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

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It was a real barn burner.

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The fact that the Soviets
could match them

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is really quite impressive.

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..a British mine caught up in a
battle

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between trade unions
and the Iron Lady...

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

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..a Gothic tower in Memphis,

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plagued from its inception...

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This is where they made a crucial
mistake,

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

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..and a sprawling jungle retreat
in Malaysia,

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once fit for royalty.

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After an unexpected tragedy,

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his creation would be shattered,

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

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In Vilnius, Lithuania's capital,

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a derelict structure evokes memories

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of a remarkable sporting moment.

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We come across this plaza,

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but it's kind of falling apart.

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Looming over all of it is a grand
building

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with a very distinctive design,

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

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It's concrete,

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it's brutalist in style.

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It has all the feelings
of a Soviet building.

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

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

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

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This is a building with real
aspirations for greatness.

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Built to showcase Soviet excellence,

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an American billionaire ensured
it would host

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a unique Cold War showdown.

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Landing deep behind enemy lines,

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this group of Americans
were treated as heroes.

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The players must've thought

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this was the strangest thing
they'd ever seen.

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July, 1988...

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..thousands of Lithuanians
gather outside the building,

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filling the plaza.

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But these weren't protesters,

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they were basketball fans...

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

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making a rare appearance behind the
Iron Curtain.

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Gintaras Krapikas was one
of the lucky ones.

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

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during the Cold War?

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Its seeds were sown back
in the 1920s,

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when Lithuanian Americans imported
basketball into the country.

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Journalist Vidas Maciulis

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

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The sport caught on so quickly,

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

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..but these glory days were soon
cut short.

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

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the Soviet Union occupied Lithuania,

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and the national team was absorbed

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into the Soviet system.

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By the mid-1960s,

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Soviet communism reached its zenith.

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The Soviets were ahead
in spaceflight.

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Their political system seemed
to be gaining power

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around the world.

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

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The Soviet leaders really wanted
to project this image of success

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

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And they embarked on a series
of ambitious projects

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across its empire.

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Here in Lithuania, construction began
in 1965 on this,

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the Vilnius Palace of Concerts and
Sports.

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It hosted a range of events
and sports,

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including the country's beloved
basketball.

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Sitting alongside Soviet leaders,

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it wasn't always the most
relaxed atmosphere.

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

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the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev
instituted a series of reforms

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that promoted a new level of
transparency and openness

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across the Soviet Union.

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Gorbachev chose to release
the pressure where he could,

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almost like letting some steam
out of a boiler

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that's close to exploding.

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So he began to allow cultural
exchanges.

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In the United States, Ted Turner,

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a media mogul and owner
of the Atlanta Hawks,

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was closely watching international
affairs.

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Turner was a real character,
real entrepreneur.

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

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and he had a real idealistic streak.

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And he especially was focused
on doing what he could

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to sort of bridge this divide

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between the West and the Soviet
Union.

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

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and play a series of three
exhibition matches

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against the Soviet national team.

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The second of the three
matches would take place here.

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Excitement spread throughout
the basketball-crazed nation.

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Although the arena only held 5,000,

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over 1,000,000 people competed
for tickets.

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

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of a month's wages
on the black market.

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So the authorities decided
to also sell tickets

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to the practice sessions.

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And the citizens of Vilnius
just packed the stands,

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watching these players practice

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in absolute silence.

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It was as if they were in church.

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The players must've thought

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

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On the 27th of July, 1988,

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the two teams stepped out onto this
court

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for the much-anticipated showdown.

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It was a real barn burner.

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This was a real hard-fought
competition.

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This Soviet team,
these guys were not pushovers.

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

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one of the greatest slam dunkers
in NBA history.

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But the Soviet team just kept
coming back.

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They were known
for their extraordinary level

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of physical conditioning.

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After a nail-biting match,

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the buzzer went, ending the game,

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and the score was knotted at 92-92.

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

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

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

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And the Americans were saying,

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"There's no ties in basketball."

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Eventually, the Soviets relented,

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and they agreed to extend
the match into overtime.

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At this point, NBA legend
Dominique Wilkins

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took the initiative.

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The final score was Hawks 110,
USSR 105.

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

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

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for a rising independence movement.

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Two years after this infamous match,

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the Soviet house of cards
came tumbling down.

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PROTESTERS CHANT IN LITHUANIAN

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After the fall of the Soviet Union,

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Lithuania is broke.

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And they don't have the money
to support

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their reconstructed
national basketball team.

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The 1992 Olympics were coming up,

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and it was the first time in almost
half a century

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for Lithuania to play its favourite
national sport

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as an independent country.

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Gintaras was one of the players

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who answered the fledgling nation's
call.

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As well as playing for free,

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the team desperately searched
for sponsors

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to help them fulfil their dreams

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of representing Lithuania at the
Olympics.

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

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A lot of NBA players

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thought very fondly of the
Lithuanians and their team,

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so they lobbied to raise money to
help them compete.

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The Grateful Dead of all bands

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takes an interest in the plight
of the Lithuanian team.

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They contribute money
for new uniforms

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

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At the Olympics, the Lithuanian
team did really well.

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They made it all the way
to the semifinals.

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

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that they're defeated.

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In the end, they came away
with a bronze.

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This was a turning point
for Lithuanian basketball players,

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proving themselves
on an international stage.

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

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First drafted in 1986,

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the Soviets refused to let him leave
for the US.

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It wasn't until nearly a decade later

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that he finally joined the league.

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

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including his son, to become
NBA stars.

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

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the match against the Atlanta Hawks
is fondly remembered

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as the high point of this stadium's
history.

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In the English village of Clipstone,

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a towering structure stirs memories

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of a fateful battle
with a powerful leader.

