Level A2

The Man Who Sold the Eiffel Tower

Almost Twice

In 1925 a con man called Victor Lustig tried to sell the Eiffel Tower to scrap metal dealers in Paris. Sean tells Olivia how he did it, almost twice.

↓ Download the printable PDF

Key words

These words appear in the episode. In the transcript, hover over or tap a highlighted word to see what it means.

repairnoun

Work to fix something that is old or broken.

Our car needs some repairs before the summer trip.

temporaryadjective

For a short time only.

I have a temporary job in a café for the summer.

officialadjective

From the government or another important office.

You need an official letter from your school for the new passport.

fakeadjective

Made to look real, but it is a copy.

The man at the market sells fake designer bags.

dealernoun

A person who buys and sells one type of thing.

My uncle is a car dealer, so he always knows the best prices.

offernoun

The amount of money you say you will pay for something.

We made an offer on a small flat near the park.

nervousadjective

A little afraid or worried about something.

I always feel nervous before a job interview.

doubtnoun

A feeling that something is maybe not true or not right.

I have some doubts about this cheap holiday. It looks too good.

bribenoun

Money you give someone secretly, so they help you.

The driver offered the police officer a bribe, and now he is in bigger trouble.

partnernoun

A person who works or does business with you.

My sister and her business partner opened a small bakery together.

escapeverb

To get out of a place when people want to keep you there.

Our cat escaped through the kitchen window again this morning.

honestadjective

Telling the truth.

Be honest with me. Do you really like my new haircut?

Did you understand?

Choose the correct answer.

1. What did the newspaper article in 1925 say about the Eiffel Tower?

2. Where did Lustig meet the scrap metal dealers?

3. Why did Lustig choose André Poisson?

4. Why did Poisson stay quiet after he paid?

5. What job was on Lustig's death certificate?

Exercise 1

Real or fake?

Lustig loved fake things. Each word has three definitions, and only one is real. Find it.

1. bribe

2. temporary

3. dealer

4. doubt

5. official

Exercise 2

Crossword

All the answers are key words from the episode.

Across

1 Olivia: "So the title is ___." Sean: "Very ___. Unlike Lustig." (6)
4 At first, the Eiffel Tower was only for twenty years. It was a ___ tower. (9)
8 Your old bike is broken again. It needs a ___. (6)

Down

2 In 1935 Lustig made a rope from his bed sheets to ___ from prison. (6)
3 At the meeting, Lustig watched the dealers carefully. He was looking for the ___ one. (7)
5 Dan Collins played Lustig's secretary. He was Lustig's ___ in crime. (7)
6 After the tour, each dealer wrote how much he wanted to pay. This was his ___. (5)
7 Lustig's government papers looked real. In fact, they were ___. (4)

Exercise 3

Your turn

You are a scrap metal dealer in Paris in 1925, and you get a letter from Lustig. What do you do? Write three or four sentences. Use at least two words from the list.

Your text is saved on this device.

I read the letter, and I have a doubt at once. Why is the meeting in a hotel? I call the ministry, because I think the paper is fake. Then I go to the police, and Lustig has to escape again.

Full transcript

Show the transcript

Olivia

Wait. He sold the Eiffel Tower?

Sean

The real one, all seven thousand tons of metal.

Olivia

Where do you even put seven thousand tons of metal?

Sean

The buyer had much bigger problems than that.

Olivia

Okay, start at the beginning.

Sean

This is Aprendos English, level A2. I'm Sean.

Olivia

And I'm Olivia.

Sean

So it's Paris in 1925, and a man sits in his hotel room. He's reading a newspaper article about the Eiffel Tower.

Olivia

Is this our man?

Sean

This is our man, and his name is Victor Lustig. He wears very good suits, and he speaks a lot of languages.

Olivia

I like him already, and that's probably a bad sign.

Sean

It's a very bad sign, because Victor is a professional con man. The article says the old tower needs expensive .

