From helicopters to Lamborghinis, mini-submarines and Hermes handbags, Posh Pawn uncovers the hidden world of high-end pawnbroking.
Part 1
Prestige Pawnbrokers are the kings of pawning luxurious and costly objects in cash-strapped Britain and are part of a growing number of high-end pawnbrokers focusing on expensive and exclusive objects. This documentary goes behind the scenes at Prestige and discovers that, when it comes to upmarket pawn, everyone has a story to tell. Headed up by slick former property developer James Constantinou, and with a quirky team of asset experts including salt-of-the-earth jewellery expert Lawrence and feisty PA Jo, Prestige is the go-to place for people who want fast cash in well-heeled Surrey, pawning everything from million-pound helicopters to Lambourghinis and £25,000 Hermes handbags. And it's an empire on the move: James is taking big risks investing in a new store in Richmond and has bigger plans too. But will expanding make or break the business?
Part 2
The staff at Prestige Pawnbrokers are blown away by two jaw-dropping diamond necklaces, owned by two very different clients. Single mum Marcella is looking for a better future for herself and her son and needs £20,000 to kick-start her music career, while wealthy mother-of-four Ingrid wants to raise capital for her new horse importation and training business. They both hope that family heirlooms that have been gathering dust can kick-start their new lives. But following a closer inspection of one of the necklaces, there's a sleepless night for staff member Patrick, who suspects one could be fake. And Prestige MD James Constantinou is excited by a very unusual yellow mini submarine, which policeman David wants to sell. James tests it in a 'James Bond-style' underwater joyride, as he attempts to impress a potential buyer.
Part 3
James has his work cut out sealing a deal with a pushy young entrepreneur who wants to borrow £100,000 against his Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder. Legendary film director Ken Russell's ex-wife Hetty gets a shock when she tries to raise money by pawning her personal family photographs. A married couple get emotional as they look to pawn their pride and joy: a six-foot Kerry Darlington painting. A mum-of-three pawns her mother's diamond ring to support her family; but how much is the ring worth? And long-term client Tauren falls behind on his loan repayments. Will he lose his prized designer watch collection?
Part 4
Reformed 1980s cat burglar Sid hopes to raise funds with help from his family and their jewellery. Prestige Pawnbrokers boss James gets the fright of his life when he test drives a client's superbike at Brands Hatch. New employee Kristen is put to the test when she has to value two huge tanzanite stones. And Prestige's PA and office manager Jo visits a client, Maggie, who, following a string of bad luck, including being diagnosed with cancer, can't pay back her loan, and is in danger of losing her late mother's jewellery. Touched by Maggie's unique situation, Jo tries to convince James to extend her loan one last time to save her precious jewellery. But can Jo talk shrewd businessman James around?
Part 5
Ex-model Cathy is looking for a loan so she can launch a range of unusual women's lingerie. In the 1980s she shared the catwalk with the likes of Naomi Campbell and Kate Moss. Shortly after the birth of her two children Cathy was taken ill with Cushing's syndrome, which meant she gained an abnormal amount of weight. She has now recovered, and has raided her designer bag and jewellery collection in the hope of using them as collateral for a £50,000 loan to launch her underwear business. But will she get the money she needs? Also in this episode, Prestige MD James gets some unwanted attention when he goes for a spin in a client's Ferrari, a young mum wants to pawn her grandfather's First World War medals to raise money for her mother's funeral, and an inventor turns up at Prestige to pawn his precious watch.
Part 6
A family man approaches Prestige Pawnbrokers with 12 classic cars to raise the money to avoid having his mansion repossessed, but it's another of his possessions that catches James's attention. A young drummer wants to cash in on a unique silver elephant his grandparents gave him to set up a recording studio so that he can stand on his own feet. A single mum parts with a five-carat diamond ring to give her boys a holiday; and a client who was adopted when she was three months old pawns her family heirlooms - including a sherry glass thought to have belonged to Queen Victoria - to raise money for a long-awaited trip to see her birth mother in Australia.
Part 7
James' manoeuvring skills are put to the test as he test drives a client's 40-foot American motorhome. A self-confessed shopaholic hopes to sell two modern art paintings to pursue a new career in photography. A glamorous divorcee wants to sell some of her designer handbags to raise cash for her hair extensions business. And James and gem expert Kristen jet off to millionaires' playground Marbella to meet a glamorous client with some precious jewellery. James has a taste for the high life; can he drum up enough business to branch out overseas?
Showing posts with label Industry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Industry. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 11, 2014
Siberian Cut (Series)
Russian Roulette (2014)
This series follows American logger Sean Vann as he attempts to build a new logging operation in the frozen forests of Siberia. Vann has been logging in Russia for 17 years and landed a contract to log the world’s largest forest in Siberia. Vann looks to American loggers who are experiencing a recession and convinces a group of men from Montana and Oregon to leave the forests of America and seek their fortunes in the sub-zero ground of Siberia where they must work side by side with a Russian crew who have a very different view of the world, and a completely different way of working.
This series follows American logger Sean Vann as he attempts to build a new logging operation in the frozen forests of Siberia. Vann has been logging in Russia for 17 years and landed a contract to log the world’s largest forest in Siberia. Vann looks to American loggers who are experiencing a recession and convinces a group of men from Montana and Oregon to leave the forests of America and seek their fortunes in the sub-zero ground of Siberia where they must work side by side with a Russian crew who have a very different view of the world, and a completely different way of working.
Thursday, May 22, 2014
* Seven Wonders of The Industrial World (2003)
The period of over 125 years from the beginning of the 19th century saw the creation of some of the world's most remarkable feats of engineering. These are now celebrated as great wonders of the world - revealing as much about human creativity and the determination of the human spirit as they do of technological endeavour.
The Industrial Revolution changed the world in countless ways - and produced many technical wonders in the process. Seven of the most notable are described here, each one proving that human creativity is as much alive in the modern world as it was in ancient times.
The Great Ship
Isambard Kingdom Brunel's colossal ship, the Great Eastern, is the only wonder described here that has not survived to the 21st century. In the early 1850s, Brunel hoped the ship would be his masterpiece, and that it would provide an enduring link to even the most farflung parts of the empire.
