The Man who Sold the Eiffel Tower: Victor Lustig: the World's Greatest Conman
John Roberts
- Regions:
- Gloucestershire, Bristol, Wiltshire, Somerset, Oxfordshire, West Midlands, Derbyshire, Pembrokeshire, Carmarthenshire, Swansea, Neath Port Talbot, Bridgend, Vale of Glamorgan, Cardiff, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Caerphilly, Blaenau Gwent, Torfaen, Monmouthshire, Newport, Merthyr Tydfil
- Notice Period:
- Short (maybe less than one month's notice)
- Type:
- Hobby
- Fee:
- Paid: £50.00 Expenses travel-dependent
- Category:
- History
- Updated:
- 29th August 2026
"I can’t understand honest men. They live such lives of utter boredom." Victor was born in central Europe in 1890, and was already swindling people in 1908. Aged just 24 he ‘sold’ London’s Tower Bridge, and would later ‘sell’ the Eiffel Tower. Twice. A man of many identities and many crimes, including swindling Al Capone and large-scale counterfeiting; which made him, for years, one of the FBI’s most wanted and hunted men. Victor made and lost millions on two continents; met Joan Crawford, Clara Bow and a young Ronald Reagan. It was anything but boring, but how did it all end?
Views: 11 | Enquiries: 0About John Roberts
W H Davies was my first subject, born out of COVID boredom. Now researching and writing them is a winter hobby. I have lived and worked in Newport, where Davies was born and now live near Nailsworth, where he died.
Most of my talks are about wanderers, adventurers, restless individuals, I suppose. Certainly they were men who rose to a challenge - in the case of Zeppelin, literally.
I have taught in every sector of education apart from special schools, and done quite a bit of other stuff, too.
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