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Transcript

00:30Hungary, land of the Magyars, has had a tough 20th century.

00:47Ninety years ago, this bridge connected two parts of Hungary, but after defeat in World

00:52War I, they lost so much land that this is now an international frontier.

00:57The cathedral on the hill at Estegom remains one of the great symbols of Hungarian national

01:02pride.

01:06Dominating the Danube, it was where Stephen, their first Christian king, was crowned, a

01:11thousand years ago.

01:14The castle at Visegrad is another reminder of a proud past, and in the town below, crowds

01:19are gathering to celebrate the heroic years of the Middle Ages.

01:26But more recent traumas are clearly not forgotten.

01:29It's interesting, these are maps of Hungary before World War I, when it was actually two

01:39thirds bigger than it is now, when the land was taken away by the peace treaty of Trianon

01:44in 1920.

01:45And I mean, obviously, they're selling a lot, so it's obviously something that smoulders

01:50Today it's the 15th century they're celebrating, the days of Matthias Corvinus, the king who

02:11raised one of Europe's first standing armies, and helped rally the peoples of Europe to

02:16take arms against the Ottoman Turks.

02:42Here in Visegrad, the days of valour and chivalry are remembered, and Hungary's golden

02:46age is brought briefly back to life.

02:53One of the highlights is a display of horseback archery by Lajos Kassai.

02:58It was a skill perfected by the armies of Attila the Hun.

03:06This technique was a military breakthrough.

03:09An arrow fired at the gallop had twice the piercing power of one fired from station.

03:21Kassai can shoot 12 of them in 17 seconds.

03:24As he puts it, every Hungarian feels in his heart he is Attila.

03:37There are plenty of boats going down the Danube into Budapest at this time of year.

03:42Oh dear, it's gone without me.

03:47Oh well, there's bound to be another along soon.

04:01And the later you arrive in Budapest, the better, the city at night is magnificent.

04:21I'm staying at the Gellert, a Budapest landmark.

04:27Now nearly 90 years old, its glories may be fading, but the Gellert still sits at the

04:32heart of Budapest life.

04:36I look out at Freedom Bridge, which connects what were once two cities, Buda, and on the

04:41other side, Pest.

04:43The river is as busy as the roads, as boats leave for Bratislava and Vienna.

04:51The Gellert Spa comes with instructions.

04:54Please read carefully our short introduction to the usage of the spa facilities, which

04:58will help you to enjoy the unique experience of the 80-year-old Gellert Bath.

05:04From the hotel, you have to go to the elevator at the north wing of the building, which you

05:08can access on the second, third, or fourth floors.

05:12Follow the signs and you won't miss a manned elevator.

05:29Best practice is, if you change in your own room or suite and you enter the elevator in

05:33your bathing suit and bathrobe, you won't waste time with changing or spending valuable

05:38minutes in the locker rooms.

05:49During the trip with the elevator from the attendant, you will get a plastic card, which

05:54you'll need to get through the entrance gate when entering and leaving the baths area.

05:59Ah, this is the famous card, to get in the pool, always have this, OK?

06:03Yes, always carry my card.

06:11As you come out of this elevator, please turn to the right and show the barcode on the card

06:16to the sensor screen at the entry machine.

06:21Walk through the main hall past the public cash desk.

06:26The first entrance on the right is the thermal baths, for ladies only.

06:30In the centre is the indoor swimming pool and the access to the outdoor pool, and then

06:37the entrance to the thermal baths for gentlemen, which is the third entrance on the right.

06:41In case of any question, please turn to our front desk staff or the hostess of the baths.

06:53By the time I reach the sun terrace, I feel like Ulysses, and not a moment too soon, my

06:59body is whiter than the towns.

07:02Ah, that's better.

07:06No sooner have I started sunbathing, than I feel an urgent need to cool down.

07:14The pool looks wonderfully inviting, but deep in the bounds of the hotel, something is stirring.

07:24No one had warned me that every hour on the hour, the paddler's piece is shattered.

07:48Wave after wave scours the pool like a riptide.

08:00The Gellert wave machine is in action, as it has been since the 1930s.

08:12Toddlers, teenagers and TV presenters are tossed about like flotsam.

08:17It's wonderful.

08:24The finest building on the waterfront is the Parliament, built at the height of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

08:32My guide is Peter Svack, who as a child escaped Nazi-occupied Budapest.

08:38He later became Hungarian ambassador in Washington, and after that an independent MP.

08:45Was this wonderful building much damaged during the war?

08:49It was very bad. It was first bombed by the Soviets, and afterwards by the Allies.

08:56You can still see it today, even though the city was rebuilt pretty much.

09:02But you still see bullet holes.

