Do Go On - 229 - The Eiffel Tower

Episode Date: March 11, 2020

The most visited monument in the world, The Eiffel Tower wasn't always popular. Built for the 1889 World's Fair, it was an ambitious project - the tallest structure in the world at the time - almost doubling the previous record holder. On this episode we talk about the tower's inception, the protest against it, its time as a giant billboard as well as Franz Reichelt the "Flying Tailor," who tested his parachute suit by jumping from the tower.Tickets to our live shows in MELBOURNE here: https://dogoonpod.com/events/Matt is performing his new stand up show MONKEY HOUSE in BRISBANE March 10-15 and MELBOURNE March 26-April 19, find more details/get tickets here: https://mattstewartcomedy.com/gigs (use the code 'podcast' for a 20% discount)Jess is performing her debut solo stand up show ALMOST in MELBOURNE March 26-April 19, get tickets here: https://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2020/shows/almost (use the code 'podcast' for a 20% discount)Our website: dogoonpod.comSupport the show and get rewards like bonus episodes: patreon.com/DoGoOnPod Submit a topic idea directly to the hat: dogoonpod.com/Submit-a-Topic Twitter: @DoGoOnPodInstagram: @DoGoOnPodFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/DoGoOnPod/Email us: [e-mail] out our other podcasts:Book Cheat: https://play.acast.com/s/book-cheatPrime Mates: https://play.acast.com/s/prime-mates/Listen Now: https://play.acast.com/s/listen-now/Our awesome theme song by Evan Munro-Smith and logo by Peader ThomasREFERENCES AND FURTHER READING:https://www.toureiffel.paris/en/the-monument/gustave-eiffelhttps://www.vice.com/en_au/article/nnqpnm/breaking-up-with-the-eiffel-towerhttps://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/2074301/Woman-with-objects-fetish-marries-Eiffel-Tower.html

Melbourne and Canada, we got exciting news for you. And we should also say this is 2026. Jess, what year is it? 2026. Thank God you're here. Right now, I'm in Melbourne doing my show with Serenji Amarna, 630 each night at the Cooper's Inn Hotel, having so much fun. We'd love to see you there.

Canada, we are visiting you in September this year. If you've somehow missed the news, we are heading up Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal, and Toronto for shows. That's going to be so much fun. Tickets for all this stuff, I believe, are online. And I'm here too. This podcast is part of the Planet Broadcasting Network. Visit planetbroadcasting.com for more podcasts from our great mates.

Hi everyone, just us at the top of the show to tell you that the Melbourne International Comedy Festival starts in just two weeks. What? I have to start writing my show. We're performing what? In just two and a half weeks, you can see Jess and Matt do full runs, which means three and a half weeks of their shows. Jess, your show is called. Almost. It's on at 6pm at the group.

Greek Centre 5pm on Sundays. You can get tickets atcomcom.com.com. And Matt? Monkey House. And it's on in Brisbane from the 10th, which is yesterday I think till the 15th. Then in Melbourne for the full run. And then in Sydney, late April for only four nights. And you can get tickets via matchewa comedy.comedy.com slash gigs.

Just go to Mattiotechoolecom. And there's a button right there. Dave always makes fun of me for that. I've gotten the rhythm. I can't stop saying it. And have you used the discount code podcast for mine or Jess's shows, you get 20% off. So cheap, you should definitely do it.

And you can use that code because we are doing live podcasts at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. Starting on Sunday, March 28th, Saturday, March 28th, pardon me, and the three Saturdays after that. Two o'clock at the European Beer Cafe. Tickets are on sale now, and the first two are very close to being sold out. Yes. So come on down. It's going to be so much fun. Awesome.

Again, tickets atcommetyfestal.com. I have links to all the shows in the description of this episode. But comedy, how good is it? Real good. Tata. Hello and welcome to another episode of Do Go On. My name is Dave Warnock and I'm sitting here with Matt Stewart and Jess Perkinson. Put a hand out to hold my hand and then pulled it away when I went in for it.

Is that why you said Matt's name first? Yeah, he's never rejected my hand. Matt, come on. Straight in like that. Yeah, all right. Enjoy dying of coronavirus. Yeah, man. It did feel warm and sort of coronary.

Yeah. Have I ever told you about the first time? I went to a friend's house and it was a girl's house in high school. And I met her dad and I shook his hand. And I had no idea what he meant. He said, oh, a little clammy. And I did not know what that meant. So I said, thank you.

That's very cute. You have not changed because your shake was still a little. Yeah, that's what made me think about that. Yeah. So I've had coronavirus since I was the age of 13. What was the dad getting it? He's just, why was he trying to make you uncomfortable? I think he was trying to make me nervous, and he didn't succeed because I didn't know what he meant.

Oh, thank you, sir. He won his respect. Oh, this guy's good. Thank you. He takes everything as a compliment. This guy has a lot of self-belief. Hey, Dave, explain what's this show again? This show?

Well, it's a little clammy. That's what it is. That's probably fair. It's a podcast where we take it in terms of report on a topic usually suggested by a listener. And it is my turn to report on a topic this week. And to get us onto that topic, I ask you a question. I love questions. Here we go.

My question for both of you is because you don't know what I've reported on. What is the most visited paid monument in the world? What counts as a monument? The Eiffle Tower. The Eiffel Tower does count and that is the correct answer. Oh! Yes. Well done.

Mailed it. Today I'm going to be talking all about the Eiffel Tower. Wow. Wow, that's cool. Because we just recorded a bonus episode, and there was a mention of the iPhone power. Yeah, and I was hoping that no one was, none of your hands are clammy. I was really hoping none of you were going to go, yeah, that'd be a boring topic to talk about. That'd be a weird comment for us to make, but I wouldn't put it past us.

I'm loving this as an idea, because I know vaguely that it was not intended to be up there forever, and it was only meant to be up for a brief amount of time, and the people hated it for a while. So I want to know. Spoilers. I want this story fleshed out my brain or even to find out that those things are not true. I was in a similar boat with this because have we all seen the tower? Yeah. I thought we would have yet. But also, it's so famous, but I didn't know that much about it.

Despite, you know, if you Google famous buildings, or it comes up. And what I did this week was I put three famous structures. Cool. I put a statue and a bridge. Won't spoil which ones. Up for the vote at the Patreon. Lady Liberty. Yeah. And seriously.

And the Pontavecchio. Yes. The most famous bridge. Oh, what a beautiful bridge. It is. And the Petron supporters voted for the Eiffel Tower, but only just, just pipped him. And it's only been suggested by one person, and that is Tom from England. And you can write when he suggests a topic.

And there's a link in the description if you want to do that. Anyone can do that. And Tom from England says, why? He just writes in capital letters, because Dave said it. I don't know what that means, Tom, but good on you. You must have, I guess you said at some point that it would make a good topic. Yeah. Great.

What on Tom. And Tom was right. And so was I. because here it is. Wow. Full circle. So, Jess, do you know, Matt just alluded to a bit of the story there, but do you know much about it? I know that, I think, it wasn't supposed to be there for long.

Okay. Originally, and people hated it. God, I wish that was so wrong. Sadly, it is true, but it would be great if you were... I'm trying to... Interpreting Matt there being wrong. I'm trying to put my finger on the name, who Eiffel was named. It was a man, wasn't it?

Gary Eiffel or something. Oh, banned. Yeah, 64. Yeah. Blue naumee ram-a-na. Yeah. It's named after them. Has anyone done a cover band of them yet called Iful 69?

That would be Iful 60 nice. Oh, yeah. Oh, gosh. It's not going to get better than that. Are we doing it? Are we going to do it? Are we going to do the band? Yeah.

I feel 69. My balls are blue da. That's a blue da. Great. Great. Well, that's our first hit. They're all different, slightly different versions of that song. I'm working blue da-b-de-dab-d-dab-a-day, which means so smutty.

You work exclusively blue. I do work very blue. Come see me at the comedy festival. I work blue. Wow, it is so racy. I'll work in a fuck there somewhere. Dave, can you believe that now? I'll work in a fuck.

Yeah, I didn't like it. You say things that other people are too scared to say. Yeah, like I'll work in a fuck. I exclusively working fuck All right, let's go The world's first World's Fair Then known as the great exhibition The World's First World Fair

I mean I have gone off script early The first World's Fair then known as the Technically a true fact was just stated Yeah but grammatically it was a nightmare Sorry, the universe's first world's fair Then known as the great exhibition Took place in London in 1851 The idea of the fair was to celebrate industry, commerce and the arts.

You might have, I know. Why do we need a fucking fair for industry and commerce? Oh, you're happy for the arts though? Of course. I live for arts fairs. You might have heard of the famous Crystal Palace in London. The soccer team. Yeah, well, named after that palace.

The Chinese restaurant. Which came first. It's a real chicken and the egg. No one knows if it was the soccer team or the building that came first. It's sadly later burnt down. A crystal palace. I couldn't believe that. No longer there's.

A lot of the things built for the great exhibitions of the world's fairs would mysteriously burn down. Interesting. But it was originally erected to be the pavilion for people to exhibit their trades. Yes. Hashtag nays. So the world's first world's fair was a big success, a world's first. And so every few years after that, more world's fairs or world expos.

So sometimes go there were put on. Paris had the second one. Then I went to Vienna, Philadelphia. We even had one in Australia in 1851. Both Sydney and Melbourne are rivalry as old as time itself. Competed to get the fair. And instead they had it in double. Well, Sydney struck first and put on the Sydney International Exhibition in 1879,

but it mainly focused on agriculture and therefore wasn't officially recognised by the BIE, which we all know was the Bureau of International Institutions. That's what I say when I'm having a good time. BIA. That's what I say, a roller coasters. BIAI. Of course you are referencing the Bureau of International Exhibitions. They didn't recognise the Sydney.

They said that doesn't count. Sucked in Sydney. So Melbourne was quick to capitalise on this and they put together an official World's Fair in record time. Because it's the best city anyway. Nah, Sydney is probably very good. I should visit. Actually, come see me at the Sydney Company Festival.

The Sydney Melbourne rivalry goes one way. Like Melbourne just feels inferior Who in Melbourne cares? No, it doesn't exist at all Which way does it go do you think? Melbourne has an inferiority complex for Sydney. Sydney don't care. Melbourne doesn't care.

Who in Melbourne talks about it? I reckon there was definitely a thing when I was growing up. Yeah, right. I don't think I've ever heard anyone talk about it apart from talking about how no one talks about it. Right. I'm talking about it going back to 1879 here. Right, okay.

Sorry. No, yeah, this is definitely true. It's definitely a real thing, the rivalry. But yeah, do you, I don't ever think about it. I just think of Sydney as like, it's like very similar to Melbourne only, a bit prettier with better weather. Much better weather. It's a lovely place. It's just a nightmare to get anywhere.

Oh, yeah. That's the one thing that people talk about. It's slightly more expensive and the road system's confusing. Lots of one-way streets. But their public transport's better. Yeah, the train's great. And it's got more sunshine, better beaches. You can get a train from the airport.

Imagine. And they're like similarly strong comedy scenes, right? Yeah, I think so. I don't, yeah, I don't know anyone who gives a shit about it. I fucking love that bridge. I've talked about it many times. That actually came third in the vote, I'm afraid. I'm obsessed with that bridge.

