0:00:06 > 0:00:10The vibrant modern city of Newport can trace its roots
0:00:10 > 0:00:12through 1,500 years of history.
0:00:12 > 0:00:18A history centred on a muddy river with some of the biggest tides in the world.
0:00:22 > 0:00:26The River Usk is the driving force in the story of Newport.
0:00:27 > 0:00:33A story which saw it rise from a village of the Dark Ages to the biggest town in Wales.
0:00:37 > 0:00:43I know Newport became a city in 2002 and so isn't a natural subject for a series on Welsh towns,
0:00:43 > 0:00:48but you wouldn't want to miss out on one of the best stories in Welsh history.
0:00:48 > 0:00:51And anyway, I was born here.
0:01:15 > 0:01:19Newport hasn't always been a town by the river.
0:01:19 > 0:01:25For its first 500 years, Newport centre was a ten minute walk away, here at the top of Stow Hill.
0:01:28 > 0:01:32Legend has it that the town was founded by St Woolos,
0:01:32 > 0:01:35who built a church here around 470 AD.
0:01:35 > 0:01:40He was a colourful character, who went to war
0:01:40 > 0:01:44with a neighbouring ruler to win the hand of a beautiful princess.
0:01:44 > 0:01:46The original church was destroyed,
0:01:46 > 0:01:49but the site has been a place of worship ever since.
0:01:51 > 0:01:57The oldest parts of what is now St Woolos' Cathedral date back to Norman times.
0:01:57 > 0:02:00The high point of any visit is the Norman arch.
0:02:00 > 0:02:03It's covered up right now while they restore the roof.
0:02:03 > 0:02:06But still, this is the oldest surviving building in Newport,
0:02:06 > 0:02:09one which has expanded with the town.
0:02:20 > 0:02:25As Newport developed, the town centre gradually moved towards the river.
0:02:27 > 0:02:30It doesn't look much when the tide's out,
0:02:30 > 0:02:33but just look what happens when the tide comes in.
0:02:35 > 0:02:41No city on earth has a tide like this. On a big day, it can rise 45 feet.
0:02:44 > 0:02:49These deep waters made the Usk a centre for trade.
0:02:49 > 0:02:54After the Norman conquest, a new settlement or new port, grew up here.
0:02:56 > 0:03:01Madeleine Grey has studied the early history of Newport.
0:03:01 > 0:03:07Madeleine, how did Newport come from on top of a hill to down here by the river?
0:03:07 > 0:03:11I think the key thing is the bridge because this is the lowest point
0:03:11 > 0:03:13at which you can realistically
0:03:13 > 0:03:15bridge the river with medieval technology.
0:03:15 > 0:03:18It's also the point you can bring big ships up to.
0:03:18 > 0:03:22You can offload the cargo, put it on to small boats, put it onto ponies.
0:03:22 > 0:03:26Inevitably, you get a trading settlement.
0:03:26 > 0:03:30If you think about what Newport high street would have been like
0:03:30 > 0:03:33in the Middle Ages, it would have been a row of little shop fronts,
0:03:33 > 0:03:36everybody wanting their shop fronting on the street.
0:03:36 > 0:03:42Behind would have been workshops, living accommodation. Everybody would have had a long garden.
0:03:43 > 0:03:47But there were less virtuous industries.
0:03:47 > 0:03:49Well, this is a dockside settlement, you know.
0:03:49 > 0:03:53There would have been squalid alehouses,
0:03:53 > 0:03:57there would have been young women of negotiable affection, let's say.
0:03:57 > 0:04:01There was this one main street, there were little lanes off it,
0:04:01 > 0:04:05there's Cross Keys Lane, Griffin Lane, all named after pubs.
0:04:05 > 0:04:09These would have been the pubs down on the waterfront.
0:04:09 > 0:04:14The sailors in these dockside pubs came on trading vessels.
0:04:14 > 0:04:19Some were abandoned and preserved in that famous Usk mud.
0:04:19 > 0:04:22They included these timbers, the remains of the Newport Ship,
0:04:22 > 0:04:25an ocean-going freighter from the 1460s,
0:04:25 > 0:04:28which could have carried up to 300 tonnes of cargo.
0:04:32 > 0:04:38This is an exact scale model of the ship, as it was found in 2002.
0:04:38 > 0:04:42The model will be used as a guide to reassemble the ship,
0:04:42 > 0:04:46should the money ever be found to build a museum for it.
0:04:48 > 0:04:52It's thought the ship came in to Newport for repairs.