09:07In the extravagantly grand Chamber of Representatives, deputies sat throughout the communist years,

09:14rubber-stamping decisions made at party headquarters.

09:18I never thought this would change. I thought until my death we were going to live under communism here.

09:24And it happened one day to the other.

09:26If you were in Parliament now, Peter, what would you be fighting for?

09:31I'd be still fighting for corruption.

09:35I mean, I still would like to sit over it.

09:37But today, the biggest problem in a small country like this is envy.

09:43Envy, jealousy, hatred.

09:45Because there are such social differences due to the breaking in of freedom.

09:50The people got very rich illegally, so there's a real hatred towards these new rich.

10:00Nothing I've learnt on my journey prepares me for Hungarian, one of Europe's least-spoken languages.

10:07But I'm determined to give it a try, and have chosen the Budapest subway system as my first victim.

10:15This is dangerous, Peter. I've been learning this for weeks.

10:18We'll see if it works.

10:23Am I going to get a hippopotamus? No, a ticket. Brilliant. Thank you.

10:28How much?

10:32Kosovo?

10:49Opened in 1896, this was the very first underground system in mainland Europe.

10:55I get off halfway along Andrássy, a smart boulevard in Budapest,

11:00one of whose neoclassical mansions harbours a sinister past.

11:06There was one house on this grand and elegant street where you never wanted to end up.

11:11For a while, it was the most feared address in Budapest, 60 Andrássy Street.

11:17Now a museum called the House of Terror,

11:20No. 60 had been headquarters of both fascist and later communist secret police.

11:29On display in one gallery is the propaganda of communism.

11:33It projected a wholesome, progressive world.

11:37But as early as 1956, the Hungarian government was forced to abandon the project.

11:44But as early as 1956, the Hungarian government was forced to abandon the project.

11:49Throughout the city, Soviet war memorials come crashing down.

11:55Budapest is in revolt.

11:57With uncontrolled fury, crowds set fire to Russian flags and put Soviet books to the torch.

12:02A red star is sent tumbling into the gutter.

12:04The Hungarian uprising was the first big test of Moscow's control of her European satellites.

12:09The rebels ride their tanks triumphantly through the streets.

12:13The Russians have given their word that they will withdraw all communist troops from Hungarian soil.

12:17The victory seems complete.

12:26But the troops did go back in.

12:28The uprising was crushed and its leaders subjected to a show trial.

12:38In a room papered with legal documents,

12:42the trial runs on a loop, including the moment when the ultimate punishment was passed on Prime Minister Imre Nagy,

12:47a communist, but not Moscow's kind of communist.

13:12Hungary had to wait more than 30 years before it could properly taste the freedom

13:17it had come so close to winning in 1956.

13:22But perhaps the most unsettling exhibit in the House of Terror is in the lift.

13:28This is how the Hungarian people give a worthy answer to all those

13:32who attempt to raise their hands against the socialist social order.

13:40But perhaps the most unsettling exhibit in the House of Terror is in the lift.

13:45It's a macabre interview with a retired prison service employee who attended executions.

14:16In fact, the last pages were torn up.

14:20Usually, the executions were in the morning or in the morning.

14:24Then they were taken out and the sentence was re-read.

14:31Only completely healthy people were executed.

14:35And it was such a grotesque thing that they were first burned to death.

14:42When this re-reading took place, the prosecutor said

14:47that it was time to carry out its obligations.

14:59After the uprising, thousands of Hungarians were executed in places like this,

15:04along with their Prime Minister, Imre Nagy.

15:09Nearly a quarter of a million fled abroad.

15:15It's a relief to get back to the noise and bustle of the boulevard.

15:20But the one good thing about the whole grim story is that in 1989,

15:25there was a re-burial ceremony for Imre Nagy, here in Heroes Square.

15:32Maybe it's a leftover from the wealthy years at the heart of a Central European empire,

15:37but Budapest exudes a stylishly confident approach to the way things look.

15:42And Kati Zob, a theatrical costumier turned designer,

15:46is carrying on the tradition with some very cool fashions.

15:51Then why on earth has she asked me to be one of her models?

15:55Hello, hello.

15:57Hello and welcome.

15:58It's Michael, yes.

16:01I've come to this palace of beauty to be dressed for something or other.

16:05Welcome. So please follow me.

16:07I'm in your homes.

16:10I've been in a terrible tizzy as to what to wear.

16:12I mean, these are not my sort of places at all.

16:16Lovely room. I think I'd look nice in one of those.

16:21Hello.

16:22Hello.

16:23Kati, I would like to introduce Michael to you.

16:26Hello, hello. Very, very nice to meet you.

16:28Nice to meet you.

