's the branch next to the Finance Ministry.
So, after symbolically drawing out number '0' from the EU Approved Black Woolly hat, I let out a whoop of delight and set off to buy myself two beers and prepare to meet fans demanding selfies, when the Competition Committee put a firm hand across the door, and reminded me that before launching KT127 it had been agreed that nobody could be expected to know that, and that we had agreed that February 28 and March 1 would both be accepted as winning entries.
Worse still, they judged March 3, ie the Monday, to also be accepted as correct on evaluating Mr Chilton's entry.
So that left me fuming that once again, I had not been allowed to win my own competition, and I had to arrange a re-draw, with 11 numbers going into the hat. (Sorry, David Mc, but they did not accept February 27 as acceptable, since the bank run had not begun on the Thursday.)
So there we were, me drawing out number 10. I couldn't believe it – not only does he win when there are only three or four correct entries, but Hubert “Le Poirot” Warsmann even wins when there are eleven! He must have some hold over the Black Woolly Hat.
And I still have to buy my own beer until I can get him to come out! What a life!
Congratulations to Hubert, he's welcome to the fandom (I don't really crave celebrity status, honest) and thanks for everyone for 'having a go'.
Till next time, have a good week!
Kester
Commentaires