All language subtitles for Abandoned.Engineering.S14E02.Slam.Dunkin.in.the.USSR.1080p.UKTV.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-RAWR_track3_[eng]

A complex that hosted
an unlikely Cold War matchup...

It was a real barn burner.

The fact that the Soviets
could match them

is really quite impressive.

..a British mine caught up in a
battle

between trade unions
and the Iron Lady...

She was determined to use every
weapon in her arsenal to crush them.

..a Gothic tower in Memphis,

plagued from its inception...

This is where they made a crucial
mistake,

and it was one that would haunt the
building for the rest of its life.

..and a sprawling jungle retreat
in Malaysia,

once fit for royalty.

After an unexpected tragedy,

his creation would be shattered,

and there was no-one there to pick
up the pieces.

In Vilnius, Lithuania's capital,

a derelict structure evokes memories

of a remarkable sporting moment.

We come across this plaza,

but it's kind of falling apart.

Looming over all of it is a grand
building

with a very distinctive design,

almost like a spaceship
that's come and landed here.

It's concrete,

it's brutalist in style.

It has all the feelings
of a Soviet building.

Inside, it quickly becomes apparent
that this is an arena.

In some ways, it recalls a little
bit Lincoln Center in New York City,

the Great Concert Hall, or even
the Sydney Opera House.

This is a building with real
aspirations for greatness.

Built to showcase Soviet excellence,

an American billionaire ensured
it would host

a unique Cold War showdown.

Landing deep behind enemy lines,

this group of Americans
were treated as heroes.

The players must've thought

this was the strangest thing
they'd ever seen.

July, 1988...

..thousands of Lithuanians
gather outside the building,

filling the plaza.

But these weren't protesters,

they were basketball fans...

..desperate to get inside and catch
a glimpse of NBA superstars

making a rare appearance behind the
Iron Curtain.

Gintaras Krapikas was one
of the lucky ones.

But how did an NBA team come to play
in this arena

during the Cold War?

Its seeds were sown back
in the 1920s,

when Lithuanian Americans imported
basketball into the country.

Journalist Vidas Maciulis

has been covering the nation's
favourite game for 60 years.

The sport caught on so quickly,

Lithuania was crowned European
champions in 1937 and 1939...

..but these glory days were soon
cut short.

In 1940, shortly after World War II
had broken out,

the Soviet Union occupied Lithuania,

and the national team was absorbed

into the Soviet system.

By the mid-1960s,

Soviet communism reached its zenith.

The Soviets were ahead
in spaceflight.

Their political system seemed
to be gaining power

around the world.

Their sports teams were some
of the best in the world.

The Soviet leaders really wanted
to project this image of success

to the rest of the world
and to their own citizens.

And they embarked on a series
of ambitious projects

across its empire.

Here in Lithuania, construction began
in 1965 on this,

the Vilnius Palace of Concerts and
Sports.

It hosted a range of events
and sports,

including the country's beloved
basketball.

Sitting alongside Soviet leaders,

it wasn't always the most
relaxed atmosphere.

In the 1980s, with the Cold War
beginning to thaw,

the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev
instituted a series of reforms

that promoted a new level of
transparency and openness

across the Soviet Union.

Gorbachev chose to release
the pressure where he could,

almost like letting some steam
out of a boiler

that's close to exploding.

So he began to allow cultural
exchanges.

In the United States, Ted Turner,

a media mogul and owner
of the Atlanta Hawks,

was closely watching international
affairs.

Turner was a real character,
real entrepreneur.

With CNN, he invented the whole
idea of 24-hour cable news,

and he had a real idealistic streak.

And he especially was focused
on doing what he could

to sort of bridge this divide

between the West and the Soviet
Union.

In 1988, the Atlanta Hawks set
off to cross the Iron Curtain

and play a series of three
exhibition matches

against the Soviet national team.

The second of the three
matches would take place here.

Excitement spread throughout
the basketball-crazed nation.

Although the arena only held 5,000,

over 1,000,000 people competed
for tickets.

In fact, it's said that they went
for the equivalent

of a month's wages
on the black market.