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00:14:16,440 --> 00:14:17,680
We're in the centre of England,

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near the city of Nottingham.

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It feels quiet and rural.

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On what looks like the village green

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are two enormous metal monuments

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reaching into the sky.

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It feels quite odd that these vast
structures

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are marooned in the
middle of a field.

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00:14:36,800 --> 00:14:40,400
Could this have once been part
of a much larger operation?

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00:14:42,760 --> 00:14:45,840
There is more to this structure
than meets the eye,

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which goes deep underground.

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00:14:50,480 --> 00:14:53,720
Directly beneath the tower
is a large circular pad,

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possibly concealing something.

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

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that are buried beneath it

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or the controversies that would
surround them.

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00:15:08,360 --> 00:15:12,160
This structure symbolises one
of the greatest social battles

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00:15:12,200 --> 00:15:14,080
in Britain's history.

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00:15:14,120 --> 00:15:17,920
It was a brutal fight between
capitalism and socialism.

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00:15:17,960 --> 00:15:20,800
Margaret Thatcher
versus the trade unions.

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00:15:22,520 --> 00:15:25,160
Many have never forgiven
the Iron Lady.

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00:15:30,760 --> 00:15:32,840
Clipstone local Doug Broadfoot

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00:15:32,880 --> 00:15:36,760
remembers first hand the legacy
of Margaret Thatcher.

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00:15:36,800 --> 00:15:40,640
For nearly 30 years, he relied
on this place for his livelihood.

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00:15:41,680 --> 00:15:43,640
These structures, to me,

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00:15:43,680 --> 00:15:47,520
it's a symbol of what this village
was all about.

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00:15:47,560 --> 00:15:48,840
I left school on the Friday,

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00:15:48,880 --> 00:15:51,400
and then I...I started on the
Monday.

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00:15:52,640 --> 00:15:57,280
This was the main place
of employment for...for the village.

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00:15:57,320 --> 00:15:58,800
Apart from this,
there was...there was nothing.

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00:15:58,840 --> 00:16:00,720
There was just one or two local
shops.

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00:16:02,520 --> 00:16:04,440
When Doug first worked here,

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00:16:04,480 --> 00:16:07,960
this was part of an industry Britain
couldn't function without.

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00:16:12,720 --> 00:16:16,560
Coal had powered the Industrial
Revolution.

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00:16:16,600 --> 00:16:19,280
And Britain had hundreds
of coal mines,

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00:16:19,320 --> 00:16:22,520
which were scattered across the land.

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00:16:22,560 --> 00:16:24,960
So much so that in the 19th century,

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00:16:25,000 --> 00:16:28,560
it was mining two-thirds
of the world's coal.

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00:16:29,960 --> 00:16:32,880
This is the Clipstone Colliery.

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00:16:34,160 --> 00:16:36,680
When it opened in 1922,

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00:16:36,720 --> 00:16:40,280
it proved to be a coal mining
powerhouse.

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00:16:44,040 --> 00:16:47,480
Entire communities sprung
up around the mines,

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00:16:47,520 --> 00:16:50,080
and were reliant on them for their
livelihoods.

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00:16:51,240 --> 00:16:55,240
It quickly became one of the most
productive mines in Britain,

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00:16:55,280 --> 00:16:59,360
extracting more than 4,000
tonnes per day by the 1940s.

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00:17:01,440 --> 00:17:05,440
But this was also a period
of profound change in the country.

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00:17:07,000 --> 00:17:11,840
In 1947, as part of the post-Second
World War shake-up,

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00:17:11,880 --> 00:17:15,560
the coal industry was nationalised
under the British government.

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00:17:15,600 --> 00:17:19,000
The first day of a new era.

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00:17:20,960 --> 00:17:23,760
Its new owner wouldn't always see
eye to eye

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00:17:23,800 --> 00:17:25,680
with the powerful trade union,

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00:17:25,720 --> 00:17:28,200
which represented
around 1,000,000 miners.

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00:17:34,160 --> 00:17:36,960
The National Union of Mineworkers,
or NUM,

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00:17:37,000 --> 00:17:39,800
who had long represented
miners across the country,

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00:17:39,840 --> 00:17:41,440
supported the nationalisation...

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00:17:42,840 --> 00:17:46,720
..but eventually the two sides
would come to an almighty clash.

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00:17:47,960 --> 00:17:49,720
In the 1950s,

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00:17:49,760 --> 00:17:52,120
these two giant towers,

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00:17:52,160 --> 00:17:55,560
or headstocks, were installed.

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00:17:55,600 --> 00:17:58,440
At the time, they were the tallest
in Europe,

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00:17:58,480 --> 00:18:01,520
and allowed access to deeper coal
seams.

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00:18:03,320 --> 00:18:09,080
So, 24 hours a day, these shafts
were running continuously.

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00:18:09,120 --> 00:18:10,640
It was 24/7 at the pits,

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00:18:10,680 --> 00:18:12,040
so they had to keep everything
going.

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00:18:13,480 --> 00:18:18,400
An elevator could would take the men
more than 900 metres underground.

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00:18:20,480 --> 00:18:24,400
The elevator could travel
up to 27mph.

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00:18:24,440 --> 00:18:28,000
Just imagine hurtling at that speed
for that long

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00:18:28,040 --> 00:18:30,560
down towards the centre
of the Earth.

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00:18:32,160 --> 00:18:34,400
And this is where we used to come
at the start of the shift

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00:18:34,440 --> 00:18:36,400
to go down the mine.

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00:18:36,440 --> 00:18:38,360
For the first 20, 30 metres,

253
00:18:38,400 --> 00:18:39,400
you go nice and steady,

254
00:18:39,440 --> 00:18:41,400
then you went straight to full
speed.

255
00:18:41,440 --> 00:18:44,280
You just had to keep swallowing now
cos your ears would pop.