0:04:52 > 0:04:58It was propped up by these giant timbers to stop it falling over at low tide.
0:04:58 > 0:05:00But somehow, they did give way.
0:05:00 > 0:05:04And the ship did fall over into the mud.
0:05:04 > 0:05:09Then, in came the massive Newport tide, filling it with mud,
0:05:09 > 0:05:13and there was no way it could ever be righted again.
0:05:13 > 0:05:18And there it lay forgotten, until its accidental discovery in 2002.
0:05:18 > 0:05:22The fact that such a large ship came to Newport shows it must have been
0:05:22 > 0:05:25a centre of some local importance.
0:05:26 > 0:05:31But Newport was about to take its place on the world stage.
0:05:31 > 0:05:36200 years ago, Newport ceased to be just a regional centre.
0:05:36 > 0:05:38It was thrust onto the global stage,
0:05:38 > 0:05:42at the forefront of one of the greatest upheavals in human history.
0:05:42 > 0:05:48It swept everything, including most of this castle, before it. Hail the revolution.
0:05:53 > 0:05:56The Industrial Revolution.
0:06:05 > 0:06:12If you're looking for a single point in history that transformed Newport, it was this canal,
0:06:12 > 0:06:16opened in stages right at the end of the 18th century.
0:06:17 > 0:06:20The Monmouthshire Canal linked the factories
0:06:20 > 0:06:23and mines of the Valleys with Newport and the world.
0:06:25 > 0:06:28It is an engineering masterpiece.
0:06:28 > 0:06:31These locks on the edge of Newport
0:06:31 > 0:06:35rise through 160 feet in just 800 yards.
0:06:35 > 0:06:39It's one of the steepest of Britain's major canals.
0:06:39 > 0:06:43The engineers weren't too fussy about what they used to build the canal.
0:06:44 > 0:06:49Some of the stonework on the canal, the red sandstone there,
0:06:49 > 0:06:51was taken from Newport Castle.
0:06:51 > 0:06:55The engineers pulled down the most important medieval structure
0:06:55 > 0:07:00in Newport to bring the Industrial Revolution to the banks of the Usk.
0:07:00 > 0:07:04Coal and iron poured down the canal to the riverside wharfs in Newport.
0:07:06 > 0:07:09The canal came down here, roughly where the road is.
0:07:09 > 0:07:14The barges would be unloaded and their goods hauled over here.
0:07:14 > 0:07:16This is Blaenavon Wharf.
0:07:16 > 0:07:20And the ships would be tied up all the way down these wharfs.
0:07:20 > 0:07:25Tied up securely, otherwise they'd topple over at low tide.
0:07:25 > 0:07:30By 1820, thousands of ships took goods out of Newport each year,
0:07:30 > 0:07:33some going as far as America.
0:07:35 > 0:07:38As the trade grew, so did the town.
0:07:38 > 0:07:41By the 1830s, it was the biggest town in Wales.
0:07:42 > 0:07:47With all this trade, there were fortunes to be made in Newport.
0:07:47 > 0:07:52But the big money was not made by people working here on the dockside.
0:07:55 > 0:07:59It went to those who needed it least, the landowners.
0:08:00 > 0:08:04If you want to tell the world how rich you are today,
0:08:04 > 0:08:07you can...buy a Ferrari.
0:08:07 > 0:08:11In the 17th century, you can build a house like this...
0:08:11 > 0:08:13for your horses.
0:08:14 > 0:08:17The family's house wasn't bad either.
0:08:17 > 0:08:22It's fair to say the Morgans of Tredegar House were filthy rich,
0:08:22 > 0:08:24even before the Industrial Revolution.
0:08:26 > 0:08:29They'd been landowners around here since 1402,
0:08:29 > 0:08:32thriving on royal patronage.
0:08:32 > 0:08:37In the 17th century, they built one of the finest houses in Wales.
0:08:38 > 0:08:42When the Industrial Revolution hit South Wales,
0:08:42 > 0:08:50the family didn't just have a nice house, they controlled 40,000 acres, not just around here,
0:08:50 > 0:08:52but right across the valleys.
0:08:52 > 0:08:58In the 1790s, the new master of these estates realised that they gave him a golden opportunity
0:08:58 > 0:09:01to become much, much richer.
0:09:02 > 0:09:08These estates were taken over by a newcomer to the family, Sir Charles Gould Morgan.
0:09:08 > 0:09:14He invested in the canal and raked in royalties from the mines and factories on his lands.
