Terminal Man: The Refugee who waited at an Airport for 18 Years

In this episode of The Compendium, we uncover the unbelievable story of The Terminal Man, Mehran Karimi Nasseri, the inspiration behind Spielberg’s 2004 movie "The Terminal". Trapped in Charles de Gaulle Airport for 18 years, Mehran, known as Sir Alfred, survived extraordinary circumstances, from bureaucratic nightmares to emotional isolation. Discover the true story behind The Terminal movie, how one man adapted to life in an airport, and why his tragic journey captivated the world. This is a tale of resilience, identity, and the human spirit that defies all odds.

We give you the Compendium, but if you want more, then check out these great resources:

1. The Terminal (2004) - Imbd
2. Here to Where (2002) - Youtube Full Mocumentry
3. The 15 Year Layover - by Michael Paterniti (GQ)
4. The Terminal Man - by Alfred Merhan

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Credits:

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Chapters

• 0:00 Sneak Peak
• 1:19 Welcome to the Compendium
• 3:11 Topic of the week
• 51:36 Outro

Transcript

[00:00:01] Kyle Risi: They pay Alfred 250, 000 for the rights. And so, the 2004 movie, The Terminal, is born. He signs a contract, they wire him the money, which he deposits in his little bank account that he sets up at the airport bank. And for Alfred, nothing changes! He continues to live in the exact same way, just waiting at Charles de Gaulle Airport.

[00:00:21] Adam Cox: What's he waiting for? Yeah, he's got 250, 000 in his bank account! Yeah, should he be like, oh, call up that lawyer and go like, uh, yeah, I will take that deal, yeah. 

[00:00:30] Kyle Risi: How many McDonald's can you buy? 250, 000. You're never going to be able to spend all that money on McDonald's. 

[00:00:34] Adam Cox: And then, are people still giving him money? Because they'll be like, I know you've got 250 grand. I'm not giving you my raiser. 

[00:00:40] Kyle Risi: I think people are still giving him things out of generosity. Maybe less money now because, of course, he relies on all the media interviews and the attention that he's getting. But people still care for him. They want to give him, like, support or whatever. 

[00:00:51] Adam Cox: I'm not giving him anything. I've got 250 grand. 

[00:00:54] Kyle Risi: Can have some of your money.

[00:00:56] [00:01:00] Welcome to the Compendium of Fascinating Things, a weekly variety podcast that gives you just enough information to stand your ground at any social gathering. We explore stories from the darker corners of true crime, the annuls of your old unread history books, and the who's who of extraordinary people.

[00:01:37] I'm, of course, your Ringmaster this week, Kyle Reacy. 

[00:01:39] Adam Cox: And I'm your Human Cannonball this week, Adam Cox. 

[00:01:42] Kyle Risi: Ooh, Human Cannonball. Bob. Welcome 

[00:01:43] Adam Cox: Bob. Why Bob? 

[00:01:45] Kyle Risi: Moonlighting as a, as a safety officer. Reminding everyone to wear their helmets. 

[00:01:49] Adam Cox: I should wear my helmet. 

[00:01:51] Kyle Risi: I 

[00:01:51] Adam Cox: could get injured. I could die. 

[00:01:52] Kyle Risi: Of course, and that's why you're the safety officer, right?

[00:01:56] So Adam,

[00:01:57] a new week. We've had a little bit of a refresh, a little [00:02:00] rebrand, right? Things are changing up a bit. So guys, All of you who are unaware, All The Latest Things is now its own episode, packed with even more weird news and mind boggling facts, all wrapped up in its own mini episode. And it's waiting for you every week alongside our main feature on Patreon.

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[00:02:43] By signing up, your support will really help us create even more exclusive content for you guys. And as a certified freak, you also get access to our private RSS feed, which you can add straight to Spotify or Apple Podcasts. This means you'll have all of your regular episodes [00:03:00] and all the latest things in one convenient place. So don't miss out. Yeah, why wouldn't you? Yeah, why not, man? Support us. If you love us that much, support us. It really means the world to us. 

[00:03:11] But anyway, adam, today's compendium, we are diving into an assembly of red benches and bureaucratic baggage. 

[00:03:20] Adam Cox: Hmm, red benches. Does that have something to do with the government? 

[00:03:24] Kyle Risi: I guess so, yeah, I mean, bureaucratic.

[00:03:26] Nice big fat clue there for you, isn't it? Today, I'm actually telling you the story that many people don't actually realise is based on a true story. I'm talking about the real story behind the 2004 film starring Tom Hanks, The Terminal. 

[00:03:42] Adam Cox: Oh, the guy that was stuck in an airport? 

[00:03:44] Kyle Risi: Yes! 

[00:03:45] Adam Cox: Yeah, I did know it was based on a true story, I'm sure I knew about this. I think, don't they even like show pictures at the end of the movie? Or did I dream that? Katherine Zita Jones then as well, right? 

[00:03:54] Kyle Risi: Yeah, of course. Man. Love interest. Yeah. So for those of you who don't recall, this is [00:04:00] an incredibly wholesome movie directed by Steven Spielberg starring Tom Hanks and Katherine Zeer Jones. And it tells a story of Victor Norski, who is a tourist from a fictional eastern European country called, I believe it's like Ra Zoa or Ra Raza. I don't know. Pronunciation is a big 

[00:04:16] Adam Cox: problem for 

[00:04:17] Kyle Risi: me. 

[00:04:17] Adam Cox: It's kind of Polish sounding. 

[00:04:18] Kyle Risi: Yeah, yeah, exactly. Some kind of Middle Eastern, kind of European country.

[00:04:22] Now, when Victor arrives at JF Kennedy International Airport in New York City, he discovers that a coup d'etat has taken place in his home country, rendering his passport and visa, Essentially invalid. And as a result, he's denied entry to the USA, but he also can't return home because his country no longer recognizes his passport either.

[00:04:43] So until the situation is resolved, as you know from watching the film, he's instructed by the field commissioner just to remain in the transit lounge, JFK airport. And so, for like 7 months, or whatever, He is stuck living in this airport, he can't leave or he'll be arrested [00:05:00] and his only option is just to wait it out.

[00:05:02] Now on top of this he can't speak English, he has no money, he has to of course adapt and survive. It's kind of like that classic hero arc where he has to overcome all these different challenges. Makes a really compelling story. And what he ends up doing is he makes some money by returning luggage carts and collecting like the 25 cents reward from the machine.

[00:05:21] And he uses this to buy some food, He also then makes like a makeshift bed using lounge chairs He learns to speak english by watching the news screens And of course along the way he makes a bunch of friends who all become like really crucial to like his mental Well being. 

[00:05:35] But what a lot of people don't know is that the rights to this true story behind the terminal was actually purchased from a real live person Who was essentially going through a very similar thing and his name was Moran Karimi Naseri But get this The rights to his story wasn't bought after Moran finally left the airport.

