Original subtitles

[narrator] A complex that hosted an unlikely Cold War matchup.

[man] It was a real barn burner.

The fact that the Soviets could match them is really quite impressive.

[narrator] A British facility caught up in a battle

between trade unions and the Iron Lady.

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

[narrator] And a Gothic tower in Memphis,

plagued from its inception.

[woman] This is where they made a crucial mistake,

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

[opening theme music playing]

[narrator] In Vilnius, Lithuania's capital,

a derelict structure evokes memories

of a remarkable sporting moment.

[man] 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.

[man 2] It's concrete.

It's brutalist in style.

It has all the feelings of a Soviet building.

[narrator] Inside, it quickly becomes apparent this is some type of arena.

[man] 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.

[narrator] Built to showcase Soviet excellence,

an American billionaire ensured it would host a unique Cold War showdown.

[man 2] Landing deep behind enemy lines,

this group of Americans were treated as heroes.

The players must have thought this was the strangest thing they'd ever seen.

[narrator] July, 1988.

Thousands of Lithuanians

have gathered outside the building, filling the plaza.

[translating from Lithuanian] There were a lot of militias everywhere,

and a few checkpoints.

[narrator] But these aren't protesters.

They're 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.

We all knew about NBA basketball.

However, we never had the opportunity to watch it.

No television here ever broadcast it.

And it was like a myth.

It was incredible for the fans to be able to watch them play live.

Everyone was just in awe.

[narrator] 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 favorite game for 60 years.

[translating from Lithuanian] In Lithuania, we call basketball

our second religion.

Everyone loves it.

Everyone respects it, and it's 102 years old.

[narrator] The sport caught on quickly,

and Lithuania was crowned European champions in 1937 and 1939.

But these glory days were soon cut short.

[Sascha] In 1940, shortly after World War 2 had broken out,

the Soviet Union occupied Lithuania,

and the national team was absorbed into the Soviet system.

[narrator] By the mid-1960s, Soviet communism reached its zenith.

[Jim] The Soviets were ahead in spaceflight.

Their political systems 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.

[narrator] 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.

[speaking in Lithuanian]

I see the main V.I.P stand.

I was there many times.

[narrator] Sitting alongside Soviet leaders,

it wasn't always the most relaxed atmosphere.

We were too reserved to clap.

We were too shy to cheer for the team that we supported.

And we were afraid to cheer for the musical band.

[Sascha] 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.

[Jim] 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.

[narrator] In the United States,

Ted Turner, a media mogul and owner of the Atlanta Hawks,

was closely watching international affairs.

[Jim] 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.

[Sascha] 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.

[narrator] The second of the three matches would take place here.

Excitement spread throughout the basketball crazed nation.

I couldn't believe it.

I started looking for tickets very early

because I realized what it meant to Lithuania

and what it meant for basketball.

And I did well because the tickets

were almost impossible to come by.

[narrator] Although the arena only held 5000,

over a million people competed for tickets.

[Jim] In fact, it 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 have thought this was the strangest thing they'd ever seen.

[narrator] On July 27th 1988,

the two teams stepped out onto this court

for the much anticipated showdown.

It would prove a classic encounter, won by a slam dunking legend.

[narrator] In July 1988,

NBA stars of the Atlanta Hawks,

found themselves behind the Iron Curtain,

playing a series of exhibition games in the USSR.

Game 2 was held in the basketball mad country of Lithuania.

[Jim] It was a real barn burner.

This is a real hard fought competition.

This Soviet team, these guys were not pushovers.

[narrator] On the Atlanta Hawks,

was All Star Dominique Wilkins,

one of the greatest slam dunkers in NBA history.

There were moments where our jaws dropped,

because we were so impressed by the opportunities created,

the bravery and the athleticism

that we haven't seen or faced before.

[Sascha] The Soviet team just kept coming back.

They were known for their extraordinary level of physical condition.

After a nail biting match, the buzzer went, ending the game.

