Billion Dollar Banquet: How One Extravagant Party Sparked the Iranian Revolution

In this episode of The Compendium, we explore the Billion-Dollar Banquet, the Shah of Iran's lavish event that celebrated the 2,500th anniversary of the Persian Empire. Dive into the opulence of the world's most expensive party, hosted in Persepolis, and uncover how this extravagant display of power contributed to the downfall of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and ignited the Iranian Revolution.

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

1. The Shah of Iran - Documentary narrated by Orson Welles.
2. Persepolis: The History and Legacy of the Ancient Persian Empire’s Capital City
3. Barbara Walters’ Interview with the Shah - Youtube
4. Decadence and Downfall In Iran: - Youtube

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Credits:

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• Intro and Outro Music: Alice in dark Wonderland by Aleksey Chistilin
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Chapters

• 0:00 Sneak peak
• 1:09 Welcome to The Compendium
• 2:25 Topic of the week
• 1:10:25 Outro

Transcript

[00:00:00] Kyle Risi: So imagine like if you're the Duke of Belgium, right? And your turn is coming straight up right after Princess Consuela Banana Hammock, for an example.

[00:00:10] And in that time, the Queen of Sweden arrives on schedule right behind you. So because she now outranks you, you're bumped aside to make way for her. So if you've arrived with your partner expecting to go straight after them, you can easily end up entering the banqueting hall fucking last.

[00:00:27] Adam Cox: They should have also prepped the people that were coming, saying there's a lot of guests here. You're all maybe you're not equally important, but either way, you've got 30 seconds. 

[00:00:34] Kyle Risi: I think that they just can't do that. These are kings and queens. I do generally wonder though, who ended up being very last. 

[00:00:42] [00:01:00]

[00:01:09] Kyle Risi: 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, I am your ringmaster for this episode, Kyle Reesey. 

[00:01:30] Adam Cox: And I'm your creepy fortune teller this week, Adam Cox. Creepy, 

[00:01:34] Kyle Risi: I mean you're creepy at the best of times.

[00:01:36] Adam Cox: Yeah, I can see right into your soul. 

[00:01:39] Kyle Risi: I mean, you can see into my soul anyway. You just need to ask, right?

[00:01:43] There's not a lot there. I'm like an open book. 

[00:01:47] Guys, all the latest things is now its own episode and it's waiting for you every week alongside our main feature on Patreon and it is free! You just need to sign up for an account. [00:02:00] If you do, and you're still hungry for more, you can sign up as one of our certified freaks and unlock our entire unreleased set of episodes up to six weeks ahead of schedule.

[00:02:11] You'll also get access to our private RSS feed, which you can add straight to Spotify or Apple podcasts, which means you'll have all of our regular episodes and all the latest things in one convenient place. 

[00:02:25] But, Adam, today's compendium, we are diving into an assembly of opulence and the price of ambition.

[00:02:34] Adam Cox: Okay. Interesting. What, what could this be about? 

[00:02:37] Kyle Risi: Today's story is taking us back to Iran in 1971 to a time when the Shah decided to throw an extravagant and exclusive three day party to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the Persian Empire and this celebration was unparalleled in grandeur. Unlike anything previously recorded, it [00:03:00] was going to break all sorts of records. It would feature the most delicious food sourced from the world's best restaurants, exquisite drinks, luxurious accommodation. All set against a medieval European style backdrop.

[00:03:15] Think the Palace of Versailles. More importantly, this party would boast the most illustrious guest list imaginable. We're talking heads of state from 65 different countries including emperors, kings, queens, princesses, sheiks, sultans, and all the manner of prominent political figures across five different continents.

[00:03:38] And the venue wasn't just going to be some ancient castle or a seven star hotel. Everything was going to be created from scratch in the middle of the night. Desert. And the cost wasn't millions, it wasn't even billions. This party cost an entire dynasty and would eventually prove the stepping stone [00:04:00] towards the Iranian Revolution and the downfall of the monarchy changing the country forever.

[00:04:06] Just how much? How much is a dynasty? I don't know, like, like a dollar.

[00:04:11] So Adam, today I'm going to tell you the story of the most expensive party the world has ever seen, the Shah of Iran's billion dollar party and the events that kicked off the Iranian revolution. 

[00:04:24] Adam Cox: Are people pissed because someone had thrown an expensive party? 

[00:04:27] Kyle Risi: Yes, of course, man. Yeah, me too. It's the country's money.

[00:04:30] Adam Cox: Yeah. All on just a big piss up. Yeah, why not? 

[00:04:34] Do you know anything about the story? 

[00:04:35] Very loosely do I know something about it. What do you mean loosely? You either know it or you don't. Well, I've heard of this big, extraordinary, expensive party and also how it, I've seen photos of Iran pre this party.

[00:04:51] And then obviously what we know of Iran now. 

[00:04:53] Kyle Risi: So tell me about some of the pictures that you've seen of Iran from the 1970s. How does it differ from what you [00:05:00] know of Iran today when you see pictures? 

[00:05:02] Adam Cox: The photos that I have seen, it looks like Anywhere in Europe, in the sense of the people, they're walking around in very Western clothes. So women are not covered up in anything in terms of their of their Islamic dress or anything like that, they're in like miniskirts or jeans or whatever it might be. 

[00:05:21] Kyle Risi: That's right. Yeah. Because during this period, there was this, real initiative to westernize Iran for reasons that I will get into. But yeah, when you look at these pictures of Iran at this time, you wouldn't even know that you were in Iran. You would think it was Paris, for example. Yeah. 

[00:05:38] Adam Cox: Yeah. No idea until I started like researching into it a little bit more. It's oh wow, that there was a time when they could just roam free and all down the street, not governed by men.

[00:05:48] Kyle Risi: Yes, exactly. And the thing is though, it is way more complicated than it is because when we look at it, we look at it through the lens of Western values. Sure. And the reality is they are an Islamic country. [00:06:00] So whether or not we look at that and we go, Wow, they were so liberal and progressive and they seem to have all these freedoms.

[00:06:05] It was at odds with the Islamic faith. So we can say, Hmm, that's pretty bad because women are oppressed nowadays and they are forced to wear these big veils and stuff. That's what the country's values were back then. So this westernization of Iran was like indirect contradiction to Islam. their past, right? 

[00:06:27] But, to kick off, let's venture back a few years to the 1960s when Iran was a constitutional monarchy ruled by the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. Now, I'll probably butcher that name, so I do apologize for anyone who might be Iranian. But, He did refer to himself as the shahashan, which basically means king of kings. And Muhammad was one of the wealthiest men in the world, wielding absolute power in Iran. 

[00:06:53] He could appoint prime ministers, he could dissolve parliament, he could declare war. His word was literally law. 

[00:06:59] [00:07:00] his reign, Iran this immense economic growth and prosperity, largely driven by international trade agreements and oil deals with the West. Iran was, to a degree, a puppet to the West. In fact, it was the British that actually installed the Shah after they invaded during 1941 during World War II. But since then, the country has grown into this powerful player on the global stage. So, the Shah kind of wanted to show the world that he was essentially, a very special boy. 

[00:07:30] Adam Cox: Okay. And so what was Iran like before 1941?

[00:07:33] Kyle Risi: I mean, the region had been in a lot of turmoil for the last 2500 years, so they had seen a lot of shifts, kingdoms rose, kingdoms fell, new regimes came into play. But they've always been an Islamic country. This is around about the 1960s, where they start to westernize themselves and become what we talked about just a few moments ago, where there were women walking around in small skirts, and they could go to school and they could drive, [00:08:00] etc.

[00:08:00] But before then, it was probably more in line with the Islamic values that we associate today. So the Shah wanted to prove that he should be respected on the global stage and to prove this he was going to throw a lavish celebration using the 2500th anniversary of the founding of the original Persian empire as the perfect occasion. And he was going to try and say that his reign today was a direct continuation of Cyrus the Great and therefore he was the ruler. of the world's oldest monarchy. 

[00:08:34] Was he there? 

[00:08:35] Exactly. Here's the thing. When the Persian Empire was founded, yes, it was the largest and the wealthiest in history, ruling over, I think at the time, 44 percent of the world's population, but it only lasted like 300 years. Following, obviously, Alexander the Great's conquest, the empire fragmented. The reality was that this parallel that he was trying to draw, was well long gone. 

[00:08:57] Adam Cox: So was he like a great descendant [00:09:00] of Cyrus the Great? 

[00:09:01] Kyle Risi: Adam, not even close. Like his family rose to power in 1925 when his father Reza Shah Pahlavi rose through the military ranks through like a coup. And eventually he became prime minister. And then when parliament deposed the sitting Shah at the time, Reza then took his place.

[00:09:17] And during his dad's reign, he implemented sweeping reforms to kind of like try and modernize the country, making Iran less and less Islamic. He ended up forming an alliance The Nazis of all people during World War Two, and he was obviously supplying them with oil, which freaked out the British.

[00:09:35] So with the Soviet support, they decided that they were going to invade. They forced Reza to abdicate. They exiled him from the country. And they installed his 22 year old son, Muhammad Reza Pahlavi. And that's how he came to power, essentially. 