[00:05:56] He was still living in the airport at the time. [00:06:00] But even more nutso was that he wasn't stuck in the airport for several months, like Tom Hanks. Moran was stuck in the airport for 18 years. 

[00:06:09] Adam Cox: 18 years? 

[00:06:11] Kyle Risi: Yeah. 

[00:06:12] Adam Cox: And he wasn't allowed out because of this whole passport issue? 

[00:06:15] Kyle Risi: Yeah. And can you imagine like how crazy it is waiting at an airport for, let's say, a four hour delay? How nutso you go just waiting. 

[00:06:23] Adam Cox: I know, it's like I've been in all the shops I've had my McDonald's or whatever it might be, or my Wetherspoons. 

[00:06:28] Kyle Risi: Had a little wander Yeah, 

[00:06:29] Adam Cox: and even if you go into an airport lounge, usually you have a time limit in there sometimes. 18 years, man. 18 years, and he wasn't able to leave the airport once. Nope. How would this even happen?

[00:06:39] Kyle Risi: I know that's, that's, that's the question. He's almost like a prisoner. He, kind of like in like limbo, like hell almost. Yeah. Like waiting room to hell. And so he was still in the airport when the film came out? 

[00:06:51] Adam Cox: Mm hmm. Yep. And, okay, that's weird. 

[00:06:54] Kyle Risi: It's bizarre. So Adam, today I'm gonna tell you about this incredible story of how Moran came to find himself [00:07:00] living at Charles de Gaulle Airport in France. I'll tell you about his heartbreaking backstory. What daily life was like for him at the airport, the reception that this story received around the world, and the crazy truth at the center of this story. Today, I'm telling you about the real story behind the 2004 movie, The Terminal. 

[00:07:20] Can't wait.

[00:07:21] So, and to kick things off, I'm not actually going to refer to Moran Karimi Nasseri as Moran. I'm going to actually call him Alfred because that's the name that he actually preferred to be called. But I'll get into that later on. And as I said, Alfred ended up getting stuck in this sort of limbo at Terminal 1. In Charles de Gaulle Airport in France in August of 1988. And just like the film, it's partly due to this bizarre bureaucracy of international travel, passport, citizenship, and these various legal loopholes which end up entangling him in this huge mess. 

[00:07:55] But also, it's partly because he ends up becoming quite mentally [00:08:00] ill. People aren't really sure if this is a result of him being stuck at the airport for all these years, or if this is something that happened to him before he arrived, therefore the reason why he ended up staying all these years.

[00:08:12] Adam Cox: Yeah, because, I can imagine that being in an airport for 18 years could make you go a little bit crazy. Bit loopy. But, I would have thought you would have been able to find your way out. after a few months, let alone 18 years. So mate, do you think there's some kind of like Stockholm syndrome in terms of like, he's felt comfortable and safe at the airport?

[00:08:31] Kyle Risi: I think there's something quite ironic there. Because he actually starts to refer to himself as being born in Sweden. So it's quite ironic that it's Stockholm syndrome. And he's claiming that he's Swedish. It's not connected. But I just think it's a little bit of an ironic kind of connection. 

[00:08:47] Adam Cox: And he goes by Alfred now.

[00:08:48] Kyle Risi: Yes, and I'm going to explain to you why, and I think it's going to become clear as we find out a bit more about his backstory. 

[00:08:54] So, nobody actually knows when he was born, because all his identification and documents [00:09:00] end up getting lost early on in his story. But on top of this, his story tends to change quite a bit.

[00:09:05] It is believed that he was born around 1946 or 1947 which if accurate would make him around about 78 years old today. Now we know that Alfred was born in the Anglo Persian oil company settlement and growing up his dad was this Iranian doctor working for an oil company and his mom was a homemaker. In total he has seven brothers and sisters who all grow up in a fairly affluent family as a result of the wealth that comes from these western countries mining oil there at the time.

[00:09:34] When he is in his early 20s, his dad ends up dying of cancer, and this is exceptionally difficult for him and his family. It's around about this time that his mother actually tells him that she isn't actually his mother, and that his father had had an affair with a Scottish nurse who was working at the oil base where he worked at the time.

[00:09:52] And because at the time in Iran, adultery was considered a crime that was punishable by death. So Alfred's father and his [00:10:00] wife agreed to keep the Pharaoh's secret and raise him as her own in order to protect everyone involved.

[00:10:06] But even though she agrees to raise him as her own, Alfred's father and She is extremely bitter and upset about this and it's this resentment that she latches on to for pretty much all of his life unbeknownst to Alfred So when his dad finally dies and is no longer at risk of being executed She tells him that she isn't his mother and that she actually hates him She actually hated his father as well for bringing shame into their marriage 

[00:10:31] Adam Cox: But she was happy to go along with it?

[00:10:33] Kyle Risi: I guess, like, she's a homemaker, right? So if her husband gets punished by death, A, she's an outcast, and B, does she still get the support that she needs? 

[00:10:41] Adam Cox: Right, okay, so she's doing it almost out of necessity. 

[00:10:44] Kyle Risi: Potentially, yeah. Of course, Alfred is devastated when he hears this. His entire life and his parentage has now turned out to be a lie. And for his entire life, this person who he thought was his mother secretly hated him just for existing. So for him, [00:11:00] everything that he has ever known is now just turned upside down. And on top of this, his mother tells him that she wants him out of their lives and tells him that he has now been disinherited. 

[00:11:10] Adam Cox: Oh, so he gets no inheritance. 

[00:11:12] Kyle Risi: Gets nothing. So she tells him that he has to leave and go and study in the UK, and he needs to get a degree and then find his own way in the world away from the family. And in exchange for him disappearing, she will send him a monthly allowance from his dad's estate to support himself until he graduates and finds a job.

[00:11:29] So, he enrolls at the University of Bradford in England to study Yugoslav studies. And shortly after starting, he becomes involved in these kind of anti Shah demonstrations which are related to the Iranian revolution that is unfolding in Iran at the time. Which is a whole story in itself. And it all kicks off after the Shah of Iran throws one of the biggest, most exclusive parties in history, which basically sparks the start of the Iranian revolution.

[00:11:56] I'm going to do a whole episode on that. So sit tight, but it's shortly [00:12:00] after this. That all the financial support that was promised to him stops. So he tries to contact his mother, but he's unable to make contact. So he decides the only option that he has is to return back to Iran and speak to her in person.

[00:12:13] However, when he lands in Iran, he is immediately arrested because the Iranian government has received intelligence, including photographs, showing him participating in these protests against the Iranian regime. And so, they throw him into jail. 

[00:12:27] Now, after some time, Word gets back to his mother about where he is, so she ends up paying a bribe to secure his release, but on one condition. She makes sure that he is only given an immigration passport, meaning that he can use it to leave Iran, but that he would never be able to return. 

[00:12:43] Basically, this was her way of ensuring that he would be out of their lives forever. 