So the authorities decided
to also sell tickets

to the practice sessions.

And the citizens of Vilnius
just packed the stands,

watching these players practice

in absolute silence.

It was as if they were in church.

The players must've thought

this was the strangest thing
they'd ever seen.
JIM LAUGHS

On the 27th of July, 1988,

the two teams stepped out onto this
court

for the much-anticipated showdown.

It was a real barn burner.

This was a real hard-fought
competition.

This Soviet team,
these guys were not pushovers.

On the Atlanta Hawks team
was All-Star Dominique Wilkins,

one of the greatest slam dunkers
in NBA history.

But the Soviet team just kept
coming back.

They were known
for their extraordinary level

of physical conditioning.

After a nail-biting match,

the buzzer went, ending the game,

and the score was knotted at 92-92.

Now it was time for another
shock for the American team.

The Soviets thought, "OK, that's
fine.

"The game's a tie. Isn't that nice?"

And the Americans were saying,

"There's no ties in basketball."

Eventually, the Soviets relented,

and they agreed to extend
the match into overtime.

At this point, NBA legend
Dominique Wilkins

took the initiative.

The final score was Hawks 110,
USSR 105.

The Hawks' victory was a highlight
for this stadium...

..but soon after,
the Palace became the focal point

for a rising independence movement.

Two years after this infamous match,

the Soviet house of cards
came tumbling down.

PROTESTERS CHANT IN LITHUANIAN

After the fall of the Soviet Union,

Lithuania is broke.

And they don't have the money
to support

their reconstructed
national basketball team.

The 1992 Olympics were coming up,

and it was the first time in almost
half a century

for Lithuania to play its favourite
national sport

as an independent country.

Gintaras was one of the players

who answered the fledgling nation's
call.

As well as playing for free,

the team desperately searched
for sponsors

to help them fulfil their dreams

of representing Lithuania at the
Olympics.

And this becomes kind of a cause
celebre for many people in the US.

A lot of NBA players

thought very fondly of the
Lithuanians and their team,

so they lobbied to raise money to
help them compete.

The Grateful Dead of all bands

takes an interest in the plight
of the Lithuanian team.

They contribute money
for new uniforms

and hire a great designer to...to
design this new kit.

At the Olympics, the Lithuanian
team did really well.

They made it all the way
to the semifinals.

It's only when they come
up against the American dream team

that they're defeated.

In the end, they came away
with a bronze.

This was a turning point
for Lithuanian basketball players,

proving themselves
on an international stage.

Arvydas Sabonis was one of the first
Lithuanians to join the NBA.

First drafted in 1986,

the Soviets refused to let him leave
for the US.

It wasn't until nearly a decade later

that he finally joined the league.

But players like Sabonis helped pave
the way for the many Lithuanians,

including his son, to become
NBA stars.

And although the Palace fell
into disrepair and closed in 2004,

the match against the Atlanta Hawks
is fondly remembered

as the high point of this stadium's
history.

In the English village of Clipstone,

a towering structure stirs memories

of a fateful battle
with a powerful leader.

We're in the centre of England,

near the city of Nottingham.

It feels quiet and rural.

On what looks like the village green

are two enormous metal monuments

reaching into the sky.

It feels quite odd that these vast
structures

are marooned in the
middle of a field.

Could this have once been part
of a much larger operation?

There is more to this structure
than meets the eye,

which goes deep underground.

Directly beneath the tower
is a large circular pad,

possibly concealing something.

Exploring this place, you'd have no
idea of the riches

that are buried beneath it

or the controversies that would
surround them.

This structure symbolises one
of the greatest social battles

in Britain's history.

It was a brutal fight between
capitalism and socialism.

Margaret Thatcher
versus the trade unions.

Many have never forgiven
the Iron Lady.

Clipstone local Doug Broadfoot

remembers first hand the legacy
of Margaret Thatcher.

For nearly 30 years, he relied
on this place for his livelihood.

These structures, to me,

it's a symbol of what this village
was all about.

I left school on the Friday,

and then I...I started on the
Monday.

This was the main place
of employment for...for the village.

