Lee Thompson British blogger and traveler Country: Great Britain

Biography of Lee Thompson

Lee Thompson is a British blogger and traveler who became the first person in the world to take a selfie on top of the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He was born in Great Britain and found himself in Brazil not for the purpose of climbing the statue, but to document the preparations for the World Cup, which was set to begin there in June 2014.

On his own blog on TheFlashPack.co.uk, Thompson shared his travel experiences and helped aspiring travelers navigate tours while providing his own observations about life in sunny Brazil. At the end of May, he had the opportunity to climb to the top of arguably the most famous statue in the world and take several photographs. From the beginning of his "expedition," Thompson knew that just one photograph from the top could make the whole world talk about him.

Soon after publishing the material on his blog, Thompson noticed a sharp increase in popularity. The next day, articles about his incredible photograph appeared on the front page of the popular website Buzzfeed.com and spread to other English-language publications. Thompson claims to be delighted with such popularity, stating, "I cannot compete with the Pope, presidents, or anyone else, and as a photographer, I have a completely different task - to take photos, not appear in them. But I had the opportunity to climb to the top and take a photo with Jesus. How could I refuse?"

According to Thompson, the ascent was relatively safe but still scary. He had to stop several times due to sudden bouts of acrophobia, fear of heights, and felt extremely uncomfortable inside the statue. However, the expedition, as he admitted after returning from the top, was extremely successful and left him with good memories mixed with a strange sense of reverence for the magnificent Christ the Redeemer statue.

As of now, no one has been able to take a selfie, i.e., their own photograph taken with an outstretched arm, from the highest point of Rio de Janeiro. Thompson is confident that no one will know second and third place in this race and that his name will live on the internet for a long time. It is known that after Brazil, the young man plans to continue his travels and possibly expand his collection of "world's first selfies."