And the score was knotted at 92-92.

[Jim] Now it was time for another shock for the American team.

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

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

And the Americans were saying,

"There's no ties in basketball."

[Sascha] Eventually, the Soviets relented,

and they agreed to extend the match into overtime.

[narrator] At this point,

NBA legend Dominique Wilkins took the initiative.

Then in overtime,

their biggest star, Dominique Wilkins, took the ball,

and in a short time scored 8 points.

And after a very intense fight, won the game.

The final score was Hawks, 110.

USSR, 105.

[narrator] The Hawks' victory was a highlight for this facility.

But soon after, the palace became the focal point

for a rising independence movement.

The Soviet house of cards came tumbling down.

[Jim] After the fall of the Soviet Union,

Lithuania is broke.

And they don't have the money to support

their reconstructed national basketball team .

[Sascha] The 1992 Olympics were coming up,

and it was the first time in almost half a century

for Lithuania to play its favorite national sport as an independent country,

Gintaras was one of the players

who answered the fledgling nation's call.

[translating] The team came to play for their country for nothing,

for no salary.

[narrator] As well as playing for free,

the team desperately searched for sponsors to help them fulfill their dreams

of representing their country 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.

[Jim] 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 design this new kit.

[translating] It was an incredible experience to play for Lithuania,

wearing the T-shirt that said, "Lithuania."

[Sascha] At the Olympics, the Lithuanian team did really well.

They made it all the way to the semi-finals.

[Jim] It's only when they come up against the American Dream Team

that they're defeated.

In the end, they came away with the bronze.

[translating] We had a huge motivation to become better,

and we wanted to show that to the whole world.

Olympic Games and becoming independent gave us that chance.

[narrator] 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.

I was in the peak years as an active athlete,

looking at those players who played like that gives you motivation.

And that match is the most memorable for me.

[narrator] In the English village of Clipstone,

a towering structure stirs memories

of a fateful battle with a powerful leader.

[man] We're in the center of England, near the city of Nottingham.

It feels quiet and rural.

[man 2] On what looks like the village green,

are two enormous metal monuments reaching into the sky.

[man] 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?

[narrator] Delving into the bowels of this beast,

a strange sight appears underground.

[man 2] Directly beneath the tower,

is a large circular pad,

possibly concealing something.

[man] Exploring this place, you'd have no idea

of the riches that are buried beneath it,

or the controversies that would surround them.

[man 3] This structure symbolizes one of the greatest

social battles in Britain's history.

It was a brutal fight between capitalism and socialism.

Margaret Thatcher verses the trade unions.

Many have never forgiven the Iron Lady.

[narrator] For nearly 30 years,

Doug Broadfoot relied on this facility for his livelihood.

When Doug first worked here, this was part of an industry

Britain couldn't function without.

Coal had powered the Industrial Revolution,

and hundreds of coal mines were scattered across the land.

[man] So much so, that in the 19th century

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

[narrator] This is the Clipstone colliery.

When it opened in 1922, it proved to be a coal mining powerhouse.

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

extracting more than 4000 tons per day by the 1940s.

[narrator] But this was a decade of dramatic change.

In 1947,

as part of the post World War 2 shakeup,

the coal industry was nationalized.

The first day of a new era.

Its new owner was the British government,

and they wouldn't always see eye to eye with the powerful trade union,

which represented around a million miners.

[Dominic] The National Union of Mine Workers, or N.U.M,

who had long represented miners across the country, supported the nationalization.

But eventually, the two sides would come to an almighty clash.

[narrator] In the 1950s,

these two giant towers, or head stalks, were installed.

At the time, they were the tallest in Europe

and allowed access to deeper coal seams.

An elevator shaft would take the men

more than 3000 feet underground.

[Rob] The elevator could travel up to 27 miles per hour.

Just imagine hurtling at that speed for that long,

down towards the center of the Earth.

[narrator] And down in the depths,

the conditions were brutal.

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

And even a condition called black lung.