'... his concept became the blue print for ship design for years to come.'At a time when most ships moored in the Thames were built to traditional designs in wood, and powered by sail, Brunel's 'Great Ship' was almost 700 feet long, a floating island made of iron. His vision was that it should carry 4,000 passengers, in magnificent style, as far as the Antipodes - without needing to refuel.
The Brooklyn Bridge
That same year, a brilliant engineer, John Roebling from Germany, won the contract to build the largest bridge in the world, the Brooklyn Bridge in New York. It was to stretch 1,600 feet, in one giant leap, across the wide and turbulent East River that separates New York from Brooklyn.
'At the time such a bold design seemed almost miraculous ...'The foundations were to sink 70 feet below the river. The two mighty towers would dwarf much of New York. At the time such a bold design seemed almost miraculous, and all to be built out of a new material - steel.
The Bell Rock
Robert Stevenson's Bell Rock Lighthouse was created off the east coast of Scotland between 1807 and 1811, when the world was very different from how it is today. Stevenson, the grandfather of Robert Louis Stevenson, had dreamed for years of making his mark on the world, by bringing light to the treacherous Scottish coast. He aimed to take on the most dangerous place of all, the Bell Rock, a large reef 11 miles out to sea, dangerously positioned in the approach to the Firth of Forth.
'... the oldest offshore lighthouse still standing anywhere in the world.'In 1799, over 70 ships went down in a violent storm that raged along the coast, yet still the authorities opposed his plan. How could anyone build a lighthouse 11 miles out to sea, on a rock that was submerged by up to 16 feet of water for most of the day? Battling against the odds, Stevenson did eventually build his lighthouse, and to this day it shines out across the North Sea, the oldest offshore lighthouse still standing anywhere in the world.
The Sewer King
In the summer of 1858, while the Great Eastern was being fitted out for her maiden voyage, London was in the grip of a crisis known as the 'Great Stink'. The population had grown rapidly during the first half of the 19th century, yet there had been no provision for sanitation.
'... sewage was everywhere, piling up in every gully and alleyway ...'Three epidemics of cholera had swept through the city, leaving over 30,000 people dead. And sewage was everywhere, piling up in every gully and alleyway, in the cellars of houses in poor districts - and even seeping through cracks in floorboards.
The Panama Canal
With the growth in travel and trade, by the late 19th century shipping had become big business. Having completed the building of the Suez Canal in 1869, a Frenchman, Vicomte Ferdinand de Lesseps, dreamed of an even bolder scheme: the Panama Canal.
'The extravagant dream eventually stole over 25,000 lives ...'Lesseps decided he would cut a path across the isthmus of Panama,and thus unite the great oceans of the Atlantic and Pacific. He knew that the long journey around South America's Cape Horn would then become unnecessary for ships carrying cargo across the world, and the world itself would seem a smaller place. Once out in the tropical heat of Panama, however, the French found themselves facing impenetrable jungle, dangerous mudslides and deathly tropical diseases, as the project proved to be an undertaking of nightmare proportions.
The extravagant dream eventually came true, but in the process it stole over 25,000 lives, and 25 years had to elapse before the oceans were finally united.
The Line
By the middle of the 19th century, the benefits brought by the host of advances of the industrial age were gradually beginning to reach America, which soon developed a spectacular achievement of its own - the Transcontinental Railway, reaching right across the continent.
'... they battled against hostile terrain, hostile inhabitants, civil war and the Wild West.'With two teams, one building from the east and the other from California in the west, they battled against hostile terrain, hostile inhabitants, civil war and the Wild West.
Yet in 1869, the two teams' tracks were joined, shrinking the whole American continent, as the journey from New York to San Francisco was reduced from months to days.
The Hoover Dam
As pioneers explored and found their way across the vast continent of America, they were frequently stopped by poor or hostile environments such as the desert regions of Arizona and Nevada.
'Some 60 storeys high, and of a larger volume than the Great Pyramid at Giza ...'In the early 1900s, however, engineers began to realise that even here it would be possible to make the desert bloom, by building a dam across the Colorado River. Some 60 storeys high, and of a larger volume than the Great Pyramid at Giza, the Hoover Dam was soon to break all records.
At the height of the depression of the 1930s, poverty-stricken workers on the dam, earning just a few dollars a day, died from horrific explosions, carbon monoxide poisoning and heat exhaustion as it slowly came to fruition. The chief engineer, Frank Crowe, did nevertheless get it built ahead of schedule and under budget - notching up one more extraordinary piece of evidence for the ingenuity and tenacity of man.
The Industrial Revolution changed the world in countless ways - and produced many technical wonders in the process. Seven of the most notable are described here, each one proving that human creativity is as much alive in the modern world as it was in ancient times.
The Great Ship
Isambard Kingdom Brunel's colossal ship, the Great Eastern, is the only wonder described here that has not survived to the 21st century. In the early 1850s, Brunel hoped the ship would be his masterpiece, and that it would provide an enduring link to even the most farflung parts of the empire.
'... his concept became the blue print for ship design for years to come.'At a time when most ships moored in the Thames were built to traditional designs in wood, and powered by sail, Brunel's 'Great Ship' was almost 700 feet long, a floating island made of iron. His vision was that it should carry 4,000 passengers, in magnificent style, as far as the Antipodes - without needing to refuel.
The Brooklyn Bridge
That same year, a brilliant engineer, John Roebling from Germany, won the contract to build the largest bridge in the world, the Brooklyn Bridge in New York. It was to stretch 1,600 feet, in one giant leap, across the wide and turbulent East River that separates New York from Brooklyn.
'At the time such a bold design seemed almost miraculous ...'The foundations were to sink 70 feet below the river. The two mighty towers would dwarf much of New York. At the time such a bold design seemed almost miraculous, and all to be built out of a new material - steel.
The Bell Rock
Robert Stevenson's Bell Rock Lighthouse was created off the east coast of Scotland between 1807 and 1811, when the world was very different from how it is today. Stevenson, the grandfather of Robert Louis Stevenson, had dreamed for years of making his mark on the world, by bringing light to the treacherous Scottish coast. He aimed to take on the most dangerous place of all, the Bell Rock, a large reef 11 miles out to sea, dangerously positioned in the approach to the Firth of Forth.
