This is 99% invisible.

I'm Roman Mars.

The Sydney Opera House is one of the most iconic and distinctive buildings in the world.

It took a relative newcomer and architectural outsider to dream it up.

But the saga of making this future world heritage landmark a reality

is a tale for the ages, a cautionary tale.

And for cautionary tales, I turned to the brilliant Tim Harford.

I've been dying to hear the story of the Sydney Opera House told in this way and Tim and his team just

nailed it and I know you're going to love it as much as I do. Enjoy. In a clearing in a forest a day's walk north of Copenhagen stood a little house, a fairy tale setting worthy of Hans Christian Anderson perhaps, but this is no fairy tale and it wasn't a fairy tale house.

It was low, flat and minimalist Denmark's first open plan house. It had been built in 1952, without proper floor plans.

The house's young architect was building his own home and he had insisted instead on

personally directing the work as it progressed.

But it was brilliant.

Denmark's most celebrated architect visited the construction site

and muttered under his breath,

Hell, he's better than I am.

Maybe so.

It was hard to be sure.

The young architect, Yorn Utsun, had won plenty of competitions, but with his career interrupted by the war,

that house was almost the only thing he'd actually built.

Late in January 1957, the phone in the Hudson home rang.

Yorn and his wife were taking a winter walk in the woods.

...