And which I'm hoping to get to the Sydney Harbour Ridge one day because actually I was looking into it. That's a pretty funny story. Does it? You haven't got there yet? Have not got there. But you're ruining my point here of Melbourne now. Yeah, oh, Sydney.

No, yeah. Those dogs up there. And they bloody staple it to him. If that's a phrase, stapling something to summer. So, 1879. Sydney really lipped it, didn't they, Dave? Well, Sydney put on a shit fare, basically. Melbourne put on a slightly better one, which was recognised as the 1880 World's Fair,

which also attracted... By the EIE. The BIA? Basically, Melbourne said, well, that's not going to be recognised. We'll just put one on slightly later. And everyone that was part of the exhibition in 1879 just went to Melbourne as well. So... The road trip.

Our beautiful Royal Exhibition Building in Carton Gardens was built to host the event. Oh, that's what that's for. That's a great building. Yeah, it's World Heritage listed. Oh, that's nice. Paris, however, was given their fourth go at a World Expo in 1889. But this time, it meant even more to the people of France. Every year, the expo had a theme, previous themes being stuff like industry of all nations,

agriculture, industry and arts, industry and arts, and new technologies. Oh. But then in 1889, France decided to shake things up a bit and went with the theme of the French Revolution. Interesting. Slightly more out there than industry and arts. So 1889 was celebrating 100 years since the storming of the Bastille Prison, seen by many as a major event in starting the French Revolution that saw a revolt against the monarchy. But because this celebrated the overthrow of the French monarchy, something that the French were extremely proud of, a lot of European countries still had monarchies at the time.

so they officially boycotted the exposition. Oh. So like we love our monarchy. Including Germany, Austria, Hungary, Belgium, Spain, Great Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Russia and Sweden all said you should not celebrate overthrowing monikies. Oh. But it was 100 years ago. Yeah.

By this point, right? So like stop being so precious the rest of you. They were very precious. But. Wait, so wait, which monarchy was overthrown 100 years ago? No, 100 years before the 1889. exhibition. So the French Revolution

overthrew the monarchy and then 100 years later because France are very proud of it. Their national anthem is all about rising up against people that are enslaving you basically. And they were like, great, it's a hundred years.

Let's celebrate and other monarchies. Like, oh no, we still have a king and queen. We do not want to be involved. You're right. Yes. But this didn't stop 61,000 people flocking to Paris to exhibit their industry, commerce and the arts.

61,000, huh? So it's going to be a big one. And that's just... Can a thousand of you stay home? home, please. It's actually 61,722, but I just rounded down. Couldn't you have rounded up? Round up.

62. 100,000 people. And that's just people putting on the exhibits. Oh, okay. So there are more people. Whoa. People with 61,000 people put on exhibits. Holy shit. That's how big these things are.

Holy shit. And they're showing off inventions of all sorts, different types of music and art. Yeah, it's massive. You know, in my old job, selling air conditioning, I used to, twice a year we do their home expos. And I reckon there would have been like a couple hundred people putting on exos and you have a little hut. So I'd just sit in this little thing in the new exhibition.

What, the old one's exhibition building and the new one's exhibition centre? Yeah. I'd be in there and you just sit there and people come and go, think about putting air conditioning in my place. Tell me about it. All right. Well, it's a broad place to start. But it can cool and heat your home.

Any questions? It was real fun and I miss it a lot. So Paris knew all eyes would be on it for the expert. Yeah, right. They wanted more than ever to make a mark on the world. It's celebrating 100 years of their country, basically. The idea of a 300 metre tower had been circulating in Europe in the USA at the time. Circulating. Everyone's passing around with a note.

Yeah, what do you reckon? Idea for 10 minutes. Pass it on. And France saw this A really big tower Why the fuck have you written this down? I don't care It just says really big tower

And they've underlined it twice Yeah you go okay Pass it on To who It ends up That gets all muddled Really big power Powerbird

Let's make a real big bird 300 meter power bird 300 kilometer bell bird You know what powerbirds Do you know what powerbirds do They collect things that are Blue da Da-Buddi da da

Da-da Da-da Please go on, please, please. So France saw this as a ticket to impressing their visitors, a 300-meter tower. If it was achieved, it would be almost double the height of the world's tallest structure at the time. Oh, wow. So it's like if you take the Birch Gleve for the currently the world's biggest building, which is over 700 metres tall now.

Usually things go up by a bit at a time. But imagine someone is suddenly, no, I'm going to double it. I'm going to double it. The Washington Monument was the tallest at the time. It had been completed in 1885. Is that the obscalisks? Yes. Or whatever.

You nailed it. The two-toned obsolesk. But I love the idea of, you said, the way you word it was France was hoping that they would impress their visitors. I'm just picturing like all of France sort of like meekly standing next to it. Sort of pointing up to her with their eyes on. Huh? What are you like then? And then there's like thousands of people coming through.

Pretty big? Pretty big. Pretty big. Pretty big little thing. I reckon we're bad? I reckon we've nailed the brief. It just says big tower underlined twice, huh? We did it.

The World's Fair would go on to be the catalyst for a number of famous buildings and structures. The world's first Ferris Wheel debuted at the Chicago Fair in 1890. Ah, the Windy City. Chicago. The Seattle Space Needle was built for the 1962 World Fair, which you may remember from the Frasier credits. Yes, it's from the logo. Of course. Oh, baby.

I hear the blue. I brought it on this for them. Scramble eggs. Oh, my. And maybe I feel a bit confused, but maybe I got you peck. And I don't know what to do with a toast salad and scrambled eggs. They're calling again. Good night, Seattle. We love you.

So that was built for the 1962 World's Fair. And who could forget the Sunsphere, aka the Whigsphere, built for the 1982 Knoxville World's Fair. Is that real? Yeah, it's real. That building is real on the Simpsons. The Whigsphere. Thousands of boxes of wigs. But the proposed tower that I mentioned to the 1889 World's Fair would go on to be the poster child for the world's fairs around the world.

But it wasn't always smooth sailing for the building today known in English as the Eiffel Tower. Oh. What was it known then in French? The Whigsphere. The Whiz sphere. So. the fair put the call out many years earlier for designs for this proposed 300 metre tower was just over just under 1,000 feet for our people that don't use meters.

So all it is at this point is big tower. It's no design. Well, they had a brief. It stated they wanted, quote, to study the possibility of erecting an iron tower on the Shomdamar, which is where it is now, with a square base 125 metres across and 300 meters tall. That's what they said. all in all they had 107 entries to choose from, many of which ignored the brief asking for a tower to be made of iron.

Right. In fact, all that stuff I just read out, apart from the 300 metre bit, most of them just ignored that. Isn't that a fun thing for you to do is you're picking which one you like? You're just like going, oh, that doesn't make it. Just screwing up one after the other, putting them into the bin. That makes it so much easier.

And there was only one that designed something in iron? And they're like, all right. Yes is that one. By default, this is, we go with this guy. One of the most vocal front runners was architect Jules Baudai who proposed a 350-meter granite tower with a gigantic searchlight and mirrors on top that could illuminate the whole city.

Wow. When questioned on how such a heavy column would actually be an engineering possibility, he declined to comment. I don't want to give too much away. Other entries included a tower that could double as a huge water sprinkler in case Paris ever went through a drought. Oh, where's the water? coming from.

I don't know. Paris is in drought. All right, fire up the pumps. We have no water. That's the drought. If we had the water for the sprinkler, we just distribute that in a more sensible way. A giant guillotine was even proposed

to celebrate the revolution. Again, it's not an iron town. 300-mitted guillotine. Whoa. That's too big. It's way too big. But of course, none of these designs were chosen. The winner was submitted by engineer,

Gustav Eiffel's, company. Gustav. At the time, Gustav was already thought of it as an engineering genius that he already

had the skills to pull off such a feat. Surely it wasn't named Eiffel Tower from the start then. No, no, he'd have submitted the designs for his company.

Yeah. Like the Rialto being called Grolo Tower, Grocon Tower. When they were going to call something Grolo Tower? Probably.

Yeah, and then they'd lost the money for it, I believe. Yeah, the Rialto was once the tallest building here in Melbourne. Yeah, in the Southern Emissary, I think.

A beautiful diamond in the Melbourne skyline. I love the reality. Usurped by the Eureka. All too soon. There's another one going up, I believe. It's going to maybe be told me. Yeah, apartment something. Yeah.

Apartment. I think it's called Apartment 101. You know, something like that. But you can live in it. I think so. Oh, I hate that. Too high. Yeah. Too high.

To live. The five minute commute up the elevator. Yeah, God. Fuck that. You wouldn't do it? No, too high. I don't know how much clearer do I need to be, Dave. It's called Australia 108.

There you go. But it will have 1,100 apartments inside. 1,100. Imagine having 1,100 neighbours. Well, you wouldn't. You'd have 1,099. More than one person can live in an apartment, Dave. I don't think so.

I hate you. I've looked at the plants. They're very small. Oh, wow. There's 1,100 cupboards to choose from. Whoa. And there's also a... There's also a penhouse, double cupboard.

So Gustav Eiffel was born in 1832. His full name was Alexander, Gustav Bonnichhausen, Ditt Eiffel. Wow. Which is an incredible name. Love that. It's a fantastic name. He graduated from the prestigious Ecole Central Paris in 1855, the same year that Paris hosted the second World's Fair, and IFL was bought a season ticket by his mother.

So these worlds fairs would keep coming up in his life. After a slow start working odd jobs, once given an opportunity to prove himself, he excelled. He had been hired to work on the 500 metre long Bordeaux Bridge, initially just given the responsibility of assembling the metal work. But when the project manager resigned in 1860, IFL took over the entire project. It was a huge success. And from there, he was asked to design railway stations, locomotives themselves, and Aquatic. His career was off.

He was hired to help design the exhibition hall for Paris's second go at hosting the World's Fair in 1867. So it comes up again. When the Statue of Liberty's initial designer, Eugene Volá deuce, unexpectedly passed away in 1879, Gustav Eiffel was hired as his replacement. So he also helped design the Statue of Liberty. Wow. He redesigned the interior of the statue to make it more flexible. The elasticity of Eiffel's design has. been praised because the statue has to withstand winds from New York Harbor, temperature

changes and other various weather conditions. Yeah, she can touch her toes. She is very... That is impressive. She's hyperflexible. Yeah. The... That'd be so fun.

A big typhoon comes through and she's bending over. I can't touch my toes. This bloody concrete probably statue can. Just giant woman will a varusole. I'm talking about the statue. Oh, Lady Liberty. The entire statue was a real statue. directed at Eiffel's works in Paris, his factory, before being dismantled and shipped over to the

United States. So he just had it there in his factory. Wow. So, yeah, it's crazy that one man worked on two of the most famous structures in history. By the time of the third Parisian World's Fair rolled around at 1878, Gustav established his reputation as one of the leading engineers of the time and designed many of the fair's buildings. Oh, cool. So every time it comes around, he's like, yeah, I'll work on another thing. Cool. His reputation as a pair of engineering hands almost certainly contributed to his company getting the job to erect the 300 meter tower. They knew they could handle it. He was disembodied hands. That makes all this even more impressive. He's just a pair of hands. And Dave, stop saying erect. I will never

stop saying erect. Okay, well, I tried. That's like asking you dance and not to dance. What? I will always erect. And uh, So Ifel is the name we associate with the tower. It's the Eiffel Tower. Of course, yeah, yeah. But he didn't actually come up with the original design. Ah. That is attributed to, and let me have a crack at these French names.