'... the oldest offshore lighthouse still standing anywhere in the world.'In 1799, over 70 ships went down in a violent storm that raged along the coast, yet still the authorities opposed his plan. How could anyone build a lighthouse 11 miles out to sea, on a rock that was submerged by up to 16 feet of water for most of the day? Battling against the odds, Stevenson did eventually build his lighthouse, and to this day it shines out across the North Sea, the oldest offshore lighthouse still standing anywhere in the world.
The Sewer King
In the summer of 1858, while the Great Eastern was being fitted out for her maiden voyage, London was in the grip of a crisis known as the 'Great Stink'. The population had grown rapidly during the first half of the 19th century, yet there had been no provision for sanitation.
'... sewage was everywhere, piling up in every gully and alleyway ...'Three epidemics of cholera had swept through the city, leaving over 30,000 people dead. And sewage was everywhere, piling up in every gully and alleyway, in the cellars of houses in poor districts - and even seeping through cracks in floorboards.
The Panama Canal
With the growth in travel and trade, by the late 19th century shipping had become big business. Having completed the building of the Suez Canal in 1869, a Frenchman, Vicomte Ferdinand de Lesseps, dreamed of an even bolder scheme: the Panama Canal.
'The extravagant dream eventually stole over 25,000 lives ...'Lesseps decided he would cut a path across the isthmus of Panama,and thus unite the great oceans of the Atlantic and Pacific. He knew that the long journey around South America's Cape Horn would then become unnecessary for ships carrying cargo across the world, and the world itself would seem a smaller place. Once out in the tropical heat of Panama, however, the French found themselves facing impenetrable jungle, dangerous mudslides and deathly tropical diseases, as the project proved to be an undertaking of nightmare proportions.
The extravagant dream eventually came true, but in the process it stole over 25,000 lives, and 25 years had to elapse before the oceans were finally united.
The Line
By the middle of the 19th century, the benefits brought by the host of advances of the industrial age were gradually beginning to reach America, which soon developed a spectacular achievement of its own - the Transcontinental Railway, reaching right across the continent.
'... they battled against hostile terrain, hostile inhabitants, civil war and the Wild West.'With two teams, one building from the east and the other from California in the west, they battled against hostile terrain, hostile inhabitants, civil war and the Wild West.
Yet in 1869, the two teams' tracks were joined, shrinking the whole American continent, as the journey from New York to San Francisco was reduced from months to days.
The Hoover Dam
As pioneers explored and found their way across the vast continent of America, they were frequently stopped by poor or hostile environments such as the desert regions of Arizona and Nevada.
'Some 60 storeys high, and of a larger volume than the Great Pyramid at Giza ...'In the early 1900s, however, engineers began to realise that even here it would be possible to make the desert bloom, by building a dam across the Colorado River. Some 60 storeys high, and of a larger volume than the Great Pyramid at Giza, the Hoover Dam was soon to break all records.
At the height of the depression of the 1930s, poverty-stricken workers on the dam, earning just a few dollars a day, died from horrific explosions, carbon monoxide poisoning and heat exhaustion as it slowly came to fruition. The chief engineer, Frank Crowe, did nevertheless get it built ahead of schedule and under budget - notching up one more extraordinary piece of evidence for the ingenuity and tenacity of man.
* Seven Wonders of the Industrial World (2003)
The period of over 125 years from the beginning of the 19th century saw the creation of some of the world's most remarkable feats of engineering. These are now celebrated as great wonders of the world - revealing as much about human creativity and the determination of the human spirit as they do of technological endeavour.
The Industrial Revolution changed the world in countless ways - and produced many technical wonders in the process. Seven of the most notable are described here, each one proving that human creativity is as much alive in the modern world as it was in ancient times.
The Great Ship
Isambard Kingdom Brunel's colossal ship, the Great Eastern, is the only wonder described here that has not survived to the 21st century. In the early 1850s, Brunel hoped the ship would be his masterpiece, and that it would provide an enduring link to even the most farflung parts of the empire.
'... his concept became the blue print for ship design for years to come.'At a time when most ships moored in the Thames were built to traditional designs in wood, and powered by sail, Brunel's 'Great Ship' was almost 700 feet long, a floating island made of iron. His vision was that it should carry 4,000 passengers, in magnificent style, as far as the Antipodes - without needing to refuel.
The Brooklyn Bridge
That same year, a brilliant engineer, John Roebling from Germany, won the contract to build the largest bridge in the world, the Brooklyn Bridge in New York. It was to stretch 1,600 feet, in one giant leap, across the wide and turbulent East River that separates New York from Brooklyn.
'At the time such a bold design seemed almost miraculous ...'The foundations were to sink 70 feet below the river. The two mighty towers would dwarf much of New York. At the time such a bold design seemed almost miraculous, and all to be built out of a new material - steel.
The Bell Rock
Robert Stevenson's Bell Rock Lighthouse was created off the east coast of Scotland between 1807 and 1811, when the world was very different from how it is today. Stevenson, the grandfather of Robert Louis Stevenson, had dreamed for years of making his mark on the world, by bringing light to the treacherous Scottish coast. He aimed to take on the most dangerous place of all, the Bell Rock, a large reef 11 miles out to sea, dangerously positioned in the approach to the Firth of Forth.
'... the oldest offshore lighthouse still standing anywhere in the world.'In 1799, over 70 ships went down in a violent storm that raged along the coast, yet still the authorities opposed his plan. How could anyone build a lighthouse 11 miles out to sea, on a rock that was submerged by up to 16 feet of water for most of the day? Battling against the odds, Stevenson did eventually build his lighthouse, and to this day it shines out across the North Sea, the oldest offshore lighthouse still standing anywhere in the world.
The Sewer King
In the summer of 1858, while the Great Eastern was being fitted out for her maiden voyage, London was in the grip of a crisis known as the 'Great Stink'. The population had grown rapidly during the first half of the 19th century, yet there had been no provision for sanitation.
'... sewage was everywhere, piling up in every gully and alleyway ...'Three epidemics of cholera had swept through the city, leaving over 30,000 people dead. And sewage was everywhere, piling up in every gully and alleyway, in the cellars of houses in poor districts - and even seeping through cracks in floorboards.