[00:12:48] Adam Cox: So this is how, I'm guessing, he gets stuck. He has in the airport because he's not actually got a proper passport. 

[00:12:55] Kyle Risi: Pretty much Yeah, now he does still have documentation, but there's gonna be a big spanner that gets thrown in the [00:13:00] works now This is also where the details end up getting a bit murky He says that he spends the next few years bouncing from country to country trying to find asylum. But because he isn't technically a citizen anywhere every country lands in ends up Getting him caught up in their very complex bureaucratic process. And so he's just kind of stuck waiting in these countries while they try and sort it out. 

[00:13:22] So he decides along the way that maybe it would be better if he just try skipping across a bunch of countries in the hope that their process will be a bit quicker. 

[00:13:30] Finally, he is offered refugee status in Belgium in 1981.

[00:13:35] Now, he is roughly in his early 30s now. So between the time that his dad passes away and he finally getting accepted as a refugee in Belgium, around 10 years has passed. So he's been bouncing around for 10 bloody years as a stateless human being. 

[00:13:51] Adam Cox: Yeah, stateless, no home. Disinherited. Yeah, that's must have been pretty tough on him.

[00:13:56] Kyle Risi: Now it's in Belgium that he is given government assistance, he finds a job [00:14:00] in a library and it's here that someone tells him that they may know who his birth mother is and that she might be this woman that's living in Glasgow in Scotland. 

[00:14:09] So he saves up a bunch of money, he buys a boat ticket from Belgium to England to see if he can find her, and this is where he does something very stupid.

[00:14:17] He somehow gets it into his head that because he believes he has one UK born parent, this gives him the right to become a UK citizen. He also believes that because the boat that he is on is an English boat, that this is kind of the same thing as being on English soil. So his plan is to claim asylum in the UK while he is on the boat.

[00:14:38] But he doesn't want to be caught with Iranian or Belgian documents on him, just in case they search him. So before he boards the boat, he posts all of his documents to the UN High Commission for Refugees in Brussels. 

[00:14:51] Adam Cox: Hang on, so he's on a boat, but is this like a proper ferry, or is this like an immigration type It's probably a ferry of some kind, like just a regular tourist ferry. [00:15:00] So he's not on like an illegal 

[00:15:01] Nope. Fine, okay. And then why would he want to hide his Belgium, details? I can understand why maybe the Iran, but why Belgium?

[00:15:09] Kyle Risi: I think it's because they might think, well, you've got temporary citizenship in Belgium as a refugee. You need to go back there. But he's trying to claim that because he's got a UK born mother that he can just say, well, my mom's from Scotland and therefore I can then stay in the country.

[00:15:24] Adam Cox: Yeah, but what proof has he got? 

[00:15:25] Kyle Risi: Well, exactly. That's, that's the issue that we've got here, right?

[00:15:28] And of course, this is where everything goes wrong. Remember, in the 1980s, there isn't much in the way of electronic records for people. So without any physical papers, he's in a bit of a pickle. So when he gets to England, of course he doesn't have an ID or a passport. So they refuse him entry and they send him straight back to Belgium.

[00:15:44] When he gets back to Belgium, he doesn't have an ID or passport, so they send him back to England. Oh no. When he gets there, they're like, uh, this guy again. So they put him on a boat this time to France. They don't know what to do with him either, so they put him in prison for illegally trying to [00:16:00] enter the country.

[00:16:01] Eventually he is released and they tell him that he has 24 hours to get the hell out of France and so he makes his way to Charles de Gaulle airport thinking that maybe if he flies to London instead of taking a boat he will have maybe a better chance of getting through customs. 

[00:16:15] Adam Cox: Hang on, so I like how us in the UK were like, oh just ship him off to France, let him deal with it. I'm like, hang on a minute, this isn't our problem. And so they try and then get rid of him and he thinks he can then fly back into the UK without any problems? Yeah, I feel like someone needs to sit him down and have a talk. 

[00:16:30] Kyle Risi: I think I think it's going to sink in in a minute so when he gets to london again, he doesn't have a passport or id and once again They send him straight back to charles de gaulle airport At this point, he literally has just been bounced back and forth between these different countries. Nobody is actually letting him in. 

[00:16:47] He does try a couple more times, but eventually when he touches back down in France after being bounced there yet again, they finally had enough and they're like, we're putting you into jail. And that's where you're going to stay for six months. Hopefully you'll learn your lesson. [00:17:00] Stop trying to get into these different countries. 

[00:17:02] Adam Cox: Why didn't he just get his Belgian details back? This is the thing. He could do that, but they can't find these documents. So there's speculation that he didn't post them to the High Commission, but he actually chucked them overboard.

[00:17:13] Kyle Risi: I know. At least he can be in Belgium now, eating chocolate. Because that's the only thing that they do, right? 

[00:17:21] Belgium and waffles. 

[00:17:22] Yeah, and And beer. 

[00:17:24] Yeah, exactly. He can be drunk and stuffed with chocolate. 

[00:17:28] Adam Cox: That sounds good to me. Better than being 

[00:17:29] Kyle Risi: stuck in an airport. For sure. So when he's released, they obviously know that he doesn't have a passport or an ID, and that he can't go anywhere. But they also know that they don't know what to do with him. All they know is that he can't stay in the country. 

[00:17:42] So what they do is they take him to Charles de Gaulle airport and they tell him to stay there until he or they work it out. So like dumping him at the airport means that he's not technically in France. It's like this neutral international kind of meeting point of different countries. So as long as he doesn't try to leave the airport to get back into France, he'll [00:18:00] be fine. But they also make it very clear that if he does, he will be arrested and he will go back to jail. 

[00:18:05] So essentially the French authorities are hoping that he will just get onto another plane and fly to another country and then he'll just be someone else's problem.

[00:18:12] That's what's happening here. But that's not going to happen because remember he has no freaking money. So he is forced to sleep at Terminal 1 that night, which then turns into a second night and then a third night. And before you know it, he's been there for 18 years.

[00:18:28] Adam Cox: How would he even get on a plane anyway without a passport? 

[00:18:31] Kyle Risi: It's a different time back then, right? You would buy your ticket, you'd board your airplane, and then when you touch down in the UK, that's when you go through customs. Now, here's the interesting thing about the UK and the French border, is that France in these modern days, is responsible for checking kind of the documents as they, are bordered. We have this weird kind of agreement with France, whereby the border is technically 

[00:18:54] Adam Cox: In the other country, isn't it? In the other country. Yeah, same if you go on the Eurostar, or whatever. Yes. Yeah, you do that process [00:19:00] before you get on the train. 

[00:19:01] Kyle Risi: Yeah, I don't know if that's changed now since we left the EU, because it's gotten quite murky with people now illegally coming into the country. But yeah, we have some kind of weird arrangement that's been going around since like the 50s.

[00:19:12] So In the terminal lounge at this time they have these kind of big bulky red cushion benches, very impractical. They're made from leather, they fray really easily, they've got loads of holes in them as they age etc. They're very different to the benches that we see now which are all like metal, steel and grey.