[00:09:49] So he's not this divine kind of descendant of Cyrus the Great, this great leader of one of the biggest empires in the world. He was just essentially someone who [00:10:00] got lucky. His dad was in politics. That didn't go so well because, Nazi sympathizer. And then they ousted him and now he's king. 

[00:10:07] But when Muhammad became Shah, he continued the westernization efforts of his father, something many Iranians despise as a clash directly with Islamic values. But life did improve in a lot of ways. More Iranians gained access to education. Women got the right to vote, including various social reforms. Traditional dress was completely banned. And Iran looked like any other European city. As we said, photos from the time. could easily be mistaken for like Paris.

[00:10:34] Adam Cox: The traditional dress was banned. That's interesting. 

[00:10:37] Kyle Risi: Yeah, no veils or anything like that. They wanted to westernize, but there was a darker side. The Shah did end up suppressing freedom of speech and he punished dissent. Civil rights had no real substance since obviously elections were all rigged.

[00:10:52] Iranians wanted obviously to go back to an Islamic country. So They all had to be shams if he was going to kind of maintain this [00:11:00] westernization kind of pursuit. He ended up imprisoning so many people. It spoke out that at one point Iran held the record for the highest number of political prisoners and executions per capita in the world.

[00:11:12] Adam Cox: So almost as a little bit of a perception then that they had this freedom. And so fair enough. Okay. Women may have had more rights, but maybe as a whole. They didn't? 

[00:11:22] Kyle Risi: Exactly. So the westernization that he pushed so hard for was mostly just a facade to please the West because the Shah obviously didn't want the British to exile him like they did his father.

[00:11:32] So many Iranians felt their country was just a puppet. of foreign powers, essentially. But the thing is, though, in the country at the time, rural areas, they were being neglected. Basic infrastructure was lacking. There were huge water shortages and medical facilities that were just almost non existent. 

[00:11:49] But despite Iran's immense wealth, like 50 percent of the population still lived in poverty, still in comparison, Iran seemed to be on the right track. They just need to tweak [00:12:00] a few things, maybe like sort out the corruption, maybe start sharing the wealth a bit more, but they would have been on the right track again, through the lens of Western values.

[00:12:09] Adam Cox: I see. I can imagine 50 percent of the population if they're in poverty and then this guy is gonna be throwing this massive party Mm hmm, then I'd be mad about that. 

[00:12:20] Kyle Risi: Of course, you would be exactly and because so many people felt that Iran was just a puppet to foreign powers, I think the Shah kind of knew this as well. He did want to change that. So by linking himself to Cyrus the Great, he could send a message to the world to say listen, we appreciate your help. Mr. British people, we, by the way, come from greatness and we deserve to be treated as equals and not puppets. And to prove this, we're going to announce ourselves as a direct continuation of the oldest monarchy that's ever existed, but we'll also throw this massive lavish party that the world has ever seen to really mark the occasion.

[00:12:56] Adam Cox: Yeah. One, it's the British meddling again. Yeah. We're [00:13:00] so, we're terrible. They're meddling kids. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And two, it's almost like him trying to, I don't know, cut out a phase of history and then saying, Hey, we're a continuation of this. 

[00:13:10] Kyle Risi: Oh yeah, for sure. He's a revisionist, right? He wants to rewrite history.

[00:13:14] Adam Cox: It's like when, it's almost like a TV show when they have a really bad season and they're like, Oh, can we just like rewrite that? Or I don't know. We'll have a shower scene. Yeah, shower scene. 

[00:13:23] Kyle Risi: And when he walks out the shower, the whole 2, 500 years of history will be rewritten. 

[00:13:27] Adam Cox: Exactly. It's exactly like Dynasty.

[00:13:29] Kyle Risi: It's exactly what's happening. Now, the biggest question, if he was going to throw this party. Was where would the shah host the world's most extravagant party symbolically the answer was obvious Persepolis now that was that it used to be the old capital of the ancient Persian Empire.

[00:13:49] But here's a catch Persepolis was nothing but ruins in deserts temperature soar to 40 degrees by day and plummeted to below zero at night Also, the entire [00:14:00] area was just covered in snakes, spiders, scorpions, and bugs. So literally the last thing that you'd want spoiling a party is a guest finding a scorpion in the shower. 

[00:14:10] Adam Cox: But I feel like this didn't deter him. 

[00:14:12] Kyle Risi: No, of course not. Well, actually what he ended up doing is he decided that he was going to sterilize a 30 hectare area around the site using enough poison to wipe out literally every single living creature. The entire food chain collapsed, destroying literally any biodiversity that existed there before. 

[00:14:29] And the crazy thing is, when the cleanup crews arrived to remove the dead animals, they discovered hundreds and hundreds of previously unknown species. So it was a complete ecological disaster. It was a complete catastrophe. And the area still hasn't recovered to the state and is likely never going to. 

[00:14:47] Adam Cox: Yeah. What did they just poison? They just put down Everywhere. 

[00:14:52] Kyle Risi: But raid, raid on, kill all the bugs, kill the scorpions, the snakes, everything. This is horrendous.

[00:14:57] It is bad. So he's cleared the [00:15:00] desert around Persepolis. Next they began constructing a city amongst the ruins of Persepolis. The plan was to build 160 hectare oasis, about half the size of like Central Park. They wanted basically the landscape to look like the palace of Asai, but in the middle of the desert.

[00:15:16] And to achieve this, the Shah hired a guy called George Truffaut. Basically he was a renowned French florist who basically was hired and he ended up importing 15, 000 cypress trees, 15, 000 flowering shrubs, countless roses, gardenias, 60 acres of lush turf. They even designed an 18 hole golf course and built all these different elaborate kind of water fountains surrounding kind of where the guest quarters were going to be. So they really went out. But remember, the biggest issue is that this is in the middle of the desert. So of course, All of this required massive amounts of water. 

[00:15:52] Adam Cox: I can say the irrigation system on this must have been something else. 

[00:15:55] Kyle Risi: They didn't build plumbing or anything like that. They just shipped in the water using [00:16:00] trucks. What? On the daily. On the daily. So This is also at a time when half of Iran's population struggled to even access any water whatsoever.

[00:16:09] This, this guy sounds A bit of an idiot. He is a bit of an idiot. Yes. So, as a final touch, once the gardens were all built, they imported 50, 000 songbirds and 20, 000 sparrows to create like soothing background kind of noises of birdsong in the background for guests to enjoy, but they didn't even last three days.

[00:16:30] Adam Cox: I was gonna say, I'm sure they're not the kind of birds that do well in heat? 

[00:16:34] Kyle Risi: Not exactly, yes. It was far too hot during the day, far too cold during the night, but also, They had fucking nothing to eat, Adam! They sterilised the whole site! What an idiot! Yeah, what did they think they were gonna do?

[00:16:46] No, I have no idea. I guess they could have imported some worms, maybe They needed to import an entire ecosystem as well. They brought the birds, now they need, A, more water, and they need some bugs. 

[00:16:56] Oh my god. 

[00:16:57] So next, what they did is they turned their attention to the [00:17:00] facilities. And this wasn't just going to be about hosting a party.

[00:17:03] It was about, remember, showcasing Persian supremacy proving how incredible, kind of, Iran was culturally. 

[00:17:11] Instead of using the country's own architects and craftsmen, the Shah decided that he was going to bring in professionals from all over the world. The brief was to create the ultimate luxury glamping experience, and they were going to call this Royal Tent City.

[00:17:27] Adam Cox: Hang on, was glamping a word back then? 

[00:17:29] Kyle Risi: No, no, no. It's something I just jimmied in there, you know. Okay, fine. So basically, it was going to be inspired by the traditional Persian tents. Though, these were anything but ordinary. After all, you can't expect the Queen of England or any other royalty to spend three days camping, right?

[00:17:45] So they had to be better than just a tent. Philip would have had something to say about that. He would have done. Yes. So what they ended up building was 50 cylindrical prefabricated structures, kind of arranged in a star formation around [00:18:00] a central fountain. So just imagine for a second, Dubai's Palm Islands.

[00:18:04] Mm hmm. Each tent would have air conditioning, plumbing, electricity to kind of make them look like tents. What they would then do is just simply cover the exterior of the prefab essentially with a big plastic fabric coating. So it looked like a tent, but underneath it was just a five star pretty much prefab building.

[00:18:24] And each tent would have two master bedrooms, two marble bathrooms, A lounge for 12 guests, a completely kitted out gourmet kitchen, servant's quarters, a salon, even an office. And all the interiors were kitted out with the finest linens, crystal glassware. Every surface of that tent was literally draped in the world's finest silk and carpets. In total, they used 000 meters of fabric. That's 37 kilometers worth of fabric. 

[00:18:52] Adam Cox: 37 kilometers. Jesus. Yeah, that's a lot. 

[00:18:55] Kyle Risi: It's excessive. The finishing touch in each tent included a custom [00:19:00] hand woven tapestry portrait of the guest that would be staying in the tent. So no cheap IKEA prints there at all. 