16:30You've been very busy.

16:31Oh, thank you.

16:32Lots of wonderful things.

16:34I don't know what you can do for me.

16:36You are my favourite.

16:39Well, we'll go in behind the screens, I think.

16:41Thank you very much.

16:42Hello.

16:43Yes.

16:44Thank you. Thank you very much.

16:46Well, that puts me at my ease a bit.

16:51109, 110. Sorry.

16:55Is that the inner leg?

16:56No, I wouldn't measure that if it wasn't a problem.

17:02Well, is that...

17:03It's enough. Thank you very much.

17:04One leg as long as... Is that really?

17:06Really.

17:07Don't you measure the inside leg?

17:08No.

17:09No.

17:10Sorry, no.

17:11No, I'm just asking, because most shop assistants do, you know.

17:14Because maybe I have a mistake.

17:17109.

17:19You just sort of roughly...

17:22I have good eyes.

17:23You roughly sort of got it.

17:24I have very good eyes.

17:25Yeah.

17:26All right.

17:29I'm rather frightened about this, to be honest, Katy,

17:32so can you set my mind at rest?

17:35This show will be some special,

17:40special event for angels and devils.

17:44And I would like if you...

17:47Could be a devil.

17:49No.

17:50Oh, I want to be a devil.

17:51A little bit devil, a little bit angel.

17:53Oh, yes, all right.

17:54Well...

17:55For example, front size is angel.

18:00Yes.

18:02Or front size, the devil.

18:03Yeah.

18:04I think it will be interesting.

18:06So I'm going to be sort of bimoral.

18:10I'm going to be a bit good, a bit bad.

18:12Sorry, that was just a...

18:13Bimoral.

18:14Bimoral.

18:15Like that.

18:16Bimoral.

18:17Bimoral.

18:18Like bisexual, you know?

18:19Bimoral.

18:20Really?

18:21Would you like the skirts?

18:26No, I mean, I think...

18:28Some lace?

18:29I think the dress...

18:30Lace skirts.

18:31Well, I might try that later, but I think the dress...

18:34Black lace skirts with white lining.

18:39Yes, yes, now you're talking, a sort of see-through kilt.

18:42No, I would like...

18:46Tonight I'm seeing a rather different side of Budapest.

18:50I've been invited to eat at the Carpatio,

18:53which proclaims itself the classic Hungarian restaurant of Budapest since 1877.

18:59The owner, Akos Niklai, wants me to hear his discoveries.

19:03Two gypsy violinists, father and son.

19:16Their pièce de résistance is an intricate piece

19:19by the Romanian composer Dinicu, called The Lark,

19:23and it always brings the house down.

20:16CHEERING

20:22What a lark!

20:23As they take a break, Akos deals gracefully

20:26with some rather impertinent questions.

20:29Hungarians were people of impeccable taste and very inventive people,

20:33but you haven't had much luck in wars.

20:35You've always backed the losing side.

20:37Well, it happens twice to Hungary,

20:41but it is not always depending on the Hungarians, of course,

20:45due to the location of Hungary.

20:47As a result of this, I think 50% of the territory of Hungary was taken away,

20:54and again, in the Second World War, we had bad luck,

21:01but you also have to remember the location of Hungary where we are located,

21:06and obviously Hungary has a sort of strategic location.

21:10Do you find any tendency in Hungarians to be depressive?

21:14I read somewhere that the country had the highest suicide rate in the world.

21:17I would say yes and no.

21:21Hungarians have different moods.

21:24Sometimes we are very sad and sometimes we are extremely happy.

21:27But there are situations when it is hard to handle the pressure.

21:32Maybe we are a little bit depressed, but...

21:36That's life.

21:39Another example of Hungarian flair is a national drink called unicum,

21:45a digestif produced to a secret formula by none other than my friend Peter Zvak,

21:51and he's asked me to a tasting.

21:56In the cellars, he tells me how huge barrels of it were once used to bridge the Danube.

22:01These barrels were floated on the Danube

22:06as so-called ponton bridges,

22:09because temporary wooden bridges were housed on top of these barrels.

22:14A pontoon of unicum barrels.

22:16A pontoon of unicum barrels.

22:17Was the unicum in the barrels at the time?

22:19That I don't know.

22:21I don't know if they would have sunk or not.

22:23I didn't realise what a powerful bridge it was.

22:25How popular is unicum, Peter?

22:29Well, thank God it's very, very popular,

22:32because if you take Hungary, which is a population of 10 million people,

22:36we sell 5 million bottles, all in Hungary.

22:40So every second Hungarian drinks it.

22:42So it's very, very popular.

22:44So who knows the secret?