The Panama Canal
With the growth in travel and trade, by the late 19th century shipping had become big business. Having completed the building of the Suez Canal in 1869, a Frenchman, Vicomte Ferdinand de Lesseps, dreamed of an even bolder scheme: the Panama Canal.
'The extravagant dream eventually stole over 25,000 lives ...'Lesseps decided he would cut a path across the isthmus of Panama,and thus unite the great oceans of the Atlantic and Pacific. He knew that the long journey around South America's Cape Horn would then become unnecessary for ships carrying cargo across the world, and the world itself would seem a smaller place. Once out in the tropical heat of Panama, however, the French found themselves facing impenetrable jungle, dangerous mudslides and deathly tropical diseases, as the project proved to be an undertaking of nightmare proportions.
The extravagant dream eventually came true, but in the process it stole over 25,000 lives, and 25 years had to elapse before the oceans were finally united.
The Line
By the middle of the 19th century, the benefits brought by the host of advances of the industrial age were gradually beginning to reach America, which soon developed a spectacular achievement of its own - the Transcontinental Railway, reaching right across the continent.
'... they battled against hostile terrain, hostile inhabitants, civil war and the Wild West.'With two teams, one building from the east and the other from California in the west, they battled against hostile terrain, hostile inhabitants, civil war and the Wild West.
Yet in 1869, the two teams' tracks were joined, shrinking the whole American continent, as the journey from New York to San Francisco was reduced from months to days.
The Hoover Dam
As pioneers explored and found their way across the vast continent of America, they were frequently stopped by poor or hostile environments such as the desert regions of Arizona and Nevada.
'Some 60 storeys high, and of a larger volume than the Great Pyramid at Giza ...'In the early 1900s, however, engineers began to realise that even here it would be possible to make the desert bloom, by building a dam across the Colorado River. Some 60 storeys high, and of a larger volume than the Great Pyramid at Giza, the Hoover Dam was soon to break all records.
At the height of the depression of the 1930s, poverty-stricken workers on the dam, earning just a few dollars a day, died from horrific explosions, carbon monoxide poisoning and heat exhaustion as it slowly came to fruition. The chief engineer, Frank Crowe, did nevertheless get it built ahead of schedule and under budget - notching up one more extraordinary piece of evidence for the ingenuity and tenacity of man.
The Industrial Revolution changed the world in countless ways - and produced many technical wonders in the process. Seven of the most notable are described here, each one proving that human creativity is as much alive in the modern world as it was in ancient times.
The Great Ship
Isambard Kingdom Brunel's colossal ship, the Great Eastern, is the only wonder described here that has not survived to the 21st century. In the early 1850s, Brunel hoped the ship would be his masterpiece, and that it would provide an enduring link to even the most farflung parts of the empire.
'... his concept became the blue print for ship design for years to come.'At a time when most ships moored in the Thames were built to traditional designs in wood, and powered by sail, Brunel's 'Great Ship' was almost 700 feet long, a floating island made of iron. His vision was that it should carry 4,000 passengers, in magnificent style, as far as the Antipodes - without needing to refuel.
The Brooklyn Bridge
That same year, a brilliant engineer, John Roebling from Germany, won the contract to build the largest bridge in the world, the Brooklyn Bridge in New York. It was to stretch 1,600 feet, in one giant leap, across the wide and turbulent East River that separates New York from Brooklyn.
'At the time such a bold design seemed almost miraculous ...'The foundations were to sink 70 feet below the river. The two mighty towers would dwarf much of New York. At the time such a bold design seemed almost miraculous, and all to be built out of a new material - steel.
The Bell Rock
Robert Stevenson's Bell Rock Lighthouse was created off the east coast of Scotland between 1807 and 1811, when the world was very different from how it is today. Stevenson, the grandfather of Robert Louis Stevenson, had dreamed for years of making his mark on the world, by bringing light to the treacherous Scottish coast. He aimed to take on the most dangerous place of all, the Bell Rock, a large reef 11 miles out to sea, dangerously positioned in the approach to the Firth of Forth.
'... the oldest offshore lighthouse still standing anywhere in the world.'In 1799, over 70 ships went down in a violent storm that raged along the coast, yet still the authorities opposed his plan. How could anyone build a lighthouse 11 miles out to sea, on a rock that was submerged by up to 16 feet of water for most of the day? Battling against the odds, Stevenson did eventually build his lighthouse, and to this day it shines out across the North Sea, the oldest offshore lighthouse still standing anywhere in the world.
The Sewer King
In the summer of 1858, while the Great Eastern was being fitted out for her maiden voyage, London was in the grip of a crisis known as the 'Great Stink'. The population had grown rapidly during the first half of the 19th century, yet there had been no provision for sanitation.
'... sewage was everywhere, piling up in every gully and alleyway ...'Three epidemics of cholera had swept through the city, leaving over 30,000 people dead. And sewage was everywhere, piling up in every gully and alleyway, in the cellars of houses in poor districts - and even seeping through cracks in floorboards.
The Panama Canal
With the growth in travel and trade, by the late 19th century shipping had become big business. Having completed the building of the Suez Canal in 1869, a Frenchman, Vicomte Ferdinand de Lesseps, dreamed of an even bolder scheme: the Panama Canal.
'The extravagant dream eventually stole over 25,000 lives ...'Lesseps decided he would cut a path across the isthmus of Panama,and thus unite the great oceans of the Atlantic and Pacific. He knew that the long journey around South America's Cape Horn would then become unnecessary for ships carrying cargo across the world, and the world itself would seem a smaller place. Once out in the tropical heat of Panama, however, the French found themselves facing impenetrable jungle, dangerous mudslides and deathly tropical diseases, as the project proved to be an undertaking of nightmare proportions.
The extravagant dream eventually came true, but in the process it stole over 25,000 lives, and 25 years had to elapse before the oceans were finally united.
The Line
By the middle of the 19th century, the benefits brought by the host of advances of the industrial age were gradually beginning to reach America, which soon developed a spectacular achievement of its own - the Transcontinental Railway, reaching right across the continent.
'... they battled against hostile terrain, hostile inhabitants, civil war and the Wild West.'With two teams, one building from the east and the other from California in the west, they battled against hostile terrain, hostile inhabitants, civil war and the Wild West.
Yet in 1869, the two teams' tracks were joined, shrinking the whole American continent, as the journey from New York to San Francisco was reduced from months to days.