[00:19:08] Adam Cox: Why didn't they just get a mirror?

[00:19:10] Kyle Risi: I I guess they could have done. I wonder if the guests got to pick their own photograph. I imagine today if they were doing this, they'd probably just get a picture of you from Instagram. But if they didn't like you, or if you were at odds with the country politically, they'd probably just pick like that one selfie of you like laying in bed with all your chin rolls. It's like, oh, damn it. That's not my best side. 

[00:19:30] Adam Cox: Yeah, that's a really underhand way of going. You're only here out of necessity or whatever. 

[00:19:35] Kyle Risi: Really passive aggressive. 

[00:19:37] So there were only 50 tents, but of course there were going to be 600 guests at this party So the tents were only reserved for of course the VIPs like the Royals So for the others like the presidents and the media they had to build two off site hotels each with 150 rooms 

[00:19:53] Now on site they constructed a massive reception tent to greet the guests and obviously Host [00:20:00] the grand banqueting hall for the main dinner And this hall measured 75 meters by 25 meters. It was completely draped in silk with giant chandeliers hanging overhead. They also built a wine cellar to store all the imported wines for the event. And of course, a bunker in case, which was a very real risk, there was a terrorist attack. 

[00:20:20] Adam Cox: I mean, good that they were thinking about that, but the fact that there is like a realistic possibility.

[00:20:26] Kyle Risi: Yeah, there was. That's the reason why the president of the United States didn't come. Really? Mm hmm. Because he couldn't get security clearance. He was like, no, it's too volatile in the area, you're the most important person in the country. So yeah, we're going to send a vice president instead.

[00:20:39] Adam Cox: He's fine. If we lose him. He's fine. He's our spare. But then what about, um, all the royalty people? Like the Queen of England? 

[00:20:46] Kyle Risi: The Queen didn't actually go. Oh, did she not? No, but I'll explain why in a second. What they did, in order to, accommodate all the guests that will be coming into Iran. They decided to expand the local airport to handle all the influx of private jets [00:21:00] except to arrive. They built an entire 30 mile highway connecting the airport to the complex, all brand new. Adam, when you look at photos of what they built, it is undeniably impressive and obviously incredibly expensive. So when critics will start speaking out later on, of course, the big question is, was all of this going to be worth it for just a three day party? 

[00:21:20] Adam Cox: Yeah, and how long did they have prep time for this? One year. One year. To build a road, extend an airport, and a whole new city? 160 hectares of city, basically. That, I mean, it's quite a feat that they were able to pull it off. Or did they pull it off? 

[00:21:35] Kyle Risi: They did pull it off. I mean, it was pretty impressive what they did do. But in terms of, whether or not this was going to be worth it, the Shah did try to defend it, claiming that this would obviously help boost the Iranian economy.

[00:21:47] Just like how, like, when countries host the Olympics, it benefits the whole economy, but the difference here, is that this is a complex in the middle of the fucking desert. Yeah, tell me how that's going to benefit the economy. Exactly, it doesn't even have [00:22:00] infrastructure, like running water, so how is it going to benefit them? But anyway, let's move on. Shall we talk guest list? 

[00:22:05] Adam Cox: Okay, who's on the A list? 

[00:22:07] Kyle Risi: So according to some of the planners, the event was initially going to be just for prominent Iranians. So as RuPaul would say, Just family. Just family. So they started thinking about inviting some of their close allies initially, just a few of them presidents, queens, kings.

[00:22:22] The story goes that word somehow spread about the party and suddenly all the major leaders of the world were like, Hi, I hear you're having a bit of a soiree, any chance my name is on that list?, To be fair, the first person I imagine, phoning up looking for their invite would have been Imelda Marcos.

[00:22:39] Yeah, that sounds about right. Known as a serial gatecrasher. Uh, she was on the list though. Oh, was she? Yeah, she arrived. But the reality is that this idea of dignitaries reaching out for an invite was probably all just PR. Like, adding a spin as to how special Bashar actually was. He's a very special boy!

[00:22:58] Adam Cox: Is it like, people waiting to go in a club. [00:23:00] Cause they're like, actually, you know, I, you know, I deserve to be in here because I know so and so. So and so. 

[00:23:04] Kyle Risi: Yeah. I know the manager. I really want to mention his name. Um, Steve. Oh yeah, Steve. Yeah. Come on in. 

[00:23:10] The reality is that people weren't really clamouring to attend at the time. Also attending would have been considered quite controversial because there were protests happening all around the world over Iran's human rights abuses that were being leaked out to the rest of the world.

[00:23:23] Even Mehran Karimi Nasseri, or as we know him, Sir Alfred, do you remember him from the Terminal episode? He was actually involved in these protests and subsequently obviously arrested when he went back to Iran. So, it was quite common knowledge that Iran didn't have the best human rights track record in history.

[00:23:42] Adam Cox: Nice little segue into your previous episode. Good work. 

[00:23:45] Kyle Risi: Hey, I'm just like, you know, go listen to that one if you want to.

[00:23:48] So for some countries showing up just wasn't a good look. Many declined or sent kind of low level representatives to maintain diplomatic ties, but despite this 600 of the world's most prominent figures did say hell yeah, [00:24:00] I'm going to be there, especially if this is going to be the world's most expensive party.

[00:24:04] So who was on the guest list? Well, as I said, President Nixon, he was invited, but the Secret Service obviously didn't give him security clearance because, of course, they feared a terrorist attack. So instead, they sent the Vice President. The Soviets were there, along with Austria, Finland, Switzerland, being represented by their heads of state.

[00:24:21] By the way, who is Switzerland's head of state? Who's their president? 

[00:24:25] Adam Cox: Um, I have no idea. 

[00:24:27] Kyle Risi: Do you know they don't have one? What do they have? They have seven heads of state. They share the post. They all split it between them, and then they take turns every year being the main guy. But they're all equal, and they all come with different perspectives, and they all get sent off to different kind of events and stuff. But they don't actually have a single head of state. 

[00:24:46] Adam Cox: That's so, so Switzerland. 

[00:24:50] Kyle Risi: I was amazed by that. We should do that because it's no longer than just one guy. You know what I mean? Yeah, because That you can hate. You've got seven people to hate. 

[00:24:58] Adam Cox: Yeah, because they're all [00:25:00] shit. 

[00:25:01] Kyle Risi: But I do wonder what kind of dynamic that creates if it's spread across seven people, more like a committee, if you will. 

[00:25:06] Adam Cox: Maybe it's the teaching staff at Hogwarts. That's what I imagine it being like. 

[00:25:09] Kyle Risi: Well, Mrs. McGonagall. 

[00:25:10] Adam Cox: Mrs. McGonagall's there. Yeah. That'd be amazing if the Hogwarts people ran the country. 

[00:25:16] Kyle Risi: Who'd be Mrs. Trelawney? She's the batshit crazy one. 

[00:25:19] Adam Cox: Which one's that? 

[00:25:20] Kyle Risi: Is that the one with the, uh, in the The one with the mirror ball. Oh, yeah, of course. The, what do you call it? The, the fortune teller teacher. Yeah. The one that gets banished. 

[00:25:28] Adam Cox: And the tea leaves. 

[00:25:29] Kyle Risi: Yeah, that's it. I don't know. You're in grave danger! 

[00:25:32] Adam Cox: Actually, no, I don't want her running the country. It's like, so dramatic. 

[00:25:38] Kyle Risi: So other people that were there were Italy and South Korea who were being represented by their Prime Ministers, West Germany sent their President, Portugal sent their Foreign Minister, the Pope even sent a Special Representative. Because he was busy. He was busy, yeah. Maybe he wasn't allowed to go, because of course this is an Islamic country, I don't know. 

[00:25:55] Adam Cox: He had to pray. 

[00:25:56] Kyle Risi: I gotta pray!

[00:25:57] Of course, African presidents were there as well from South Africa, [00:26:00] Senegal, Mauritania, Zaire, Canada, and Australia. They sent their governor general and China sent an ambassador. 

[00:26:07] However, the spotlight was entirely on the royalty, as of course. Who isn't interested in a bit of royal shenanigans, right? So the guest of honor was actually going to be the emperor of Ethiopia who brought his dog, Chi Chi Bee, who was later believed to be the reincarnated drag queen named Jujubee.

[00:26:27] Yeah. 

[00:26:28] Adam Cox: No. What are you talking about? He 

[00:26:30] Kyle Risi: had a dog called Jujubee. Which sounds like Jujubee. That's stupid. Get the joke, Adam. And the thing is that the emperor was chosen as a guest of honour because of course Ethiopia was Iran's first diplomatic partner in Africa at the time. He's also the longest reigning monarch alive at this period of time, claiming obviously also to be descended from King Solomon the Great, which is obviously a biblical king. 

[00:26:55] So given obviously their 2, 500 year anniversary of the Persian empire, his [00:27:00] presence just kind of like made sense for the optics.

[00:27:03] The From the grandeur. From the grandeur. Exactly. Also, on the royalists were the king and queen of Denmark, the King of Norway, Royals from Nepal, Luxembourg, Sweden. Also Princess Grace Kelly of Monaco. If you remember that famous song by Mika, A tri to be like Grace Kelly. Yeah. Vaguely. This from like 2010. Man, it's a while ago. 