Maurice Koshlin and Emil Nugier, two senior engineers working for Eiffel's companies. He owned the company. Inspiration for them came from the Latin Observatory, which was built for the 1853 World's Fair in New York. sadly that building also mysteriously burned down three years later. Are you going to go into this more or is this just a mystery? Just at the time it was harder to put things out and they built things from flammable materials. Right. So once it got a fire took hold.

I don't know if that's why, but the iron building of the Eiffel Tower is a lot harder to burn down. I don't know if that's why they chose that. That's not like the city that was outbid for the fair came in and burn it down. If I can't have it, no one can. So Coshlin, who came up with the design, he made the first sketch of the idea, which still exists, and I will post a photo of it because it looks like a three-year-old, no, about a seven-year-old's drawing of the Eiffel Tower.

Okay, although I'm glad you upgraded from three to seven. Yeah, it'll change the picture in my mind. Yeah, it's very different. From crayons to grey lids. Yeah, it's definitely, it's a grey lead, but it's still not, it doesn't look like an architectural masterpiece yet. Right. But it's just the idea is there.

He described it as, quote, A great pylon consisting of four lattice girders standing apart at the base and coming together at the top, joined together by metal trusses at regular intervals, which, you know, that's a description of what I'm going to start to know. They showed their design and the drawing to their boss Eiffel, who initially wasn't that keen, but he told them to keep working on it anyway. He asked Stephen Sevestra, the head of the company's architectural department, to take a look. And this is from the Eiffel Tower's official website. Sovestra proposed stonework pedestals to dress the legs,

monumental arches to link the columns, a bulb-shaped design for the top, and various other ornamental features to decorate the whole of the structure. So he took their idea and just made it look more beautiful. Have it a bit of pizzazzazz. I don't know how to, how do you say, how do you say? Razzle-dazel. Genesequah.

Razardazzo. That's how Sylvester would say it. Yeah, I think, I think Genesequire translates to a razzle-dazzle. Yes, I believe. That's correct. So here you have the appearance. You know how at the bottom of it? It's got the four legs and there's arches over,

you would have stood under the archways. Those arches don't do anything. They are purely ornamental. Very pretty. They're not there to hold the tower up. They just put that in to be like, it'll look more pleasing to the eye. Put the arch there.

I did assume that was like braces, used to brace or something. That's cool. So he redesigned, he made it more beautiful. So now there's three people that have worked in design. They took it back to IFL, who liked this improved design a lot better. And he bought the patent for the design.

He paid them for the design. How much? Yep. I believe, I couldn't work out how much this is. I read 50,000 francs. Sounds like a lot. Yeah. Couldn't work out.

Couldn't do the conversion from 1879. Yeah. What a moving part. Or 1884. And he submitted it to the exhibition of decorative arts under his company's name. He applied and said, we'll build the thing in five years. After more presentations and a lot of red tape, Ifell's company was hired and they were given the job. So, yeah, so he paid 50,000 francs.

before even like as a gamble that it would hopefully get picked. Put the money down. Well, maybe this puts it into perspective slightly. 1.5 million francs was given towards the construction costs, which is actually a quarter of what it was going to cost. It's going to cost six million to build the whole thing. He's just getting 50,000 of these guys. Eiffel himself ended up putting in more than half the construction cost himself.

Whoa. But because of this deal, he struck a deal with him where he was able to receive all the income from the commercial exploitation of the tower during the exhibition and for the next 20 years. Whoa. And remember it's the most ticketed structure in the world. So people are paying to go up it.

Yeah. This would end up making him a very, very rich man. Whoa, that's so smart. He took the gamble, put the outlay, but said, okay, only if I get all the ticket proceeds. And they're like, all right. Why would they agree to that? Well, because they were like,

I don't think anyone else is going to be able to build this thing. You got to get points. Is that what you're doing, a deal? I got to back end that deal. Get a real sweet back end. Is that a thing? Am I talking in... I have no idea.

Will you say this at your Expo? People are asking about it? I'm trying to talk in Hollywood jargon, but I'm possibly not doing it. You got to make sure you get a few points on that. Make sure, yeah, he looked after on the back end. So you get some of the rollover. Yeah. Make sure the rollover happens and you're...

You covered. Involved there. They back up that truck. So the design's been approved and announced to couple of years before the fair, but there, as you said, Matt, lots of doubt in the press as construction began in January 1887. Remember, nothing that big has ever been attempted before and there was lots of doubt. Common questions were, how would the iron building survive in the wind? Will it just fall over? We'll probably bolt it down, dickhead.

Jeez, that's a big question. You'd hope they'd have that answer before it started going up. Another question, where would they be able to find men that would be willing to work 300 meters off the ground? Could men even work that high up? Because no one's ever been up. up that hide on to work on a structure before right a bit like when um also the montgolfia brothers that launched the hot air balloon the first hot air balloon and they were like will people be able to survive up there so they sent the animals up instead it's a bit like that now we go oh yeah people can work that eye but at the time people were worried it was even claimed that such a large building of iron would become a giant magnet and start pulling nails out of nearby buildings that would then fall down

what was the logic there i felt declined to respond to to such a wild accusation. Yeah, right. I refuse to dignify that question with an answer. That's so silly. So those are the practical objections, it was also objected to on artistic grounds. A committee of 300,

one member for each metre of the tower's height formed. World famous architect Charles Garnier was in charge of the group. Ah, fructus. He'd designed the Palais Garnier, the stunning opera house in Paris that you may have seen many there. And the shampoo. And the shampoo and also the setting for the Phantom of the Opera. The group also included many famous writers and artists of the day,

all who opposed the design. A petition called Artists Against the Eiffel Tower was published in 1887. Is that so weird? Artists against it. And this is what they wrote. We writers, painters, sculptors, architects and passionate devotees of the hitherto untouched beauty of Paris protest with all our strength, with all our indignation in the name of slided French taste.

Against the erection, sorry, yes, of this useless and monstrous Eiffel Tower. To bring our argument home, imagine for a moment a giddy, ridiculous tower dominating Paris, like a gigantic black smokestack, crushing under its barbaric bulk, Notre Dame, the Louvre, the dome of Les Anvilids, the Arc de Triumph, all our humiliated monuments will disappear in this ghastly dream. And for 20 years, we shall see stretching like a blood of ink, the hateful shal. of the hateful column of bolted sheet metal. Amazing.

So they really hated it. People hate change. And that seems like that's always been true. People really hated Fed Square when they started building it. But haven't we all swallowed our words now? Oh, I love Fed Square. It's so beautiful. There's so many things to do there.

Yeah. So. Too many to list here. They've got multiple cafes. But I think we're still in the eye of the store. with that one. It's generations to come that will decide, I think, whether or not that was good or bad. What was there before? I think it was like an industrial sort of section. I can't even remember. When did it happen? I was in grade six when they were building it.

So it's early 2000. And this is one of Melbourne's main squares, up to our largest train station. And one of our most iconic pubs. But it's Young and Jackson. And then on the other corner of the cathedral. But yeah, I don't. It's quite a, it's quite an interesting. I like the, that sandstone or whatever, that red brick stuff. I really like the edge, the glass section. I wish they had built the whole thing to look like that glass and it was probably

practical reasons why they couldn't. That's the coolest looking part of it, I reckon. I like Acme. Acme is great. I think there's some really cool bits in there. I like the pub. The pub's good. The beer.

I don't like that. Oh, it's fine. There's a 7-11 in there. There is a 7-11. in there and it's fine. It's very small. First time I ever had a spinach roll was in that 7-Eleven so I mean, don't say nothing happens. First one I ever had was in the Offer Tower.

That's true. No. At the 7-Eleven at the Iffel. Because there are two restaurants there. Are there? There's lawns all the way around it. My memories are pretty vague, but I just remember it being the most perfect blue sky summer's day and I just sat and read a book in the shade of the Eiffel Tower nearby.

So nice. Very beautiful a spot. But at the time, people are saying it's going to ruin the city's skyline. Wow, that's fascinating. Gustav Eiffel responded to these criticisms by comparing his tower to the Egyptian pyramids. One of the other former record holders for thousands of years of the tallest structure. My tower will be the tallest edifice ever erected by man. Will it not also be grandiose in its own way?

And why would something admirable in Egypt become hideous and ridiculous in Paris? He said. I love that. equating to things that are not the same and then just going, all right, so the pyramids and the Alphal Tower are the same. We all agree on that. Now, are you telling me you hate the pyramid?

Do you hate the pyramid? Huh? Do you hate all, do you hate everyone in Egypt? Is that what you say? Do you hate man? Mankind? Okay. Well, it's hard to argue with that. He launches it into a 16-hour filibuster. It was disparagingly described by writers and satirists in satirists in papers and

in pamphlets. It was the age of pamphlets. I love that. Oh, yeah. A beautiful age. Let's bring it back. A lot of comedians, for a while there had newsletters. I reckon I'm going to start a pamphlet.

Like a physical pamphlet? Monthly pamphlet, I'm just going to start handing out. Just that out of it? Yeah. That seems like a lot of work. I mean, people do still have newsletters. They just have them online now. Who's email them to people?

You could email it to people. No, but I prefer a pamphlet. Well, you could call it an e pamphlet. Yeah. What is a pamph? You assume a pamphlet is a small version of a pamph. Like a pikelet. Yeah, so what's the pan...

There's a small version of a pike. Yes. That pancake. Is it a book a pamph? Yeah. A larger pamphlet? I guess so, yes. Right.

Or a newspaper. I'm saying yes, definitely. That's what a pamph is. But pamph is fun to say. Pampth. Pampf. Anyway, I'm going to read you some descriptions of what they thought the Eiffletower would be, including in pamphlets and in newspapers.

These are descriptions. Novelists and pamphleteer, Leon Bloy. So these are all famous writers at the time. This is what they'd say it was going to be. Yeah, but I've heard of Eiffel Tower. I haven't heard of this guy. What does that say? You haven't heard of Bloy's pamphlet?

No. Still going. A boy boy. One of the longest running pamphlets in history. Broy and his hoi-polloy. He described it as a truly tragic street lamp. Blamp. Blamp.

Street lamp. Oh, I definitely heard blam. Did you hear blamp? Did you hear blampe? Am I having a stroke? I heard lamp, but I like blamp more. I thought that you were saying that that's, That's what he should.

I thought you were saying he should have called it a blamp. No, I heard you say street blamp. And I thought, why do you both know what a blamp is? And no one's reacting to blam. You never been blamping? Never been blamping. Poet and novelist Francois said, This mast of iron gymnasium apparatus, incomplete, confused and deformed.

They were hating it. Wow. Novelist Joris Carl Heisman, who is known for his wit, said, It's a half-built factory pipe, a whole riddled suppository. Oh. Known for his wit. Whole riddled suppository. Yeah, I love that.