[00:19:26] Which you cannot sleep on. You cannot sleep on them, they've got wheels so you can easily kind of move them around. Back then they were real stationary in place kind of benches.

[00:19:35] He pulls two of these together between a pizza parlor and an electronic shop. He pulls like a little food court table which he uses as a desk. A flight attendant gives him a pillow and a blanket from a plane that they've just kind of disembarked. And he makes this makeshift fort which essentially becomes his home.

[00:19:51] And of course passengers see him or he'll often strike a conversation with these people and they end up giving him all sorts of things like books and magazines which he [00:20:00] starts to collect up all around him along with all of his other items that he either manages to find or buy or people just give him. And just like Tom Hanks in the movie, he has a briefcase that's filled with various items, he owns a Sony Walkman, he has this little alarm clock to kind of wake him up every morning, and when you see pictures of him in the airport, he's got all this stuff that's piling up around him, and he keeps a lot of his stuff on like these trolleys and in laundry bags which can like, he should just be wheeled around, but he's amassing a whole bunch of stuff around him.

[00:20:30] Yeah, it's almost like it's hoarding by the sound of things. Yeah, I mean, it's, I guess human beings, they want stuff, right? 

[00:20:36] Adam Cox: Yeah. And, but how does he get away with this? How has security or cleaners or airport management, I guess they get the deal with him. He can't leave or whatever, but how has no one said, Oh, you can't build a fort.

[00:20:47] Kyle Risi: I think there's a bit of a compassion there, right? Like what's the other alternative? He, as far as they know, like he is embroiled in this dispute between customs and whatever. And I guess they just think that he is going to get [00:21:00] sorted out very soon. And it just ends up taking 18 years. 

[00:21:03] Adam Cox: Very soon. But that was like 10 years ago and he's still here. Yeah, 

[00:21:06] Kyle Risi: I guess at some point he just becomes a regular fixture. But it also gets a bit tricky. They can't be seen to be doing anything about it as time goes on. Because he becomes this huge celebrity. And people in France, they've got quite a good welfare system. No one wants to be seen as a bad guy turning away a homeless person. 

[00:21:23] For food, of course he has his pick of all the restaurants in the terminal, but his preferred choice is McDonald's, where every day he will have a bacon and egg croissant for breakfast and a fish sandwich for dinner, and that is pretty much all he eats. Like, he could have a pizza if he wants to, but he prefers McDonald's. 

[00:21:38] Adam Cox: That's quite gross actually. 

[00:21:40] Kyle Risi: I know, 18 years. Incredibly he keeps clean by using the nearby public bathroom which also has a shower and this becomes a huge part of his very rigid daily routine. At one point a passenger gives him an electric razor so his face is always immaculately shaven, he's always extremely well groomed, he always looks great and in some of the documentaries that you watch about him [00:22:00] he will literally just be sitting in his little desk where his bench is and he'll just whip out his razor and he'll just start shaving himself like several times a day.

[00:22:06] Adam Cox: It's just his routine. Yeah, I guess so. You've got to try and find some normality, 

[00:22:10] Kyle Risi: right? That's it. He makes friends with various airport staff over the years, and he has this kind of little arrangement with some of the staff from nearby shops to watch his stuff whenever he needs to go to the loo.

[00:22:20] And to pass time, he keeps a little diary where he writes down all his thoughts, he listens to his Walkman, he reads a bunch of magazines, and unlike the movie, he can actually speak English really well. Remember, he's an academic, he studied at the University of Bradford in the United Kingdom. 

[00:22:34] It's really incredible that throughout this entire time that he spends at This airport. He has this really super regimented routine trying to lead a fairly normal life as best as he can I imagine that when the depression sets in you just kind of like stop doing all that But no, he is so regimented which makes it really difficult to see whether or not he is actually suffering from any mental issues at all or [00:23:00] depression Like he even opens up a little savings account in the terminal bank upstairs where he would deposit any money that he gets from passengers and for like five years this is his entire life.

[00:23:10] After a while, he becomes a bit of a local celebrity attached to this really bizarre quirky story and people start coming to the airport to visit him, to come and just see him. He's like this urban legend that people want to see for themselves. They've all heard about it.

[00:23:22] It's making the rounds in local news and national news, and they just want to see it himself. So if they're ever flying through, people go out the way to go to a terminal one to kind of see him, have a conversation with him. And like, he's happy to receive these people. He's happy to have these conversations.

[00:23:36] Is he like the puppet man in Norwich? Yes. So we have the puppet man in Norwich. What does he have a name? The Puppet Man. Just the Puppet Man. And what he does is he just sits on Gentleman's Walk like a busker, but he'll be blaring out like 90s pop songs or whatever. From like a 90s stereo usually.

[00:23:55] Yeah. And he's got like these two puppets on his hands. I think they're from like [00:24:00] Sooty. 

[00:24:00] Adam Cox: I don't know, I think it changes. Yeah, but something like that. Yeah, hand puppets. 

[00:24:03] Kyle Risi: And all he does, he's quite an old guy and he will literally, as the music's playing, he'll just flap these puppets around. He's not doing anything interesting with them. He's literally just got them on his hands and he's flapping his arms up and down. And he's this huge celebrity in our city. You can look him up. He's got his own Wikipedia page and he's just incredible. I haven't seen him in ages. Well, he, he does go on tour. Where? 

[00:24:25] Adam Cox: He goes to Great Yarmouth sometimes. I've 

[00:24:27] Kyle Risi: seen him there. 10 miles down the road. 

[00:24:30] Adam Cox: Um, so I think he does a little bit of a lap or circuit, around, yeah, this part of the world. 

[00:24:33] Kyle Risi: He's a local treasure. 

[00:24:34] Adam Cox: Yeah. But how he gets money for that, I don't know, but people turn up to see him. 

[00:24:39] Kyle Risi: Every city has those weird little quirky characters. I remember the one, because you went to university in Bournemouth and there was Gordon. 

[00:24:46] Adam Cox: Oh yeah, Gordon. 

[00:24:47] Kyle Risi: You told me about Gordon, how like, no matter what time of day it was, no matter where he was, if you said, Hey Gordon, what's the time? He will tell you what the time is and he'll be dead accurate. And you took me to Bournemouth. [00:25:00] on one of our first kind of trips away. And you told me the story and we saw Gordon. We bumped into him, yeah. And the first thing I said was, Hey Gordon, what's the time? And he went, It's two o'clock. And then he pointed up and there's a big giant clock above him. 

[00:25:12] Adam Cox: It's true. I guess there are quite a few clocks in Bournemouth. So maybe he's just really lucky. She's like, why do people ask me? Just look up. 

[00:25:19] Kyle Risi: So I guess Alfred is, is one of those types of people, right? Yeah. He's just that one of those curiosities that becomes a permanent fixture of an area associated with that area. And beloved because the puppet man we love, right?

