Janos Lajos Fokhagyma - Hungarian Ripper hunter

[David Green]

Looking through some old copies of the Times Literary Supplement, I came across this item from June 7, 1974. It appeared in the ‘Information, Please’ column:

“Janos Lajos Fokhagyma, 1858–1922, Hungarian scholar and vampirologist: any information about his visit to England in 1888 in search of Jack the Ripper.
D.T. Ailman
3 Oak Avenue, Chorlton-Cum-Hardy, Manchester 21”

It’s a valid address, but the appeal seems to be a spoof: ‘Fokhagyma’ is a type of Hungarian garlic. I suspect there is some joke I’m not getting. Anyone help?


David

[Howard Brown]

I believe the piece in the column was a spoof, Dave.

Foke-hayg-ma is how it's pronounced.

[Kattrup]

Probably a joke of some sort, the years do seem very specific, one wonders if Ailman is the fooler or the foolee.
but perhaps The hungarian member here, Gergely Marosi, can help.
I don’t think there’s an @gergely marosi funktion to catch his attention but I’ll pm him.

[Gergely Marosi]

Looking through some old copies of the Times Literary Supplement, I came across this item from June 7, 1974. It appeared in the ‘Information, Please’ column:

“Janos Lajos Fokhagyma, 1858–1922, Hungarian scholar and vampirologist: any information about his visit to England in 1888 in search of Jack the Ripper.
D.T. Ailman
3 Oak Avenue, Chorlton-Cum-Hardy, Manchester 21”

It’s a valid address, but the appeal seems to be a spoof: ‘Fokhagyma’ is a type of Hungarian garlic. I suspect there is some joke I’m not getting. Anyone help?


David

What a curious thing! Fokhagyma in Hungarian is not a type of garlic - it is garlic! Hagyma is onion, fokhagyma is garlic.

János = John, Lajos = Louis

John Louis Garlic. And writes on vampirology. Must be a good inside joke, as garlic scares vampires away )) I'll try to look up local literature, it can be a pen name used in Hungary as well, albeit a really strange one!

[Howard Brown]

Thanks for the follow up, Gergely.