256
00:18:44,320 --> 00:18:46,120
Sometimes it was very cramped.

257
00:18:46,160 --> 00:18:48,320
If you were at the front,
you're like sardines.

258
00:18:48,360 --> 00:18:51,560
Face was being pushed against
the wire curtain at the front.

259
00:18:51,600 --> 00:18:55,840
Down in the mines, workers
were regularly dicing with death.

260
00:18:55,880 --> 00:19:00,160
You could be killed by cave-ins,
dangerous gases, fire,

261
00:19:00,200 --> 00:19:02,760
and even a condition called black
lung.

262
00:19:04,200 --> 00:19:06,360
There was dangers lurking
around every corner...

263
00:19:08,120 --> 00:19:11,840
..so you had to be on your toes
and alert.

264
00:19:13,120 --> 00:19:15,080
You looked after each other
down there.

265
00:19:16,320 --> 00:19:19,960
Despite digging deeper
to save their jobs,

266
00:19:20,000 --> 00:19:22,680
by the 1980s, Doug and his colleagues

267
00:19:22,720 --> 00:19:26,160
were increasingly in
fear of the mine closing down.

268
00:19:27,960 --> 00:19:31,320
Coal was being replaced
by new energy sources,

269
00:19:31,360 --> 00:19:34,240
such as nuclear, gas and oil.

270
00:19:35,800 --> 00:19:38,880
By 1984, the number of British
miners

271
00:19:38,920 --> 00:19:42,360
had fallen from over 1,000,000
50 years earlier

272
00:19:42,400 --> 00:19:44,440
to barely 200,000.

273
00:19:46,960 --> 00:19:49,000
As the numbers of unemployed rose,

274
00:19:49,040 --> 00:19:52,000
the miners union was gradually
becoming more radical

275
00:19:52,040 --> 00:19:53,160
in its outlook.

276
00:19:54,600 --> 00:19:57,360
More and more pits were
being closed,

277
00:19:57,400 --> 00:19:59,800
setting the stage for an almighty
war

278
00:19:59,840 --> 00:20:02,920
between the miners and a new
prime minister

279
00:20:02,960 --> 00:20:04,800
famous for getting her own way.

280
00:20:08,800 --> 00:20:12,720
In 1979, Margaret Thatcher
was elected prime minister.

281
00:20:12,760 --> 00:20:15,240
She planned to close inefficient
mines

282
00:20:15,280 --> 00:20:17,920
and begin to depend on cheaper
imports.

283
00:20:19,640 --> 00:20:23,120
She also believed that trade unions,
like the NUM,

284
00:20:23,160 --> 00:20:25,040
had too much power.

285
00:20:26,480 --> 00:20:29,920
She became determined
to break their influence.

286
00:20:31,560 --> 00:20:34,680
At that time, I wasn't really
involved in unions,

287
00:20:34,720 --> 00:20:40,280
but I was starting to, you know,
listen and take note.

288
00:20:40,320 --> 00:20:43,120
I was at an age where I've got
young family,

289
00:20:43,160 --> 00:20:45,760
and I thought, "I'm gonna be on the
scrapheap,"

290
00:20:45,800 --> 00:20:49,080
cos most of the jobs
round about here were...were mining.

291
00:20:49,120 --> 00:20:50,800
And that's when it...I thought,

292
00:20:50,840 --> 00:20:52,080
"There's gonna come a time

293
00:20:52,120 --> 00:20:55,080
"when we're gonna have to stand
up and be counted."

294
00:20:56,560 --> 00:21:02,520
In March, 1984, Margaret Thatcher
announced a new wave of pit closures,

295
00:21:02,560 --> 00:21:05,360
with the loss of 20,000 jobs,

296
00:21:05,400 --> 00:21:09,000
triggering a strike which quickly
spread across the country.

297
00:21:11,880 --> 00:21:15,920
Miners arrived at Clipstone to find
picket lines of strikers

298
00:21:15,960 --> 00:21:18,120
blocking them from going to work.

299
00:21:19,840 --> 00:21:23,800
And I came down, and, uh, there were
some pickets there.

300
00:21:24,880 --> 00:21:28,640
And asked our support, and so I
says, "Yeah,"

301
00:21:28,680 --> 00:21:30,520
because we were fighting
for the jobs.

302
00:21:30,560 --> 00:21:33,480
It wasn't just our job,
it was their jobs as well.

303
00:21:34,640 --> 00:21:37,080
From then on, we didn't
really look back.

304
00:21:39,200 --> 00:21:42,080
Three-quarters of miners
across the country

305
00:21:42,120 --> 00:21:43,240
joined the strike...

306
00:21:44,920 --> 00:21:48,520
..but at Clipstone, Doug himself
was in the minority,

307
00:21:48,560 --> 00:21:50,880
as most chose to continue working.

308
00:21:54,320 --> 00:21:58,480
Thatcher seized on this by idolising
the working miners,

309
00:21:58,520 --> 00:22:01,800
describing them as heroes who
simply wanted to go to work

310
00:22:01,840 --> 00:22:05,320
rather than submit to the threats
of the strikers.

311
00:22:05,360 --> 00:22:09,240
Reports appear of those
who have been intimidated

312
00:22:09,280 --> 00:22:12,160
because they seek to go
to their place of work,

313
00:22:12,200 --> 00:22:14,160
to pursue their occupation,

314
00:22:14,200 --> 00:22:16,400
and to support their families.
CROWD APPLAUDS

315
00:22:18,920 --> 00:22:21,800
As well as attempting to divide
the miners,

316
00:22:21,840 --> 00:22:24,240
Thatcher mobilised an army of police

317
00:22:24,280 --> 00:22:27,800
to crush the national strike
and break the pickets.