[00:25:30] And so people eventually start sending more kinds of stuff. They write him letters which they address literally to the man at terminal one of Charles de Gaulle airport. The mail staff know exactly where to deliver the packages and the letters. And he has sent all kinds of things from cash to gift cards which you can use to buy food and other necessities at the airport. 

[00:25:48] People send him books and magazines, including personal letters of support. And sometimes he will receive things like soap and personal kind of care items. And after years of living in the airport, these [00:26:00] correspondents end up becoming this real crucial kind of element in helping him connect to the outside world when he's trapped in this airport.

[00:26:08] And it genuinely warms my heart to think that really are really actually some really good people out there. So it's sweet. But Adam, that's pretty much what life is like for him at this airport. At this moment in time, he's been there for around about five years. 

[00:26:22] But I think it's good time to take a quick break. And when we get back, Alfred is about to get very, very famous. But does he find a resolution? We'll have to find out after the break.

[00:26:35] So Adam, we're back. Sir Alfred, as we now know him, has been living at Charles Gull airport for five years, and the authorities have completely forgotten about him. He is just living his life in this sort of limbo, and eventually, As we can probably imagine, cracks do eventually start to form. It's these very first few years that he ends up denouncing his name and he starts calling [00:27:00] himself Sir Alfred.

[00:27:00] And there is speculation that Sir? Yes, oh sorry, yes of course! He, he's Sir Alfred. That's his name. 

[00:27:08] Adam Cox: Hang on a minute. You don't get to be called a Sir. 

[00:27:11] Kyle Risi: Why 

[00:27:11] Adam Cox: not? By living in an airport. He's 

[00:27:13] Kyle Risi: got 

[00:27:13] Adam Cox: Scottish heritage. 

[00:27:14] Kyle Risi: That's not how 

[00:27:15] Adam Cox: you 

[00:27:15] Kyle Risi: get 

[00:27:15] Adam Cox: to become a Sir. You need to be knighted. That's what he thinks. Does he think the Queen has knighted him? Has the Queen sent him a letter? 

[00:27:21] Kyle Risi: I imagine at some point amongst all these things, she has, she's heard about his story and she's like, you know what, he needs to be a sir. 

[00:27:28] Adam Cox: Okay, 

[00:27:28] Kyle Risi: fine.

[00:27:29] and I guess there's just speculation that this is how he's able to deal with kind of the complete and utter embattlement by his family, right? I guess it's more to align himself with his Scottish side, which he has placed kind of an incredible amount of hope that he will eventually find somewhere in this world where he can belong, so it's like that constant reminder that there is a place out there for him by aligning himself with his mother's name. 

[00:27:51] Adam Cox: And becoming a Sir. 

[00:27:52] Kyle Risi: And becoming a Sir. Why not? It's the cherry on the top. But he also starts insisting that he was born in Sweden, denying all connection with Iran, [00:28:00] to the point that he even refuses to speak Farsi, opting only to speak English.

[00:28:04] And when people get to know him, all he talks about is how he wants to go to Scotland to find his birth mother, which I guess I understand, he's been completely abandoned by his entire family. So, He just wants to fill that void left by finding somewhere to belong. 

[00:28:16] But after his story becomes this weird curiosity around France, the government decides that they are actually going to send a lawyer to help him out. And because it's like not a good look for the government to be seen to be doing nothing to assist him, especially since France is known for having a pretty good social welfare system.

[00:28:33] So the expectation is that, they should be doing something to help him. And I guess that over the years, there must have been a lot of people demanding that the French government step in to at least assist, right? He's been there for like seven years at this point. 

[00:28:43] Adam Cox: Yeah, I mean, I'm surprised that he's been there that long before they start to do something.

[00:28:48] Kyle Risi: So this lawyer steps in and he gets to know Alfred a bit better and he learns that he previously mailed all of his documents to the High Commission for Refugees in Brussels. He tries to track them down but nobody can find these [00:29:00] documents. So the lawyer just ends up getting stuck in these endless loops just going back and forth, but eventually, after seven years of wrangling, he manages to track down his papers. 

[00:29:10] This means that his lawyer can now apply for a 12 month temporary visa, which will permit him to travel to any country in the world who is signed up to the Geneva Convention.

[00:29:20] It will also allow him to work for 12 months until he can sort something out and get something a bit more permanent. That's great. Amazing. Amazing. And if he wants to, this is his chance to travel to Scotland to try and track down his birth mother. Mm hmm. 

[00:29:33] When his lawyer presents him with the new documents, because they are registered under Moran Karimi Nasseri, he refuses to accept them. He says, that's not my name and I am Swedish, not Iranian. So his lawyer's just baffled. He's like, but But seven years? Yeah. But I just did all this work. 

[00:29:52] Adam Cox: What? What? It's been 12 years and you can now leave. You can legitimately leave and live somewhere for 12 months. [00:30:00]

[00:30:00] Kyle Risi: But he rejects it. So from this moment onwards, there's nothing the lawyer can do for him. He won't accept the paperwork. So there pretty much isn't anything that he can do to force him. So that's just seven years down the drain. Yeah, and he's probably, 

[00:30:11] Adam Cox: not got 

[00:30:11] Kyle Risi: paid for that either. 

[00:30:13] Adam Cox: The government might have paid. Oh, okay, fine. But even still, I'm, that's, I'm frustrated.

[00:30:18] Kyle Risi: So a lot of people have pointed out that he could have just accepted the paperwork and then changed his name, which is of course is the logical thing to do if you were really that desperate to get out of that situation. So the question is Did he really want to leave? 

[00:30:31] Adam Cox: I see, because maybe after that, amount of time, like maybe you're thinking, Oh, what am I going to do? I don't know how to tackle the real world.

[00:30:39] Kyle Risi: Yeah. I think he's just become institutionalized forming this weird relationship with the airport. Perhaps after all this time, in a single place. Maybe he was afraid of the prospects of leaving and having to adjust to a new life. A bit like prisoners, right?

[00:30:53] Adam Cox: Yeah, and also it's a bit like COVID in a way when first of all you didn't really want to leave your house. That was because you knew that there was [00:31:00] some, a virus about but it was almost like it felt weird and a bit alien leaving. 

[00:31:04] Kyle Risi: Yeah. So yeah, people just adapt really quickly and then people don't like change, do they?

[00:31:09] There is this brilliant article in GQ magazine by a guy called Michael Paternity called the 15 year layover. So at this point he's been there for 15 years and in it he writes that after he visits Alfred at the terminal at one point he also reaches out to the lawyer who helped him out and this is a direct quote from the actual article.

[00:31:29] The lawyer told me that when he'd first met Alfred, of his story, but over time he'd become free of logic, and so his story kept changing. After Alfred suddenly asserted he was Swedish, the lawyer asked him how he had travelled from Sweden to Iran, which Alfred responded, Submarine.