Apart from this,
there was...there was nothing.

There was just one or two local
shops.

When Doug first worked here,

this was part of an industry Britain
couldn't function without.

Coal had powered the Industrial
Revolution.

And Britain had hundreds
of coal mines,

which were scattered across the land.

So much so that in the 19th century,

it was mining two-thirds
of the world's coal.

This is the Clipstone Colliery.

When it opened in 1922,

it proved to be a coal mining
powerhouse.

Entire communities sprung
up around the mines,

and were reliant on them for their
livelihoods.

It quickly became one of the most
productive mines in Britain,

extracting more than 4,000
tonnes per day by the 1940s.

But this was also a period
of profound change in the country.

In 1947, as part of the post-Second
World War shake-up,

the coal industry was nationalised
under the British government.

The first day of a new era.

Its new owner wouldn't always see
eye to eye

with the powerful trade union,

which represented
around 1,000,000 miners.

The National Union of Mineworkers,
or NUM,

who had long represented
miners across the country,

supported the nationalisation...

..but eventually the two sides
would come to an almighty clash.

In the 1950s,

these two giant towers,

or headstocks, were installed.

At the time, they were the tallest
in Europe,

and allowed access to deeper coal
seams.

So, 24 hours a day, these shafts
were running continuously.

It was 24/7 at the pits,

so they had to keep everything
going.

An elevator could would take the men
more than 900 metres underground.

The elevator could travel
up to 27mph.

Just imagine hurtling at that speed
for that long

down towards the centre
of the Earth.

And this is where we used to come
at the start of the shift

to go down the mine.

For the first 20, 30 metres,

you go nice and steady,

then you went straight to full
speed.

You just had to keep swallowing now
cos your ears would pop.

Sometimes it was very cramped.

If you were at the front,
you're like sardines.

Face was being pushed against
the wire curtain at the front.

Down in the mines, workers
were regularly dicing with death.

You could be killed by cave-ins,
dangerous gases, fire,

and even a condition called black
lung.

There was dangers lurking
around every corner...

..so you had to be on your toes
and alert.

You looked after each other
down there.

Despite digging deeper
to save their jobs,

by the 1980s, Doug and his colleagues

were increasingly in
fear of the mine closing down.

Coal was being replaced
by new energy sources,

such as nuclear, gas and oil.

By 1984, the number of British
miners

had fallen from over 1,000,000
50 years earlier

to barely 200,000.

As the numbers of unemployed rose,

the miners union was gradually
becoming more radical

in its outlook.

More and more pits were
being closed,

setting the stage for an almighty
war

between the miners and a new
prime minister

famous for getting her own way.

In 1979, Margaret Thatcher
was elected prime minister.

She planned to close inefficient
mines

and begin to depend on cheaper
imports.

She also believed that trade unions,
like the NUM,

had too much power.

She became determined
to break their influence.

At that time, I wasn't really
involved in unions,

but I was starting to, you know,
listen and take note.

I was at an age where I've got
young family,

and I thought, "I'm gonna be on the
scrapheap,"

cos most of the jobs
round about here were...were mining.

And that's when it...I thought,

"There's gonna come a time

"when we're gonna have to stand
up and be counted."

In March, 1984, Margaret Thatcher
announced a new wave of pit closures,

with the loss of 20,000 jobs,

triggering a strike which quickly
spread across the country.

Miners arrived at Clipstone to find
picket lines of strikers

blocking them from going to work.

And I came down, and, uh, there were
some pickets there.

And asked our support, and so I
says, "Yeah,"

because we were fighting
for the jobs.

It wasn't just our job,
it was their jobs as well.

From then on, we didn't
really look back.

Three-quarters of miners
across the country

joined the strike...

..but at Clipstone, Doug himself
was in the minority,

as most chose to continue working.

Thatcher seized on this by idolising
the working miners,

describing them as heroes who
simply wanted to go to work

rather than submit to the threats
of the strikers.

Reports appear of those
who have been intimidated

because they seek to go
to their place of work,

to pursue their occupation,

and to support their families.
CROWD APPLAUDS

As well as attempting to divide
the miners,

Thatcher mobilised an army of police

to crush the national strike
and break the pickets.