318
00:22:31,680 --> 00:22:34,120
They set up roadblocks throughout
Nottinghamshire

319
00:22:34,160 --> 00:22:37,200
to prevent any suspected strikers
from travelling.

320
00:22:39,360 --> 00:22:43,680
Clipstone continued to operate
under police protection,

321
00:22:43,720 --> 00:22:46,200
and the entire village was locked
down.

322
00:22:48,520 --> 00:22:51,960
There was literally hundreds
and thousands of police

323
00:22:52,000 --> 00:22:53,000
in this area.

324
00:22:54,520 --> 00:22:56,080
It was absolutely flooded
with police

325
00:22:56,120 --> 00:22:58,920
stopping the, uh, pickets coming in.

326
00:22:58,960 --> 00:23:01,280
And this was happening
all over the country as well.

327
00:23:03,160 --> 00:23:05,920
Some criticise Thatcher
for using the police

328
00:23:05,960 --> 00:23:08,160
as a paramilitary wing of the state.

329
00:23:10,120 --> 00:23:12,840
They weren't here to keep the law,

330
00:23:12,880 --> 00:23:16,480
they were here to make sure
that those who wanted to work

331
00:23:16,520 --> 00:23:19,520
got into work and they kept
producing coal.

332
00:23:19,560 --> 00:23:21,440
Nothing else.

333
00:23:21,480 --> 00:23:25,360
Scenes of violence played out on TV
screens every night,

334
00:23:25,400 --> 00:23:27,120
shocking the British public.

335
00:23:28,720 --> 00:23:30,280
REPORTER:Nearly 300 were arrested

336
00:23:30,320 --> 00:23:33,960
and more than 200 pickets
and policemen injured.

337
00:23:34,000 --> 00:23:37,000
But an ugly streak of violence

338
00:23:37,040 --> 00:23:40,480
has disfigured our television
screens night after night.

339
00:23:41,560 --> 00:23:45,800
Many strikers felt the police
were unnecessarily brutal,

340
00:23:45,840 --> 00:23:48,760
with beatings and random arrests,

341
00:23:48,800 --> 00:23:51,200
something Doug personally witnessed.

342
00:23:53,720 --> 00:23:57,080
They got strikers sacked, arrested,

343
00:23:57,120 --> 00:23:58,400
for doing absolutely nothing,

344
00:23:58,440 --> 00:24:01,200
and some of them have never worked
since.

345
00:24:01,240 --> 00:24:02,840
Some of the miners,

346
00:24:02,880 --> 00:24:07,120
their lives were ruined
w-with injuries as well.

347
00:24:08,480 --> 00:24:10,320
It happened here at Clipstone

348
00:24:10,360 --> 00:24:13,440
where there were one or two...two
of the lads got arrested,

349
00:24:13,480 --> 00:24:16,040
and sorry, but they did absolutely
nothing.

350
00:24:16,080 --> 00:24:17,880
It was all trumped-up charges.

351
00:24:20,400 --> 00:24:23,280
Policies introduced by Thatcher's
government

352
00:24:23,320 --> 00:24:26,400
also limited the amount
of unemployment benefits

353
00:24:26,440 --> 00:24:29,480
that strikers' families could
receive.

354
00:24:29,520 --> 00:24:31,360
REPORTER:The Leightons and other
striking families

355
00:24:31,400 --> 00:24:34,840
have clubbed together to make sure
they have all they need.

356
00:24:34,880 --> 00:24:37,240
The families of strikers like Doug

357
00:24:37,280 --> 00:24:41,160
were forced to rely on the NUM's
charity soup kitchens.

358
00:24:43,000 --> 00:24:46,320
But the union's charity
fund had almost run out.

359
00:24:46,360 --> 00:24:48,960
More and more desperate miners

360
00:24:49,000 --> 00:24:50,800
were starting to return to work.

361
00:24:52,720 --> 00:24:55,440
The strike had lasted an entire year.

362
00:25:00,640 --> 00:25:02,440
In the years after the strike,

363
00:25:02,480 --> 00:25:04,840
the pace of closures was
accelerated,

364
00:25:04,880 --> 00:25:08,240
with many pit villages falling
into deep poverty.

365
00:25:10,000 --> 00:25:13,360
Clipstone survived this turbulent
period

366
00:25:13,400 --> 00:25:15,400
and continued operating,

367
00:25:15,440 --> 00:25:17,880
but with a much smaller workforce,

368
00:25:17,920 --> 00:25:20,760
before closing down in 2003.

369
00:25:25,080 --> 00:25:29,040
Today, there are just a handful
of coal mines in Britain,

370
00:25:29,080 --> 00:25:31,520
employing less than 500 people.

371
00:25:32,760 --> 00:25:35,080
But Clipstone is set to find new life

372
00:25:35,120 --> 00:25:37,560
as an event centre and museum.

373
00:25:45,920 --> 00:25:48,120
In Southwest Tennessee,

374
00:25:48,160 --> 00:25:50,840
a skyscraper towers over a city

375
00:25:50,880 --> 00:25:53,200
with a proud musical heritage.

376
00:25:57,960 --> 00:26:01,440
Memphis is a bustling town
on the Mississippi River,

377
00:26:01,480 --> 00:26:05,320
and it's filled with country music
and blues and jazz,

378
00:26:05,360 --> 00:26:08,320
and it's a really vibrant,
happening city.

379
00:26:09,480 --> 00:26:13,800
More than anything, it is known
as the birthplace of rock and roll.

380
00:26:19,400 --> 00:26:23,520
Right in the heart of it all
is this towering monolith.

381
00:26:23,560 --> 00:26:25,400
It is an imposing structure.

382
00:26:25,440 --> 00:26:28,440
It looks strong and sturdy.