0:09:14 > 0:09:17A horse drawn tramway also crossed his estate.
0:09:17 > 0:09:21He charged half a penny for every ton of coal passing over it.
0:09:21 > 0:09:23It was known as the Golden Mile.
0:09:23 > 0:09:31In today's money, the family were raking in around £150,000 a year from their mile of track.
0:09:31 > 0:09:35By 1885, £500,000.
0:09:35 > 0:09:39It wasn't just the Morgans who were getting rich.
0:09:39 > 0:09:43Thomas Powell started a coal mining business around 1810.
0:09:43 > 0:09:46He became the world's first coal millionaire.
0:09:48 > 0:09:54The house his family built at Coldra is now part of the Celtic Manor resort.
0:09:54 > 0:09:59For the lucky few, it was party time in an industrial Newport.
0:09:59 > 0:10:02But not everyone was doing quite so well.
0:10:04 > 0:10:08The Industrial Revolution attracted people to Newport in their thousands,
0:10:08 > 0:10:11like a gold rush in America or Australia.
0:10:11 > 0:10:13Some came to make their fortune,
0:10:13 > 0:10:16others were just desperate to make a living.
0:10:18 > 0:10:20The poor lived in squalid slums.
0:10:26 > 0:10:29One of the most notorious slums was here.
0:10:29 > 0:10:33It's now the Newport Bus Station, but it was the Friars Field,
0:10:33 > 0:10:36described as a den of rogues and bullies.
0:10:36 > 0:10:41A place where a gentleman could expect to be robbed.
0:10:41 > 0:10:46The rich may have worried about watches, but those living here had more important things on their mind.
0:10:46 > 0:10:51This is a public health report of 1849,
0:10:51 > 0:10:55describing the awful conditions here in early industrial Newport.
0:10:55 > 0:11:00It described the streets in many working class areas as open sewers.
0:11:00 > 0:11:03There had been outbreaks of cholera and in one year,
0:11:03 > 0:11:08216 people died of fever, over half of them here in Friars Field.
0:11:09 > 0:11:14But however bad the conditions, some people were desperate to come here.
0:11:14 > 0:11:17Victims of the Irish potato famine.
0:11:17 > 0:11:21Starving peasants faced a choice, emigrate or die.
0:11:24 > 0:11:27Around 15,000 landed in Newport in just five years.
0:11:29 > 0:11:32Many got a hostile reception.
0:11:34 > 0:11:38So, some sea captains wouldn't take them all the way up to the dock.
0:11:38 > 0:11:42Instead, they put the starving refugees into the small boats
0:11:42 > 0:11:46and dropped them on the mud for them to find their own way into town.
0:11:46 > 0:11:52They were called the mud crawlers and were probably the most desperate immigrants Newport has ever seen.
0:11:59 > 0:12:02Newport was a town divided. While ordinary people toiled,
0:12:02 > 0:12:07they could see the vast fortunes being made around them.
0:12:07 > 0:12:13It's hardly surprising then that Newport became a centre of political protest.
0:12:13 > 0:12:17This square in the heart of the city is named after its most famous radical leader.
0:12:17 > 0:12:20John Frost wasn't a child of the slums,
0:12:20 > 0:12:24he was a former mayor with a draper's shop on the high street.
0:12:25 > 0:12:28But he was no champagne socialist.
0:12:28 > 0:12:30Seduced by the radical ideas of the time,
0:12:30 > 0:12:33he became a leader of the Chartist movement,
0:12:33 > 0:12:38which wanted basic democratic reforms, like votes for all men.
0:12:38 > 0:12:41Frost was on the militant wing.
0:12:43 > 0:12:49On November 4th 1839, up to 7,000 Chartists descended on Newport,
0:12:49 > 0:12:52determined to get the Charter enshrined in law.
0:12:54 > 0:12:58The protesters came pouring down this street, Stow Hill,
0:12:58 > 0:13:01and stopped outside this building, the Westgate Hotel,
0:13:01 > 0:13:06where a group of Chartists were being held prisoner.
0:13:08 > 0:13:11The demonstrators didn't know it,
0:13:11 > 0:13:15but the hotel held some surprise guests, 30 soldiers
0:13:15 > 0:13:20of the 45th Foot Regiment inside with the mayor, Thomas Phillips.
0:13:20 > 0:13:22There was a bloodbath.
0:13:25 > 0:13:30On that rainy Monday morning, 22 civilians lost their lives.