22:46It's still in the family.

22:48Now it's actually my wife and I who know it.

22:52Now we say we can't afford to divorce.

22:56But it's really a secret recipe.

23:00And we very carefully watch it.

23:02It's rather complicated how you...

23:04The herbs in unicum come from all over the world.

23:07It's unique. There's nothing like it.

23:10And the success of it is, I always kiddingly even say,

23:13that 50% of the people will never drink it again once they try it.

23:18But the other 50% gets hooked on it.

23:21They will never drink anything else.

23:24This is the moment of truth.

23:26The moment of truth.

23:29When you taste this,

23:31I hope we're going to not end our short-born friendship.

23:35No, we'll remain friends,

23:37but you might have to come and visit me in hospital.

23:40OK. You have to sort of tap it a little bit.

23:43Oh, I see.

23:44There we go.

23:45You drink it, do you, every day?

23:47I drink it every day.

23:48I drink one shot like this, half a glass, every evening.

23:52Two glasses of wine and the unicum.

23:54Well, here we go.

23:55Let's see if I'm one of the 50% who do and the 50% who don't.

23:59Can you knock it back in one?

24:00No.

24:01No? All right.

24:02I would say sip it and enjoy it, if you can.

24:15That's magnificent.

24:17It really is. I love that.

24:19It's like being in the forest in the middle of a gale.

24:22Everything's blown at you.

24:23All sorts of taste and water as well.

24:25I love the definition.

24:27Oh, very lively. Great.

24:29Complex.

24:30Yes.

24:31And it has a... It's a bit fiery later on.

24:34Yeah.

24:35It is like a sort of blast of concentrated mountain countryside.

24:43I've one more engagement left in this seductive city.

24:49Tonight is my debut as a model at Katty Zob's summer show.

24:54You should go and have a quiet seat.

24:57I'm busy with other controls because I have a lot on my plate.

25:03And you've done it before, haven't you?

25:06You've done this before. You've talked to audiences.

25:09They will love you. I bet they'll go,

25:11Hey, Katty! Wow! Yeah, my girl!

25:18I'll let you have a little bit of peace and quiet.

25:21I'll go and form some of my fellow models.

25:24Hello.

25:336.30 and the guests are arriving.

25:40Suddenly it's, well, serious.

25:44The doors are drawn back and the eyes of Budapest's fashionistas

25:48turn expectantly towards me.

25:54Hello. Good evening.

25:57As the oldest and least beautiful of all the models here tonight,

26:02it is a great honour nevertheless for me to be able to start this show.

26:07As you can see, Katty has brought out the devil in me tonight.

26:12And this is going to be the theme of the show.

26:14And she is a marvellous designer. It's been wonderful to work with her.

26:17Now it's time. On with the show!

26:236.30 and the guests are arriving.

26:54APPLAUSE

27:06It's all over far too soon for my liking.

27:09But thanks to Katty, my transformation from quiet Sheffield lad

27:13to outrageous old-fashioned queen is complete.

27:24Keleti Station is Budapest's gateway to the East.

27:28In its size, scale and the flourish of its architecture,

27:31it's typically Hungarian.

27:45I'm looking for the T-Shirt Express

27:47that runs between Budapest and Lviv in the Ukraine.

27:54TRAIN ANNOUNCEMENT

28:02The T-Shirt, named after the second river of Hungary,

28:05connects the capital with the agricultural lands to the east.

28:17I've grown rather used to being in Budapest,

28:19so much the centre of the country

28:22with about 20% of the population living here.

28:24I've little idea what the countryside beyond will look and feel like.

28:34I just hope the flowers aren't plastic, like the ones on the train.

28:41Now this looks like my sort of place.

28:45Mad is well worth the detour,

28:47but despite the angry and possibly mad dogs,

28:51it's the home of something rather special.

28:54This is Mad.

28:55Well, actually, the joke doesn't work so well in Hungarian

28:58because it has an accent that's actually mad.

29:01But it's a small, modest village,

29:03yet on the slopes here are grown

29:05one of the most highly-prized wines in the world.

29:11These are the vines from which the renowned sweet wine Tokaj is made.

29:15During the Soviet years, they produced quantity rather than quality,

29:20but now skilled winemakers can produce bottles costing several hundred pounds.

29:26The secret is mixing wine from these grapes

29:28with others affected by botrytis, or noble rot,

29:32which produces azu,

29:34a juice from which wine is made of the colour and price of gold.

29:40Istvan Turaczi manages production for the British-owned Royal Tokaj Company.

29:46Lovely colour, stretching back to quite a long time.

29:50Yeah.

29:51Hundreds of years.