They set up roadblocks throughout
Nottinghamshire

to prevent any suspected strikers
from travelling.

Clipstone continued to operate
under police protection,

and the entire village was locked
down.

There was literally hundreds
and thousands of police

in this area.

It was absolutely flooded
with police

stopping the, uh, pickets coming in.

And this was happening
all over the country as well.

Some criticise Thatcher
for using the police

as a paramilitary wing of the state.

They weren't here to keep the law,

they were here to make sure
that those who wanted to work

got into work and they kept
producing coal.

Nothing else.

Scenes of violence played out on TV
screens every night,

shocking the British public.

REPORTER:Nearly 300 were arrested

and more than 200 pickets
and policemen injured.

But an ugly streak of violence

has disfigured our television
screens night after night.

Many strikers felt the police
were unnecessarily brutal,

with beatings and random arrests,

something Doug personally witnessed.

They got strikers sacked, arrested,

for doing absolutely nothing,

and some of them have never worked
since.

Some of the miners,

their lives were ruined
w-with injuries as well.

It happened here at Clipstone

where there were one or two...two
of the lads got arrested,

and sorry, but they did absolutely
nothing.

It was all trumped-up charges.

Policies introduced by Thatcher's
government

also limited the amount
of unemployment benefits

that strikers' families could
receive.

REPORTER:The Leightons and other
striking families

have clubbed together to make sure
they have all they need.

The families of strikers like Doug

were forced to rely on the NUM's
charity soup kitchens.

But the union's charity
fund had almost run out.

More and more desperate miners

were starting to return to work.

The strike had lasted an entire year.

In the years after the strike,

the pace of closures was
accelerated,

with many pit villages falling
into deep poverty.

Clipstone survived this turbulent
period

and continued operating,

but with a much smaller workforce,

before closing down in 2003.

Today, there are just a handful
of coal mines in Britain,

employing less than 500 people.

But Clipstone is set to find new life

as an event centre and museum.

In Southwest Tennessee,

a skyscraper towers over a city

with a proud musical heritage.

Memphis is a bustling town
on the Mississippi River,

and it's filled with country music
and blues and jazz,

and it's a really vibrant,
happening city.

More than anything, it is known
as the birthplace of rock and roll.

Right in the heart of it all
is this towering monolith.

It is an imposing structure.

It looks strong and sturdy.

Trying to piece together what this
place was used for isn't easy.

There are dentist chairs,
old medical equipment,

signs for attorneys' offices,
collection offices.

There's even a bathroom with leopard
print wallpaper on the walls.

Once known as the Queen of Memphis,

this place attracted
rock 'n' roll royalty.

A well-known music producer,

he had a company called
Stars, Inc. on the 19th floor,

and he was the manager of Elvis
Presley and Johnny Cash.

This was the biggest, the best,
the most luxurious building

Memphis had ever seen.

It was designed as a monument
to success,

but it was built on shaky
foundations.

It always piqued my interest,
it felt like a haunted house,

it felt like a 30-storey haunted
house.

There are fire escapes
rusting and tattered.

There's gaping open windows

with kind of old curtains streaming
out of it.

It's a pretty epic building,

and it sits on what you would
imagine would be prime real estate.

So it seems strange to see
it left to rack and ruin.

Its founders set it up for failure

before the first brick had been laid.

This is where they made a crucial
mistake,

and it was one that would haunt the
building

for the rest of its life.

Like many locals,

Stuart Harris was drawn to the
mystery

of this vast, cavernous structure.

He still remembers the day
it was closed down.

The building was abandoned
when I was nine years old...

..and I always wondered
what was going on in there.

While it looks monolithic,

it's packed full of surprises.

So after decades of wondering
what the inside looked like,

I had an opportunity to visit it.

And it was so mysterious,

and in some ways, not at all what I
expected.

When it was built, this lobby
was neo-Gothic.

It was very grand.

High ceilings, bronze rosettes,
leaded glass.

No expense spared.

