Eiffel Tower replicas and derivatives and one in the Isle of Man and sold shares to potential investors, including many prominent Blackpool families. When the corporation got into financial difficultly John Bickerstaffe stopped the scheme from collapsing and ensured the scheme was a success. The Blackpool Tower, though one of the oldest, is not a true replica of the Eiffel Tower and differs from the Paris tower in a number of ways: it is approximately half the height of the Eiffel Tower (158 m compared to 324 m), it is not freestanding and the base contains buildings which house entertainments including the Tower Circus and
Eiffel Tower about the relationship between architecture and engineering. It came to a head as work began at the Champ de Mars: a "Committee of Three Hundred" (one member for each metre of the tower's height) was formed, led by the prominent architect Charles Garnier and including some of the most important figures of the arts, such as Adolphe Bouguereau, Guy de Maupassant, Charles Gounod and Jules Massenet. A petition called "Artists against the Eiffel Tower" was sent to the Minister of Works and Commissioner for the Exposition, Charles Alphand, and it was published by "Le Temps" on 14 February 1887: Gustave