[00:27:26] Adam Cox: Um, so quite a lot of royalty everywhere other this many royals now in the world? I don't feel like they are, right? 

[00:27:32] Kyle Risi: To be fair, after this event kicked off, like a lot of countries lost their royals. This is one of the fallouts after this revolution kicked off. This is how I think Greece lost their royal family. I think a couple others as well. But what's so fun about all these Royals in attendance was the inevitable issues with rank and order in which they would be addressed and received, especially relative to each other. 

[00:27:54] So the planning committee had to be absolutely meticulous. Cause like for most Royals, [00:28:00] they are always the most important person in a room, which works fine in your own country. But with all these Royals under one roof, it adds a whole new layer of complexity to it. Like for example, There's a real unspoken hierarchy in the world of royalty, like take Queen Elizabeth, for example.

[00:28:14] She's descended from Queen Victoria's eldest son, King Edward, right? Now compare that to King Philip of Spain, who's descended from Queen Victoria's youngest daughter. So while Elizabeth is a queen and Philip is a king, queen Elizabeth, unspoken outranks, king Philip.

[00:28:30] Interesting. Yeah. So things can get very complex and very awkward, very fast. So I imagine there was a lot of temper tantrums at this event. 

[00:28:38] Adam Cox: Yeah, I imagine a lot of, do you not know who I am? Do you know what they should have done? I'm the fucking Queen of England. They should have done squid games to try and like work out who should be going, who's important enough. 

[00:28:50] Kyle Risi: And there's a queen licking her biscuit going 

[00:28:55] Adam Cox: That's what should have happened. 

[00:28:56] Kyle Risi: Of course, the queen was a bit was invited but because the royal house didn't want [00:29:00] the queen to be in a position where she was paying homage to the king of kings she decided to of course decline but the duke of edinburgh he was like um i'll go and queen anne was 

[00:29:10] Adam Cox: like yeah i'll go too i would say queen anne would have um or princess anne princess anne that's it yeah i would have thought she would have loved to have gone to that.

[00:29:18] Kyle Risi: But also like the the duke of edinburgh like he was he's a party animal yeah he had a massive Kind of, what's, what's the word? A gallivanting kind of past. A gallivanting nature. So also when you look at footage from the Orson Welles documentary on this, you can just tell that the Duke of Edinburgh is clearly the top dog of how he commands the room. Like, yeah, he's, he's a duke, but he's a duke under Queen Elizabeth II. So like, relatively with that unspoken hierarchy, outranks every motherfucker there.

[00:29:48] That's funny because like, I don't even have a king as a title, or even prince. Henrietta's a prince. Yeah, he's Prince. Prince. Prince Philip. Prince Philip. Yeah, but so as a prince, he outranks everyone. Yes, 

[00:29:57] okay, I guess so. I guess 

[00:29:59] Adam Cox: so. [00:30:00] Yeah. 

[00:30:00] Kyle Risi: But the thing is, though, how they handle all the egos must have just been really fascinating to watch. I would just love to have been a fly on the wall. at that party. 

[00:30:07] But in total, there were 600 guests. There were eight queens, five kings, 15 presidents, and a whole bunch of sultans, sheikhs, prime ministers. Strangely though, there weren't that many celebrities, which to me sounds really quite drab because like celebrities bring the drama, you know what I mean?

[00:30:23] Exactly. Who's going to be doing the singing? Exactly. Or entertainment. Exactly. There's no Kim or Kanye equivalents. There's no Wyonna Ryder pinching the silverware. Like, I think that they really missed the trick. 

[00:30:34] Adam Cox: feel like someone like Elton John would have been there or He would have been amazing. Someone like that. Was Elvis around at that point? 

[00:30:41] Kyle Risi: I think maybe he died in the 70s, so he might have just been at his fat stage. 

[00:30:45] Adam Cox: Whoever was famous then, I can imagine they should have been there. 

[00:30:48] Kyle Risi: Barbara Walters was there, but she was reporting live from the scene. So, of course, she's obviously very famous for her hard hitting journalism and asking very tough questions, which will kick off a lot of the [00:31:00] criticism later on, because she has this knack of shining the light on areas where The Shah was very desperate to keep hidden, and that's kind of like what causes a lot of this stuff to kind of unravel, especially in the West.

[00:31:11] So, with all these leaders in attendance, it really raises the stake on how important it was that absolutely nothing go wrong. So the planners were told that they would be executed if they fucked it up. And so any budget that they previously set just went straight out the window and they had to do whatever they needed to do to make this occasion outrageously elaborate as they possibly could.

[00:31:34] Adam Cox: It feels a tad harsh being executed for not doing your job right. 

[00:31:38] Kyle Risi: Maybe they should do that here. 

[00:31:39] Adam Cox: In this country. I would be dead by now. 

[00:31:42] Kyle Risi: Well, you're great at what you do! I don't know. So to take things to the next level the catering had to be extraordinary. So what they did is they enlisted the best restaurant in the world at the time which was Maxine's de Paris and Maxim had to shut down their restaurant for two weeks to make this happen and they brought legendary [00:32:00] Max Bouvier out of retirement just to oversee the banquet. How much money would it take for me to make you come out of retirement just so that you could oversee a dinner? 

[00:32:09] Adam Cox: Well, depends what I'd have to do, like, do I just have to like turn up and go, yeah, everything looks fine. I'm gonna go now. 

[00:32:15] Kyle Risi: Well, no, he's going to be the best hotelier in the world. So he's going to obviously step up his game, kind of really make sure all the the affordances are there and all the etiquette is just spot on. The cutlery is all shined properly. So he's probably going to do a really good job. That's part of why he's been hired.

[00:32:29] Adam Cox: Yeah, I guess like he knows how much money is going into this. He can probably command a good salary. 

[00:32:33] Kyle Risi: Probably, especially if he's in retirement, right? That kind of ups your asking salary straight away. So Maxim's, who obviously overseeing all the food, they completely refuse to use any of the local Iranian produce. or their equipment. So they have to ship in 30 tons of their own kitchen equipment from France, along with 160 members of their own staff, and 18 tons of food and drink, including ice cubes the size of buses that are shipped in from Alaska. [00:33:00] Why? Why do you need an ice cube the size you can't put that in a drink!

[00:33:03] No, what they're going to do is the ice cubes are going to be placed inside, I believe the wine cellar. Uh huh. And that's going to be used to chill the wine that they're going to ship in as well. And that's a lot of wine. Okay. So the food order was also nuts. 

[00:33:19] They had 250, 000 eggs, 150 kilograms of caviar, 2, 700 kilograms of beef, pork and lamb, 1, 280 kilograms of fowl or game. And all of this, just for 600 guests. Meanwhile, more than half of Iran's population is struggling, even just to get enough to eat. 

[00:33:40] Adam Cox: I bet there was so much wastage as well. 

[00:33:42] Kyle Risi: Oh, wait. Wait until you find out what's on the drink list. Because while Iran is technically an Islamic country, you wouldn't know this based on the alcohol that they brought in. They brought in 2, 500 bottles of Dom Pérignon and Moet. The champagne, the Moet, was going [00:34:00] to be used just to make the chef's sorbet. That they were going to have for dessert. They brought in a thousand bottles of Chateau Lafite Rothschild 1945. That's a Bordeaux that costs eight thousand dollars per bottle. 

[00:34:12] Adam Cox: 8, 000, and that's one per person there. 

[00:34:15] Kyle Risi: Yeah, so the wine, the wine's fine right now, a thousand bottles, fine. They also bring in, 600 bottles of Chateau Haute Brion Blanc, which retails for around about 600 per bottle, but the Burgundies, they were so rare that the prices are undisclosed because they're only negotiated at the point of sale. So we have no record of how much they're paid for the Burgundies. 

[00:34:38] Adam Cox: And how many were there for Burgundies? 600. 600. Yeah, out of that 600. So this feels like there's what like three bottles per person? 

[00:34:47] Kyle Risi: At least. That's nothing. They also brought in extraordinary amounts of cognac and scotch whiskey. Now based on the wine order, do you care to guess how many bottles they shipped in for 600 guests?

[00:34:59] Adam Cox: [00:35:00] 300. 

[00:35:00] Kyle Risi: 25, 000. What? Bottles of whiskey and brandy each costing between 6, 000 and 10, 000 pounds per bottle. And remember, Most of the guests didn't even drink because a lot of them were from Muslim countries. 

[00:35:13] Adam Cox: And was this in today's money or back then money? That was back then. La di al. Yeah, 

[00:35:19] Kyle Risi: to ship in all the building material, the furniture, the equipment, the food, the wine, everything, it takes the Iranian air forces a total of 13 months traveling back and forth almost daily to get everything into the country.

[00:35:30] Adam Cox: I mean, being a project manager or a party planner for this must have been very stressful. 

[00:35:35] Kyle Risi: Adam, They're doing something meaningful. They're changing lives. 

[00:35:39] Adam Cox: They're not, are 

[00:35:40] Kyle Risi: they? That's what party planners do!