[00:31:47] Oh, okay. His lawyer continued to say, perhaps he was crazy now, but he'd arrived there by several steps. He says, assume you are 23 years old, you've finished your studies, your father dies. At that exact [00:32:00] moment, your mother says, she is not your mother. You have brothers and sisters, but not anymore, because you are, illegitimate.

[00:32:07] You are a nobody in your country. You have no rights. And so you ask, who is my mother then? So you leave your country only to return to be imprisoned. And then with nowhere to go, you're imprisoned again, then once more. In your mind, you have renounced this person and this name that was formerly you. But then years later, you go on to get what you think is your freedom.

[00:32:30] The papers identify you as that person. How strong does a man have to be to resist that many shocks? And then the journalist says, I asked him though, why he just didn't sign the papers and then change his name legally afterwards. And the lawyer says, let me tell you something. He is not leaving that airport.

[00:32:50] He is no one outside of the airport. He has become a star there, or he feels like he's a star and he acts like one. If you come to him with a [00:33:00] camera, he knows his best side. 

[00:33:02] Adam Cox: Interesting. So yeah, if he leaves, goes to Scotland, he's a no one. 

[00:33:06] Kyle Risi: Yeah, and there's no knowing whether or not he'll even find his mother, right? So I get it. After all these years, he is, and whose fault is it? It's the, it's the French government's fault for not stepping in sooner to help him. 

[00:33:18] Adam Cox: Like, surely within a couple of months, I thought someone would have been able to, like, get that person out because I just thought it'd be illegal to squat in an airport.

[00:33:26] Kyle Risi: Yeah. Isn't that heartbreaking?

[00:33:28] So the thing is though, it's clear that there's some kind of underlying mental issue happening within him. Either it's caused by the extraordinary situation that he's in, or the situation is a result of the mental illness that's progressively taken hold of him.

[00:33:40] So it's not too clear at this moment in time. 

[00:33:42] But after the GQ story comes out in the early 2000s, Alfred starts attracting more and more media attention. So he doesn't really need to rely on the kindness of strangers anymore because he starts agreeing to do media interviews in exchange for money. And the general consensus amongst all the media and the [00:34:00] journalists is that he's extremely dignified in his interviews.

[00:34:03] He's very articulate and coherent in the way that he speaks, clearly. He's educated, he always looks presentable, he's never unshaven or unwashed, and so, on the face of it, there really isn't the sense that he's suffering mentally. Throughout all of his interactions with the press, he just consistently maintains that his situation is just temporary, and once given the chance, he's heading straight to Scotland to find his birth mother and her family.

[00:34:28] But he's been given that chance. 

[00:34:30] Adam Cox: But he wants that chance as Alfred. 

[00:34:32] Kyle Risi: Yeah, I guess so, I guess so. 

[00:34:33] Adam Cox: I don't know. It's weird. 

[00:34:35] Kyle Risi: So throughout the years he collects all the newspaper clippings and magazine articles about himself, which again, increasingly start piling up around him in his little red fort.

[00:34:44] Eventually though, the airport upgrades the terminal lounge. And this is the altruistic side of the airport and how much of a treasure he has become. It's because they replace all of the lounge benches in the airport, but they leave his Specifically for him because that's his home.

[00:34:59] Adam Cox: [00:35:00] Yeah. Yeah, I guess they have no Choice but to kind of accommodate him and maybe they get more money if people come to the airport, right? 

[00:35:07] Kyle Risi: Oh, I don't know maybe like Oh gonna support the local Starbucks. I Don't think that's a priority. Okay. I think it's just genuinely altruistic, right? But it could also be that because the amount of media attention that he's receiving if the airport did try to oust him It's not a good look.

[00:35:23] Adam Cox: That's true. Yeah, because where is he gonna go? 

[00:35:26] Kyle Risi: So in 2002, an amateur filmmaker named Paul Bokzela and a guy called Glenn Luckford They approach Alfred because they want to make a mockumentary film about his story it will be titled here to wear Which is basically about his life as a refugee stranded at the airport The premise of the mockumentary is that it follows the story of Glenn Luckford who approaches Alfred at the airport He pitches this wild idea of making this documentary about his life and then In the mockumentary, Glenn ends up being this really pushy, determined character while Alfred [00:36:00] is meant to be this reluctant kind of participant, but eventually is persuaded.

[00:36:04] So it's a really weird mockumentary. While it's like a semi fictionalized story, it does actually accurately tell the story of how he became stranded there in 1988 due to kind of the bureaucratic kind of snaps and so on. So it's a weird concept, but it gives you a good idea of who Alfred is and what life was like at the airport.

[00:36:23] So I highly recommend you watch it, and I will include that in the show notes. But it's weird that they would make a mockumentary about a documentary of a real life thing, but It's also fictional. 

[00:36:33] Adam Cox: Yeah, it's like, surely a documentary is interesting enough for this. Why does it need to be a mockumentary?

[00:36:38] Kyle Risi: I think it's a whole story arc of like someone looking to capitalise on his story and like, hey, let's make this documentary about it. And he's like, no, I don't want to. I just want to sit on my bench. Was this successful? I don't, I haven't heard about this before. It's kind of like one of those arty house kind of like films.

[00:36:52] It's the kind of the go to for the story outside of obviously the terminal film when people want to find out more. [00:37:00] They'll go to this documentary. Yeah. But then, of course, in 2003, Dreamworks and Steven Spielberg, they decide that they want to make a feature film about the story. 

[00:37:08] They pay Alfred 250, 000 for the rights. And so, the 2004 movie, The Terminal, is born. He signs a contract, they wire him the money, which he deposits in his little bank account that he sets up at the airport bank. And for Alfred, nothing changes! He continues to live in the exact same way, just waiting at Charles de Gaulle Airport.

[00:37:30] Adam Cox: What's he waiting for? Yeah, he's got 250, 000 in his bank account! Yeah, should he be like, oh, call up that lawyer and go like, uh, yeah, I will take that deal, yeah. 

[00:37:38] Kyle Risi: How many McDonald's can you buy? 250, 000. You're never going to be able to spend all that money on McDonald's. 

[00:37:43] Adam Cox: And then, are people still giving him money? Because they'll be like, I know you've got 250 grand. I'm not giving you my raiser. 

[00:37:48] Kyle Risi: I think people are still giving him things out of generosity. Maybe less money now because, of course, he relies on all the media interviews and the attention that he's getting. But people still care for him. They want to give him, like, support or whatever. [00:38:00]

[00:38:00] Adam Cox: I'm not giving him anything. I've got 250 grand. 

[00:38:03] Kyle Risi: Can have some of your money. Of course, the Terminal kind of lands quite far from what the actual story was, as we now know, but the premise is inspired by this story. And I guess I can just imagine the producers get into a room together and they thought, like, while the story is fascinating, it doesn't really make for a classic story arc that will resonate with people. Like, the hero doesn't actually find resolution. He doesn't overcome a daunting challenge or rise up in the face of adversity, right? So there's not even a love interest. Like, who's he dating in the airport? 