Okay. But possibly the longest description was Mouserpan, who's a famous writer who is described as the master of the short story. Has not nailed the shortness here. Baby's shoes never worn for sale. That was one of his. This high and skinny pyramid of iron ladders, this giant ungainly skeleton upon a base that looks built to carry a colossal monument of Cyclops, but which just peters out into a ridiculous thin shape like a factory chimney. Didn't really keep it short there, did he?

No. Got to trimmed a few words. I hated it. So despite this intense criticism, cannot state how intense it was. Don't you think it would not make you feel good going to bed at night? I'd be thinking about that a lot, like self-doubt and stuff, would be creeping in.

If your whole city is telling you you're going to ruin Paris. It's crazy now that we know how famous it is So quintessentially Parisian He could tell he knew He knew what it would be He said you It's like when your kids are yelling at you And I hate you say

That's how you feel right now That's cool man I get it One day you'll appreciate me They don't get to you And they tell you they hate you I hate you I hate you Jessica No it doesn't bother me

It doesn't bother me at all It makes me more powerful It doesn't bother me at all I don't care that my kids hate me. Why are you weeping, Jessica? I'm not. I have a hay fever.

Yeah, I really hope that he gets to live to the point where the appreciation is universal. Because the other thing is, let's not forget that he's also put in all his money. Yeah. It's not just his reputation and his company's reputation. It's also all his money's reputation. Yeah, his money's reputation. How will his money go? to the bank.

Your money's name is mud around here. Who will kiss him good night at night? Good night at night. That's my money giving me kisses. It's not very loud because it's not a lot of money. But his money is deafening. No, it's not because he spent it all. He's kissing him like that.

Ow! Offensively loud. Yeah, it's annoying. So despite this criticism, the Assembly of the Supports went ahead and began on July the 1st, 1887. And just two years, two days and five months later, the tower, as we know, it was completed. Two years, two days and five months. What a weird order. Wait.

Yeah. Did that what you said? I meant to write two years, two months and five days. Okay. Thank you for pulling me up on that. I'm sorry, no, I was just repeating you, but then I realized that I just thought he was writing it poetically. Get the twos together and then chuck the five out the back with the months. Two years and two days.

And five months. Yeah. Who cares about that? Don't worry about it. This was considered to be mind-blowingly fast at the time. I'm surprised. Especially considering all the elements were prepared in Eiffel's factory located on the outskirts of Paris. And then they were brought in.

The tower is made up of 18,000 pieces all specifically designed and calculated, traced out to an accuracy of a tenth of a millimeter, and then put together forming new pieces around five metres each. Wow. And they bring those in and then assemble them again. Whoa. Love that. The accuracy for something so big to come down to... a tenth of a millimeter.

It's wild. Like what I couldn't see to my naked eye. Yeah, well, they have to be that precise. Yeah. Because they're building, if there's four legs of it, they start in each corner and build up to that base. So one of them's even slightly out. You're not going to get that bottom level right.

Yeah. If your eyes could put on some pants, though, that'd be good. Naked eye. Yeah. Okay, thank you. You could see Matt Strangling. Talking me through that. I think it was like, um,

Yeah, and any sort of mini project I might do where I'll measure stuff out pretty much, you know. Pretty close. Pretty close. Within like a metre. And then you find it, oh, this thing was meant to be a square. It's more like somehow it's a circle. I've got some measurement off here. Yeah, it's wild.

But I mean, it's the different ways that people can operate, I guess. I feel and I do things a little differently. He's a, oh, I'm a nerd who does things precisely. I'm like, hey, free and easy, baby. It's the Parisian way. There's a little Parisian in me. His name's Gerald. Gerald.

Matthew, that's where about the mission. Okay, Gerald. He's got me in a lot of strife. About 300 workers put together the pieces on site. First, the pieces were assembled in the factory using bolts, and then they were later replaced by ones with, thermally assembled rivets. A team of four men was needed for each rivet assembled.

One would heat it up, another to hold it in place, and a third to shape the head whilst a fourth's job was to beat it in with a sledgehammer. That sounds sexy. Yeah. All up, the tower had 2.5 million rivets. What? So it's a long job.

Absolutely riveting stuff there, Dave. Thank you so much. That is good. Thank you. Oh, yeah. I just saw the double thing. So the main structural work was completed in March 1889. And on the 31st of March,

I fell open to the tower by leading a group of government and officials and members of the media all the way to the top. So there was already like a lift there, or did they take the stairs? Well, no, the lifts were being built still at that time. They weren't yet in operation. So the ascent was made by foot and took over an hour, mainly because I fell kept stopping to point out various features. Fun.

Well, that's good because I would appreciate that. A little rest. I thought, that's interesting. Just give a say, yeah. Once at the top, he unfurled the French flag. Does the French flag always been the same as it is now? The tricolour. Yeah, well at the time then it was.

I love a flag unfurling. Oh, yeah, unfurled that flag. So after all the backlash, how did the public react? Well, it was an instant success. Oh, my God. So the backlash was all before they'd seen it. Oh yeah, so the designs were out and then they started building these bottom bits

and people started being like, you know, front pages of newspapers and pamphlets and things were like, it's going to be a disaster, this is awful, letters were written, everyone was talking about it as it was being built and he was just hoping, he's come, everyone working out, was just hoping, all right, this is a success.

The world's fair people were hoping as well because they wanted to be like, you know, the centre point. Yeah. But like you said, at the very least, it's double the next highest structure in the world. Yeah. Or man-made structure. So surely there's something there.

At the very least, it's like, we didn't know people could stand up there. Yeah. Surely that's amazing on some level. Yeah, right? Plus it looks pretty cool. Lifts were added to take the passengers up the tower but weren't operational until three weeks after the fair.

That was the only bit that they lapsed behind in time. Still 30,000 people walked all the way to the top in those three weeks. Wow. Which is 1,710 steps. 1,710. You're going to walk all the way there. And quoting from Wikipedia here, but I did enjoy this all the same. Some of the protesters changed their mind when the tower was built.

Others remained unconvinced. The writer who I mentioned before, Mouser Pant, who was the short story guy, supposedly ate lunch in the tower's restaurant every day because it was the one place in Paris where the tower was not visible. I've heard about that guy. What a dick. Who knows that's true, but that's a great story. It's a great line, great story. But it's also like, man, if you really hate it,

You're monetary. You're supporting it. Yeah. Every day. Every day you're giving it cash. You could just sit with your back to a window so you can't see it anyway. Yeah. Look in a different direction.

Yeah. Then you could, your money doesn't have to go towards it. You know, it's not visible when you're in the dining hall inside, but you know where it is visible? Walking towards it. Yeah. Which you're doing every day. Every day. It's getting bigger and closer to you every day.

I think he secretly loves it. He loved it. He loved it. He loved it. He loved it. He loved it. He loved it. He loved it.

Oh, I'm Marzapain. I love it. Ooh. I love it. Oh, you're so high and tall. I love you. I love you. I love you.

I love you. I love you. You're making me. They make an amazing French onion soup in the restaurant. He just couldn't walk away. Yeah. Yuck. People showed us photos for some reason.

French onion soup. Maybe in the Betty White episode. Not the Betty Crocker. Not Betty Crocker. Julia Child. Julia Charles. Oh my goodness. Well, no, firstly they were confused that they thought it doesn't exist here.

And we said, no, no, it does. It's just gross. Oh, those photos. They're like, what do you mean? All this. Even the memory of that photo. The melted cheese on top. Yeah.

No good. Anyway, I love culture. I love culture. I love culture. I've tried French onion soup. I've tried your culture. I didn't like your culture. Your culture made me violent.

Not for me, thanks. Your culture, that is. Thank you so much. Do we have any listeners in France? Yeah. Do we? Yeah, we've met a listener a few times. He came to shows in London.

Yeah. Oh my God, of course. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I believe it's, I think it's Joseph. Yes, I think that's it. Yes, what a man. And he's giving me treats every time. Yeah, I remember last one was like, this is just for you, Jess.

Yeah, he just gives me treats. And just... Which I welcome. I love hearing him talk. Yeah. Oh yeah, a big fan of that. But if you want to give me treats, please come to our Melbourne Attachian Recorder

Your Social Show. You love treats. Give me treat. I love treats. We've got Mick and Brisbane who always leaves me Skittles. Oh, he's one of my favourite people. Oh, wow, huge call.

Such a good guy. I love treats. I'm not sure if I mentioned it again, but I think that there's two restaurants these days at the Eiffel Tower. I don't know when you went. I didn't know. How did I not realize that?

One of the Jules Verne restaurant, the famous named after the famous writer. Yeah. So 30,000 people in the first few weeks climbed to the top. But all up over the World's Fair, which goes for many, many months, it received 2 million visitors. Whoa. And Gustav got a large percentage of all those ticket sales.

Yes. So his investment really paid off. He's a genius. Famous visitors to the Tower and during the World's Fair included the Prince of Wales at the time. Charles. Yeah. I was going to say. Charlie.

Thomas Edison, who was exhibiting his inventions. Wow. He was there. That's cool. We did an episode about him way back. And another episode where we mentioned this exact incident was and Buffalo Bill Cody who was attending the exhibition as mentioned in our Annie Oakley episode.

Remember she performed in our Buffalo Bill's circus. I love how we're building a shared universe. We totally are. Gustav Eiffel had a small apartment built for himself near the top of the tower. Near the top of the tower. Yeah, right near the top. I cannot.

So there's, in my head it's all like, basically outdoors, but it's sort of, in my head, it's just all metal. But he's in build an enclosed area. Is that still there? Yeah, which is still there. What? Yeah, right. He welcomed many of these famous visitors up to his private apartment.

So he'd live there on and off, including Thomas Edison and himself, who gifted Gustav with the newly invented phonograph, which laid on to go on to be the gramophone or record player. Wow. That's cool. He was exhibiting at the World's Fair. The apartment itself was kept a secret at first, but once word got out that IFL had the highest apartment in Paris. The rich and famous got very jealous and he received many offers to rent it out,

even for one night. But he coolly declined them all. Oh my God. I can't even picture that. He doesn't need their cash. Yeah. And so it's still there now and there's like models of him inside it. How big is the apartment?

Very small. It's only a couple of rooms. Yeah, right. And there's like, you can see. It looks like a caravan, like the toilets next to the oven. Yeah. Well, I was trying to look at the photos. Does it have a toilet?

I don't know. Oh, okay. fling it out the window that's what I do and I have a toilet sorry to brag is a toilet in my house I think

and so I think there are things that I misunderstood about the story I'm sure I heard that people hated it after it went up and they wanted to bring it was a plan for it to come down or something

or was it always supposed to be there forever well the next thing I was going to say it's crazy to think now but at the time it was meant to be only temporary How long? It was planned to stand for 20 years and then get scrapped. And they went with 20 years because of Gustav's investment. And they said, OK, we'll give you 20 years to recoup the costs that you've invested in it.

But after that, we're going to bring it down. Right. Surely he made his money in like that first. Oh, very, very quickly. Yeah. So after that, it's just extra. Two million people came straight away. And then it's popular.