[00:35:43] So Adam, at this point, you're probably wondering, What will be the climax of this event? Because every event needs something big to happen. 

[00:35:52] Adam Cox: That's something, there's got to be like a show, or a musician, or something, a spectacle, fireworks maybe. How about a [00:36:00] penis vagina tower? 

[00:36:01] Kyle Risi: Uh, that wasn't top ten. Well Muhammad intended to unveil a giant tower dedicated to none other than himself called the Shyad Tower. Now they call it a tower, but to me it really does look like an arch slash pyramid slash tower slash penis slash vagina. It's both an arch and a tower and a penis and a vagina. All in one. It's magnificent. Do you have a picture? I do. 

[00:36:26] Let me show it to you and you can tell me if you agree. Do you get penis vibes or vagina vibes? What are you getting? 

[00:36:32] Adam Cox: Um, yeah, it looks like a tower, a toy 

[00:36:36] Kyle Risi: type tower, and an arch as well. And then the arch, the arch kind of makes the opening of the cervix. . . 

[00:36:44] Adam Cox: I don't know if I'd Oh, that's a good one. That's a moon in that one. Um. I don't know if I get pe Maybe I do get penis. I'm not sure I get vagina.

[00:36:52] It's quite phallic, I think. It's 

[00:36:54] Kyle Risi: quite impressive. Is it still there? Yeah, it's still there. It's under a different name now since obviously the revolution happened. [00:37:00] Yeah, it's, it's impressive. It's magnificent, right? And what's the point of this? Basically it was meant to be the new iconic symbol of Iran, like Big Ben is to London or the Statue of Liberty is to the United States, and unveiling, obviously, the penis vagina tower is going to be the thing that the entire party leads up to after the end of the three days.

[00:37:18] And of course in the lead up to the event, media outlets worldwide were buzzing with updates about the preparations. Some were thrilled, calling it the celebration of the century. Others were more skeptical, questioning kind of the point of all this extravagance. For those questioning it, Adam, they didn't know about penis vagina tower. So, boy, were they in for a treat. 

[00:37:36] Adam Cox: Yeah, but it's no, like, Taylor Swift era tour, is it? This is the 70s, 

[00:37:40] Kyle Risi: right? This is before we looked at celebrities for their endorsement. We now look at big structural things, like Big Ben, or Big phallic structures. Yeah, the Eiffel Tower, or penis vagina tower.

[00:37:52] And of course, security had to be incredibly tight. The Shah ordered security checkpoints every few meters along the perimeter of the [00:38:00] complex, along the highway leading up to the royal tent city. And there were genuine fears that someone might try and poison the food or some kind of terrorist attack would take place.

[00:38:08] As a result, the Banqueting Hall became the most heavily guarded area on site with access strictly limited. Even chefs and servers had to undergo kind of rigorous vetting, and anyone even with the slightest hint of questionable background was immediately dismissed. And because they sacked so many of their staff, they were forced to bring in additional servers from Switzerland.

[00:38:28] But now you had teams with wildly different approaches to service, which physically led to physical fights breaking out amongst the staff. So the only drama that really happened was Because I tried really hard to find drama. I wanted to know if like, like the Queen of Denmark was sniffing coke behind the bike sheds or snogging some kind of shake. But there was literally nothing. All we got were just fights from the waiting staff. 

[00:38:52] Adam Cox: Which really surprised me because I thought the Swiss were quite neutral. About what? Well, most things. And so to get an argument about how, where the [00:39:00] spoon should go on a table, that says a lot. 

[00:39:02] Kyle Risi: Oh, I see what you're saying. Yeah, no, apparently not. They, when you're up against a French guy who's very passionate about food, there's going to be some fights, right? Yeah. In terms of security, the Shah also locked down the country's borders, meaning that no one could enter or leave the country except for the guests.

[00:39:16] All universities and schools across Iran, they were closed in the weeks leading up to the event. Secret police raided houses and arrested thousands of people under suspicion of potentially speaking out or protesting. And all student bodies were completely dismantled, and any rule breakers were jailed for up to a year before this event even happened. So they were pre empting it. They were like, okay, find all the troublemakers, chuck them in jail, we won't let them out until after the event. 

[00:39:41] Adam Cox: Wow, that's uh, that's quite a good precaution, I guess. Uh, Adam, they're throwing innocent people in jail! I don't know, but you never know what they might get up to. It seems like this guy is determined to be like, this has to be the party of the century. I think so. Of the two and a half thousand years. 

[00:39:58] Kyle Risi: Yeah, and because of course it was [00:40:00] important that the whole world know about this party, massive amounts of money was spent publicizing it. They signed deals with TV channels in different countries to live broadcast the event. They recruited Iran's National Film Board and they commissioned prominent filmmakers to make a film about the event.

[00:40:14] The English version of it would be called Flames of Persia, which was going to be narrated by Orson Welles. And once edited and approved, they were going to send this film out to the world for public display. Iranian embassies around the world, they were instructed to organize parties, conferences, and other cultural activities, all for the purpose of drawing attention to this just one single film.

[00:40:38] And man, it worked. The world's media was hooked. They published constant updates. They leaked details about the guest lists and the menus. People were speculating on which Royals and jewels and crowns might be making an appearance at the event. People were captivated all across the West Because at the time, like, Iran, especially in the 70s, still had this romantic kind of [00:41:00] connotation to the Persian Empire.

[00:41:01] So people were like, oh, Arabian nights, the deserts, kind of jewels, Aladdin, all these different things. So it was seen as quite, what's the word? Like cinematic in a way. Cinematic, romantic, Arabian nights, all that kind of thing.

[00:41:15] But back in Iran, ordinary citizens were furious. Like the extravagance, the waste, it was all too much. And yet no one dared speak out or do anything about it. 

[00:41:25] Now, Adam. Now seems like a perfect time for a quick break But when we come back we're going to dive into the main event and the moment that would set the stage for the iranian revolution Just nine years later

[00:41:40] So adam We're back. It's D Day. Are you excited? 

[00:41:45] Adam Cox: Yeah, let's, let's get this party started. 

[00:41:46] Kyle Risi: What, what went down? 

[00:41:48] So October the 12th, 1971, the festival officially began. And so before any guests arrived, the Shah and his family decided that they were going to visit the tomb of Cyrus the Great to pay their [00:42:00] respects. And basically, this would mark the start of the three day celebration that was meant to usher in this new era of prosperity for Iran. 

[00:42:09] As expected, the event was dripping with pomp and ceremony, loads of military marches culminating in the Shah delivering this really over the top poetic eulogy to Cyrus the Great in heaven, God rest his soul.

[00:42:21] And the gist of the speech was something like, Cyrus, you did your part, you are now dead though, so it's time for me to do my part. You can rest easy, I'm wide awake, ready to usher Persia into this new era of greatness. And of course, the statement in itself just infuriates ordinary Iranians.

[00:42:41] Cyrus was known for championing liberty and human rights. Everything that Shah had done up to this point was the exact opposite. Like he squandered the nation's wealth on kind of this pointless party for a start, while also suppressing people and giving hardly anything of the country's oil money to them. And on top of this, He [00:43:00] wasn't even related to Cyrus the Great in any way, he was just some son of some guy that managed to get awarded the Sharship. 

[00:43:08] Adam Cox: Yeah, it's a very tenuous link how he got here and somehow he's got this, um, I don't know, this ego, this kind of feels like he thinks he's better than anyone.

[00:43:16] Kyle Risi: He is, he is extremely arrogant. So of course following the opening ceremony the distinguished guests start arriving. Hundreds of journalists arrive to slowly watch one by one as 60 something private jets fly in and as the guests exit their jets they will walk down this huge red carpet where they're greeted by the Shah and the Empress personally.

[00:43:36] Each guest is then ushered into one of 250 brand new custom built state of the art bulletproof bright red Mercedes Benz limousines. That's a, they were custom built? Custom built just purely for this event. Once they were in the limousines, they were then shuttled along the newly built 30 mile highway that was all lined with cypress trees and enormous illuminator cauldrons situated every [00:44:00] 100 meters leading up to the complex across a 30 mile stretch.

[00:44:04] Adam Cox: That sounds impressive. 

[00:44:06] Kyle Risi: Adam, it was so impressive when you see some of the footage of this. When guests arrived, they were then each taken to their assigned tents to freshen up and admire the gorgeous resort that was built specifically for them. Then when the time came, all the guests put on their evening wear. Private security butlers were then sent to collect all their crown jewels from the specifically made vault holding all of their valuables. valuables. 

[00:44:28] Adam Cox: Yeah, you don't want the Queen of Denmark stealing your jewels. 

[00:44:30] Kyle Risi: No, sneaky stealing bitch. Women were given access to their choice of five makeup salons where they could be attended by a team of Paris's top hairdressers and makeup experts, all of whom were given special training on how to handle royal needs, including how to place a tiara in just a few minutes.

