Igor Bogdanoff has passed away at 72, just six days after the death of twin brother Grichka. According to a popular crypto meme, the Bogdanoff brothers were capable of changing markets with a single phone call.
Both brothers passed following complications from Covid-19, emulating each other once more in death, as they did so often in life. Although the brothers held very much in common, they also led quite different personal lives. Grichka Bogdanoff never had children of his own, while twin brother Igor fathered six.
The twin celebrities and scientists first rose to fame as co-hosts of the television show ‘Temps X’, which blended science and science fiction elements and ran from 1979 to 1987. The twins remained in the public consciousness thanks to their distinctive appearance and frequent appearances on celebrity television shows such as ‘The Masked Singer’.
To crypto proponents, however, the Bogdanoffs are considered to be something closer to a godlike force capable of superhuman abilities and of altering financial markets with a single phone call. This birthed the ‘He bought? Dump it’ crypto meme that shows Igor Bogdanoff holding a mobile phone to his ear.
Over time, the outlandish nature of the twins’ powers has grown, reaching fresh heights of mythic impossibility with each retelling of the tale.
Some attributes the brothers are said to have included:
- Making the Rothschild’s bow before them
- Talking to aliens
- Psychic powers
- IQs over 9,000
- Controlling special nanobots called Bogdabots (which are inside your body right now)
- Owning every genetic research facility in the world
The real Bogdanoffs
While the twins’ legend will be remembered fondly by the cryptosphere, the true tale of Igor and Grichka Bogdanoff story is no less fascinating. Born on August 29, 1949, in Saint-Lary, France, the Bogdanoff brothers were descended from several noble lines including the Kolowrat family of Bohemia in the Czech Republic. Of the two brothers, Grichka was the younger, being born 40 minutes after Igor.
The two were raised by their maternal grandmother Countess Bertha Kolowrat-Krakowská in her castle in Southern France. In 1925 Countess Kolowrat-Krakowská’s affair with Roland Hayes, an African-American lyricist, resulted in a divorce to her German husband, the loss of several estates and titles, and access to her four elder children.
The affair also produced a single daughter, Maria Dolores “Maya” Kolowrat – the twins’ mother. Maya Kolowrat later married Yuri Mikhailovich Bogdanoff, a Russian political immigrant descended from a noble line. In the 17th century, the Bogdanoffs had once styled themselves with the high title of ‘Prince’ by decree of Russian Tsar Feodor III.
Personal scandals and the tumultuous history of Europe’s 20th century had left the Bogdanoff’s far poorer and much diminished, but they remained a family of considerable wealth, if not standing.
The brothers’ early years provided ample opportunity to study the many books in their grandmother’s castle library, and through the many staff and workers who passed through its doors, the twins learned German, French, Russian, and English.
Fame and the Bogdanoff affair
In 1979 the brothers shot to fame with their TV show ‘Temps X’. The show combined science and science fiction elements and introduced the French public to major US and UK shows which had previously remained unknown to them. Some of the programs featured in ‘Temps X’ included The Twilight Zone, The Prisoner, Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, and Doctor Who.
Following the conclusion of Temps X in 1987 the twins drifted in and out of the limelight. In 1999 Grichka Bogdanoff received a PhD from the University of Burgundy. In 2002 Igor received a PhD of his own, also from University of Burgundy. Both passed with a grade of ‘honorable’ – the lowest possible award.
Between 2001 and 2002 the brothers published a number of papers in scientific journals which were vetted and approved by peer review. In October 2002, the legitimacy of these papers was thrown into question by physicist Max Niedermaier who said, “The abstracts are delightfully meaningless combinations of buzzwords … which apparently have been taken seriously.”
Niedermaier later retracted his initial statement, but the controversy grew as further scrutiny of the twins’ papers brought a fresh wave of allegations and criticisms. The alleged failure of the peer review process became known as ‘the Bogdanoff affair’ and left a cloud over the two.
The legend of the Bogdanoffs
In later years, the appearance of the Bogdanoffs became the focus of media attention. An appearance of the twins at the Cannes Film Festival in 2010 brought commentary on their rising cheekbones and elongated chins. Despite their seemingly changed appearance, Igor and Grichka denied ever having had plastic surgery.
On December 15 of 2021, Igor and Grichka Bogdanoff were admitted to the hospital in Paris, suffering from complications resulting from Covid-19. Grichka Bogdanoff died on December 28. Igor followed his brother in death on January 3.
The death of the Bogdanoff twins marks the passing of two men as multifaceted as they were muti-faced. Born to a family mired in political and personal controversy, Igor and Grichka nevertheless went on to great success, only to later become mired in controversies of their own creation.
There is perhaps some final irony in the fact that when the internet remembers Igor and Grichka with the inevitable ‘Goodnight sweet prince’ epitaph it will bestow upon them the title which their family held, and lost, so long ago.
It’s a fact which serves to remind us that in the crazy world of crypto culture, hiding among the many grains of salt, you may just find a small grain of truth.
Igor and Grichka Bogdanoff, 1949-2021.
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