And sure, it's popularity helped them want to keep it. But one of the main reasons it wasn't demolished in 1909 as scheduled was the fact that the tower had become a fantastic radio transmitter. Right. Yes, that's what I heard. Because it was so high. It was the tallest thing in the whole city. It looks like an aerial, basically. Yeah, it is a very beautiful aerial. Yeah, that's amazing.

And I bet they glad they stuck with it because in 1914 at the outbreak of World War I, a radio transmitter located in the tower, jammed German radio communications, seriously hindering their advance on Paris at the time, and contributed to the Allied victory at the First Battle of the Man. which kept the Germans out of Paris. Right. Wow. This did result in four years of stalemate and trench warfare.

Sure, but they kept them out of Paris. And one of the main reasons was because they had the best radio transmitter. Right. That's cool. That's crazy. I want to tell you another story now about the Eiffel Tower. A couple of years earlier, in 1912, there was a man who in hindsight probably had wished that the Eiffel Tower had been scrapped. That man was France Reicheld, aka the Forrest. Flying Taylor.

Okay. I'm sorry, what? The flying tailor. Okay. Now I get it. I don't need anything for the clarification. He's a clothes tailor, but he does it, like sort of flying around you. So he's sort of like a couple of feet off the ground.

Like in Disney movies when like birds help you get dressed. Or the, uh, like carrying scarves between their beats. Yeah. Was he a bird? Was he a little colorful birds? Sorry, okay, the bird. Oh, a little bird. I just want to shout out to O'D Matthews who suggested we do a full report on this guy,

but I've condensed a mini report here on France Reicheld, the flying tailor, who was born in Austria in 1878. He became a French national in 1909 and was keen to make his mark on the world. He opened a dressmaking shop at first, working as a tailor, but he wanted to invent something new. This was the beginning of the age of aviation, like I mentioned, hot air balloons before, small planes that started taking off. France Reicheld saw a gap in the market for

A Parachute suit Oh yeah Love this MC Hammer was the first big customer Oh he didn't really enjoyed that I did imagining them Good job Hey Matt, good job on that joke

Well done mate, you were funny No that really tickled me So the idea was a suit not much bigger than a regular suit but one that in an emergency could double as a parachute That's the basic idea, parachute suit DB Cooper would have enjoyed that. He would have loved that. He probably could have used that.

There's a DB Cooper reference on episode 30, Rock I was watching the other day. And I was like, wow, that's niche. I get that. I get that. I understand it now. Should be noted that functional canopy parachutes already existed, but no parachute existed for people leaving from planes or from a low altitude. And none existed that also doubled his sweet suits.

Interesting, yeah. So he's really ahead of the curve. We're cornering the market here, the flying tailor. You get it. In 1911, Colonel La Lance, I love that name, Colonel La Lance. La La La La La La Lance. La Lance Lance Lance Lance Lance Lance, Lance, Lance, Lance, Lance, Colonel. From the Aero Club de France, offered a prize of 10,000 francs to anyone that could create a safety parachute for aviators that did not exceed 25 kilograms in weight.

Reicheld had the inspiration he'd been waiting for, started to work on his design. properly. There was no mention of it also doubling as a suit, but that was just a sweet bonus. I'm picturing like an 80s power suit, big high shoulder pads, pinstrips, pocket cacheefe. Nothing makes you feel more powerful knowing that at any time you could just bail out of this plane and be fine. Yeah.

I don't need this plane. Oh, yeah. I can fly myself from here. If you're going to keep flying, I'll wish. I'll just stay in, but if you reckon this is going down, I'll just take it from me. Oh, right. Oh, right. Imagine looking around the plane these days and everyone's bringing a parachute suit, just in case.

Never know. Just in case. So he created a few prototypes, but at 70 kilos, nearly three times what he wanted, these were way too big and heavy. He presented this early design to the leading aeronautic organization in France, hoping that they would want to test it. But they rejected his designs on the grounds that the construction of the canopy was too weak, and they attempted to dissuade him from spending further time on development. They basically told him to give up now. But he wouldn't give up.

Of course not. Instead, he had his own little tests. First, using the shoot on dummies, dropped from the fifth floor of his apartment building. These failed. So he decided to have a go himself. Wait, what? He thought the dummy was the problem. He was in fact wrong.

He broke his leg. But he remained undeterred. Oh, my God. He should be deterred. His theory was that it actually wasn't high enough to test the sheet properly. That's the problem. I'm only five floors up. Do you know what?

It's okay to be deterred. Yeah. It's okay. Sometimes you should be deterred. Sometimes. Take a hint sometimes. Unless this is going to turn into a huge success. Yeah.

I don't feel like it is though. It's the flying tailor. How bad could this go? Well, you did say at the start. You said at the start one guy wished the Eiffel Tower didn't exist. Which means he's going to jump off it. Well, he needed a tall structure to test his experiments. His apartment is not tall enough

He started lobbying to get permission To be able to conduct some tests from the Eiffel Tower He was flat out denied for over a year But I imagine he was so persistent They finally gave him permission After one year To run a test on February 4th, 1912 He told them

He was going to test his parachute on dummies He was lying He planned to jump himself What the fuck is he thinking? Is this a parachute suit? He's wearing a... So when he arrived at the tower at 7am, he made the announcement whilst wearing the parachute. So he's strutting in.

They're like, oh, where's your suit? Where's the dummies? He's like, don't need either, baby. There is no dummy. I'm the dummy. Many friends and onlookers tried to dissuade him from such an attempt. This is such a bad idea. He would not listen.

Oh, my God. They said, hey, how about you use a dummy first and then next time, when this works, do it yourself. Great, a great idea. Great suggestions, I think. Wonderful suggestion from caring friends and friends. family and onlookers. Prove that it works once, then you can do it. Sure.

He said, no. One question as to whether he would plan to take any further precautions, such as using a safety rope, for example, he replied that he would not, since he intended to trust his life entirely to his parachute. Oh my God. Does he have like a wife and kids? Not that I came across.

Well, that's all right, then. Not anymore. Yeah, they're long since deceased. He already used them as first child. When I say dummies, I meant children. This is him Quote I want to try the experiment

myself and without trickery As I tend to prove the worth of my invention Oh no He's putting his money where his mouth is Well Mm-hmm He went up the tower with two friends and a cameraman With another filming below

As he climbed the stairs He paused Turn back to the crowd Raise his hand and wished to them A cheery in French See you soon He was right He would see the crowd soon

Oh my God He stood up on the guard Blood rail, threw a piece of paper to check the wind. Oh my God. He's got safety precautions, guys. And then jumped from just 57 meters or 187 feet above the ground. So he went from the first level. Didn't even go to the top of the tower.

The parachute folded around him and he plummeted onto the frozen ground below. No. He died instantly and made news around the country. Oh. You can see the video of his jump online. There's a video of it? Yeah. So he camera man at the top and at the bottom.

So there's two angles. He may as well, watching it back, he may as well have jumped holding a bed sheet. It would have done more. It just folds around him. He's just suddenly got a cloak around him and he just plummets to the ground. That's horrendous.

And people are standing there watching him and just see him hit the ground. Sadly, he was taking a hospital, but he had died straight away. Oh my God. That's the facade, I guess. Yeah. I've wanted to talk about this guy for a while.

He's the poster boy. There was a photo of him on my favorite, my second favorite Wikipedia paid, which is list of inventors killed by their own inventions. Second only to, which I hope I've mentioned before, list of popes who've died violently. I think that's sort of false because this guy didn't invent icy ground. Technically, it was the ground that killed him.

That's wild and terrible. Isn't that a crazy story? But from then on, a lot of people asked to conduct experiments, including Gustav Eiffel next to his apartment. He had another room for experiments. And he would, later in life, he did a lot more designing. After his reputation's huge, a lot more engineering. But he also did a lot of weather experiments from the top of the tower.

Right. But from this point on, from 1912 on, it became a lot harder because people would apply and they'd say, no, the last guy jumped and died. So no. No more experiments. Whoa. He ruined it for everyone else. Yeah. It was a bit of a bummer, to be honest.

He sounds like that kind of person. Oh, well. But I'd like to finish now. with something we haven't had for a while, which is a lot of fun facts. Yay! And with something that's been around for over 130 years, I've got a lot. Great. Well, I will be the judge.

Let me know. If you had to guess Bob before this report when it was built, would you have had a, what would you have had a clue? I wouldn't have had a clue either. I would have, yeah, it makes sense now that I know, but I almost would have thought 1,700, which is probably a crazy idea, right? When was it built? Late 1800.

1889 is when it was unvacced. So 100 years after the revolution. It just feels like it's been around forever. And I guess in my life, that is true. It's funny because we've grown up with like TVs and then the internet and stuff like that. You see pictures of these things long before you see them in our cases, living on the other side of the world. So then when I was going over to Paris, I was sort of like, well, I mean, I've seen pictures. And then we were wandering around the Louvre on our first day in Paris and just out a window, I saw the top of it.

And I was like, and I loved it. It's so surreal. I think having seen it so much beforehand makes it even more surreal. Yeah. And the crazy part is you can see it from nearly everywhere in Paris. It's amazing. Lots of places that you're like, there it is, there it is. And it's all lit up at night.

It's beautiful. I could see it from a hotel room lit up at night. It was beautiful. I loved it. So cool. And same with Big Ben too. Sorry, I mean, let's not get, don't people get really pedantic about calling it Big Bang? Technically, it's Elizabeth Tower.

Yeah, right, okay. Whatever. I think people have gone beyond. that now, right? Hope so. Because I remember walking. Actually, I think you'll find. Actually, I think you'll find I'm a very boring person.

Because I remember getting off the tube and walking out and just sort of being on the street and looking up and being like, oh my God. Like, I loved it. I loved the Eiffel Tower. This is a story, you know, stories from your childhood that your family often repeat. My one is seeing it as an 11 year old, my reaction was, huh, it's not that big. My parents laugh because, you know, they spent my mom's uncle's inheritance. to fly my sister and I halfway around the world to, you know, see this amazing thing.

And I was an 11-year-old going, huh, not that big. Apparently I had the same reaction a few years earlier when I saw the Grand Canyon. Oh, my God. What a little, what a little dick. How many relatives died for you to have this lifestyle? Honestly, that was two inheritances spent on those trips. Yeah, that's how we got to America too. Is it really?

Yeah. Ah, damn my family's longevity. I know. They're so healthy. That's why I never got to travel. I didn't get on a plane until I was, 17, I think. Yeah, right.

And that was to go to the... We drove to the Gold Coast and it was to fly home. It was with the Wright Brothers Day, wasn't it? That was the... Oh, he's... I was actually their first test, I mean, broke my leg. All right, Dave, fun facts. Let's do this.

All right, fun facts. Did you know that for four decades, as I said, the Eiffel Tower was the world's tallest structure? So it was the tallest building or structure for... 40 years after it was built. It would, like, these days, the records would be held for, like, six months and a year and things. Yeah, taking over.

It was eclipsed by the Chrysler building in New York City in 1930. Top of the Chrysler building. Which is only held the record for a few months, which we talked about. And I decided to do this episode because one of my favorite Patreon bonus episodes I've done a report on is the Empire State Building and the battle to be the world's tallest between that and the Chrysler building. And I remember having fun of that episode. So I was like, what's another famous thing I could talk about? I don't know if I could tell the difference between those two. No.