The concept was a city within a city,

an office block that had everything
a worker might need,

all housed in one building.

It had a cigar stand, a newsstand,

a barber shop, beauty shop,

lawyers, dentists, doctors.

Everything you could possibly
imagine.

Construction started in 1928,

costing the equivalent of over
£34,000,000 in today's money.

Its owners were two wealthy Texans,

Ross S. Sterling...

..and Wyatt Hendrick.

They decided to merge their last
names,

and the Sterick Building was born.

900 offices, accommodating
5,000 office workers,

spread across 29 floors.

It was born in the roaring 1920s,

a period of great prosperity in
America.

Memphis is absolutely booming,

and it's the centre of the cotton
trade.

Between 1880 and 1920,

over 70% of the cotton in America

was harvested within 200
miles of Memphis.

And that meant a lot of money
and a lot of jobs

and a lot of new buildings.

This real estate boom was seized
on by Sterling and Hendrick.

And being Texans, and Texans either
go big or go home,

uh, decided they were gonna make
a splash.

And they picked the busiest corner
in Central Downtown,

the corner of Madison and 3rd
Street,

which is now BB King.

Not only did they choose
a prime location,

inside, no expense was spared.

One of the things they added
were eight high-speed elevators.

These elevators were manned by eight
ladies in dresses and bows,

who would greet visitors and act
almost as a concierge

to take them to whatever floor
they were visiting.

Rumour has it they moved so quickly

that it was causing people to get
sick,

it was messing with their
equilibrium.

They'd have to stop halfway
just to not get sick.

The building was making waves,

and some new tenants
just couldn't stand the wait.

There's a great story that people
were so excited

to get into the building

that a...a doctor who rented one of
the offices

would take a ladder up every
day to her window

to get inside the office,

since the elevators weren't working
yet

and the stairs weren't finished.

Now, we don't know if her patients
also went up the ladder.

The press described the grand
opening

as probably one of the greatest
housewarmings in Memphis history.

By the '40s and '50s,

this building is absolutely at full
occupancy.

Among these occupants

were some famous rock 'n' rollers.

Sterick was home to lots of local
radio stations,

and it was also where Bob Neal,
a famous early DJ,

had his offices and studios.

He had a company called
Stars, Inc. on the 19th floor,

and he was the manager of Elvis
Presley and Johnny Cash.

He set up the King's first live
performance here in Memphis,

and put on local variety shows

where you could see these soon-to-be
global superstars

for as little as 50 cents a ticket.

Uh, Bob helped Elvis found
Elvis Presley Enterprises,

and is the managing company
of Graceland,

Elvis's mansion in South Memphis.

But with Elvis clearly heading
for the big time,

Neal, tired of life on the road,

decided not to renew his contract...

..and the now infamous Colonel Tom
Parker took over.

Times were good,

and the owner of the Empire State
Building bought the tower.

But urban depopulation
that impacted cities across America

in the 1960s and '70s

was compounded in Memphis

by the assassination of Dr Martin
Luther King Jr in 1968.

As more people began to leave
the city and move to the suburbs

or take their offices elsewhere,

it really began this process
of a death by 1,000 cuts.

In 1973, the Sterick Building was
repossessed by the bank,

which led to an assessment of the
original contract

signed by Sterling and Hendrick in
1926.

It revealed the property deal
was far from conventional.

So incredibly, they didn't buy
the land

where their skyscraper would be.

They simply leased it for 99 years.

The lease would be up in 2025,

and stipulated the building

was to be handed back
to the landowners in good condition.

If anyone wanted to make
improvements to this building,

why would they wanna do that
when, in 2025,

all of the improvements, every dime
they spent on the building,

would go entirely back to the family
that owned the land?

No-one was willing to make
that investment.

But Stuart is part of an ownership
group

that has managed to break
the curse of the 99-year lease.

In 2023, we were able to come
to an agreement with all parties

to, uh, dissolve the entire lease
structure

and create a fee simple
structure of ownership,

so that lease is no longer standing.

Plans are underway to convert
the tower into an apartment block,

combined with hotels and restaurants.