383
00:26:30,520 --> 00:26:34,000
Trying to piece together what this
place was used for isn't easy.

384
00:26:35,040 --> 00:26:38,040
There are dentist chairs,
old medical equipment,

385
00:26:38,080 --> 00:26:41,360
signs for attorneys' offices,
collection offices.

386
00:26:41,400 --> 00:26:45,400
There's even a bathroom with leopard
print wallpaper on the walls.

387
00:26:47,480 --> 00:26:50,560
Once known as the Queen of Memphis,

388
00:26:50,600 --> 00:26:53,520
this place attracted
rock 'n' roll royalty.

389
00:26:54,720 --> 00:26:56,560
A well-known music producer,

390
00:26:56,600 --> 00:26:58,960
he had a company called
Stars, Inc. on the 19th floor,

391
00:26:59,000 --> 00:27:02,520
and he was the manager of Elvis
Presley and Johnny Cash.

392
00:27:04,240 --> 00:27:07,000
This was the biggest, the best,
the most luxurious building

393
00:27:07,040 --> 00:27:08,880
Memphis had ever seen.

394
00:27:10,640 --> 00:27:13,480
It was designed as a monument
to success,

395
00:27:13,520 --> 00:27:16,400
but it was built on shaky
foundations.

396
00:27:16,440 --> 00:27:18,960
It always piqued my interest,
it felt like a haunted house,

397
00:27:19,000 --> 00:27:20,720
it felt like a 30-storey haunted
house.

398
00:27:22,400 --> 00:27:25,440
There are fire escapes
rusting and tattered.

399
00:27:25,480 --> 00:27:27,440
There's gaping open windows

400
00:27:27,480 --> 00:27:30,000
with kind of old curtains streaming
out of it.

401
00:27:31,240 --> 00:27:32,760
It's a pretty epic building,

402
00:27:32,800 --> 00:27:36,080
and it sits on what you would
imagine would be prime real estate.

403
00:27:36,120 --> 00:27:39,160
So it seems strange to see
it left to rack and ruin.

404
00:27:41,080 --> 00:27:43,480
Its founders set it up for failure

405
00:27:43,520 --> 00:27:45,880
before the first brick had been laid.

406
00:27:47,480 --> 00:27:50,160
This is where they made a crucial
mistake,

407
00:27:50,200 --> 00:27:52,960
and it was one that would haunt the
building

408
00:27:53,000 --> 00:27:54,560
for the rest of its life.

409
00:28:05,200 --> 00:28:06,960
Like many locals,

410
00:28:07,000 --> 00:28:09,560
Stuart Harris was drawn to the
mystery

411
00:28:09,600 --> 00:28:12,040
of this vast, cavernous structure.

412
00:28:13,560 --> 00:28:16,320
He still remembers the day
it was closed down.

413
00:28:18,200 --> 00:28:21,000
The building was abandoned
when I was nine years old...

414
00:28:22,440 --> 00:28:25,440
..and I always wondered
what was going on in there.

415
00:28:27,160 --> 00:28:29,480
While it looks monolithic,

416
00:28:29,520 --> 00:28:32,280
it's packed full of surprises.

417
00:28:35,600 --> 00:28:38,960
So after decades of wondering
what the inside looked like,

418
00:28:39,000 --> 00:28:40,480
I had an opportunity to visit it.

419
00:28:41,720 --> 00:28:43,480
And it was so mysterious,

420
00:28:43,520 --> 00:28:45,400
and in some ways, not at all what I
expected.

421
00:28:48,080 --> 00:28:50,520
When it was built, this lobby
was neo-Gothic.

422
00:28:50,560 --> 00:28:51,960
It was very grand.

423
00:28:52,000 --> 00:28:55,800
High ceilings, bronze rosettes,
leaded glass.

424
00:28:56,960 --> 00:28:59,000
No expense spared.

425
00:28:59,040 --> 00:29:02,720
The concept was a city within a city,

426
00:29:04,240 --> 00:29:08,080
an office block that had everything
a worker might need,

427
00:29:08,120 --> 00:29:10,000
all housed in one building.

428
00:29:11,800 --> 00:29:14,360
It had a cigar stand, a newsstand,

429
00:29:14,400 --> 00:29:17,160
a barber shop, beauty shop,

430
00:29:17,200 --> 00:29:20,000
lawyers, dentists, doctors.

431
00:29:20,040 --> 00:29:21,880
Everything you could possibly
imagine.

432
00:29:22,960 --> 00:29:26,320
Construction started in 1928,

433
00:29:26,360 --> 00:29:31,000
costing the equivalent of over
£34,000,000 in today's money.

434
00:29:32,360 --> 00:29:35,120
Its owners were two wealthy Texans,

435
00:29:35,160 --> 00:29:36,640
Ross S. Sterling...

436
00:29:37,680 --> 00:29:39,920
..and Wyatt Hendrick.

437
00:29:39,960 --> 00:29:42,680
They decided to merge their last
names,

438
00:29:42,720 --> 00:29:45,640
and the Sterick Building was born.

439
00:29:45,680 --> 00:29:50,440
900 offices, accommodating
5,000 office workers,

440
00:29:50,480 --> 00:29:53,560
spread across 29 floors.

441
00:29:57,360 --> 00:30:00,880
It was born in the roaring 1920s,

442
00:30:00,920 --> 00:30:03,920
a period of great prosperity in
America.

443
00:30:06,880 --> 00:30:09,040
Memphis is absolutely booming,

444
00:30:09,080 --> 00:30:12,200
and it's the centre of the cotton
trade.

445
00:30:12,240 --> 00:30:14,360
Between 1880 and 1920,

446
00:30:14,400 --> 00:30:16,720
over 70% of the cotton in America

447
00:30:16,760 --> 00:30:21,000
was harvested within 200
miles of Memphis.