[00:44:50] What? Just put the damn tiara on your fucking head! Yeah, oh, it's on the wonk. Okay, just tilt it the 

[00:44:55] other 

[00:44:56] Kyle Risi: side. That's crazy. Then when everyone was ready, they all headed to the [00:45:00] reception dinner, which is, of course, about to earn the Guinness World Book of Records for the grandest, longest, most expensive dinner in recorded human history. 

[00:45:08] Adam Cox: This is where all like the royalty like get there and they like who should curtsy first, right? Do I bow? Do you bow? Exactly. 

[00:45:15] Kyle Risi: Each guest was announced and greeted by the Shah and the Empress, but of course the order in which this had to be done was very, very tricky. Guests had to wait outside until no one of higher rank was waiting behind them. Now keep in mind, most of these people are not accustomed to waiting. So everyone waits for them, right? So if you happen to be one of six queens, the question became, who goes first without offending anyone? So the intention was to stagger the arrivals as precisely as possible, right?

[00:45:44] Adam Cox: Could they have not just, um, I don't know, done it alphabetically? Or No, because it's down to rank and respect, Adam. Can't do it alphabetically. Could it not just been like Miss World, where they come in with a sash? And the music? 

[00:45:55] Kyle Risi: You would think. That makes logical sense.

[00:45:57] But because each guest is greeted mostly by the [00:46:00] shah or the empress, nobody wants to tell the shah that he only has 30 seconds with each guest. But also, the shah didn't want to tell a king or a queen to just shut the hell up and move along into the banqueting hall.

[00:46:10] So all the timings quickly just go off track really quickly. Some guests are taking up to 15 minutes of the shah's time, not realising that there's 600 other guests waiting to enter too. So imagine like if you're the Duke of Belgium, right? And your turn is coming straight up right after Princess Consuela Banana Hammock, for an example.

[00:46:30] And for like eight minutes in that time, the Queen of Sweden arrives on schedule right behind you, right? So because she now outranks you, you're bumped aside to make way for her. So if you've arrived with your partner expecting to go straight after them, you can easily get stuck in this log jam and end up entering the banqueting hall fucking last.

[00:46:50] So the whole system just fell apart really quickly. So you can imagine some of the party planners are just sweating with anxiety, right? Like knowing if they fuck this up, they're going to get executed. 

[00:46:59] Adam Cox: Yeah, surely, but [00:47:00] There should be someone there standing by the shah, like saying you got 10 seconds, let's wind this up, wind this up.

[00:47:04] I think 

[00:47:05] Kyle Risi: they were, but not saying as much. They were like, because you're in front of the Queen of Sweden, right? And you all you can do is like give eyes to the shah. But at the same time, you have to be respectful. 

[00:47:14] Adam Cox: They should have also prepped the people that were coming, saying there's a lot of guests here. You're all equal. Important. Maybe you're not equally important, but either way, you've got 30 seconds. 

[00:47:23] Kyle Risi: I think that they just can't do that. These are kings and queens. I do generally wonder though, who ended up being very last. 

[00:47:31] Adam Cox: To enter the banquet hall. Yeah. Everyone sat down and everyone's like, no one cares that I'm here. . Yeah. They're walking in. The Prince of Belgium is like, finally 

[00:47:38] Kyle Risi: kept getting bumped. So as the guests enter the banqueting hall, they all go to their assigned seats, which is a whole other affair because in a normal situation, the really important people sit at the main table.

[00:47:50] If you were a Duke or a vi count, your proximity to another royal is very, very important to you. But with so many royals in attendance, with all varying [00:48:00] degrees of subjective political importance, planners had to get the seating arrangements right. So to get around this, that 70 meter long table that everyone was sitting at was made to very cleverly wind and bend like a snake, which made it a little harder to work out where the best seats were because proximity wise everyone was close to someone of importance that's quite smart it was quite smart The less important guests, however, like the ambassadors, will all come together on like little tables of like 12 smaller tables, like the kids table, essentially.

[00:48:32] The entire hall, decorated in vibrant blue and pink fabrics, lining the walls and the ceilings, chandeliers hung down every few meters, the cutlery Was all gold plated but only reserved for the heads of state and the tablecloth was hand embroidered taking 125 women six months to complete and they were all blind Blind. Well, not at first, it was very intricate work, but they said that even though they lost their sight, it was [00:49:00] all worth it.

[00:49:04] I wonder how many friends quotes we can jam in to this episode. I feel like we're really jamming them in. I think we're going to get complaints. The thing is though, it just comes naturally to me. Yeah.

[00:49:13] But what is genuinely amazing is that this is the first time in recorded history that rulers from such a diverse set of countries and ideologies had gathered for a single cultural event, all equal, sitting side by side, enjoying a very expensive meal. Yeah, I guess it's the only time this has been done, 

[00:49:29] Adam Cox: is it?

[00:49:30] Kyle Risi: Well, I mean, certainly this many royals, because again, after this, the Iranian revolution is going to kick off a few short years later, and many of these royal households will fall. So really, this was like one of the rare occasions where this actually happened. The last 

[00:49:44] Adam Cox: supper for the royals. Very good.

[00:49:46] Um, question. You mentioned about, only the sort of heads of state or the really important people had gold plated cutlery. Could you, steal that at the end of the night? You want a token and you're like, do you reckon I can get away with it? I don't see 

[00:49:57] Kyle Risi: why not. Yeah. Who's going to stop a queen from [00:50:00] stealing? I mean, I'm not that the queen is going to want to steal a fork, right? She probably has her own solid gold cutlery. Yeah. At the house. But it was really extravagant. Prince Philip, he said that the atmosphere just reminded him of a setting of a James Bond film, filled with like loads of villains and stuff from different like Villains.

[00:50:16] Of course he said that. 

[00:50:18] But I get it as well when you see photographs of it. It's really, it's really opulent. So when everyone was finally seated, the event began. It was basically at a six course dinner interspersed with hours of the driest, most boring speeches, which In human recorded history from people that nobody literally cared about. None of it revolved around any of these royals or these, any of these dignitaries. And it wasn't someone just telling them how amazing they were. It was all about someone else. So for many, it was really boring and it just lasted for six hours. If I was there, I would have 100 percent wanted to sit next to Imelda Marcos.

[00:50:55] Adam Cox: Yes, you'd have made it entertaining. 

[00:50:57] Kyle Risi: 100 percent you'll spend the whole evening Like, wondering whether or not she [00:51:00] was judging your shoes and planning to add them to her collection, or burn them. 

[00:51:04] Adam Cox: Or she'll be heckling. Yeah! 

[00:51:06] Kyle Risi: Next! Hey, I mean, if you're lucky, maybe she'll give you a nice wad of cash. Maybe.

[00:51:11] Just pretend you're really poor. Like, I'm here, I'm a poor, I'm a poor street boy who's been, like, selected to be at this dinner. Give me some money! 

[00:51:17] Adam Cox: Everyone there compared to her would have been I reckon so. 

[00:51:21] Kyle Risi: Like, she had a shit ton of money.

[00:51:23] Adam Cox: So they've got all this drink and food to get through, right? Mm hmm So what was served? You mentioned about beef, pork, lamb. 

[00:51:30] Kyle Risi: A quarter of a million eggs. Quarter of a million eggs. Yeah, so the food, so the menu actually came in a thick booklet set out in two languages, Persian and French.

[00:51:39] Everything was served on 10, 000 pieces of the finest crockery and crystal, each piece specifically commissioned for this event, decorated in turquoise and gold with the Shah's arms on it. First up were the appetizers which consisted of quail eggs stuffed with Iranian caviar accompanied by champagne.

[00:51:57] Next was crayfish mousse [00:52:00] with, I don't know how you pronounce this. A nantue sauce? I don't know what that is. Sounds gross. The second course was a saddle of French lamb stuffed with mushrooms and fresh asparagus served with a 10, 000 bottle of wine. The third course was supposed to be roast peacock stuffed with foie gras, but the thing is a peacock tastes like shit.

[00:52:21] So, Initially, the Shah was adamant that they serve it, but the chefs tried a whole bunch of different recipes, but it just tasted too gamey. So in the end, the chef was like, no, I'm not serving this. And then instead they just roasted a bunch of quails and stuffed them with foie gras and truffles. And then they arranged them under like taxidermy peacocks, selling everyone it was peacock.

[00:52:41] Really? Lies. Yeah, lies. People fell for it, like Princess Anne said, I'll never eat peacock again. When in reality, she was eating quail, which is something she ate all the time. So it was kind of like, just one of those mindset things. 

[00:52:53] Adam Cox: Yeah, or you're going into it going, oh, I love peacock. This is great, we should get this back home.

[00:52:57] Then you get it back home, you're like, oh, it's gross. Like [00:53:00] fire loads of different chefs, like, they can't get my peacock right. Also, You know when you're like in a big party, when you go out for a meal, and there's 15, maybe 20 of you sometimes, and the food that comes out, and it's not all at the same time, and it's not always all hot and stuff like that.

[00:53:15] How the hell did they manage, like, serving this much food to people, and making sure it was, perfect? 

[00:53:21] Kyle Risi: Yeah, how many hot plates did they have? Yeah, 

[00:53:23] Adam Cox: that is, I'd be intrigued, I'd like to see their setup. 