[Doug speaking]

[narrator] 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.

[Rob] By 1984, the number of British miners

had fallen from over a million 50 years earlier,

to barely 200,000.

[Luke] As the numbers of unemployed rose,

the miner's union was gradually becoming more radical in its outlook.

[Rob] 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.

[Rob] She also believed that trade unions like the N.U.M had too much power.

She became determined to break their influence.

[narrator] Ready for battle.

In March 1984,

Thatcher announced a new wave of pit closures,

with the loss of 20,000 jobs.

It triggered a strike which quickly spread around the country.

Miners arrived at Clipstone,

to find picket lines of strikers,

blocking them from going to work.

[Doug speaking]

[narrator] Initially, three-quarters of miners across the country

joined the strike.

At Clipstone, Doug himself was in the minority

as most chose to continue working.

[Dominic] Thatcher seized on this by idolizing 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 family. -[crowd applauding]

[crowd clamoring]

[narrator] As well as attempting to divide the miners,

Thatcher mobilized an army of police.

The dispute was threatening to escalate into all-out war.

[dramatic instrumental music]

[tense instrumental music]

[narrator] In 1984,

Clipstone coal mine was at the heart

of a battle between British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher

and the coal miners' union, or NUM.

The Iron Lady unleashed an army of police to crush a national strike

and break the pickets.

[Rob] They set up roadblocks throughout Nottinghamshire

to prevent any suspected strikers from traveling.

[tense instrumental music]

[narrator] Clipstone continued to operate under police protection,

and the entire village was locked down.

[Doug speaking]

[Luke] Some criticized Thatcher for using the police

as a paramilitary wing of the state.

[Doug speaking]

[narrator] Scenes of violence played out on TV screens every night,

shocking the British public.

[newsreader] 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.

[narrator] Many strikers felt the police were unnecessarily brutal,

with beatings and random arrests,

something Doug personally witnessed.

[Doug speaking]

[tense instrumental music]

[narrator] Thatcher had also changed the law

so that strikers' families were prevented from receiving emergency benefits.

[reporter] The Leightons and other striking families have flocked together

to make sure they have all they need.

[narrator] The families of strikers like Doug

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

[Rob] But the union's charity funds had almost run out.

More and more desperate miners were starting to return to work.

[narrator] 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.

[narrator] 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 center and museum.

In southwest Tennessee,

a monolithic structure towers over a city with a proud musical heritage.

[instrumental country music]

[Hadley] 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 'n' 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's chairs, old medical equipment,

signs for attorneys' offices, collection offices,

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

[narrator] Once known as the Queen of Memphis,

this place attracted rock 'n' roll royalty.

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

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

[Michele] This was the biggest, the best,

the most luxurious building Memphis had ever seen.

[narrator] It was designed as a monument to success,

but its founders sowed the seeds of its destruction at its inception.

[Alicia] This is where they made a crucial mistake,

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

[dramatic instrumental music]

[tense instrumental music]

[narrator] Like many locals,

Stuart Harris was drawn to the mystery of this vast, cavernous structure.

He still remembers the day it was closed down.

[Stuart] The building was abandoned when I was nine years old.

And I always wondered what was going on in there.

It stood out to me as being very unique.

It felt almost like a 30-story haunted house.

[narrator] While it looks monolithic,

it's packed full of surprises.

[Stuart] 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.

[narrator] The concept was a city within a city.

An office block that had everything a worker might need,

all housed in one building.

[Stuart] It had a cigar stand, a newsstand, barber shop, beauty shop,

lawyers, dentists, doctors, everything you could possibly imagine.

[narrator] $2.5 million were pumped into its construction,

which began in 1928.

Its owners were two wealthy Texans,

Ross S. Sterling and Wyatt Hedrick.

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 Twenties...

[upbeat jazz music]

...an era sometimes known as the Jazz Age.

[Hadley] Memphis is absolutely booming,

and it's the center 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.