I've been at the top of the, what was not the Chrysler one. The Empire State? I'm sure you would know the difference. So the Chrysler Building is the famous Art Deca one with that Spire thing at the top. Right. Yeah. And the Eiffel Tower, and the Empire State Building. You'd definitely recognise it, yeah.

Yeah. Yeah, but I just don't know. If I saw them both, would I be able to pick which one was which? I'm not sure if I would. I'm not sure. Actually, the one I went to the top of was a different one again. It was the Rockefeller building. Oh, right, sure.

Yeah, I think they're the two competing ones with the views over there. I haven't actually been to New York City. I'm waiting for my great uncle to die. Which one is this one? That's the Empire State. Yeah. Yeah, you know. Because that's the one that's the one that King Kong climbed.

Yeah, that's right. That's how you remember. One's King Kong. The other one's the fantastic Art Deco Spire. And the Chrysler building is someone, some character in the Annie orphan musical says something about the top of the Chrysler building. So over here, cries of building, that line runs through my head. I can't remember the context. top of the Chrysle building.

But for 40 years, that's a pretty good stint. That's amazing. The fact that people were disparaging about it, it's like, all right, we just built the world's biggest thing. Can you be happy for that? It was also the world's largest billboard for a time. I had no idea about this, but between 1925 and 1936, a quarter of a million colored light bulbs were attached to three sides of the tower's steeple,

illuminated to spell out in 100-foot vertical letters, Citrin. The French car company. Yeah, right. What? So it just said Citrin on three sides for over a decade. That's wild. I had no idea about that. It would have been pretty early days of Citrin as well, wouldn't it have been?

Well, yeah, I mean, the car company in 1925 must have been pretty early. And you can see images online. I'll try and post photos of this stuff as well. But yeah, it's amazing. You see it and you go, it looks fake almost. Yeah, weird. The fact that it's got these letters on it. Over the years, the colour of the tower has changed.

When it opened in 1889, the Eiffel Tower sported a reddish-brown colour. A decade later It was coated in yellow paint Oh, I don't know that The tower was also yellow brown And chestnut brown Before the adoption of the current Special mixed Eiffel Tower brown

Oh it's brown In my head it's a lot of charcoal Yeah, that's what I'm thinking Yeah It's brown Every seven years, painters apply 60 tons of paint to help her Look young

It's painted in three shades too It's a fucking patriarchy man I'll tell you what Oh, we've got to paint this broad, make it look young, eh? Let's pull 60 tonnes of paint on air. This is ridiculous. Yeah, come on. You know, age gracefully, mate.

Yeah, it's all right. They're just, they're basically like Botoxing it. Yeah. Oh, did I mention the Botox? It's painted in three shades, progressively lighter with elevation as it gets taller, in order to augment the structure's silhouette against the Parisian sky. According from history.com, there's a fantastic phrase. That's interesting.

I don't really get it. I don't get it at all, but okay, cool. I think it's just to make it stand out a bit better, you know, so it looks better. It's just lighter at the top. Interesting. Yeah. Paris was, of course, occupied by the Nazis in 1940, and to really stick it up them, the French, who famously have the French resistance, before they occupied, cut the lift cables of the tower, so the Nazis had to walk up it.

If they wanted to get to the top, no more lift. So they did so, and they raised the Nazi flag on top only for it to be. blown away in the wind. It was a giant flag so they had to replace it with a smaller one. Cop that, Nazis, your dickheads. Yeah, cop it. When the Allies were nearing Paris in August 1944 and the Germans knew that they were going to have

to give it back, Hitler ordered the military governor of Paris to demolish the tower along with the rest of the city. That's a dog act. I'm sorry, that's a dog act. What the fuck is wrong with that guy? He's a real piece of work. Oh my God! Don't get me started.

Isn't that like, I mean, that says it all, does it? it. Yeah. It just seems like, what a fucking bitch. Hitler's a bitch. He's a bitch. There, we said it. I'm sorry, but that's bravery.

He's a, honestly. He's a fucking bitch. He's a bitch. Fortunately, the governor disobeyed the order, knowing that Hitler had completely lost his marbles and was also a big bitch. That's a quote. So who disobeyed. obey the orders? The military governor of

Paris. Who was a German or a Frenchman? He was a Nazi guy, yeah. But he was like, I'm not going to knock it. It was down, you idiot? You've lost your mind. Hitler, you're starting to say some pretty crazy things. Some other things I get. I was willing to work with you through some pretty

dicey stuff. But knocking down a tower, I don't think so. You're crazy. I'm out. Bitch. This isn't what I got into the Nazi stuff for. I wanted to build up, not built, not knocked down. I know we lost our way there somewhere

and became pretty, to be honest, pretty evil. Has anybody mentioned that to you? Because I feel like not enough people around you are being honest with your Hitler. You're sounding pretty evil. You're a bit of an evil bitch. There I said it. I know I'll probably be shut against a wall for it, but I said it. You're a bitch.

Other people have jumped off the building. A young woman survived when she jumped, was caught in a gust of wind and blown onto the roof of a car which broke her fall. Oh my God. She later married the car's owner. No! The car was a citriot. Yeah.

Holy shit. What a meat cute, you know? That is a great story to tell. You know, some people now are like, oh, it's like I got onto Tinder, first swipe love. You know, some people meet at work. Some people meet at a bar. Some people meet their love when they fall out of the sky. Yeah, and crashed into their kids. You've honest ruined my car.

Yeah. Yeah, honestly, that car's not... You owe me a date. Oh, that's how it started. Why, it's creepy. Yeah, well, it was a different time. When I say date, I mean my car. That's what I call my car.

You owe me your car. Meep. What? Yeah, that's... Is that a fun fact? Yeah. I'm happy that she survived. That's fun, right?

But it's so she jumped off on purpose? I mean, how do you jump? Yes, yeah, yeah, jump off. Sadly, a few people have jumped off. But it's... To get caught in a gust of wind. so it lifted her. Yeah.

Was she wearing a parachute suit? Yeah. It's funny that a man was wearing... A dress. A dress was more effective than something designed to be a parachute suit. I was just wearing a jacket and it sort of just caught some of the wind and yeah, I survived. I was naked and I survived, so you're an idiot. My scrotum caught the breeze.

You better get that looked at, mate. That is amazing. It's a slap in the face of the parachute suit. A turkey slap in the face. Thank you. Thank you. So that's the wildest thing in this whole story, surely. How high from, do you know how?

I actually don't know what level she was on. But he died instantly from the lowest point you could jump. So she was at least the same level as that. At least 50 plus meters. Oh my God. The luck of that. And then, because obviously, you know, geez, and she and her whole life turned around, I hope. Yeah.

It's very little I know about it. That is one of the wildest things I've ever heard. That's insane. I'm sure some listeners are hoping I'll report on how the tower was sold by Conman Vista Lustig, but I want to dedicate a full report or at least a patron to him one day. So there's a few people that have requested that when I searched Eiffel Tower. Just know that that report is coming one day. But it's a pretty cool story.

That's a great, sizzle. Yeah, great, okay. Because it's already quite a long story on its own. But in 1967, Charles de Gaul, the then president of France, proposed temporarily dismantling the tower and sending it to Montreal for Expososos. Thankfully, that plan was rejected. That seems like a bad idea. It's your biggest tourist attraction.

That seems like a... Let's give it to another city for a bit. It's real strange. Why would you choose to do that? Well, I guess they didn't. The lady who fell is not the only one who found love at the tower. In 2007, Erica Eiffel married the tower. I'm sure you've heard people talk about someone married the Arful Tower.

She changed her name to Erica Eiffel. she first encountered it in 2004 and felt an immediate attraction. Surely Erica Tower. Yeah. And you all, yeah. I don't know. Is it just because it's a bit phallic? Well, no, she's been in love with many things over the years.

She's an American competitive archer. She's like a world-class archer or has been in the 2000s. And an advocate for object sexuality. She'd previously been in a 20-year relationship with the Berlin Wall. And what happened? Well, people grow apart. It all came tumbling, yeah. That's good stuff.

You are fucking killing it today, honestly. According to an article from Vice, which I'll link to with all the other references in the episode, in addition to holding a commitment ceremony with her 186-year-old French Iron Tower at the time. But it's not about, you know, age is just a number. She's fallen for fighter jets and is currently fencing. I imagine that means like a fence. and she's currently in a relationship with a crane. Oh, Dr. Frazier, Crane?

She told Vice in this article, quote, I understand that people are going to get visuals in their head and they're going to have questions about sex. When you see a building and a person you have questions, like when you see a very tall person and a very short person together, you wonder how the mechanics work. Not the same thing. I know I never think that.

I do. You see couples and you picture them fucking. Of course. If they're like, he's got to be like seven foot tall and she is about three foot tall. And then I'm like, wow, is. I mean, it's got to be a big difference. Or other way around. But to finish, to finish her quote here,

but you wouldn't go up to those people and ask, how do you do it when you're so tall and she's so short? The fact that people ask us those questions just shows how little they respect us. She's talking about herself in the building. No, I think people respect the awful tower. I'm so conflicted here Because I don't want to shame anyone No, don't yuck the yum

Yeah That's what you want to do, that's cool I don't think we're, are we shaming? No, not shaming her But it's just funny to compare The tall and short thing To her and a tower That's so funny

But it is also a wild idea to me And I am probably shaming her a little bit Yeah, no, me too But I don't want to No, but that's fascinating But also can she not just talk Imagine her just trying to have a conversation with a person. It must be so hard.

But also, like, how do you think you've, how can you be in a relationship with something that can't talk to you? And can't consent to that relationship. And also, but it's like, it's, oh, God, it's, it's only one way straight. Yeah. It's a, it's such a publicly owned thing. Like, how do you get to go, I want, you know, this worldwide. Yeah, it's mine now. Also, it's way older than she is.

You're actually visiting my boyfriend right now, my girlfriend. Yeah. Do you mind not taking pictures of my boyfriend? Yeah, wouldn't you mind if someone else married it? Like, am I free to marry it too? I guess it, because you did gender it. You gave the Eiffel Tower. You called it a woman before.

People do you refer to it as a she. Like a ship. They're all chicks. I wonder if she sees objects as having a gender. Yeah, good point. Because I mean, why would they? It's weird that we do that. Yeah, that's true.

She needs a coat of paint. Hmm. Anyway, you've told you. It's taken us to an interesting question. Yeah, I feel good. It is fascinating. Two more fun facts here if you think they're still fun. During the cold, the tower shrinks around six inches.

Huh? Huh? Don't we all? No. In height. Is that what you mean? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, when you get real cold, do you really shrink?

Six inches. Yeah, I guess that's quite a small. Small sense. Yeah, and apparently it also sways in the wind, but it's designed to do so. Or it shrinks to six inches. That's fascinating. How cold! You wouldn't want to be standing above it when it gets hot.

