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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Joe Hinchliffe

Jack Karlson, who shot to fame after ‘succulent Chinese meal’ arrest, dies aged 82

Jack Karlson
Jack Karlson revisited the China Sea restaurant in 2024 for the documentary The Man Who Ate A Succulent Chinese Meal. Photograph: Jamila Filippone/The Guardian

The man who immortalised the phrase “this is democracy manifest” while starring in what has been described as the pre-eminent Australian meme, Jack Karlson, has died aged 82.

Karlson – although there are debates as to whether this was his real name or one of many aliases – was a serial prison escaper and small-time crook who shot to fame in 2009 after a news clip of his arrest at a Chinese restaurant in Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley in 1991 was uploaded on to the internet.

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