The Hoover Dam
As pioneers explored and found their way across the vast continent of America, they were frequently stopped by poor or hostile environments such as the desert regions of Arizona and Nevada.
'Some 60 storeys high, and of a larger volume than the Great Pyramid at Giza ...'In the early 1900s, however, engineers began to realise that even here it would be possible to make the desert bloom, by building a dam across the Colorado River. Some 60 storeys high, and of a larger volume than the Great Pyramid at Giza, the Hoover Dam was soon to break all records.
At the height of the depression of the 1930s, poverty-stricken workers on the dam, earning just a few dollars a day, died from horrific explosions, carbon monoxide poisoning and heat exhaustion as it slowly came to fruition. The chief engineer, Frank Crowe, did nevertheless get it built ahead of schedule and under budget - notching up one more extraordinary piece of evidence for the ingenuity and tenacity of man.
Sunday, May 11, 2014
* The Silk Road: China to Turkey (2011)
The Silk Road influenced the great civilizations of China, India, Ancient Egypt, Persia, Arabia, and Ancient Rome. The Silk Road was filmed by award-winning filmmaker Marlin Darrah, and crew. Filmed in high definition. In 1271 Marco Polo left Venice, Italy on a journey of 4,000 miles to China. His book, "The Travels of Marco Polo," opened the trade route to greater traffic as cultures, ideas, and goods from the West and East were exchanged and great fortunes were made on the Silk Road. China traded silk, teas, and porcelain. India traded spices, ivory, textiles, precious stones, and pepper. The Roman Empire exported gold, silver, fine glassware, wine, carpets, and jewels. This program travels through five countries and thirty cities bridging the Far East with Europe. Visit these exotic lands and learn about their cultures, modern traditions, and histories.
Friday, May 9, 2014
* The Birth of Empire: The East India Company (2014)
Dan Snow travels through India in the footsteps of the company that revolutionised the British lifestyle and laid the foundations of today's global trading systems.
Part 1:
400 years ago British merchants landed on the coast of India and founded a trading post to export goods to London. Over the next 200 years, their tiny business grew into a commercial titan. Using the letters and diaries of the men and women who were there, this documentary tells the story of the East India Company, which revolutionised the British lifestyle, sparked a new age of speculation and profit and by accident created one of the most powerful empires in history. Yet inexorable rise ended in ignominy. Dogged by allegations of greed, corruption and corporate excess, by the 1770s the company's reputation was in tatters. Blamed for turning its back as millions died in the Bengal famine, and thrown into crisis by a credit crunch in Britain, the world's most powerful company had run out of cash, sparking a government intervention.
Part 2:
By 1800 the East India Company had grown from a tiny band of merchants into a colossal trading empire. But scandal and corruption in the 18th century had led to a curtailment of its powers by the British government. The state now controlled the company's affairs in India and, throughout the 19th century, would chip away at its remaining powers and trading privileges. The company was transformed from a trading enterprise into the rulers of India, and governed vast swathes of the subcontinent on behalf of the British Crown. Its territory expanded enormously and an empire was born. As the company traded opium to a reluctant Chinese Empire, in India a dangerous chasm opened up between the British rulers and the Indian people. Alienated and disaffected, significant numbers of the company's massive army of Indian soldiers finally revolted and the Company's handling of the mutiny was its final undoing. In 1858 British India passed into Queen Victoria's hands and the Raj was born.
Part 1:
400 years ago British merchants landed on the coast of India and founded a trading post to export goods to London. Over the next 200 years, their tiny business grew into a commercial titan. Using the letters and diaries of the men and women who were there, this documentary tells the story of the East India Company, which revolutionised the British lifestyle, sparked a new age of speculation and profit and by accident created one of the most powerful empires in history. Yet inexorable rise ended in ignominy. Dogged by allegations of greed, corruption and corporate excess, by the 1770s the company's reputation was in tatters. Blamed for turning its back as millions died in the Bengal famine, and thrown into crisis by a credit crunch in Britain, the world's most powerful company had run out of cash, sparking a government intervention.
Part 2:
By 1800 the East India Company had grown from a tiny band of merchants into a colossal trading empire. But scandal and corruption in the 18th century had led to a curtailment of its powers by the British government. The state now controlled the company's affairs in India and, throughout the 19th century, would chip away at its remaining powers and trading privileges. The company was transformed from a trading enterprise into the rulers of India, and governed vast swathes of the subcontinent on behalf of the British Crown. Its territory expanded enormously and an empire was born. As the company traded opium to a reluctant Chinese Empire, in India a dangerous chasm opened up between the British rulers and the Indian people. Alienated and disaffected, significant numbers of the company's massive army of Indian soldiers finally revolted and the Company's handling of the mutiny was its final undoing. In 1858 British India passed into Queen Victoria's hands and the Raj was born.
Tuesday, May 6, 2014
* America Revealed: Electric Nation (2012)
America Revealed is a unique look at what makes America tick, what it takes to keeps the biggest food machine in the world going, the delicate balance that keeps our supermarkets stocked with groceries and fast food restaurants supplied with fries. How we keep America moving with its vast and complex transport systems. How we propel ourselves through energy, what maintains the constant supply of fuel and electricity to our homes and businesses and finally how we keep up with the ever changing world, the import and export infrastructure that shapes our manufacturing industry.
From the Corn farmer in Central Valley, California to the live wire cable repairers in New Jersey. Viewers will discover a fascinating new perspective on the hidden patterns and rhythms of American life, by looking through the eyes of individuals who all play a part in keeping America fed, moving, powered and making goods.
Food Machine
Over the past century, an American industrial revolution has given rise to the biggest, most productive food machine the world has ever known.
Yul Kwon explores how this machine feeds nearly 300 million Americans every day. He discovers engineering marvels we’ve created by putting nature to work and takes a look at the costs of our insatiable appetite on our health and environment.
For the first time in human history, less than 2% of the population can feed the other 98%. Yul embarks on a trip that begins with a pizza delivery route in New York City then goes across country to California’s Central Valley, where nearly 50% of America’s fruits, nuts and vegetables are grown and skydives into the heartland for an aerial look of our farmlands.