0:13:30 > 0:13:33It was the worst massacre of civilians by troops
0:13:33 > 0:13:36on the British mainland since the Civil War.
0:13:39 > 0:13:44It wasn't just that the working classes were revolting, they meant business.
0:13:44 > 0:13:47These are some of the weapons they were carrying to Newport
0:13:47 > 0:13:53and these were the pistols that John Frost was reported to be carrying.
0:13:55 > 0:14:00Why did the Chartists bring all these weapons to a pro-democracy rally?
0:14:00 > 0:14:04They were expecting a fight and what was interesting about this
0:14:04 > 0:14:07and so shocking to the authorities
0:14:07 > 0:14:11was the level of planning and secrecy.
0:14:11 > 0:14:16Many of the Chartists demonstrated a firm commitment
0:14:16 > 0:14:20to securing a fairer, more equal society.
0:14:20 > 0:14:25There's other evidence that there was a plan for a full-scale insurrection,
0:14:25 > 0:14:32that the local authorities, the local ruling elites, would be toppled.
0:14:35 > 0:14:39Frost and other Chartist leaders were sentenced to death.
0:14:39 > 0:14:44But after a nationwide protest, they were transported to Australia.
0:14:46 > 0:14:49It was the establishment 1, the workers 0.
0:14:49 > 0:14:52And weren't the establishment chuffed with themselves!
0:14:52 > 0:14:55They showered gifts on their hero, Mayor Phillips.
0:14:55 > 0:14:59This is all that remains of an 800 piece silver service.
0:14:59 > 0:15:02He was knighted, he was invited to dine with the Queen,
0:15:02 > 0:15:05he was made a freeman of the city of London.
0:15:06 > 0:15:10But in the long run, Phillips was the loser.
0:15:10 > 0:15:12He's been forgotten.
0:15:12 > 0:15:16John Frost is celebrated as a pioneer of British democracy.
0:15:24 > 0:15:29This was the age of steam. It heralded a golden era for the coal town of Newport.
0:15:31 > 0:15:35By 1842, a dock was needed for the ever-growing number of ships.
0:15:38 > 0:15:41And this is it today, a wasteland.
0:15:41 > 0:15:45The old town dock was closed in the 1930s and filled in.
0:15:45 > 0:15:51But part of it remains. Look, the old dock wall of 1842.
0:15:53 > 0:15:56But the 4.5 acre dock was never going to be big enough.
0:15:58 > 0:16:00Just ten years after it opened,
0:16:00 > 0:16:04plans were laid for an extension that almost trebled its size.
0:16:04 > 0:16:08Standing here today, it looks enormous.
0:16:08 > 0:16:12But local industrialists still couldn't get enough ships in and out of Newport.
0:16:17 > 0:16:21Within ten years, work had started on this, the Alexandra Dock,
0:16:21 > 0:16:24the size of 30 rugby pitches.
0:16:24 > 0:16:31It opened in 1875 and it made Newport's dock capacity ten times what it had been in 1842.
0:16:31 > 0:16:35But it still wasn't big enough to keep up with the coal boom.
0:16:38 > 0:16:41So they built this, the 96 acre South Dock,
0:16:41 > 0:16:46which finally opened at the peak of the Welsh coal industry in 1914.
0:16:51 > 0:16:56The final phase of the development was this giant entrance lock.
0:16:56 > 0:17:00It's thought it was the biggest in the world when it opened,
0:17:00 > 0:17:05surpassed only by the Panama Canal, which opened a few months later.
0:17:09 > 0:17:12Coal left here for the four corners of the world.
0:17:15 > 0:17:19The docks were teeming with thousands of workers and sailors.
0:17:19 > 0:17:22And after their shifts, they needed a drink.
0:17:26 > 0:17:31Luckily, someone built this magnificent pub right across the road.
0:17:35 > 0:17:39Oh, yes! What a place!
0:17:43 > 0:17:47- Bob, hello.- Eddie, how are you, mate?- Very well. How are you?
0:17:47 > 0:17:49- What a great place! - Unbelievable, isn't it?
0:17:49 > 0:17:53All I know is it's got the longest bar anywhere, isn't it?
0:17:53 > 0:17:57It was the longest bar in England and Wales when it was built.
0:17:57 > 0:17:58And the Empire, apparently.
0:17:58 > 0:18:01But it used to go all the way round here.
0:18:01 > 0:18:06It went through the two rooms, right the way up there to the pillar.
0:18:06 > 0:18:08This was the original back fitting.
