“The Eiffel Tower was supposed to be demolished in 1909: how science saved it. A 1-minute English history explainer in five beats: Eiffel's permit ran only twenty years; in 1887 famous artists called it useless and monstrous (Maupassant lunched inside so he wouldn't have to see it); Eiffel made it useful with a weather station, air-resistance tests and an 1898 radio signal to the Panthéon; by 1903 the army used it as a giant antenna and in 1914 it intercepted German messages before the Battle of the Marne; in 1910 the permit was renewed for seventy years. Look: paper collage made of real archive photos, cut-out figures, rubber stamps, typewriter labels and a satellite map. Deep, calm male narrator, quiet music, no subtitles.”