We really hope that it's gonna be a
catalytic project

that really radiates activity
from here around the neighbourhood,

and really affects the core
of Downtown Memphis.

On the outskirts of Kuala Terengganu
in Eastern Malaysia,

the bustling urban sprawl
quickly gives way to nature.

You don't have to stray
too far from the city

before things start getting very
remote.

I'm talking hot, dense jungle.

In a small clearing, set back
from a winding river,

you come across a curious collection
of wooden buildings.

Seven different structures, set
on stilts,

are connected by walkways.

The construction looks
old-fashioned,

but the fact that it's made
of timber

makes it really hard to date it.

In this tropical climate,

nature is rapidly reclaiming what
once belonged to the jungle.

So some of the planks
have rotted away,

the structure's starting
to collapse...

..and it's just really hard to tell
what it was used for.

Have when you enter the building,

there are surprising signs of
modernity.

You look around and you see
beautifully tiled bathrooms,

a fridge, even an air-conditioning
unit.

It's also filled with the remnants

of what looks to be perhaps
some textile industry.

This was much more than just a home,

this was one man's dream
to safeguard his nation's heritage.

But when tragedy struck,

his vision was shattered.

Syed Mohd Hanafiah is a carpenter

who helped construct this complex
with Tengku Ismail,

the man behind a bold and unusual
vision.

He may have been a man of the people,

but he came from royalty.

Tengku actually means prince,
which is what he was.

He was a prince of the local
Terengganu royal family.

While his great-grandfather,
Sultan Zainal Abidin III,

had ruled over the entire
Terengganu province,

Ismail was far removed from direct
line to the throne.

Tengku Ismail was born in the 1950s.

And being the second cousin
to the ruling sultan,

you know, he was in no danger of
becoming king,

but he still grew up with all the
trappings

of being in an aristocratic family.

That included living in his
great-grandfather's royal palace.

There, he fell in love

with the traditional Malay
architecture and culture,

including songket,
a cloth sewn in silk or cotton,

then highlighted with gold
or silver thread

to create a silky metallic fabric.

In 1970, that passion took him
to the Osaka Expo in Japan,

where he not only represented
Malaysia,

but he also displayed
the songket cloth for the world.

While in Japan, he took the
opportunity to visit the Nijo-jo
Palace,

built in 1603.

It was a transformative moment.

He was so impressed by what he saw

and the way that these wooden
structures were preserved,

that he decided he would do the same
thing

for his own cultural heritage.

So, he decided to salvage traditional
Terengganu homes

and unify them into one structure

to imitate an 18th-century royal
palace,

just like the one he grew up in.

The ambitious project was called
Pura Tanjung Sabtu,

which is a combination of the local
village name

and the word for palace.

In 1992, he began scouring Terengganu

for these traditional wooden houses.

Uh, these very old houses are put
together

with no nails, no screws.

It's just been all cut and built
by very skilled workers.

So what he has to do is take them
all apart,

transport them to his space,

and then put them all together.

So, the carpenters have to be
extremely skilled

at cutting the different wooden
pieces

so they slide together and
fit snugly

without seam or lock.

Part of Ismail's project

was attempting to revive
his beloved songket.

On the ground floor,
he had an entire area, uh,

dedicated to the manufacture and
display of the fabric.

When completed in 1996,

it opened as his personal residence,

but also a museum and hotel.

And in 2007, his efforts
appeared to have paid off.

He was nominated for the Aga
Khan Architecture Award.

The awards celebrate design
excellence

in societies with predominantly
Muslim populations.

Tengku Ismail described it as one
of the happiest moments of his life.

Finally, it seemed as if everything
was coming together.

In June 2011, the Prince travelled
to London

for a popular international
weaving exhibition.

Held at the School of Traditional
Arts

and supported by King Charles III's
charitable foundation,

his songket collection was a central
feature.

But tragically, the prince died
of a heart attack

before he left London,

and his beloved palace
has since fallen into disrepair.

There was some talk of turning
it into a heritage site

that tourists could visit.

But until someone's willing to fund
that enterprise,

it will continue to decompose.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media