[00:38:34] Adam Cox: And what's the end? Oh, he's still there. 

[00:38:36] Kyle Risi: He's still there. So I guess it's not long before they realize that actually, At the heart of the story, it's actually a really depressing tale of isolation, abandonment, and loneliness. So they don't actually end up using the story. Instead, it becomes this romantic comedy between Tom Hanks and Catherine Zeta Jones, which tells a more of a compelling story, but it is inspired by these true life events. 

[00:38:58] When the film is released, [00:39:00] he is super proud at him. He even hangs a poster of the movie next to his little red bench, and anyone who walks by, he'll be like, yep, that story's based on me.

[00:39:08] All about me. All about me. 

[00:39:09] Adam Cox: Where's your girlfriend, Catherine? 

[00:39:11] Kyle Risi: Yeah, uh, oh, she, there, there, there was a raccoon, and like, it chased her, and like, she's like, in Fendi down the road.

[00:39:21] So following this in 2004, he actually co writes an autobiography with a ghostwriter, which he calls Terminalman. And a couple other people reach out to him to make their own documentaries one is called Sir Alfred, which basically recounts his life story. He answers various questions. They speak to a bunch of people who were involved in his life story, like the lawyer and some airport staff, etc. So he is keeping busy in the 18 years that he's 

[00:39:45] Adam Cox: Yeah, he's done well for himself to be able to like do as much as he did. I just would have thought you'd have been so bored.

[00:39:51] So many days. 

[00:39:53] Kyle Risi: And all 

[00:39:53] Adam Cox: the waiting. 

[00:39:54] Kyle Risi: Oh my god, after two hours in the airport, once you've seen all the shops, that is it. Yeah. Like, you're just like, [00:40:00] ugh! You get a tea, and when you order tea at an airport, it's always shit, isn't it? It just never tastes the same. 

[00:40:06] Adam Cox: Well, I never make, I never have tea. 

[00:40:07] Kyle Risi: Uh, you always have a coffee. I don't know. Just And that feeling as well, because you've been traveling all day so you're a bit sweaty and you feel dirty. Yeah. You must feel like that all the time. 

[00:40:16] Adam Cox: And just the lights as well. 

[00:40:18] Kyle Risi: Yes, uh, I don't think I've ever been in an airport, maybe Amsterdam airport is probably one of the best times that I've spent at an airport. Because they have the really nice relaxing chairs and the little pods in the booths and stuff. Oh yeah, that's right. But like, When we were in, I think it was Abu Dhabi, that airport, flying back from Australia. That airport's a really nice airport, but you just are so exposed. We sat on those big pink benches in the middle of the airport and it was just really uncomfortable.

[00:40:44] Seats weren't that comfortable to lay on. 

[00:40:45] Adam Cox: Yeah, like it's fine for a couple of hours, but to be there for 18 years, I don't know how he did it.

[00:40:51] Kyle Risi: And what you'll notice when you watch some of the documentaries or see pictures of him around about this time, there's a very noticeable lump that's starting to emerge gradually on his head and it's getting [00:41:00] bigger and bigger with every year that passes and people are getting really concerned that he might have some kind of tumor of some kind.

[00:41:05] Eventually though in 2006 the airport doctor arranges for him to be hospitalized to have the lump removed. While this is happening, the French government and the airport finally decide that enough is enough. They pack up all of his stuff. They dismantle his famous red bench, which has become such a prominent feature in the terminal after all these years.

[00:41:25] And they have all of his belongings sent to a community housing center. And when he's finally discharged, this is where he is sent. And he continued to live until 2022. 

[00:41:35] Adam Cox: So how many years is that? He's at this community centre then. 

[00:41:39] Kyle Risi: So so another 15 years. So 15 years. Yeah, so that's where he lived. So his time at the airport is now done. 18 years he ends up spending there total. 

[00:41:48] Adam Cox: 18 years and then he spent another 15 years at this place. And what is this place like? 

[00:41:54] Kyle Risi: I don't know, I don't have any details about it really. I guess he's managed to stay there 15 years. I guess it might have been okay for [00:42:00] him.

[00:42:00] Adam Cox: I guess he has a proper bed and a, like a room or a house or a small flat. 

[00:42:04] Kyle Risi: And the saddest thing is that he never got that resolution that he was essentially waiting for. He never got the chance to travel to Scotland to find his birth mother. And the authorities never recognized him as Sir Alfred. And even though it was now all over, he was still kind of in that limbo. Like being out of the shackles of the airport didn't change a single thing not one single bit. 

[00:42:26] It's heartbreaking. The guy, Paul, who made the mockumentary about his life, he ended up writing an article for the Guardian not long after the terminal had come out. He actually managed to track down Alfred's family and he thought it was going to be super, super difficult because of course they disowned him, but actually he finds them with almost no hassle and they're happy to talk to him. 

[00:42:49] It was true, he was from a wealthy Iranian family, and the more he got to know them, the more he started to realise that almost nothing about Alfred's story was [00:43:00] true.

[00:43:00] His seven brothers and sisters are all very well respected professionals, one's a banker, one's a chemist, another works in state television. And in radio one of his sisters even works as a dentist and she lives in luxembourg So they're a very international kind of family and just like alfred they all pretty much study in different countries all around the world 

[00:43:17] They tell paul that alfred Had been studying in the uk as we have obviously come to believe but they say that It was never cut off from the family. In fact When he was in the UK, he was living with one of his brothers. They say that he was forced to drop out, not because the support money had stopped, it's because he was failing.

[00:43:38] Adam Cox: Right, okay. 

[00:43:39] Kyle Risi: So apparently, he was totally ashamed by this, especially since being an intellectual was really important to him and his siblings. So he decided to just go traveling to Europe while he kind of worked out what his next move was going to be.

[00:43:52] And apparently while he was traveling, something changed in him. According to his family, he started acting really strangely. Keeping in contact less and [00:44:00] less over the years and then just one day he just disappeared. None of his family knew what happened to him. 

[00:44:05] They did try to look for him, they even contacted the Interpol to try and track him down, but they never found him. Then, one day, a family friend was traveling through Terminal 1 at Charles de Gaulle airport in the early 1990s and they spot him and they're like, Moran?

[00:44:19] But he just refused to acknowledge that he recognized them. So they then ended up contacting his family and told them straight away They apparently did everything they could to bring him home, but he just refused He wouldn't even speak to them like they offered assistance and help But in the end they had no choice but to just give up. They just assumed that he'd become really mentally unwell during that process at some point in his life. 

[00:44:42] Adam Cox: And was his mum, well, not his biological mother, but the mother that brought him up, did she try to make amends, or? 