Olivia

Repairs, yes, and they paint the whole tower every seven years. I read about it before my first trip to Paris.

Sean

Now listen. After this article, our man gets a very big idea.

Olivia

I think he steals something.

Sean

He wants something much bigger.

Olivia

What's bigger than stealing?

Sean

He wants to sell the tower.

Olivia

But it isn't his tower!

Sean

For Victor, that's a small detail.

Olivia

And everybody in Paris loves the Eiffel Tower!

Sean

They love it today, but at the start lots of people hated it.

Olivia

Oh, right, and it was only a tower at first. I remember this part from my trip too.

Sean

Okay, you tell it.

Olivia

They built it in 1889 for a big world fair in Paris. The plan was to take the whole tower down after twenty years…

Sean

…so in 1909.

Olivia

Yes, but then they put a radio antenna on the top of it. The radio was very useful for France, so the tower stayed.

Sean

So in 1925, a plan to take it down didn't sound crazy.

Olivia

I hate it, but it's clever.

Sean

So first, Lustig pays a man to make government paper. It has the French government sign right at the top.

Olivia

And what job does he have on this paper?

Sean

He says he's a top man at the Ministry of Posts and Telegraphs.

Olivia

Wait. Why the post office?

Sean

Nobody really knows the answer to that. My guess is that a post office job sounds very boring.

Olivia

And nobody asks questions about a boring job.

Sean

Next he writes letters to the big scrap metal in Paris.

Olivia

Scrap metal dealers, so they buy old metal…

Sean

…and they sell it again, yes.

Olivia

How many dealers get a letter?

Sean

The books say five or six.

Olivia

Great. No clear numbers. My favorite.

Sean

Then you're going to love the rest of this story. He invites the dealers to a very expensive hotel, the Crillon.

Olivia

A hotel? Why not the ministry?

Sean

He tells them the plan is a big secret for now. The people of Paris can get very angry about it.

Olivia

If I'm a dealer, I just call the ministry.

Sean

You and your phone calls.

Olivia

I'm a journalist, Sean, so I check things and I call people.

Sean

Well, nobody in this story called anybody at all. Lustig tells them the tower costs the city too much money. So the city wants to sell it for scrap metal…

Olivia

…and the best gets all the metal.

Sean

All seven thousand tons, yes.

Olivia

And they just believe him?

Sean

He's calm and very official, and they like all that money. After the meeting, he drives them to the tower in a big car.

Olivia

Like a private tour?

Sean

A private tour, and they walk around and look at all that metal. Then they go home and they send in their offers.

Olivia

Okay, the highest offer wins, and Lustig takes that man's money.

Sean

No, because Lustig has a different plan in his head. He watches the men very carefully at the meeting…

Olivia

…looking for the richest one?

Sean

He's looking for the one.

Olivia

Oh no. Who is it?

Sean

His name is André Poisson, and he's quite new in Paris business. He wants the important men in the city to respect him.

Olivia

Poor guy, I feel bad already.

Sean

Poisson starts to have a small about the whole thing. Why is it all so secret, and why is it all so fast?

Olivia

Yes! Now he calls the ministry…

Sean

…no, because Lustig finds a better answer first.

Olivia

What kind of answer?

Sean

You tell me. Go on, guess.

Olivia

He shows him more official papers?

Sean

No.

Olivia

He takes him back there?

Sean

No. He asks for a .

Olivia

A bribe? How does that help?

Sean

Lustig tells Poisson that his government pay is very small. So he needs a little extra money from a good friend.

Olivia

Oh, Sean, that's really evil.

Sean

Why is it evil?

Olivia

Because in Poisson's head, a bribe means a real government man. A fake official only wants the sale and nothing else.

Sean

So Poisson feels safe, and he pays for everything.

Olivia

How much does he pay?

Sean

Some books say seventy thousand francs for the bribe alone.

Olivia

And for the tower?

Sean

Much more, but the number changes from book to book.

Olivia

Again? This story needs an editor.