448
00:30:21,040 --> 00:30:23,960
And that meant a lot of money
and a lot of jobs

449
00:30:24,000 --> 00:30:25,680
and a lot of new buildings.

450
00:30:26,880 --> 00:30:31,160
This real estate boom was seized
on by Sterling and Hendrick.

451
00:30:32,360 --> 00:30:36,280
And being Texans, and Texans either
go big or go home,

452
00:30:36,320 --> 00:30:38,320
uh, decided they were gonna make
a splash.

453
00:30:38,360 --> 00:30:42,440
And they picked the busiest corner
in Central Downtown,

454
00:30:42,480 --> 00:30:44,720
the corner of Madison and 3rd
Street,

455
00:30:44,760 --> 00:30:46,880
which is now BB King.

456
00:30:46,920 --> 00:30:49,680
Not only did they choose
a prime location,

457
00:30:49,720 --> 00:30:52,160
inside, no expense was spared.

458
00:30:55,760 --> 00:30:59,920
One of the things they added
were eight high-speed elevators.

459
00:30:59,960 --> 00:31:04,920
These elevators were manned by eight
ladies in dresses and bows,

460
00:31:04,960 --> 00:31:08,760
who would greet visitors and act
almost as a concierge

461
00:31:08,800 --> 00:31:12,000
to take them to whatever floor
they were visiting.

462
00:31:12,040 --> 00:31:13,600
Rumour has it they moved so quickly

463
00:31:13,640 --> 00:31:15,520
that it was causing people to get
sick,

464
00:31:15,560 --> 00:31:17,280
it was messing with their
equilibrium.

465
00:31:17,320 --> 00:31:21,240
They'd have to stop halfway
just to not get sick.

466
00:31:21,280 --> 00:31:23,560
The building was making waves,

467
00:31:23,600 --> 00:31:26,680
and some new tenants
just couldn't stand the wait.

468
00:31:30,600 --> 00:31:33,120
There's a great story that people
were so excited

469
00:31:33,160 --> 00:31:34,160
to get into the building

470
00:31:34,200 --> 00:31:37,400
that a...a doctor who rented one of
the offices

471
00:31:37,440 --> 00:31:40,960
would take a ladder up every
day to her window

472
00:31:41,000 --> 00:31:42,400
to get inside the office,

473
00:31:42,440 --> 00:31:44,320
since the elevators weren't working
yet

474
00:31:44,360 --> 00:31:45,960
and the stairs weren't finished.

475
00:31:47,800 --> 00:31:51,320
Now, we don't know if her patients
also went up the ladder.

476
00:31:53,600 --> 00:31:56,440
The press described the grand
opening

477
00:31:56,480 --> 00:32:01,240
as probably one of the greatest
housewarmings in Memphis history.

478
00:32:02,440 --> 00:32:03,640
By the '40s and '50s,

479
00:32:03,680 --> 00:32:07,360
this building is absolutely at full
occupancy.

480
00:32:07,400 --> 00:32:10,000
Among these occupants

481
00:32:10,040 --> 00:32:12,480
were some famous rock 'n' rollers.

482
00:32:13,640 --> 00:32:16,640
Sterick was home to lots of local
radio stations,

483
00:32:16,680 --> 00:32:21,040
and it was also where Bob Neal,
a famous early DJ,

484
00:32:21,080 --> 00:32:23,360
had his offices and studios.

485
00:32:25,400 --> 00:32:27,760
He had a company called
Stars, Inc. on the 19th floor,

486
00:32:27,800 --> 00:32:31,360
and he was the manager of Elvis
Presley and Johnny Cash.

487
00:32:32,920 --> 00:32:37,120
He set up the King's first live
performance here in Memphis,

488
00:32:37,160 --> 00:32:39,320
and put on local variety shows

489
00:32:39,360 --> 00:32:42,920
where you could see these soon-to-be
global superstars

490
00:32:42,960 --> 00:32:45,480
for as little as 50 cents a ticket.

491
00:32:46,680 --> 00:32:50,320
Uh, Bob helped Elvis found
Elvis Presley Enterprises,

492
00:32:50,360 --> 00:32:53,200
and is the managing company
of Graceland,

493
00:32:53,240 --> 00:32:56,480
Elvis's mansion in South Memphis.

494
00:32:58,480 --> 00:33:01,520
But with Elvis clearly heading
for the big time,

495
00:33:01,560 --> 00:33:04,040
Neal, tired of life on the road,

496
00:33:04,080 --> 00:33:06,360
decided not to renew his contract...

497
00:33:07,400 --> 00:33:10,800
..and the now infamous Colonel Tom
Parker took over.

498
00:33:14,000 --> 00:33:15,520
Times were good,

499
00:33:15,560 --> 00:33:18,800
and the owner of the Empire State
Building bought the tower.

500
00:33:20,560 --> 00:33:25,080
But urban depopulation
that impacted cities across America

501
00:33:25,120 --> 00:33:27,920
in the 1960s and '70s

502
00:33:27,960 --> 00:33:29,680
was compounded in Memphis

503
00:33:29,720 --> 00:33:34,840
by the assassination of Dr Martin
Luther King Jr in 1968.

504
00:33:36,840 --> 00:33:41,040
As more people began to leave
the city and move to the suburbs

505
00:33:41,080 --> 00:33:44,000
or take their offices elsewhere,

506
00:33:44,040 --> 00:33:47,760
it really began this process
of a death by 1,000 cuts.

507
00:33:50,040 --> 00:33:55,720
In 1973, the Sterick Building was
repossessed by the bank,

508
00:33:55,760 --> 00:33:58,760
which led to an assessment of the
original contract

509
00:33:58,800 --> 00:34:02,240
signed by Sterling and Hendrick in
1926.