Unless you were married to it, I guess. Then maybe that's... Maybe you get there on a very cold day and you pour hot water on it. Only on your anniversary. You died literally doing what you love. Since opening over 250 million people have visited the Eiffel Tower. Today it is the most paid monument of the world As we started with 6.91

Nearly 7 million people ascended it in 2015. Is that true? I wonder how many people like me stood near it. Must be millions more because I also didn't go out when I saw it. I admired from a farm. Oh, I did. Actually, no, I went very clear.

I went under near, it worked underneath and everything. Yeah, I went all around, in and around it, but not up it. What was it like? Was the view worth it? I went to the first level. Where the Flying Taylor was. Yeah, yeah. Did you know that at the time?

I did not know. I had a ticket to go all the way at the top, and then I got to that level, and I was like, this is high enough. Yeah, right. So you feel out amongst the element, sort of? Oh, yeah. And, like, the view's incredible, and it was awesome,

but it was scary. Right. Now, reading this, I want to go back, and I want to go up it. I'm going to make sure. Okay. Yeah, all right. When we go over there, I'll come up it as well. We'll do a presume.

If we ever get back to the UK and Ireland, maybe we should do, that's so close. So close. So close. So close. We should not get over to Paris, visit Joseph. Hmm. Get some treats.

They're the final fun facts, but just want to end. Finally, the namesake of the tower, Gustave Eiffel, died in 1923. So he did see it become a massive success. Oh, that's awesome. Because he lived to be 91. Wow. That means he overlap, his life overlap with two of my grandparents.

That's cool. Wow, they're live at the same time. He died whilst listening to Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. Oh, that's... On the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, which is one of the top five selling albums all time. There's like a disco version of that. And that was the version he was listening to.

Can you believe it? Crazy. He died from a Saturday Night Fever. Did I mention that? There's no cure for that. The other. co-designer Emil Nugier died much earlier in 1897, 57 years old. The year the VFL commenced.

But thank God he saw that. But Maurice Cotulin, who drew the first design ever, the image that I'll post, outlived Gustav and died in 1946 at the age of 89. Wow. In Switzerland, in a house that he'd built by himself. Oh, cool. Yeah, 1900. So he lived old enough to see the tower taken over by the Nazis and then reclaimed by the

French, which is just in time. Yeah, wow. They got it back in late 44. But that is the end of my report on the IFL Tower. Great report. Thank you very much. And thanks to Tom from England for suggesting it, because Dave said it. And also Odie.

Odie Matthews for mentioning the Flying Taylor. Oh, yeah, that's right. A little, you were tempted to do three reports in one. I could say it. Yeah, because if I do that, Victor Lusig, the con man. That's going to be a cool story. You reckon that could be its own story. Yeah.

At least or at least a mini Patreon bonus. Oh, awesome. Well, I look forward to hearing that. Don't forget to do it. You can't sizzle like that and not come through. You can't. Dave, you can't. All right, I'll do it.

Can we bleep bad? Well, this is the time for everyone's favorite section of the show. It is the fact, quote, or question section of the show. What does the jingle go like? I have no idea what you're talking about. Oh, damn it. I think it's something like in Jess's voice. fact quote all question

Ding And then Dave says ding Fantastic but that was a little bit early too Why do they always forget the ding? So this week It is a great man named Tien and Ennis And the way you get involved In the fact quota question I should say

Is by supporting us of patron.com In particular on the Sydney-Shaunberg Deluxe Memorial package level And on that level You get to give us a factor quota a question As well as voting in two of every three topics and And can I just say

this level is the one that voted for my topic today and the difference between first and second was yet again one vote one vote

so because it's a much smaller Patreon level it's a smaller pool because it is the VIP section shall we say

so if you want to dictate how the show goes either some people didn't vote or join and you can change the show basically and as well as that

you also get the two bonus episodes per month, and we record a really fun one earlier tonight, which is probably already gone out, which was all about the country of Spain. It was basically a pilot episode for a new show that I might be starting because I don't have enough of them. And anyway, so Tien and Ennis, who's given himself the title, because that's something else you had to do on this level, he's given himself the title of That Irish Gob Shite, which is

a term we talked about a bit when we were in Ireland. I think our taxi driver taught us that. Yeah, that's right. That man taught us a lot. Not as much as our first taxi driver who took us to where his wife was born. Yes, that was very... Is that normal Dublin sort of hospitality? Especially after getting off a 22-hour flight and we were on the way of the hotel,

but he still had time to take us on the way to where his wife was born. It was an exciting journey. So Tiran has asked the question. Have you ever had a friend or family member taken back? in case we didn't get that, he's put in brackets, surprised. When you tell them how popular this podcast is, with live shows across Australia, two UK tours, and Thailand and Ireland. Okay, well, I don't think I've talked about this on the show yet.

Sadly, my grandfather passed away about two months ago now. Well, all good things must come to an end. Yes, he lived a very long for life, very accomplished dental specialist, and it was amazing at the funeral, then reading out all these achievements as a dentist. It was honestly part of like 30 different boards, all this kind of stuff. So that was just professionally inspiring. But then afterwards, we went and had the wake at a local place near the funeral parlor.

And we're all dressed in suits or whatever. And as I'm ordering a beer, a lady asked me, oh, do you host the Dugelhon podcast? I said, yeah, she's like, I recognize your voice. And my uncle was standing next to me, who doesn't know too much about the show. And he just thought it was the funniest thing that I could do. a podcast that he doesn't fully understand what that is. Was he taken her back?

He was taken her back. Brackett surprised. Couldn't wait to get back to the table to tell everyone else that I'd just been recognized in Grandpa's wake. That's amazing. So yeah, and didn't you pose for a photo with her? Yeah, so sorry, I forgot in your name. You were very, very lovely.

Did she know you were at a wake? I don't think so. She just worked there and we were just there in suits, so maybe she just thinks of... Is your grandfather's way? And I'm in like formal words. And you're posing for photos. You're posing for photos. You're not awake.

My uncle was absolutely busy. It's what grandpapa would have wanted. Exactly. My uncle thought it was so funny. So yeah, he was taken aback by that because not, I was taken aback to me. I didn't expect it. The last place you expect. Yeah.

And we don't get recognized that often. God, no, no, no. No. I can't, I don't remember anyone being. I'm not sure. I'm sure there'd be a lot of people who'd be confused by it if they, thought about it at all. It's not the most conventional job.

So when people are kind of like, so you're still doing that little thing on the podcast? Yeah. Yeah, I am. We just did a tour of the UK and like, I get that from extended family a lot. Yeah, right. They're very confused by what I do.

Yeah, right. Yeah, because I mean, yeah, you work very hard, Jess. Thank you. And I've got so little little. I don't know. I can't remember any specific example. So I'm so grateful that you had that great story. Yeah. I mean, I probably would never want to mention it otherwise, but it's just because you feel like a wanker talking about being recognised, but because it's so rarely happens. But it was just so funny and fits that. Well, my uncle just laughing along. He took the

photo as well. He was laughing. That's right. He was laughing while's taking the photo. That's the best. I think I told you about this when I was in Adelaide Fringe. a couple of years ago, I was in the bar of my venue, and someone recognized me from the podcast. I said, you're not Matt from Duke, go on, are you? I said, I am. And they're like, what are you doing in town? Like, oh, I'm doing my show here at the fringe festival.

She's like, really? She's like, oh, you should mention that on the show. I'm like, I think I have every week for the last probably two months, but I think she skips the intro. That's amazing. That wasn't the year that we had just done a show. Was it? No, it was even better.

She missed out on seeing us. That would be so far. She was taken her back. No, yeah, I don't recall anyone really being taken her back. Was everyone in your family as chilled as you? On some level, I'd say. Yeah. You'd be like, huh, cool.

Anyway, I want a sausage? Well, a few of my folks came to a show, I think. Yeah. And my sister's coming home before. My dad's my biggest supporter in everything I do. And he's currently on a tour of Egypt. And he rings me the other day. Did someone leave him some money?

Yeah, I'm not sure. He's on a tour of Egypt and he calls me up the other day and says, Oh, I've got you a new listener over here. He's talking to a young guy on the trip about your age. And he says he's into history. I said, oh, you should check out my son's podcast. And then he goes, oh, he's here now. I put him on.

And then I was talking to the guy. He's like, oh, yeah, cool. He's in his show. It's pretty fun. Gave me a couple of suggestions for episode topics. Oh, my God. Yeah. So we'll look out for a new download in Egypt on the stats.

My dad got talking to the neighbour across the road who said his daughter was doing a podcast and my dad's like, yeah, my daughter does a podcast as well. And this guy is like, well, everyone does podcasts and whatever. And they're talking a bit more and he goes, and the neighbour goes, yeah, I really like a little dumb dumb club. And my dad's like, do you now? Because Jess was just over in Thailand with him. And he was like, wait, that podcast!

My dad's like, yeah, that's right. Proud daddies. Proud dads. My dad, one time I did a show years ago on community TV and dad watched it and afterwards he said, oh, it was interesting. That's good, dad feedback. He said he liked a bit that was so close to the end of the episode. He said, I liked your interview with, I think he liked the interview with Damien Cow,

the Tissom singer. And I'm like, oh, that was 40 minutes into the show. Did not get it. Anyway. Love to, love the credits. Great supporters, our dads. Thank you so much, Tienan, for your ongoing support. It was very helpful, especially the first time we're over in.

In Edinburgh, yeah. I don't think we really got to talk to him. I maybe a very briefly saw him in the line. In the line out the front, that's right. But he had to rush off because we were, we would, our show was on a school mart last time. Anyway, thank you so much, Tienin. you goddamn legend.

I'd also love to thank Johannes O-Wool. What does an umlaut do on a capital O? Or any O. It stretches out, right? Sorry, Johannes. I'm sorry. I'm going to say,

Johannes Ool. Who's given himself the title of accounting consultant. Jess, you'd be pleased by that? Very disappointed in that. And Johannes has given us a quote. He writes,

Hi, gang. One of my favorite movie quotes is from the movie The airplane, I love airplane, which is called Flying High here, right? Yeah, that's the same movie. Yep, yep. Yeah, I wonder why that... It was called airplane.

Airplane in America. Airplane. Airplane. That's how they say airplane, I think. Airplane. I think so. Yeah, airplane, Hyundai. It's weird.

Oregano. I love how they talk. Please let us into your country. Come on. We want to come and hear you say these words silly in front of us. Say it to our face. You can say them silly to us, and then we'll say our silly back to you. Oregano

oregano That's going to be fun Adidas That's going to be great Yeah what do we say Adidas Adidas No

Idalvis So anyway He says One of his favourite movie quotes is From the movie Airplane And the quote is

Surely you can't be serious I am serious Don't call me Shirley That's a great That's a great quote It's a good bit It's funny I know so many quotes

In that film I don't know I've ever seen It's start to finish Yeah totally Oh, right. I would have said it a few times, but not for a long time. So good. Leslie Nelson's in it, but he's not, he's, it's, it's, it's not the main man, is he? Jesus, it's been a while. Fuck, he's very funny, Leslie.