He meets the men and women who keep us fed 365 days a year—everyone from industrial to urban farmers, crop dusting pilots to long distance bee truckers, modern day cowboys to the pizza deliveryman.
Nation on the Move
America is a nation of vast distances and dense urban clusters, woven together by 200,000 miles of railroads, 5,000 airports, and 4 million miles of roads.
These massive, complex transportation systems combine to make Americans the most mobile people on earth. Yul Kwon journeys across the continent by air, road and rail.
He ventures behind the scenes with the workers who get us where we need to go; at the Federal Aviation Administration command center, he listens in on a call with NASA, the secret service, the military, and every major airline to learn how our national flight plan works today.
He meets innovators creating ways to propel us farther and faster in years to come; in Las Vegas, he heads out into the wild night to see how transportation analysts are keeping traffic at bay by revolutionizing the use of one basic tool: the traffic light. And he uncovers the minor miracles and uphill battles involved in moving over 300 million Americans every day on infrastructure built in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Electric Nation
Our modern electric power grid has been called the biggest and most complex machine in the world – delivering electricity over 200,000 miles of high tension transmission lines. But even though the grid touches almost every aspect of our lives, it’s a system we know very little about.
Yul Kwon will travel around the country to understand its intricacies, its vulnerabilities, and the remarkable ingenuity required to keep the electricity on every day of the year. At New York State’s governing grid control room, he learns how a massive blackout cut power to 40 million Americans and to understand how we can protect against this type of colossal failure joins a live wire repair team who do their daring repairs from the side of a helicopter in flight.
He also visits the country largest coal mine, rappels down the side of wind turbine, takes a rare tour of a nuclear plant and travels on a massive tanker – where Kwon reflects on the challenges and opportunities we face now and in the days ahead to keep the power flowing.
Made in the USA
American manufacturing has undergone a massive revolution over the past 20 years. Despite all the gloom and doom, America is actually the number one manufacturing nation on earth. Yul Kwon crosses the nation looking at traditional and not-so traditional types of manufacturing.
Along the way, he meets the men and women who create the world’s best and most iconic products, engineers who are reinventing the American auto industry, steelworkers who brave intense heat to accommodate radical new ideas about recycling, and engineers who are re-imagining the microchip. He visits one of the most innovative manufacturers on earth: a small start-up company that is building personalized robots – machines that may one day reshape our homes and offices, driving our revolution further forward.
Yul further explores the emerging notion that manufacturing itself is changing from a system based on the movement and assembly of raw materials like steel and plastic to a system in which ideas and information are the raw materials of a new economy based around communications and social connections via companies like Facebook and Google.
From the Corn farmer in Central Valley, California to the live wire cable repairers in New Jersey. Viewers will discover a fascinating new perspective on the hidden patterns and rhythms of American life, by looking through the eyes of individuals who all play a part in keeping America fed, moving, powered and making goods.
Food Machine
Over the past century, an American industrial revolution has given rise to the biggest, most productive food machine the world has ever known.
Yul Kwon explores how this machine feeds nearly 300 million Americans every day. He discovers engineering marvels we’ve created by putting nature to work and takes a look at the costs of our insatiable appetite on our health and environment.
For the first time in human history, less than 2% of the population can feed the other 98%. Yul embarks on a trip that begins with a pizza delivery route in New York City then goes across country to California’s Central Valley, where nearly 50% of America’s fruits, nuts and vegetables are grown and skydives into the heartland for an aerial look of our farmlands.
He meets the men and women who keep us fed 365 days a year—everyone from industrial to urban farmers, crop dusting pilots to long distance bee truckers, modern day cowboys to the pizza deliveryman.
Nation on the Move
America is a nation of vast distances and dense urban clusters, woven together by 200,000 miles of railroads, 5,000 airports, and 4 million miles of roads.
These massive, complex transportation systems combine to make Americans the most mobile people on earth. Yul Kwon journeys across the continent by air, road and rail.
He ventures behind the scenes with the workers who get us where we need to go; at the Federal Aviation Administration command center, he listens in on a call with NASA, the secret service, the military, and every major airline to learn how our national flight plan works today.
He meets innovators creating ways to propel us farther and faster in years to come; in Las Vegas, he heads out into the wild night to see how transportation analysts are keeping traffic at bay by revolutionizing the use of one basic tool: the traffic light. And he uncovers the minor miracles and uphill battles involved in moving over 300 million Americans every day on infrastructure built in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Electric Nation
Our modern electric power grid has been called the biggest and most complex machine in the world – delivering electricity over 200,000 miles of high tension transmission lines. But even though the grid touches almost every aspect of our lives, it’s a system we know very little about.
Yul Kwon will travel around the country to understand its intricacies, its vulnerabilities, and the remarkable ingenuity required to keep the electricity on every day of the year. At New York State’s governing grid control room, he learns how a massive blackout cut power to 40 million Americans and to understand how we can protect against this type of colossal failure joins a live wire repair team who do their daring repairs from the side of a helicopter in flight.
He also visits the country largest coal mine, rappels down the side of wind turbine, takes a rare tour of a nuclear plant and travels on a massive tanker – where Kwon reflects on the challenges and opportunities we face now and in the days ahead to keep the power flowing.
Made in the USA
American manufacturing has undergone a massive revolution over the past 20 years. Despite all the gloom and doom, America is actually the number one manufacturing nation on earth. Yul Kwon crosses the nation looking at traditional and not-so traditional types of manufacturing.
Along the way, he meets the men and women who create the world’s best and most iconic products, engineers who are reinventing the American auto industry, steelworkers who brave intense heat to accommodate radical new ideas about recycling, and engineers who are re-imagining the microchip. He visits one of the most innovative manufacturers on earth: a small start-up company that is building personalized robots – machines that may one day reshape our homes and offices, driving our revolution further forward.
Yul further explores the emerging notion that manufacturing itself is changing from a system based on the movement and assembly of raw materials like steel and plastic to a system in which ideas and information are the raw materials of a new economy based around communications and social connections via companies like Facebook and Google.
* Farmageddon (2011)
Farmageddon is the story of a mom whose son healed from all allergies and asthma after consuming raw milk, and real food from farms. It depicts people all over the country who formed food co-ops and private clubs to get these foods, and how they were raided by state and local governments.