510
00:34:03,720 --> 00:34:07,120
It revealed the property deal
was far from conventional.

511
00:34:08,240 --> 00:34:11,880
So incredibly, they didn't buy
the land

512
00:34:11,920 --> 00:34:13,680
where their skyscraper would be.

513
00:34:13,720 --> 00:34:17,080
They simply leased it for 99 years.

514
00:34:18,760 --> 00:34:22,040
The lease would be up in 2025,

515
00:34:22,080 --> 00:34:23,680
and stipulated the building

516
00:34:23,720 --> 00:34:27,240
was to be handed back
to the landowners in good condition.

517
00:34:29,200 --> 00:34:32,520
If anyone wanted to make
improvements to this building,

518
00:34:32,560 --> 00:34:36,200
why would they wanna do that
when, in 2025,

519
00:34:36,240 --> 00:34:39,800
all of the improvements, every dime
they spent on the building,

520
00:34:39,840 --> 00:34:43,200
would go entirely back to the family
that owned the land?

521
00:34:43,240 --> 00:34:45,080
No-one was willing to make
that investment.

522
00:34:46,880 --> 00:34:49,680
But Stuart is part of an ownership
group

523
00:34:49,720 --> 00:34:54,120
that has managed to break
the curse of the 99-year lease.

524
00:34:55,760 --> 00:35:01,000
In 2023, we were able to come
to an agreement with all parties

525
00:35:01,040 --> 00:35:04,800
to, uh, dissolve the entire lease
structure

526
00:35:04,840 --> 00:35:07,400
and create a fee simple
structure of ownership,

527
00:35:07,440 --> 00:35:09,880
so that lease is no longer standing.

528
00:35:19,920 --> 00:35:24,200
Plans are underway to convert
the tower into an apartment block,

529
00:35:24,240 --> 00:35:27,400
combined with hotels and restaurants.

530
00:35:29,240 --> 00:35:32,080
We really hope that it's gonna be a
catalytic project

531
00:35:32,120 --> 00:35:35,880
that really radiates activity
from here around the neighbourhood,

532
00:35:35,920 --> 00:35:39,520
and really affects the core
of Downtown Memphis.

533
00:35:45,920 --> 00:35:50,560
On the outskirts of Kuala Terengganu
in Eastern Malaysia,

534
00:35:50,600 --> 00:35:54,600
the bustling urban sprawl
quickly gives way to nature.

535
00:36:00,880 --> 00:36:03,560
You don't have to stray
too far from the city

536
00:36:03,600 --> 00:36:06,680
before things start getting very
remote.

537
00:36:06,720 --> 00:36:09,720
I'm talking hot, dense jungle.

538
00:36:12,200 --> 00:36:15,600
In a small clearing, set back
from a winding river,

539
00:36:15,640 --> 00:36:19,480
you come across a curious collection
of wooden buildings.

540
00:36:21,120 --> 00:36:25,320
Seven different structures, set
on stilts,

541
00:36:25,360 --> 00:36:28,280
are connected by walkways.

542
00:36:28,320 --> 00:36:31,760
The construction looks
old-fashioned,

543
00:36:31,800 --> 00:36:33,320
but the fact that it's made
of timber

544
00:36:33,360 --> 00:36:35,760
makes it really hard to date it.

545
00:36:37,560 --> 00:36:39,680
In this tropical climate,

546
00:36:39,720 --> 00:36:43,880
nature is rapidly reclaiming what
once belonged to the jungle.

547
00:36:45,880 --> 00:36:47,760
So some of the planks
have rotted away,

548
00:36:47,800 --> 00:36:49,600
the structure's starting
to collapse...

549
00:36:51,000 --> 00:36:53,640
..and it's just really hard to tell
what it was used for.

550
00:36:57,000 --> 00:36:58,880
Have when you enter the building,

551
00:36:58,920 --> 00:37:01,120
there are surprising signs of
modernity.

552
00:37:01,160 --> 00:37:04,400
You look around and you see
beautifully tiled bathrooms,

553
00:37:04,440 --> 00:37:07,840
a fridge, even an air-conditioning
unit.

554
00:37:07,880 --> 00:37:09,440
It's also filled with the remnants

555
00:37:09,480 --> 00:37:12,720
of what looks to be perhaps
some textile industry.

556
00:37:13,960 --> 00:37:16,440
This was much more than just a home,

557
00:37:16,480 --> 00:37:20,160
this was one man's dream
to safeguard his nation's heritage.

558
00:37:21,640 --> 00:37:23,600
But when tragedy struck,

559
00:37:23,640 --> 00:37:25,600
his vision was shattered.

560
00:37:46,080 --> 00:37:49,080
Syed Mohd Hanafiah is a carpenter

561
00:37:49,120 --> 00:37:52,680
who helped construct this complex
with Tengku Ismail,

562
00:37:52,720 --> 00:37:55,800
the man behind a bold and unusual
vision.

563
00:38:10,240 --> 00:38:13,200
He may have been a man of the people,

564
00:38:13,240 --> 00:38:16,480
but he came from royalty.

565
00:38:16,520 --> 00:38:19,760
Tengku actually means prince,
which is what he was.

566
00:38:19,800 --> 00:38:22,960
He was a prince of the local
Terengganu royal family.

567
00:38:25,040 --> 00:38:28,880
While his great-grandfather,
Sultan Zainal Abidin III,

568
00:38:28,920 --> 00:38:32,080
had ruled over the entire
Terengganu province,

569
00:38:32,120 --> 00:38:35,880
Ismail was far removed from direct
line to the throne.

570
00:38:36,960 --> 00:38:39,680
Tengku Ismail was born in the 1950s.