[00:53:26] Kyle Risi: I would like to see that, that sounds pretty impressive. Then finally for dessert they had glazed figs and raspberries followed by coffee and sorbet made from that Moet champagne which was from 1911. That's the vintage that we're dealing with here. 

[00:53:40] So if you haven't noticed everything is of course French. They were meant to be celebrating Persian supremacy but there's nothing Persian about any of this. None of the chandeliers, none of the drapery, not even the china, nothing. Eventually, after six hours, the final speech is done. Everyone is exhausted from all the cameras firing in their faces. Photographers end up taking close to a [00:54:00] million photographs. 

[00:54:02] Adam Cox: Yeah, six hours of speeches. Good grief. 

[00:54:05] Kyle Risi: Then everyone was released back to their hotels or their tents, and I really tried really hard to find some salacious gossip, but I couldn't. Everything was just really prim and proper, apart from, like I said, the punch up between some of the waitstaff.

[00:54:17] Adam Cox: Yeah, people weren't, like, bed hopping in the night and things like that. 

[00:54:21] Kyle Risi: Not that we would have known unfortunately we don't know if anyone was sitting next to someone that they absolutely hated. 

[00:54:26] Adam Cox: I'm sure there probably was. 

[00:54:28] Kyle Risi: So in the morning, it was now time for day two, where everyone had to gather in the very hot dry desert to watch hours and hours of endless flotillas showcasing the entire 2, 500 year history of the Persian Empire.

[00:54:40] And the Shah brought in all these different world renowned historians who pieced together all the uniforms and the weapons that would have been used throughout this time and of course though all the uniforms were made in France by French tailors.

[00:54:53] Nothing Iranian about it whatsoever. But they did use Iranian soldiers kitted out with kind of the full ensemble. Fake beards, [00:55:00] fake wigs, flamboyant uniforms, gold chariots, weapons, warships, all sorts. They even managed Adam to construct these ancient trumpets that had long been forgotten to try and reproduce the sound of what it would've sound like.

[00:55:11] Oh, really? Like 2,500 years ago? Yeah. From the kind of arc. archaeological record, which I think is 

[00:55:16] Adam Cox: pretty impressive. That is impressive. But then did they like play it and went like, Oh, this is why this didn't catch on. I've heard of this before, like people 

[00:55:22] Kyle Risi: have recreated old instruments from the kind of the days of yore.

[00:55:26] And yeah, they just sound shit. Like this is why it got lost to history. Yeah, this is no harp. Of course, when that was done, guests then headed to their second fancy dinner. By the way, that procession went on all day. So you'd be really bored. But this dinner was more relaxed. They did celebrate some Persian culture along with some dancing. Again, it went on for hours and hours of more boring speeches.

[00:55:47] On top of that, they had to sit through a two hour light show. Again, recounting more Persian history. 

[00:55:56] Adam Cox: It's 

[00:55:56] Kyle Risi: just so much education! I like, it feels like [00:56:00] you're at work. It does! I'm glad I'm not a royal. Like, when can I go to the pool? No! Finally, when everyone thought their school was over, all of a sudden the electricity just cut out.

[00:56:10] It was total darkness and silence. One minute passed, then another. And then another and then all of a sudden there was a huge explosion and everyone was just freaking out. They all thought they were under attack, but it was just a false alarm. It was just a surprise firework show that no one told anyone about but genuinely when this was reported on for a brief moment People genuinely thought like this is it everyone go the bunker 

[00:56:34] Adam Cox: under attack.

[00:56:36] Yeah, especially when it's like it's been a minute You know, what's what's happening? No one's telling us anything. Yeah And then what? Somebody's just 

[00:56:42] Kyle Risi: sitting there with a light and going, oh god dammit, it's too windy. We're gonna get a heads cut off. 

[00:56:47] Adam Cox: Was it an impressive firework display? They must have blown up some money.

[00:56:50] I mean, if, based on what we've just seen, it's probably pretty impressive. So on day three, they were all set to leave the royal tent city and head to [00:57:00] Tehran. How do you think they traveled there? 

[00:57:02] I imagine they're all going to be in like a horse and carrier carriage, I don't know.

[00:57:06] A 

[00:57:06] Kyle Risi: bunch of camels. No, on a bunch of buses. In the documentary that Orson Welles narrates, he makes such a massive deal saying probably this is the first time that some of these people have even been on a bus. But let's be clear, these buses are super flash. They're custom built just for this one single trip.

[00:57:25] That is their only purpose. It came with a full meal service, all the amenities that a guest would need to endure a very dusty eight and a half hour journey across the desert to Tehran. 

[00:57:37] Adam Cox: Eight and a half hours? You're putting all these royals and presidents and whatever. on an eight and a half hour bus. Yeah. Like a coach holiday. Yeah. 

[00:57:46] Kyle Risi: Coach trip. Who are we voting off? Of course, depending on who you were, each bus was then followed by that dignitary's kind of own motorcade, complete with their own security riding alongside each one of the buses to protect their, [00:58:00] like their president. So if you have The Vice President of the United States traveling on the same coach that the, the Duke of Edinburgh and Princess Anne is, and a couple other kings and queens.

[00:58:09] All of their security are all together riding around this one bus. Damn. That's a lot. And America's got a big motorcade. Yeah. 

[00:58:17] Adam Cox: If Greta Thunberg was around at that point, she would have something to say. She'd be mad! Imagine the carbon emissions from this whole two years in the making, whatever it is.

[00:58:26] Kyle Risi: Of course, when they then get to Tehran, they have to then sit through even more stifling ceremonial activities is. They visit the tomb of the, the late Shah's father, the Nazi sympathizer. But when that's all done, it's then time for the crescendo of the event. the point of the whole party, the inauguration of Shahid Tower. Or as we know it, Penis Vag Tower. And

[00:58:47] Adam Cox: I bet there's 

[00:58:48] Kyle Risi: going to be a speech.

[00:58:49] Oh my God, so many speeches. So this was meant to obviously emphasize Iran's, uh, historical legacy and their modern aspirations for a new era of prosperity. [00:59:00] Infuriatingly though, the tower also came with this replica of Cyrus's Cylinder, which symbolizes like the first human rights charter, so it was very much a case of this is how we want you to see us, not actually how We actually are.

[00:59:13] Interesting. So it really infuriates a lot of people. When of course all the speeches are finally done, Pinoch's Vag Tower lights up and the show is like, ta da! Thanks for coming. Now everyone, feck off! And that's pretty much it. That's, that's the party. 

[00:59:28] Adam Cox: Are they going to get like a taxi back or are the coaches gone?

[00:59:31] I 

[00:59:32] Kyle Risi: think so. They can fly out from Tehran. All the jets fly out of the country. The Shah declares the entire event a huge triumph. And he just sat back waiting for the praise and glory to start rolling in.

[00:59:42] And indeed, there was a decent amount of positive media coverage, like the media gushed over how incredibly opulent and luxurious everything was. But the reality is that soon died away. And across the world, everyone is very interested in the rumours of corruption and the human rights violations [01:00:00] that were now, coming out or spilling out of the country.

[01:00:02] Because during an interview with Barbara Walters, the Shah, wasn't anticipating any of her questions. Barbara is, of course, as you know, exceptionally good at asking leading questions. She always says things like, there are a lot of people criticizing you for having this party and spending all this money.

[01:00:18] What do you say to them to defend you throwing this party? Why do you think that this was a valid way of spending the country's money? And he just ends up just getting really, really snippy. So it's very clear that he's just really defensive about it all. And he's like, well, how much, would they know about how much we're spending?

[01:00:35] We only like spent money enough for like two meals. And of course, we're just being good hosts. So like, he's just out of touch. Like, yes, I understand these people are digging trees and stuff, but he didn't really answer the question. He could have answered the question way better than that. 

[01:00:49] Adam Cox: As in, we're putting Iran on the world stage, blah, blah, blah.

[01:00:53] Kyle Risi: I mean, he did say, we spent no more than 17 million, but actually, the lowest estimates of [01:01:00] the costs were 100 million, with the upper estimates doubling that to 200 million. That's 1971 money. So, adjusted for inflation, that's 1. 2 billion today, just for a three day party. Oh my god, it's crazy.

[01:01:15] To me, this must be right, considering the amount of infrastructure that they built, like they made, they brought in custom made limousines and coaches, all the food, all the trees, all the water that they shipped in. Also, Everything was pretty much single use. So the country had absolutely nothing to show for it.

[01:01:31] The reality is all those prefabricated tents, they're prefabs. They can be gutted. They can be like ripped apart. There's nothing there. They're going to take out the marble. They're going to take out all the tapestries. They're going to take out everything that's in there and send it off somewhere else and sell it. Nothing's left there for the actual people of Iran. When you see the ruins that's left from the complex, all these tents, all that's left is just a frame. 