29:57The wine is matured in dark caves over 100 feet below ground,

30:01a suitable place for Istvan to tell me of the mysterious power of Tokaj azu.

30:07I mean, it's a very, very... been a very famous wine for a long time.

30:11I mean, who are the great people who have enjoyed this?

30:15For example, the Queen Mother loved it very much,

30:19who lived for 102 years.

30:21He loved the Tokaj azu wines.

30:24Ah, Queen Mother.

30:25Yes, she did.

30:26Did she?

30:27Oh, yes, she was very discerning, yeah.

30:29And who else?

30:31Queen Victoria, who got as present a dozen of azu wine for each birthday.

30:39The number of dozens were as much as her age,

30:43so it ended at her birthday of 81 with 972 bottles of azu wine

30:50of the different very good vintages of the region.

30:54The advantage of living a long time.

30:56Yes.

30:57Did you ever get any...

30:58Did they ever get any reaction from Queen Victoria?

31:00Did she say, look, you can stop now, I'm not going to finish these?

31:03No.

31:04Or did she like the wine?

31:05I think she loved the wine as well as Queen Elizabeth.

31:13The beautiful nine-arch bridge built almost 200 years ago

31:16carries me over the Tisza River towards the Pushta,

31:19the great Hungarian plain.

31:29Legend has it that this land of distant horizons

31:32was where Attila the Hun died of a nasal flux

31:35brought on by strenuous sexual activity with his new bride.

31:41If only a bicycle had been invented then,

31:43it could have had a much more healthy hobby.

31:48Nowadays the plain is the province of cowboys, called Csíkos,

31:52and there are herds of massive and rather intimidating Hungarian grey cattle.

32:11Traditional methods are still used here.

32:14The Csíkos water their livestock from chadouf-style wells,

32:17like those I've seen in Africa.

32:46This is now a national park,

32:48and the survival of the Hungarian cowboy is in the hands of visitors like us.

33:02Picking up the Tisza Express again,

33:04I take it through to the frontier town of Záhony,

33:07and from there across into the Ukraine,

33:10my twelfth country so far.

33:14Crossing the border is an uplifting experience,

33:18quite literally.

33:22This is Chop, just over the Ukrainian border.

33:25It's the middle of the night,

33:26and because of the incompatibility of the European and Russian rail networks,

33:31they're on a different gauge.

33:33Every coach has to be sort of jacked up into the air,

33:38physically chained, all of those.

33:40And that's what they're doing at the moment,

33:42and you can see people on the train in the middle of the night,

33:47and six feet up in the air, these will all be chained.

33:51I mean, it is quite dramatic, but who's going to change?

33:54The Russian rail network or the European rail network?

33:57This goes on.

34:08The train, having been re-wheeled in an hour flat,

34:12we're on our way, and back to sleep.

34:22I'd been this way before,

34:24but when I last took a train to Kiev,

34:26it wasn't part of the Ukraine.

34:28I was filming Pole to Pole,

34:30and this was still the USSR.

34:33On that journey,

34:34I got talking to a young Ukrainian called Vadim Kosteli.

34:37He said he sensed something in the air,

34:40something dangerous and exciting.

34:43I see Ukrainian history being revived.

34:45I see Ukrainian culture, you know,

34:47the culture which many people thought is, you know, is gone forever.

34:51Now, we're getting back to some of our roots.

34:54There is so much to do here.

34:56If one feels Ukrainian,

34:57it's because of the Ukrainian people.

35:01If one feels Ukrainian,

35:02if one feels it's one's roots,

35:05this is a very exciting period to live through

35:08in the history of this land.

35:12And so it proved to be.

35:14The collapse of the USSR led eventually

35:16to the election of Viktor Yushchenko as president

35:19and the charismatic Yulia Tymoshenko as prime minister.

35:23They called it the Orange Revolution.

35:25Glory!

35:26Glory!

35:27Glory to Ukraine!

35:30Glory to Ukraine!

35:32Glory to Ukraine!

35:34Glory to Ukraine!

35:36Glory to Ukraine!

35:38But Viktor and Yulia fell out,

35:40and when I arrive in Kiev for a second time,

35:42the ecstatic scenes in Independence Square

35:45are already a distant memory.

35:54There are still tents in the square,

35:56but there's a confusion in the camps.

36:00An election has just delivered a hung parliament.

36:03Yulia can't work with Viktor,

36:05and Viktor can't work with parties

36:07that support closer links to Russia.

36:10There's deadlock,

36:11and until it's broken,

36:13the faithful are pledged to stay on the streets.

36:16Who better to turn to for an explanation

36:19than the stranger I met on the train all those years ago?