Sean

Anyway, Lustig has the money now, so he leaves Paris fast. He and his get on a train to Austria…

Olivia

…wait, there's a partner?

Sean

There's a partner, an American man with a lot of names. He plays Lustig's secretary, and some books call him Dan Collins.

Olivia

So they run to Austria, and then they wait for the police.

Sean

They wait, and Lustig buys the French newspapers every single day.

Olivia

And the story is on the front page.

Sean

Nothing. Not one word.

Olivia

Nothing? But why not?

Sean

Poisson told nobody, and he didn't go to the police.

Olivia

Because he felt stupid.

Sean

He felt very stupid, I think, and I understand that. He paid for a tower, and he only got a piece of paper.

Olivia

I understand that feeling, because I was the same at twelve. I wrote a little newspaper for the people on my street. One week my big story was wrong, so I hid in my room.

Sean

So you and Poisson are basically the same person.

Olivia

A little bit, but I only lost my pride that week.

Sean

And Lustig learns something very big from all this. Poisson's shame keeps Lustig safe from the police.

Olivia

Oh no, he goes back.

Sean

He goes back to Paris, but nobody agrees on the date. Some books say one month later, and some books say six.

Olivia

Again with the numbers!

Sean

He tries the same trick, with the same letters and the same story…

Olivia

…and he sells it again!

Sean

Well, this time the buyer goes to the police.

Olivia

Wait. Before he pays?

Sean

Before he pays, yes.

Olivia

So he only sold it once!

Sean

He tried twice.

Olivia

That's a very different headline, Sean.

Sean

That's why our title says "almost twice."

Olivia

Oh. So the title is .

Sean

Very honest. Unlike Lustig.

Olivia

Good. So what happens next?

Sean

Now the story is in the newspapers, so Lustig runs again. This time he goes all the way to America.

Olivia

Oh, can I tell this part?

Sean

Please do.

Olivia

In America he starts a new business with fake money. For years, he and his partners make lots of fake dollars.

Sean

That's right. And then what happens?

Olivia

In 1935 the police finally catch him in New York. A few months later, he from the prison…

Sean

…with a rope, I think?

Olivia

With a rope from his bed sheets, out of a window. The police catch him again about four weeks later, in Pittsburgh.

Sean

And where do they send him this time?

Olivia

Guess.

Sean

Somewhere very far away from Paris.

Olivia

Alcatraz, the famous prison on an island near San Francisco.

Sean

Well, that's far from Paris, and there are no nice hotels.

Olivia

No hotels. He died there in 1947…

Sean

…actually, he died in a prison hospital in Missouri.

Olivia

Oh, you're right. Missouri, in 1947.

Sean

And his death certificate is my favorite part. Can you guess the job on that paper?

Olivia

Con man?

Sean

Apprentice salesman.

Olivia

A beginner? He sold a tower!

Sean

Almost twice.

Olivia

Almost twice, thank you very much.

Sean

And there's one more strange thing about him. In 2015, a historian looked for Lustig in old records from his home town. It's a small town in the Czech Republic today.

Olivia

And he found a birth record?

Sean

He found nothing, not one piece of paper about Lustig's birth.

Olivia

So maybe even the name Victor Lustig is fake.

Sean

Maybe, because we still don't know his true story for sure.

Olivia

So he sells a tower, and then he sells us a mystery.

Sean

Now it's your turn, listeners. Poisson paid all that money and then he stayed quiet. Do you understand his silence, or was he just a fool? Write your answer under this video.

Olivia

And you can read every word from today, for free. Open the description and download the PDF.

Sean

So, any last questions, Olivia?

Olivia

Where do you put seven thousand tons of metal, then?

Sean

You don't. It's still standing in the center of Paris.

Olivia

Good, and next time I'm in Paris, I'm calling the ministry first.

Sean

Of course you are. See you soon, everyone.

Olivia

See you soon!

Want more stories at your level?

Aprendos has hundreds of podcast episodes with exercises that adapt to you.

Try Aprendos for free