[01:01:54] Adam Cox: Mm. Well, the thing is, like, when there are these big projects like this, something [01:02:00] like the Olympics in more recent times, yes, they sometimes still cause controversy in terms of where they're built and the other, but at least, you know, in London, and I know other places, they have these new, facilities built, which are going to be there. Yeah. So, whether it's the new swimming centre, whether it's This is hundreds 

[01:02:18] Kyle Risi: of miles away from any civilisation 

[01:02:21] Adam Cox: in the desert. All those plants that they brought in, trees, are they going to continue? They're going to 

[01:02:25] Kyle Risi: die as soon as you stop watering them. Yeah. This is just, it's not like they can Because it's not irrigated plumbing that they've got, they're shipping this water in, they can't continue to do that. It's not sustainable. And 

[01:02:33] Adam Cox: it's not like they're going to reuse those purpose built buses or limousines or anything as taxis around the place. Yeah, exactly. 

[01:02:39] Kyle Risi: The crazy thing is that during the three day event, journalists would sneak off to visit some of the local villages in the area to talk to some of the locals. And this is where they learn about all the unlawful imprisonments, the crackdown on all the protesters and just the general scale of poverty across the country.

[01:02:55] They also learned that Iranians hated this shift to westernizing the country because [01:03:00] in a few very short years, everything just became indirect contradiction to the Islamic faith. They also discovered that the whole democracy and elections were all just complete shams. As it got reported, the whole world started distancing themselves from the Shah causing him to lose a lot of the support that he once had from all his allies around the world because their people of their own retrospective countries don't want their governments being seen as like You cavorting with the Shah who's got these, this ridiculously awful human rights track record.

[01:03:35] Adam Cox: Yeah, they don't want us to be seen endorsing what he does. Exactly. 

[01:03:38] Kyle Risi: So they have 

[01:03:39] Adam Cox: to distance 

[01:03:39] Kyle Risi: themselves. 

[01:03:40] Adam Cox: I do wonder though, you mentioned that people were tired of the Western sort of regime, that was being brought in. But is that everyone? Because you see the women who appeared to be free in terms of what they could dress and study. Were they criticizing this? 

[01:03:55] Kyle Risi: Do you know what? It's so complicated. And I don't know the answer. The reality [01:04:00] is, there is a, sexual kind of, like, hierarchy that men are always going to be in power. So they probably didn't have a choice. I mean, it is in direct conflict with their Islamic faith. So yeah, I can see 

[01:04:12] Adam Cox: them not appreciating it as well.

[01:04:14] Kyle Risi: I can't put myself in the mindset of an Iranian, male or female. I can only see this through the lens of the Western world. 

[01:04:22] Adam Cox: Yeah. How weird it is to us, but maybe not to them. 

[01:04:25] Kyle Risi: Exactly. One of the best responses when asked why he spent so much money was, he said, these were kings and queens. What was I supposed to feed them?

[01:04:33] Bread and radishes? Meanwhile, he's the opposition all around the country were like. We'd love some bread and radishes, actually. Like, if you know where we can get some, we'll take anything, actually. And when the film, narrated by Orson Welles, was finally ready. The Shah was like, where are all the Iranians?

[01:04:50] I'm not seeing any Iranians. And the production company was like, you didn't invite any. You only prioritize your overseas friends. So of course he can't release [01:05:00] this documentary inside the country because it's going to look very, very bad. 

[01:05:03] Adam Cox: What did 

[01:05:03] Kyle Risi: I? Oh no, I forgot about that. You spent all this money and none of us got to enjoy it.

[01:05:07] Wow. And from there, protests just erupted all over the country, becoming harder and harder to contain the more people heath threw in jail, the angrier the public became, and before long, everything culminated in the revolution, which was led by the Islamic cleric, Ala kini.

[01:05:24] Muhammad was in force into exile, just like his dad, where he spent the next year traveling around, staying with all his royal friends, but not one of them offered him a permanent home. And so the following year, 1980, he dies in Egypt due to complications due to lymphoma. And so really he did technically go down in history. There was Cyrus the Great as the first emperor and then Muhammad Reza as technically the last. That was it. That was the royal family eradicated. 

[01:05:52] And the thing is though, it's highly unlikely that Iran will ever revert back to a monarchy. They only now exist as a theocracy. And life [01:06:00] has become far worse. The Ayatollah's rule brought back public executions where people can have their hands cut off for stealing. They also brought back floggings, stonings, even crucifixion. And women lost nearly all their rights that the ones had. Veiling then became completely mandatory. Education is restricted for them to just a handful of fields.

[01:06:19] The legal age of marriage was brought down to the age of 13 and very few rights are given to women in marriage. 

[01:06:26] Adam Cox: Yeah, it's quite a transformation then, and, um, It's 

[01:06:29] Kyle Risi: kind of gone, like, yes, there was dissatisfaction with the way the country was being run, but now it's gone the other way, right? It's, it's a, it's a lot worse. 

[01:06:38] Adam Cox: Yeah, I'd be surprised. I mean, I don't know. I'd be surprised if there were women there that go like, oh yeah, we wanted this to change. 

[01:06:45] Kyle Risi: 100 percent doubt that that's the case. No one's, no, I don't think so. I can say that almost with conviction that no one's saying that.

[01:06:51] The reality is, I don't know a huge amount about Iran's history, and I'm not in a position to give my views about what's right or what's wrong. only Because I don't know how to handle that conversation. [01:07:00] True. Yeah. My only reference is based on Western values and principles, but the compendium is just not the place to dissect that. 

[01:07:06] Adam Cox: Yeah, we're just covering topics. We're not saying what's right or wrong. 

[01:07:09] Kyle Risi: Yeah. I mean, my heart tells me it's wrong. But, I can't speak for what they want, really, because I don't, I'm not on the ground there. 

[01:07:16] Adam Cox: Yeah, I'm sure, there's things in our society which are Questionable.

[01:07:20] Yes, 100%. 

[01:07:22] Kyle Risi: But yeah, Adam, that was the story of the most expensive party ever held. And while there is debate over how much it ended up costing, what is certain is that it definitely cost a dynasty. 

[01:07:32] Adam Cox: Yeah. And it's quite interesting, like, would any country ever go back to having royalty? I can't imagine. Well, we did. And the French did. 

[01:07:40] Kyle Risi: During Victorian times, 

[01:07:41] Adam Cox: yeah, I guess I think from now on, because I feel like we've gotten so used, or France would have gotten so used to being a republic.

[01:07:49] Yep. 

[01:07:50] Adam Cox: And for us it's a bit different, because I don't know any better. But for anyone else, I can't imagine them ever going back to 

[01:07:55] Kyle Risi: it. No, I kind of agree with you there. Yeah. It's, uh. Yeah, it's the [01:08:00] times definitely changing. I mean, why would you have a monarchy because the way that it works is like Oh, there's one person who's been ordained by God who's got this God given right to rule over a bunch of people That's long gone.

[01:08:10] People are less religious, right? Yeah, 

[01:08:11] Adam Cox: well now we have this democracy where we vote in someone we don't really like and then they rule the country Yeah, we should do what Switzerland doesn't have like seven electorals. No, we should be like Hogwarts. I told you

[01:08:24] Kyle Risi: Uh, of course, I'll post a link to a couple of documentaries. Definitely watch the Shah of Iran by Orson Welles. It's about an hour long. It uses a lot of actual footage from the events, including interviews with people who were working there, like servers, members of the planning committee, it's a lot of fun. It's a really good mix of kind of pro and anti shark kind of perspectives. 

[01:08:43] So it might give you a flavor of how the country felt, about what was going on back then, give you a more balanced view where we can kind of put aside our own kind of Western values and try and see it through their kind of perspective.

[01:08:56] They also interview a bunch of people who were in prison during this time, like a lot of the activists and [01:09:00] stuff like that. They were arrested for up to a year before the event even started. Were they released afterwards? They would have been released afterwards, yeah. But, I mean, If you were a troublemaker, you could have been executed and tortured.

[01:09:10] There's an entire website that you guys can explore that takes you through the many different pictures and provides a variety of different contexts right down to the details of the jewels that were worn and the tiaras that people brought and the food that was served and the menus etc.

[01:09:22] It's really fascinating. I feel 

[01:09:23] Adam Cox: like I need to take a look because the opulence sounds pretty incredible overall. 

[01:09:27] Kyle Risi: Yeah, Pretty 

[01:09:28] Adam Cox: much. 1. 3 billion. 

[01:09:30] Kyle Risi: Imagine what we could do with that money. 

[01:09:31] Adam Cox: I know. 

[01:09:32] Kyle Risi: Mm 

[01:09:32] Adam Cox: hmm. I definitely wouldn't be throwing a party for 1. 3 billion. 

[01:09:36] Kyle Risi: No, 50 quid. Like a dollar. And Yeah, that wraps up this episode.

[01:09:41] Should we, run the outro? Let's do it. 

[01:09:44] And that wraps up another journey into the fascinating and intriguing on the compendium. 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 a difference when you do. For our diehard listeners, next week's episode is waiting for you right on our Patreon, and [01:10:00] it is completely free.

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[01:10:13] Next week's episode drops every Tuesday.

[01:10:16] And until then, remember the higher the party, the harder the fall. Just ask the Shah of Iran. See you next time. 

[01:10:23] See 

[01:10:24] ya.