We should all watch it. Johannes, thank you so much for your support. And yes, I am serious. Really? A punkin like, pumpkin, a punkin, oh my God, pun king like you, Dave should really watch a movie like that. Uh Johannes goes on to say Thanks for the laughs And keep up with the good work Best regards Johannes

Uhul P.S. A little pointer Since you had some troubles With my name last time Oh my God. Oh my God. This is proving that Matt

Never pre-reads these. The first letter Is my last name Brackett the O with the dots is pronounced like a you in the word burn Uh

Johannes Erwall Oh that sounds better Is that right? Johanah's Erwald. Good job. Thank you.

Thank you. You might need to give me further tips for next time. I love that he would have been hearing that back before you got to that bit going, oh, he's done it again. He's done the exact same thing. I've spelt it out for him. Read to the end, please.

We also like to thank a few other patrons who've been supporting us for a while. And normally Jess comes up with a bit of a game to do this. Jess, you have any ideas for tonight? Structures or buildings that they will marry. Oh, yes. Like our friend, Erica. Oh, well, I wonder if I should, because I have a structure that I'd like to marry, do I, should I give someone else that? That luxury?

That honour. I don't know, Matt, would you give away your spouse to someone else? Well, it's hard to know. Got I have a spouse to give one away and I have not yet married. I've not yet met the building that I want to spend the rest of my life. It's a building of your dreams. I'm still renting. So to speak.

Oh, that was weird. Edit all that out. If I could kick it off, I'd love to thank from Airdre in North Lanarkshire in Great Britain. Scott Duke. Scott Duke. Scott Duke. Okay, structures. Think of structures, Jess.

Come on, Jess. Come on, you know, name it. Mount Rushmore. Oh, that is a good one. You get four for the price of one. Yeah, and Mount's already in the name. What do you plan to do this, Mount? I think you know.

That's great, Scott. I hope you're happy with that. That's great. It's a bit of a long-distance relationship for you in Lannockshire, North Lanarkshire. But I reckon, yeah, you know, for those four great guys, who's on there? You've got George Washington. Andrew Dice Clay. Abraham Lincoln.

Abraham Lincoln. Roosevelt. And Thomas Jefferson. Kentucky Fried Chicken. Is that his name? Yeah, Kentucky Fried Chicken. Yeah. It's his name.

You legally changed it. Thanks, Scott, Duke. Enjoy that. I have a weird fascination with Mount Rushmore. I want to go there very badly. I'd love to hear that as a story. Maybe that's a bonus episode type thing. I want to go to Dollywood.

So, you know, we've all got different goals. All got things. Yeah, what do I want to go? You just want to go to America. I really want to let you in. Let us in. I've been there as a tourist and I had a great time. I'd love to go back.

We'd love to perform our little show there for a few people. A little dog and pony show. Thank you so much, Scott. I'd also love to thank from Brooklyn. New York New York City Well we want to go Where we want to go

I love to thank Alex Mark Beyer Alex Mark Beyer Is married to Center Point Tower in Sydney Oh what's that Is that our space needle

Oh yeah it is It's also called Now it's just called Sydney Tower or something like that It's basically the Seattle Yeah similar to that Yeah And it has a rotating restaurant

It's an observation deck Is I made that up The rotating restaurant I don't know it's got Maybe it's got the Now it has a Westfield logo Great. Which is a shopping centre for you, Alex.

Check it out. You get to shop whilst you mount. So many famous buildings in his city. And you've given him the needle in Sydney. May I please thanks? Sorry about that, Scott. Can I thank some people too? Can I thank you again to Alex.

I would like to thank from Perth, Western Australia. Oh, the King. Oh, the King E. Oh, the King E. Kingie. Kingie. Kingy. All right.

I think Isaac. Isaac is going to have a commitment ceremony with the Southland Shopping Center in Cheltenham, Melbourne, Victoria. What a landmark. Kingy! It's got a, because this was my local shopping centre as a kid, and it used to be quite a lot smaller. They ended up buying property on the other side. of the Napaan Highway, and it blew my mind. And it still blows my mind they were allowed to do it.

They built a bridge with shop service. So they bought the air. Somehow they've got the air above Napaan Highway. How do you own that? That's crazy. You know, do you know that place? I don't what you're talking about now, actually. Yeah, yeah, I've never thought about that.

That's weird. How do you, how was that allowed to happen? But anyway, a great spot where I used to go to see movies as a kid. And, yeah, you know, I had a lot of great. times there. I'm sure Isaac will have some great times there too, you know what I mean? I might, if you'll have me, Isaac, I'd love to walk Southland down the aisle. Just for the nostalgia.

Yeah. So let us know, Isaac. I'd also love to thank from Cheshire, Great Britain. I'd love to thank Aaron Kelly. Aaron Kelly. All right, what about the Leaning Tower of Pisa? Oh, geez, you got lucky, Aaron. You could do a few poses if you know what I mean.

If you go there because I've only been there once, but there is constantly people posing as if they're pushing or holding up the tower. Has anyone ever pose like their hump in it? Oh, you better believe I do. Do you pose like it was your dick? Oh, yeah. And it was leaning. Classic.

Check out my leaning dick. Classic. Yeah. You've lucked out there, Aaron. I think that's probably the most iconic one so far. Good on you. We can top it. All right.

Here we go. Okay. I would like to thank a couple of things. peeps now. I'd like to thank from Mystery Location. We were not trusted with this person's address. Fair enough, we would have turned up. Absolutely.

We always turn up for our big supporter, which is Tess Ornstein. Tess Ornstein, just in case. Fantastic name, Tess Onstein. Lady Liberty herself. Oh, yes. She's got the Lady Liberty. She's got Lady Liberty, baby.

Sweet land of Labity lividi livid. Labelidity. You said labialidity. Well, I mean... No, Dave. Is that a pun? Is that a pun? I don't know.

You're the one who normally judges those. Oh, no. Thank you so much to Tess Ornstein. Lady Liberty. Maybe that's her mystery address, because you probably don't, if you live there, you can't have an address. Liberty Island.

Yeah, one Liberty Bell. Two Liberty Bells. I would also like to thank now from Otago, New Zealand. Yes. Is it just Otago? Togo sounds right. Otego, I think.

I mean, that sounds right, but then it sounds like I'm making it too American sounding. I'd like to thank, because I was expecting it to be like an American thing, but it's from New Zealand. That is Annie Throp.

Oh, yes. Such a good name. Annie Throp. You sound like a real character. And that is why you're married to the... What was

is it called the magic wishing tree from Eden Blighton's classic book. Did I say any of those things? No, it's the magic faraway tree. And it's Enid Blighton. I don't say any of those words. Eden. It said tree, right? It's a magic wishing tree.

Eden Blighton. Annie Throp, that's the magic faraway tree. You love to be married to that. It's magical. I loved it. Moonface is in there, I think, and others. I don't remember much about it, etc. Yeah.

There might have been a wishing tree in amongst there as well, but it's a faraway tree. Right. I've merged a few things in there. Maybe. I think that's maybe now you're winning Annie Throp. I love Eden. Eddhryton. Enid Blighton.

Is that right? What, I mean, in my defence, what a name. Enid. Enid Blighton. Everything about that is wild. fantastic. Pretty great. All right, one more time.

A big thanks to Scott, Alex, Isaac, Aaron, Tess, and Annie. Keep fighting the good fight. So good. I'm keeping out with these buildings. Rialto Towers. I was keeping that one for myself. Dave, while I go back and just double check if anyone needs to be led into our VRP area, are there any other, have we done any other buildings?

I was thinking we've done Disneyland, which is sort of like a park thing. We did the Empire State Building on the Patreon bonus episode. So is this our first proper building? episode. There's proper building and there may be one coming up on our web series. Oh, that's right. The building of sorts. And Jess, did you have, you've never done the Sydney Harbour Bridge?

Oh, I've done it. But not as a report. Okay. Say no more. We found your secret love. What day is it today? What day is this episode coming out, Dave? It is Christmas Day.

This Wednesday, Wednesday, the 11th of February. I mean, March. 11th, February. Okay. March. Okay, well. That changes everything. Even better again.

Well, that means we've got four people into the luxury lounge, aka the Triptage Club. Yeah. Jess, what are the canopays serving today? Today we've got a bite-sized mini brusquetta. Oh, love it. Love when you've put into the accent when saying words like that. Thank you.

We also have spinach and ricotta pastry. Just say it And say ricotta Oh come on And also little mini burgers But I mean That's the kind of service you get in here You'll get a little bit of pretense

Yes Not too much But just enough Just a wephothin Just a little bit So I'd love to welcome in From Apple Valley In America

Maybe in Minnesota MN, Noel Laguer Noll Lager So good to have you in it Noel We're also from Cambridge in Great Britain, Stephen Bat. Stephen Bat.

From San Antonio, Texas in the United States of America, it's Christina Bailey. Christina Bailey! C.B. And finally, from... It's KB. It is KB, yes. Oh, well done. I can't see it written down in front of me, so I was just having a punt.

Either can just... Yeah, that's what I'm impressed. I just pay attention. And finally, from London in Great Britain, Gurav Kumar. C.B. That's so I mean. You were hoping for a CB. It's really a happy one.

I'll take Cora. I'll take goalkeeper. Thank you so much. So thank you so much to you all for your long-term support. It really, what do they say, keeps the lights on here at DoGoOn headquarters. And thanks to all our Patreon supporters, we appreciate it so much. That does bring us to the end of this episode. I've really enjoyed this one. about the Eiffel Tower. I love that you've sort of opened up a whole new genre of topics we can do.

Yeah, yeah. I was actually looking at the previous ones we've done in the last few weeks and thought, oh, we really had some varied topics. What's something that we can keep going that's, you know, a different type of topic? So if you have a suggestion for something that we have only done a couple of times or maybe a topic we've never done before or kind of topic, you can always suggest one in the link of the episode. There's a little thing you can click there or go to dogoonpod.com,

and you don't have to be a Patreon supporter if you want to suggest an episode. Yes. Anyone can do it. It's there. It's an open form that you can fill out. If I'm saying that right, Enid Blarton. Form. It's really thrown me.

So follow us if you want to on social media is it Do Go On Pod, and that's across all social medias, including at gmail.com if you want to email us or our website, do go onpod.com. And that's probably the best place to find about any upcoming live shows. If you're listening to us when this is coming out, We're doing the Melbourne Comedy Festival coming up, but we're quietly in talks with getting around Australia

and hopefully internationally a little bit later this year as well. So keep your eyes peeled on there if you're listening to this down the track. We might be coming near you. There's also merchandise. There's merchandise. You're laughing coming near you. And he heard it. He heard it and he hoped no one noticed,

but I was already looking at him going, Oh, no. Oh, no. But if you are lucky, we might be coming near you. Oh, we got a pretty bad aim, have you? Do go on pod.com. Also, we can buy a couple of t-shirts or a pin badge. Oh, that's right, yeah.

There's, I think, three different t-shirt designs at the moment. There's just the last little handful of one. So someone bought the original one recently as a present, and I was thinking, oh, geez, that must be one of the last very few of those. Yeah, it might have been the last one. Oh, right. So there's only, yeah, maybe only a couple left of our original design. And then we've got two more designs up there as well and a pin.

And yeah, it's great. Yes, get involved. All right, well, until next week, as we always say here, look after each other and yourselves. Goodbye. Later. Bye. Never say that again.

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