* Tupperware! (2004)
In the 1950s, American women discovered they could earn thousands — even millions — of dollars from bowls that burped. "Tupperware ladies" fanned out across the nation's living rooms, selling efficiency and convenience to their friends and neighbors through home parties. Bowl by bowl, they built an empire that now spans the globe. AMERICAN EXPERIENCE presents Tupperware!, a documentary by Laurie Kahn-Leavitt. Narrated by Kathy Bates, this funny, thought-provoking film reveals the secret behind Tupperware's success: the women of all shapes, sizes and backgrounds who discovered they could move up in the world without leaving the house. TUPPERWARE! charts the origins of the small plastics company that unpredictably became a cultural phenomenon.
Sunday, May 4, 2014
* Cigarette Wars (2011)
In this CNBC original documentary, Correspondent Brian A. Shactman reports on an industry that continues to thrive despite all we know about the dangers of smoking. 50 million Americans, and nearly a billion people overseas, still light up every day. And as cigarette taxes continue to skyrocket in the United States, driving the price up to as much as $14 per pack, a crime wave is booming, with black market profiteers cheating the U.S. government out of $5 billion in cigarette tax dollars each year.
We follow American tobacco farmers as they endure one of the worst growing seasons in four decades, facing record drought and increased pressure from the anti-tobacco movement. Increasingly marginalized, these growers refuse to give up or give in, trading their overalls for suits and traveling overseas to sell American tobacco in emerging markets. Their efforts, and those of the tobacco industry, to sell their product in places like China, India, and Eastern Europe, have prompted accusations that they are exporting a public health crisis.
We follow American tobacco farmers as they endure one of the worst growing seasons in four decades, facing record drought and increased pressure from the anti-tobacco movement. Increasingly marginalized, these growers refuse to give up or give in, trading their overalls for suits and traveling overseas to sell American tobacco in emerging markets. Their efforts, and those of the tobacco industry, to sell their product in places like China, India, and Eastern Europe, have prompted accusations that they are exporting a public health crisis.
Thursday, May 1, 2014
* Raw to Ready (2013)
Explore the science, innovation, and sheer genius it takes to transform the most basic ingredients into the world's most awe-inspiring machines. Raw to Ready goes deep inside factories to uncover the hard work and craftsmanship it takes to build these incredible machines and reveals the hidden stories of human ingenuity that have transformed the earth's most essential raw materials into monumental marvels of modern technology.
Part 1: Komatsu
To extract precious metals found beneath the earth requires a massive 232-ton, two-story-tall dump truck with a load capacity of 320 tons — a giant earth-mover like the Komatsu 930E. This amazing engineering achievement is made possible by five essential raw ingredients: coal, chromium, mineral oil, latex rubber and sulphuric acid, an electron superhighway that generates massive power.
Part 2: Bentley
It's a century-old obsession to find the right raw materials to build a car that is fit for both king and race car driver — perfectly luxurious and perfectly fast. The Bentley Motor Company has built common raw ingredients into their signature Mulsanne, an engineering achievement made possible by aluminum, leather, iron, wood and pigment.
Part 3: Mack Truck
The highway truck — a modern workhorse, a heavy hauler vital to commerce — carries an 80,000-pound payload and must operate in every condition from sub-zero cold to triple-digit heat. To survive, it must be strong, durable and fuel-efficient, like the Mack Pinnacle, an engineering achievement made possible by platinum, petroleum, copper, manganese and polyurethane.
Part 4: Bombardier
With an average of one take-off every three seconds, short-range regional jets are the backbone of domestic air travel. To withstand this high volume of flights, these jets need to be comfortable, durable, and fuel efficient, just like the Bomardier CRJ-1000. Raw materials come together to make these planes succeed in the mission to provide safe, comfortable and affordable travel to the one hundred passengers on each flight.
Part 1: Komatsu
To extract precious metals found beneath the earth requires a massive 232-ton, two-story-tall dump truck with a load capacity of 320 tons — a giant earth-mover like the Komatsu 930E. This amazing engineering achievement is made possible by five essential raw ingredients: coal, chromium, mineral oil, latex rubber and sulphuric acid, an electron superhighway that generates massive power.
Part 2: Bentley
It's a century-old obsession to find the right raw materials to build a car that is fit for both king and race car driver — perfectly luxurious and perfectly fast. The Bentley Motor Company has built common raw ingredients into their signature Mulsanne, an engineering achievement made possible by aluminum, leather, iron, wood and pigment.
Part 3: Mack Truck
The highway truck — a modern workhorse, a heavy hauler vital to commerce — carries an 80,000-pound payload and must operate in every condition from sub-zero cold to triple-digit heat. To survive, it must be strong, durable and fuel-efficient, like the Mack Pinnacle, an engineering achievement made possible by platinum, petroleum, copper, manganese and polyurethane.
Part 4: Bombardier
With an average of one take-off every three seconds, short-range regional jets are the backbone of domestic air travel. To withstand this high volume of flights, these jets need to be comfortable, durable, and fuel efficient, just like the Bomardier CRJ-1000. Raw materials come together to make these planes succeed in the mission to provide safe, comfortable and affordable travel to the one hundred passengers on each flight.
* Milk? (2012)
An inquisitive man sets out to find the facts about milk and discovers more about the growing controversy surrounding it. Throughout the journey, he is left with more and more questions instead of answers and remains dangling and confused amidst vastly opposing position held by various doctors, scientists, nutritionists and experts. Milk is a food so fundamental to our daily diet that its value for our health, it seems, is meant to be left unquestioned. Milk is the perfect food. Or is it?
Wednesday, April 30, 2014
* Fresh (2009)
"Fresh" celebrates the farmers, thinkers and business people across America who are re-inventing our food system. Each has witnessed the rapid transformation of our agriculture into an industrial model, and confronted the consequences: food contamination, environmental pollution, depletion of natural resources, and morbid obesity. Forging healthier, sustainable alternatives, they offer a practical vision for a future of our food and our planet. Among several main characters, FRESH features urban farmer and activist, Will Allen, the recipient of MacArthur's 2008 Genius Award; sustainable farmer and entrepreneur, Joel Salatin, made famous by Michael Pollan's book, The Omnivore's Dilemma; and supermarket owner, David Ball, challenging our Wal-Mart dominated economy.