[00:44:48] Kyle Risi: The saddest part of all of this is that his mother was completely heartbroken. For years she thought the worst, but when she hears the story that he's been peddling about the Scottish woman who he claims [00:45:00] is his biological mother she's heartbroken , and so up until the day she dies, she would say, he came from me, why would he say he didn't come from me? So. There you have it. 

[00:45:09] Adam Cox: Oh, so they were biologically related then? Yeah, 

[00:45:11] Kyle Risi: the Scottish woman never existed. Ah, 

[00:45:14] Adam Cox: my word. So he does sound mentally ill then. 

[00:45:17] Kyle Risi: Yeah. 

[00:45:18] Adam Cox: And the shame like his family couldn't have brought him back, I'd have been like, dragging him. He's an adult, 

[00:45:22] Kyle Risi: Adam. He's an adult. What can you do? I guess they could have got him sectioned. 

[00:45:25] Adam Cox: Yeah. 

[00:45:26] Kyle Risi: But he didn't seem like he was mentally incapable. 

[00:45:30] Adam Cox: And so he did all this is what we're thinking because of shame. He disowned or tried to distance himself or disconnect himself from his family. 

[00:45:39] Kyle Risi: That's really sad. Everything he said you needed to take with a grain of salt, he starts to blur the lines between who he actually was and this fantasy that he had crafted about himself, maybe out of shame, maybe because of his mental health, we don't actually know and it's just really sad.

[00:45:54] Adam Cox: I guess that makes sense why he, wanted to be called Sir Alfred because, I don't know, if he's got quite a [00:46:00] prestigious family, all doing very well, I wonder if he's like trying to Create a bit of a persona for himself. 

[00:46:06] Kyle Risi: That makes a lot of sense, actually. Yeah. So the conclusion of our story is that after years of living, I assume in a shelter, he returns back to Charles de Gaulle airport in September of 2022.

[00:46:17] And it's because he feels like this is his home. He sticks around the airport for two more months. And then in November of 2022, He has a heart attack and dies right there in the airport, surrounded by all of his belongings. Really? 

[00:46:31] Adam Cox: So he went back to the airport and he's allowed to stay there for a couple of months?

[00:46:35] Kyle Risi: I don't think he was allowed to stay. He's just staying, right? It's an airport lounge. Okay. They find several thousand euros in cash next to his body. So, it's not like he's This was the only place he could have gone as far as we know He still had all or if not, most of the money that he earned from selling the rights to dreamworks And the other kind of things that he had got paid for 

[00:46:59] So [00:47:00] he just lived at charles goal airport terminal one from august 1988 returning for two months in 2022 before passing away from a heart attack So he was there a total of 18 years and two months You Wow.

[00:47:13] Adam Cox: Yeah. 

[00:47:14] Kyle Risi: So Adam, that is the story of Sir Alfred, life inspiration behind the Terminal Man. 

[00:47:20] Adam Cox: That is, um, that's kind of crazy, really. I didn't realise it was such a sad story. 

[00:47:25] Kyle Risi: That's the thing, right? Because Hollywood's not going to make a film with that resolution. 

[00:47:30] Adam Cox: Well, equally, I guess they didn't know the resolution when the film was made.

[00:47:33] No. It's like, now, now there's your movie. 

[00:47:36] Kyle Risi: Mm. 

[00:47:36] Adam Cox: Mm. Yeah, now it could be a movie. 

[00:47:38] Kyle Risi: I don't know why like Hollywood didn't try and help him track down at least try and track down his birth mother. I know it wasn't true, but why did they not try and help? Do you think they knew? Do 

[00:47:48] Adam Cox: you think they're 

[00:47:49] Kyle Risi: not actually?

[00:47:50] Ooh, interesting. And who 

[00:47:51] Adam Cox: else can corroborate this apart from his family? Well, 

[00:47:54] Kyle Risi: I mean, when you look back in retrospect, especially when you watch some of the interviews, [00:48:00] he does go on tangents, he will start to explain his backstory, and then I think while he's articulating it, he will potentially realize how implausible some of these details sound, and then he just clams up and stops. So I think that there were signs that potentially something wasn't quite right. 

[00:48:17] Adam Cox: Was he even lying about staying in the airport? Like, did he even create a fort and then would go check into like the Holiday Inn down the road? He's got 250, 000. Yeah, and then comes back the next day like, oh, I live in an airport.

[00:48:28] Kyle Risi: Yeah, maybe. This story should like be catalogued with all of our scam stories. 

[00:48:35] Adam Cox: I, I don't know if I trust this guy. 

[00:48:38] Kyle Risi: It might come out. I'll keep you updated if it does. So if you do want to know more about this incredible, very unusual story definitely check out the mockumentary called here to where which I believe you can watch on YouTube of course if it's been a while since you've watched the terminal then check that out, too But do that after you've watched the mockumentary to really appreciate Hollywood's take on the story Also, there's that [00:49:00] really great GQ article the 15 year layover which is probably the article that made him the most famous. But also I just can't imagine what life must have been like living in the airport for all those years.

[00:49:11] Like, as I said earlier on, when I'm stuck in an airport for longer than an hour than I need to be, I just end up having, like, an NTB. So, I don't know how he managed 18 years, and then, and then to come back! Pfft, fuckin hell! Maybe the McDonald's was just really fucking good. 

[00:49:27] Adam Cox: Maybe. When you have a good McDonald's, you're like, Ah, that's a good McDonald's.

[00:49:31] I

[00:49:31] Kyle Risi: think the best McDonald's we've ever had was the one at the Olympics in 2012. 

[00:49:35] Adam Cox: Nothing will ever beat that. The fact that we still can remember that. Yeah. 12 years. 

[00:49:40] Kyle Risi: It was so good. I even remember exactly what I had. And what did you have? It was the chicken burger. 

[00:49:44] Adam Cox: Oh, was it? 

[00:49:45] Kyle Risi: It was just so fresh and so warm and just like, the 

[00:49:47] Adam Cox: rolls were crispy. 

[00:49:48] I remember the fries being really good. And then we, headed to McDonald's at that 24 hour in Brixton, and I remember, because it was only a few hours later, we thought, let's have another McDonald's, and it was terrible. Yeah. [00:50:00] Yeah. Just couldn't recreate it.

[00:50:01] Kyle Risi: This is what Sir Alfred's after, right? It's the McDonald's. And he was going for a croissant, a bacon and egg croissant. I love a croissant with things in it. 

[00:50:11] Adam Cox: Yeah. 

[00:50:12] Kyle Risi: So Adam, shall we run the outro for this week? Okay. 

[00:50:15] And that wraps up another journey into the fascinating and intriguing on the Comedium.

[00:50:20] If today's episode tickled your curiosity, then don't forget to hit that follow button on your favorite podcasting app. It makes the world of difference when you do. 

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[00:50:43] We'd love you to join our growing community. New episodes launch every Tuesday and until then remember, life's toughest layovers don't always end with a departure. 

[00:50:53] See you next week.

[00:50:54] Adam Cox: See ya. [00:51:00]