571
00:38:39,720 --> 00:38:42,640
And being the second cousin
to the ruling sultan,

572
00:38:42,680 --> 00:38:46,040
you know, he was in no danger of
becoming king,

573
00:38:46,080 --> 00:38:48,320
but he still grew up with all the
trappings

574
00:38:48,360 --> 00:38:50,840
of being in an aristocratic family.

575
00:38:52,000 --> 00:38:56,600
That included living in his
great-grandfather's royal palace.

576
00:38:56,640 --> 00:38:58,240
There, he fell in love

577
00:38:58,280 --> 00:39:01,880
with the traditional Malay
architecture and culture,

578
00:39:01,920 --> 00:39:06,560
including songket,
a cloth sewn in silk or cotton,

579
00:39:06,600 --> 00:39:09,840
then highlighted with gold
or silver thread

580
00:39:09,880 --> 00:39:12,360
to create a silky metallic fabric.

581
00:39:15,080 --> 00:39:21,840
In 1970, that passion took him
to the Osaka Expo in Japan,

582
00:39:21,880 --> 00:39:24,480
where he not only represented
Malaysia,

583
00:39:24,520 --> 00:39:28,560
but he also displayed
the songket cloth for the world.

584
00:39:29,920 --> 00:39:34,320
While in Japan, he took the
opportunity to visit the Nijo-jo
Palace,

585
00:39:34,360 --> 00:39:36,080
built in 1603.

586
00:39:37,680 --> 00:39:39,640
It was a transformative moment.

587
00:39:41,000 --> 00:39:43,240
He was so impressed by what he saw

588
00:39:43,280 --> 00:39:45,360
and the way that these wooden
structures were preserved,

589
00:39:45,400 --> 00:39:47,320
that he decided he would do the same
thing

590
00:39:47,360 --> 00:39:48,960
for his own cultural heritage.

591
00:40:07,200 --> 00:40:11,920
So, he decided to salvage traditional
Terengganu homes

592
00:40:11,960 --> 00:40:14,480
and unify them into one structure

593
00:40:14,520 --> 00:40:17,480
to imitate an 18th-century royal
palace,

594
00:40:17,520 --> 00:40:20,400
just like the one he grew up in.

595
00:40:20,440 --> 00:40:25,160
The ambitious project was called
Pura Tanjung Sabtu,

596
00:40:25,200 --> 00:40:27,880
which is a combination of the local
village name

597
00:40:27,920 --> 00:40:29,800
and the word for palace.

598
00:40:31,520 --> 00:40:35,120
In 1992, he began scouring Terengganu

599
00:40:35,160 --> 00:40:37,560
for these traditional wooden houses.

600
00:40:39,440 --> 00:40:42,080
Uh, these very old houses are put
together

601
00:40:42,120 --> 00:40:44,200
with no nails, no screws.

602
00:40:44,240 --> 00:40:49,160
It's just been all cut and built
by very skilled workers.

603
00:40:49,200 --> 00:40:52,800
So what he has to do is take them
all apart,

604
00:40:52,840 --> 00:40:55,000
transport them to his space,

605
00:40:55,040 --> 00:40:56,520
and then put them all together.

606
00:40:57,840 --> 00:41:01,800
So, the carpenters have to be
extremely skilled

607
00:41:01,840 --> 00:41:03,840
at cutting the different wooden
pieces

608
00:41:03,880 --> 00:41:06,240
so they slide together and
fit snugly

609
00:41:06,280 --> 00:41:07,840
without seam or lock.

610
00:41:09,520 --> 00:41:11,240
Part of Ismail's project

611
00:41:11,280 --> 00:41:14,440
was attempting to revive
his beloved songket.

612
00:41:16,880 --> 00:41:20,440
On the ground floor,
he had an entire area, uh,

613
00:41:20,480 --> 00:41:24,520
dedicated to the manufacture and
display of the fabric.

614
00:41:26,040 --> 00:41:28,680
When completed in 1996,

615
00:41:28,720 --> 00:41:31,360
it opened as his personal residence,

616
00:41:31,400 --> 00:41:33,720
but also a museum and hotel.

617
00:41:38,720 --> 00:41:43,880
And in 2007, his efforts
appeared to have paid off.

618
00:41:43,920 --> 00:41:47,520
He was nominated for the Aga
Khan Architecture Award.

619
00:41:48,720 --> 00:41:51,360
The awards celebrate design
excellence

620
00:41:51,400 --> 00:41:56,080
in societies with predominantly
Muslim populations.

621
00:41:56,120 --> 00:41:59,480
Tengku Ismail described it as one
of the happiest moments of his life.

622
00:41:59,520 --> 00:42:02,800
Finally, it seemed as if everything
was coming together.

623
00:42:04,000 --> 00:42:07,640
In June 2011, the Prince travelled
to London

624
00:42:07,680 --> 00:42:10,440
for a popular international
weaving exhibition.

625
00:42:11,680 --> 00:42:14,120
Held at the School of Traditional
Arts

626
00:42:14,160 --> 00:42:18,080
and supported by King Charles III's
charitable foundation,

627
00:42:18,120 --> 00:42:21,040
his songket collection was a central
feature.

628
00:42:22,720 --> 00:42:25,520
But tragically, the prince died
of a heart attack

629
00:42:25,560 --> 00:42:27,480
before he left London,

630
00:42:27,520 --> 00:42:31,680
and his beloved palace
has since fallen into disrepair.

631
00:42:40,760 --> 00:42:44,360
There was some talk of turning
it into a heritage site

632
00:42:44,400 --> 00:42:46,160
that tourists could visit.

633
00:42:46,200 --> 00:42:49,080
But until someone's willing to fund
that enterprise,

634
00:42:49,120 --> 00:42:51,440
it will continue to decompose.

635
00:42:57,160 --> 00:42:59,160
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