The Man Who Lived in the Airport

The inspiration for Steven Spielberg movie ‘The Terminal’, Iranian refugee Mehran Karimi Nasseri, began his incredible 18-year stint inside Paris’s Charles de Gaulle Airport on 26th August 1988.

With hopes of flying to Britain, he had found himself trapped in a bureaucratic no-man’s-land after travelling without documents. 

Answering to ‘Sir Alfred’, he began to carve out a new personality for himself, living on a red bench surrounded by luggage, airport shops and the relentless rhythms of international travel. He washed in the terminal toilets, ate regularly at McDonald’s using vouchers given to him by airline staff, wore donated clothes and spent hours writing. He became perhaps the world’s most famous homeless man.

In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain how Nasseri eventually came to leave - and then return - to his airport home; uncover how his Hollywood money prevented him from accessing support services; and reveal the story of a Turkish citizen who, incredibly, appears to have beaten Sir Alfred’s record for airport residency…  

Further Reading:

• ‘’The Terminal Man’ lived in a Paris airport for 18 years. I’ll never forget the weeks I spent with him | France’ (The Guardian, 2022): 'https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/nov/23/terminal-man-lived-in-paris-airport-18-years-ill-never-forget-weeks-with-him• 'Mehran Karimi Nasseri, Who Inspired ‘The Terminal,’ Dies in Paris Airport’ (The New York Times, 2022): https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/13/world/europe/mehran-karimi-nasseri-dead.html

• 'He was arguably the world's best-known homeless person' (FRANCE 24 English, 2022): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbOBZ9JVR4Q

#France #Strange #Person #Iran

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The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.

Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Ollie Peart.

Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2026.

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