[narrator] This real estate boom was seized on by Sterling and Hedrick.

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

they decided they were gonna make a splash,

and they picked the busiest corner in central downtown,

the corner of Madison and Third Street,

which is now BB King.

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.

By the '40s and '50s, this building is absolutely at full occupancy.

[narrator] Among these occupants

were some famous rock 'n' rollers,

[narrator] A dilapidated tower in Memphis,

designed as a city within a city,

once hosted an eclectic mix of businesses.

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.

[narrator] He set up the King's first live performance here in Memphis

and put on local variety shows

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

for just 50 cents a ticket.

[Stuart] Bob helped Elvis found Elvis Presley Enterprises,

and is the managing company of Graceland,

Elvis's mansion in South Memphis.

[narrator] 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.

[dramatic instrumental music]

[Alicia] 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 a thousand cuts.

[narrator] In 1973, the bank foreclosed on the property,

and it was taken back by the lender.

This brought attention to the original contract

signed by Sterling and Hedrick in 1926.

And it was far from conventional.

[Hadley] So, incredibly, they didn't buy the land

where their skyscraper would be.

They simply leased it for 99 years.

[Stuart] 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.

[narrator] But Stuart is part of an ownership group

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

[Stuart] In 2023,

we were able to come to an agreement with all parties

to dissolve the entire lease structure

and create a fee simple structure of ownership,

so that lease is no longer standing.

[tense instrumental music]

[narrator] Plans are under way to convert the tower into an apartment block

combined with hotels and restaurants.

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

that really radiates activity from here around the neighborhood,

and really affects the core of downtown Memphis.

[tense instrumental music]

[narrator] On the outskirts of Kuala Terengganu in eastern Malaysia

the bustling urban sprawl quickly gives way to nature.

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

before things start getting very remote.

I'm talking hot, dense jungle.

[Sascha] In a small clearing set back from a winding river,

you come across a curious collection of wooden buildings.

[narrator] Seven different structures set on stilts

are connected by walkways.

[Alexis] The construction looks old-fashioned,

but the fact that it's made of timber makes it really hard to date it.

[narrator] In this tropical climate,

nature is rapidly reclaiming what once belonged to the jungle.

[Katherine] So, some of the planks have rotted away.

The structure is starting to collapse.

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

[Lucienne Loh] However, 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.

[Katherine] This was much more than just a home.

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

[narrator] But when tragedy struck,

his vision was shattered.

[intriguing instrumental music]

[Syed Mohd Hanafiah] I first came here in 1992.

There was nothing but the jungle.

[narrator] Syed Hanafiah is a carpenter

and helped construct this complex with Tengku Ismail,

the man behind a bold and unusual vision.

[Hanafiah] Tengku Ismail was warm and friendly to the people,

approachable and very easy to talk to.

[narrator] 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.

[narrator] While his great grandfather, Sultan Zainal Abidin III

had ruled over the entire Terengganu province,

Ismail was far removed from the direct line to the throne.

[Alexis] 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.

[narrator] 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 traditional cloth sewn in silk or cotton,

then highlighted with gold or silver thread

to create a silky metallic fabric.

[Alexis] 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.

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

built in 1603.

It was a transformative moment.

[Loh] 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.

[intriguing instrumental music]

[Hanafiah] Tengku Ismail once lamented to me

that the traditional Terengganu houses were going extinct.

He wanted to preserve them.

[narrator] 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.

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.

[Sascha] 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.

[narrator] Part of Ismail's project

was attempting to revive his beloved songket.

[Alexis] On the ground floor, he had an entire area

dedicated to the manufacture and display of the fabric.

[narrator] When complete in 1996,

it opened as his personal residence,

but also a museum and a hotel.

[sweeping instrumental music]

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.

[Sascha] Tengku Ismail described it

as one of the happiest moments of his life.

Finally, it seemed as if everything was coming together.

[narrator] In June, 2011, the prince traveled 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.

[Sascha] 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.