36:23At Vadim, you know,

36:24the eyes of the world were on this square

36:26during the Orange Revolution

36:27about a couple of years ago,

36:29and the flags are out again.

36:30Is this democracy in action in Ukraine?

36:33You know, the real problem is that

36:36many people in this country,

36:39after so many years of Russian empire

36:42and of the Soviet empire,

36:44they were used to being ruled by a strong hand

36:47which does everything very effectively

36:50without thinking about such stupid things

36:52as democracy or, you know,

36:54human rights or whatever it is.

36:57We suddenly got this president that we have now

37:01and this kind of a new government

37:03which is democratic in its ideas,

37:06which means slow and not as effective

37:09as the authoritarian regimes.

37:11Many people just don't get it.

37:12They say, oh, we want a strong,

37:14we want discipline, we want order.

37:15There's a lot of young people out there in the tented city.

37:18I mean, do they believe in a democratic future for Ukraine?

37:22I think they are beginning to understand

37:26that this strange beast called democracy

37:29includes a number of very pragmatic things

37:32that young people want to have,

37:34like a possibility to go abroad and to study there,

37:37like a possibility to speak openly

37:39without being afraid of the policemen, you know, behind you.

37:42We last met 15 years ago

37:45and you sort of made a prediction.

37:47You said things are going to move slowly

37:49but they are going to change.

37:50When we next meet,

37:52if we're both still alive in 15 years' time,

37:56what do you think you'll be saying about the world then

37:59and about Ukraine?

38:02Ukraine by that time should be much more sovereign,

38:08much more independent,

38:09well, of course, much more prosperous,

38:11hopefully a part, a real part of the European family

38:17and perhaps led politically by a good-looking lady.

38:25Who could that be?

38:27Well, there are a couple of.

38:29Oh, there's a few photos around.

38:31Well, let's have a look, let's have a look.

38:33How do you like that lady over there?

38:35Oh, yes, she's nice.

38:36No, in 15 years she can grow up to become a leading politician.

38:41Basing her appeal on an image of wholesome Ukrainian womanhood,

38:45Yulia Tymoshenko is still eye-catching.

38:48But now she has competition from her daughter.

38:52In a Kiev monastery,

38:54Eugenia Tymoshenko recently married Sean Carr,

38:58a market trader from Leeds.

39:05Sean's not a politician.

39:16He's a Death Valley screamer.

39:18Unable to make much headway in the UK,

39:22the group he founded has taken Ukraine by storm.

39:37Sean and Eugenia have thrown themselves behind the Tymoshenko campaign

39:41and I catch up with them on a morale-boosting visit to the troops.

39:45I mean, Sean, you know, you're a Yorkshireman.

39:48We don't do this sort of thing in England, do we?

39:51Westminster Square and all that.

39:55What do you think of it?

39:57At first I thought it was very, very strange.

39:59It was a massive shock, but now it's...

40:01They need to do this.

40:03This is a last... Well, not just a last resort,

40:05but this is a peaceful way of resolving things.

40:08It's an amazing situation and amazing to meet someone like yourself here,

40:12so we'll watch, we'll see what goes on.

40:14Let's have a look around.

40:21I'm not the only one following them around.

40:24As they don't get much time to themselves here,

40:27they invite me to their country house for lunch the next day.

40:51Hey!

40:58Sean doesn't do public transport,

41:01or a saddle, actually,

41:03but he doesn't half get you there fast.

41:05Yeah!

41:07That's the way to arrive. OK.

41:09The bike may be top of the market,

41:11but the house in the woods outside Kiev

41:14is quite modest by the standards of pop aristocracy.

41:17As we sit and have a drink,

41:20I can't help thinking that my fellow Yorkshireman

41:22fits in rather well here.

41:24There's a touch of the Cossack about him.

41:26Does your mother-in-law like your music, Sean?

41:29Erm, yeah.

41:31She likes...

41:33To a certain extent.

41:35I wouldn't imagine she'd go out there and bop around to it,

41:38but, yeah, she likes what we're doing.

41:40I think she appreciates that we've worked really hard

41:43and we've brought a new sort of music here.

41:47It's very strange, because what we do in England...

41:50I mean, you sit every night in a pub,

41:52or you walk in, there's a band playing.

41:54Whereas here, you play,

41:56and the reaction is just phenomenal.

41:58Everybody...

42:00I mean, we've had 70-year-old grandmas

42:02coming down wearing Death Valley Screamer shirts,

42:04and they're all bopping around.

42:06It's just like, hang on a minute,

42:08what's going on here?

42:10It's fantastic.

42:12I was just going to say

42:15that my mum wanted to keep him dressed on the stage,

42:18because he always takes his shirt off,

42:20and that's what...