* Food, Inc. (2009)
The current method of raw food production is largely a response to the growth of the fast food industry since the 1950s. The production of food overall has more drastically changed since that time than the several thousand years prior. Controlled primarily by a handful of multinational corporations, the global food production business – with an emphasis on the business – has as its unwritten goals production of large quantities of food at low direct inputs (most often subsidized) resulting in enormous profits, which in turn results in greater control of the global supply of food sources within these few companies. Health and safety (of the food itself, of the animals produced themselves, of the workers on the assembly lines, and of the consumers actually eating the food) are often overlooked by the companies, and are often overlooked by government in an effort to provide cheap food regardless of these negative consequences.
* Engineering Giants (2012)
Engineering Giants The world's most enormous machines are stripped down and torn apart to discover their hidden secrets and to reveal out how each one has changed our world in its own unique way
Episode 1: Jumbo Jet
Engineer turned comedian Tom Wrigglesworth and Rob Bell, rising star of mechanical engineering, climb on board Victor X-ray, a 200 ton, £200,000,000 Boeing 747. This jumbo jet has flown over 36 million miles in its 14 year life with British Airways. Now it will be broken into tens of thousands of parts in the airline's maintenance hangar in Cardiff, before being painstakingly reassembled and certified fit to fly again. This is the first time this complex process has ever been filmed and it provides fascinating insights into just how a 747 works. Rob and Tom also visit the UK's largest plane salvage centre in the Cotswolds to discover what happens to a 747 when it reaches the end of its working life, and discover how valuable parts are stripped for resale before the carcass is torn apart to be recycled.
Episode 2: Gas Rig
Engineer turned comedian Tom Wrigglesworth and Rob Bell, rising star of mechanical engineering, tell the story as an entire North Sea Gas installation, the Lima Platform, is pulled from the sea by floating cranes, brought back to Newcastle, and then torn into tiny pieces for recycling. But the platform is not just thousands of tons of steel. It was once home to the men and women called the North Sea Tigers. They pioneered gas and oil exploration in the UK and now some of them are ending their careers as part of the decommissioning process. As the gas platform is stripped down, these engineers reveal the secrets of this vital part of our energy supplies, but they also reveal the emotional bonds to the engineering marvel that formed such an important part of their lives.
Episode 3: Ferry
Engineer turned comedian Tom Wrigglesworth and Rob Bell, rising star of mechanical engineering, climb on board the Pride of Bruges, a massive, 25,000 tonne North Sea ferry as it is brought into dry dock in Newcastle. It has been ploughing the route from Hull to Zeebrugge for over a quarter of a century and is now in need of the biggest overhaul of its life in an attempt to prolong its seaworthiness for another decade. Tom and Rob also travel to Europe's largest ship breaking yard in Belgium, to discover what happens to ships at the end of their lives. As they watch massive hulls being torn apart, they gain more insights into how a ship works and how their massive carcasses are recycled.
Episode 1: Jumbo Jet
Engineer turned comedian Tom Wrigglesworth and Rob Bell, rising star of mechanical engineering, climb on board Victor X-ray, a 200 ton, £200,000,000 Boeing 747. This jumbo jet has flown over 36 million miles in its 14 year life with British Airways. Now it will be broken into tens of thousands of parts in the airline's maintenance hangar in Cardiff, before being painstakingly reassembled and certified fit to fly again. This is the first time this complex process has ever been filmed and it provides fascinating insights into just how a 747 works. Rob and Tom also visit the UK's largest plane salvage centre in the Cotswolds to discover what happens to a 747 when it reaches the end of its working life, and discover how valuable parts are stripped for resale before the carcass is torn apart to be recycled.
Episode 2: Gas Rig
Engineer turned comedian Tom Wrigglesworth and Rob Bell, rising star of mechanical engineering, tell the story as an entire North Sea Gas installation, the Lima Platform, is pulled from the sea by floating cranes, brought back to Newcastle, and then torn into tiny pieces for recycling. But the platform is not just thousands of tons of steel. It was once home to the men and women called the North Sea Tigers. They pioneered gas and oil exploration in the UK and now some of them are ending their careers as part of the decommissioning process. As the gas platform is stripped down, these engineers reveal the secrets of this vital part of our energy supplies, but they also reveal the emotional bonds to the engineering marvel that formed such an important part of their lives.
Episode 3: Ferry
Engineer turned comedian Tom Wrigglesworth and Rob Bell, rising star of mechanical engineering, climb on board the Pride of Bruges, a massive, 25,000 tonne North Sea ferry as it is brought into dry dock in Newcastle. It has been ploughing the route from Hull to Zeebrugge for over a quarter of a century and is now in need of the biggest overhaul of its life in an attempt to prolong its seaworthiness for another decade. Tom and Rob also travel to Europe's largest ship breaking yard in Belgium, to discover what happens to ships at the end of their lives. As they watch massive hulls being torn apart, they gain more insights into how a ship works and how their massive carcasses are recycled.
* Das Auto: The Germans - Their Cars and Us (2013)
Documentary examining Germany's economic power and the automobile industry at the heart of it. Across the world, the badges of Volkswagen, Audi, BMW and Mercedes inspire immediate awe. Even in Britain, where memories of Second World War run deep, we can't resist the appeal of a German car. By contrast, our own industry is a shadow of its former self. Historian Dominic Sandbrook asks what it is we got wrong, and what the Germans got so right.
Saturday, March 15, 2014
* Behind Closed Doors at Marriott (2012)
CNBC goes behind the scenes to tell the story of one of the largest hotel empires in the world. Marriott International spans 74 countries, 3700 properties, and 18 brands – from Courtyard to Marriott to Ritz-Carlton – and pulls off the massive feat of housing and feeding guests in more than 645,000 rooms each night. With extraordinary behind-the-scenes access, the documentary will explore the strange science of hotel pricing, explain why guests can pay wildly different prices for comparable rooms and profile an executive chef as he prepares a banquet for 2000 people. CNBC cameras examine the Ritz-Carlton's obsessive culture of customer service, and travel to India to witness Marriott's shrewd expansion into the developing world – all part of the story of an American, family-run dynasty that's thrived by walking the line between playing it safe and taking some calculated and hugely successful risks.
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