Whicker's Orient - Alan Whicker (1972) - R.M.S Queen Elizabeth

Next up on the tycoon checklist is C.Y Tung. Tung is still famous, even now, for not just his noble but ultimately futile attempt to turn the former Queen Elizabeth cruise ship into a floating university (called Seawise, a play on his initials) but also because one of his children, Tung Chee-hwa, was the first Chief Executive of Hong Kong following the handover in 1997.

Anyway, Whicker interviews the old man on a boat as they head over to the ship and Tung talks about the cost and his hopes for it as well as telling Whicker about the problems he has had with the labour force. You can view the episode yourself on Youtube, but to summarise - his shipworkers were all controlled by a Communist labour union. The workers insisted on taking their lunch on shore EVERY DAY, which meant that out of an 8 hour working day, 5 hours were spent going to and from shore to eat lunch. It's important to put this into context because the relations between Tung and the labour unions have often been cited as a possible reason for why the ship eventually caught fire under "mysterious circumstances" and was left to rot in the harbour for several years (and went on to become another film location). The ship was destroyed about a month after this episode was first broadcast, so I think the lower images of it burning were added in for later showings.