42:22She was worried about that,

42:24but after some time, she accepted it.

42:26It's the way to be, you know?

42:28That's very English.

42:30You have fun, you take your shirt off.

42:32Put your hair down.

42:34If your mother came to power,

42:36do you think there'd be a chance of a cabinet post for Sean?

42:39Yeah, he wants to be Minister of Roads, I think.

42:43Get the roadside out, first job.

42:45I think Sean would be a good adviser, you know,

42:48on the system of the roads,

42:50and how they should be.

42:52Minister of Rock and Roads.

42:54That'd be good.

42:56I think you were the first Soviet girl,

43:00one of the first Soviet girls ever

43:02to go to an English public school.

43:04I mean, has this been a good experience for you?

43:07I really enjoyed my years there,

43:09and I think,

43:12although some papers say

43:14the system is not very good anymore,

43:16the public school system should be changed,

43:18but I think it's great, it's a great system.

43:21Well, that's very good for rugby,

43:23they'll like that.

43:25Yes.

43:27What attracted, you know,

43:29a demure English public school girl

43:31like yourself

43:33to this wild, rock and rolling,

43:35motorbike...

43:37maniac?

43:39Cos, you know,

43:42the first time I saw him,

43:44he looked really unusual,

43:46and, you know,

43:48I've always liked bikes

43:50and music like this,

43:52so I thought,

43:54ah, he's a rock musician,

43:56so I said,

43:58I have to pass by him

44:00and see what he looks like.

44:02But, you know, afterwards,

44:04it's not really about bikes or music,

44:06it's more about Sean's personality,

44:08you know,

44:11so that's why it's not really about...

44:13But, of course, it adds a lot of,

44:15you know, excitement to my life.

44:17It was just a bike.

44:19It was a bike, be honest.

44:21I have to admit it to you.

44:23Admit it, admit it.

44:29As Sean drives me back,

44:31I can't help hoping his mother-in-law

44:33will one day get back into power.

44:35Ukraine could use a new Minister of Roads.

44:41Kiev could be a European city

44:43with its glittering skyline

44:45of Christian monasteries,

44:47but the huge 300-foot monument

44:49called Nation's Mother,

44:51given to the city in Soviet times,

44:53faces towards Moscow,

44:55and there are many here

44:57who would like Ukraine to do the same.

45:01The Dnieper River flows through Kiev

45:03to the Black Sea,

45:05close to my next port of call,

45:07the Crimea.

45:10Thousands make for the Crimean coast

45:12every summer,

45:14leaving the train at Simferopol

45:16and continuing on by trolleybus.

45:34The route was opened in 1959

45:36as cheap travel for the masses.

45:40But it's not just any old

45:42suburban service.

45:44It covers 51 miles

45:46and crosses a 2,500-foot pass.

45:50The No. 52,

45:52from Simferopol to Yalta,

45:54is one of the great trolleybus

45:56journeys of the world.

46:02Mind you,

46:04it does take three hours.

46:10.

46:36I've come all this way

46:39to tell you that in 1945

46:41a conference was held here in Yalta

46:43that was to change the face of Europe.

46:45This is the Livadia Palace,

46:47the summer home of Russia's last czar,

46:49the ill-fated Nicholas II.

46:51It's also the place where,

46:53in 1945,

46:55the fate of Europe was decided

46:57by three powerful men,

46:59Joseph Stalin of the USSR,

47:01President Roosevelt of the USA,

47:03and Britain's Prime Minister,

47:05Winston Churchill.

47:07Stalin was a sick man.

47:09Observers described him

47:11as looking frail and ill.

47:13Indeed, within three months

47:15of the conference,

47:17he'd be dead.

47:19But because of his condition,

47:21he was given a room here

47:23at Livadia Palace,

47:25because it was only a short

47:27wheelchair ride from there

47:29through into the main

47:31conference chamber.

47:33Around this table,

47:36when the day's horse trading

47:38was over, Churchill and the British

47:40delegation returned to their villa.

47:42It was built by

47:44Count Vorontsov, who spent

47:4620 years and a countless fortune

47:48building it and never lived in it.

47:53Churchill loved this lion

47:55particularly. He told Stalin,

47:57it's like me, only without the cigar.

48:03In the great hall of the Vorontsov

48:05villa, subsidiary meetings

48:07were held by the foreign ministers

48:09to thrash out the fine detail.

48:11Whether the Vorontsov

48:13villa was bugged or not is a moot

48:15point, but the two observations

48:17by one of Churchill's party suggests

48:19someone might have been listening in.

48:21For instance, in completely private

48:23conversations, someone mentioned they'd

48:25seen a fish tank and it was empty of fish.

48:27Two days later, full of goldfish.

48:29A similar confidential conversation

48:31about not finding enough

48:33lemon peel for the cocktails resulted

48:35two days later in a lemon tree

48:37in the conservatory.

48:39Maybe coincidence.

48:44Behind all the conviviality

48:46and the toastings and the mutual

48:48back-slapping, one inescapable fact

48:50hung over all their discussions.

48:52The Red Army already occupied

48:54Eastern Europe.

48:56Because of their vast resources of men

48:58and materials, Stalin

49:00wasn't prepared to give an inch.

49:04At the end of the final session, Stalin

49:06put his name to a document promising

49:08free and unfettered elections

49:10in all the countries occupied

49:12by the Red Army.

49:14They never happened.

49:18Within weeks, Churchill had written to Roosevelt

49:20saying that he thought they'd signed up

49:22to a fraudulent manifesto.

49:24This was scant

49:26consolation for the people of the Baltic states

49:28of Poland, Hungary,

49:30Czechoslovakia and Romania.

49:32For us, the war ended

49:34in 1945. For them,

49:36as a result of what was signed here,

49:38it could have been said to have gone on

49:40for another 50 years.

49:42I'd always imagined Yalta to be

49:44a cold, grey place,

49:46so it's quite a shock to find it's the holiday

49:48destination of choice for Ukrainians

49:50and Russians,

49:52with packed beaches and some interesting

49:54twin cities.

49:56Pozzuoli, Italy,

49:58Rhodes,

50:00Greece,

50:02Sanya,

50:04China,

50:06Fujisawa,

50:08Japan,

50:10and Margate,

50:12England.

50:14Hello, Margate.

50:16You're remembered in Yalta.

50:22I wonder if those

50:24sandwiched on these beaches have any

50:26idea of Yalta's claim to fame.

50:28I ask Anja,

50:30a local girl, who's working to bring

50:32even more tourists here.

50:34Do many of the people who come here,

50:36or indeed yourself, who

50:38live here, Anja, do they

50:40know about the peace conference in Yalta

50:42in 1945? Of course.

50:44And Livadia Palace that was held

50:46is one of the most

50:48popular sightseeing objects.

50:50So people are aware that

50:52Stalin and Churchill and Roosevelt

50:54got here and the significance

50:56for Europe.

50:58That is true, that is correct.

51:00What do people think of Stalin?

51:06Well, there are different points

51:08of view on that.

51:10Some people who remember the

51:12communist days treat him as a

51:14very fair and very

51:16firm

51:18leader. But some

51:20think that he was

51:22too cruel,

51:24I would say.

51:26What do you think from your

51:28studies?

51:30I've studied from different books

51:32and I'm still looking for my

51:34answer.

51:36Would you, you live here, would you go

51:38and sunbathe on a beach

51:40like that over there? I know better

51:42places, I know my own

51:44places.

51:48Crimean

51:50politicians were traditionally pro-Moscow

51:52but as we walk along the prom

51:54I'm quite surprised to find the great

51:56revolutionary himself, still on

51:58his feet, staring sternly

52:00out to sea.

52:02Why has Lenin

52:04survived here in

52:06Yalta, in Ukraine after all,

52:08not even Russia, when so many other places

52:10have removed him?

52:12Well, Crimea was Russian until

52:141954 and people

52:16here, like in the east of Ukraine,

52:18are pro-Russian

52:20and many of them have positive

52:22nice memories of the Soviet days and

52:24it was decided to keep them monumental as part of

52:26the historical heritage. After all

52:28you cannot tear a page out of history

52:30can you?

52:32But tonight is my

52:34last night here and I decide to

52:36close the history books and surrender

52:38to the relentless hedonism of

52:40Margate's twin town.

52:50Now if I were

52:54here with my grandson Archie,

52:56what would you want to see me doing?

52:58Oh no,

53:00no, not this!

53:04I've got a feeling there are

53:06things about Yalta that I shall remember

53:08even more than the peace conference.

53:10Here we go!

53:14Ooh!

53:16Ooh!

53:18Ooh!

53:40I'm glad I wore

53:42my jacket!

53:44I can

53:46throw up in the pocket!

53:52This is the furthest east I'll get

53:54in New Europe. Next time I'll be in the

53:56Baltics.

53:58Whoa!

54:00Whoa!

54:02Whoa!

54:04Wow!

54:06Whee!

54:08Okay, I confess

54:10I never wanted to do another series.

54:12Himalaya

54:14was enough for me.

54:18I'll never do another one.

54:20Archie, if you can

54:22see me now, I did it to you!

54:28Whee!

54:44Whee!

54:46Whee!

54:52Whee!

54:54Whee!

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