0:18:08 > 0:18:12The bar used to run all the way along here to the pillar. And around the corner.
0:18:12 > 0:18:15It needed to be that long because...?
0:18:15 > 0:18:17All the boys from the docks.
0:18:17 > 0:18:21Lunchtimes, apparently, just before they opened,
0:18:21 > 0:18:24they'd have 200 pints of beer and 100 whiskies on the bar
0:18:24 > 0:18:27and the doors used to open and they used to go like a flash.
0:18:27 > 0:18:29Incredible.
0:18:29 > 0:18:33But the party couldn't go on for ever.
0:18:33 > 0:18:38100 years ago, this coal would have been heading abroad. Today, it's all imported.
0:18:39 > 0:18:44The docks have found other ways to make a living.
0:18:46 > 0:18:49Now, recycling's a growth industry.
0:18:49 > 0:18:53The docks are home to the world's biggest car crusher.
0:18:56 > 0:19:01But even at the end of the 19th century, it was clear Newport could not live by the docks alone.
0:19:01 > 0:19:05In the 1890s, the first steelworks opened.
0:19:05 > 0:19:09Lysaght's Orb Works relocated from Wolverhampton
0:19:09 > 0:19:13and became the first development on the east banks of the Usk.
0:19:13 > 0:19:18The only problem now, how were the workers going to get there? A new bridge was needed.
0:19:19 > 0:19:24So they decided to build this, the Transporter Bridge,
0:19:24 > 0:19:26or the Tranny, to locals.
0:19:27 > 0:19:31Based on a bridge in France, it took just four years to build
0:19:31 > 0:19:34and was opened in 1906.
0:19:34 > 0:19:39It's a strange idea. Cars and pedestrians travel across the river in a gondola,
0:19:39 > 0:19:42suspended from the giant frame of the bridge.
0:19:42 > 0:19:46Here in Newport, though, it made sense.
0:19:46 > 0:19:50The low banks and high tides would have made a regular bridge expensive.
0:19:50 > 0:19:55Anyway, big ships still needed to travel upriver.
0:19:55 > 0:19:58In the early years, it cost a penny to cross
0:19:58 > 0:20:01and another penny for your horse.
0:20:01 > 0:20:06But if you wanted to save a bit of cash, you could always walk over the top.
0:20:15 > 0:20:20The bridge is nearly 250ft high
0:20:20 > 0:20:24with a span of 650ft.
0:20:24 > 0:20:26It certainly kept you fit.
0:20:33 > 0:20:37Wow! It is worth the climb. Here we are, high above the Usk.
0:20:37 > 0:20:40On a clear day, you can see the whole of Newport down there.
0:20:40 > 0:20:47On such a day as this, all you can do is admire the true splendour of the city's signature landmark.
0:20:51 > 0:20:56This fabulous bridge is here because of the steelworks, which expanded Newport east of the river.
0:20:56 > 0:21:02The steelworkers from the Midlands left other legacies, and not just the street names.
0:21:04 > 0:21:08They were football lovers and they wanted a team to watch.
0:21:08 > 0:21:14They were the original fanbase for Newport County FC, a team they helped set up.
0:21:15 > 0:21:22It's not entirely a coincidence that Newport shares the same colours as Wolverhampton Wanderers.
0:21:23 > 0:21:29- 'Prosser to Watkins...' - There was plenty of sport in Newport before they arrived.
0:21:29 > 0:21:33Newport Rugby Club was founded way back in 1874
0:21:33 > 0:21:37and went unbeaten for four of their first five seasons.
0:21:37 > 0:21:39'Right in front of their posts.'
0:21:39 > 0:21:42They went on to beat South Africa twice and in 1963,
0:21:42 > 0:21:46they claimed a famous victory against the All Blacks.
0:21:46 > 0:21:47'Tries the drop goal.
0:21:47 > 0:21:50'And is it there? Yes, it is!'
0:21:55 > 0:21:58But what about a summer sport?
0:21:58 > 0:22:02For the working classes in Newport, there wasn't anywhere to play cricket,
0:22:02 > 0:22:06so they took to baseball, which could be played on waste ground.
0:22:06 > 0:22:08It's now a 100-year-old tradition.
0:22:12 > 0:22:17Speedway came to Newport in 1964 with a track around the football ground.
0:22:17 > 0:22:21After a 20 year break, it returned at a new venue in 1997.
0:22:25 > 0:22:30And Newport's got its own world class golf course at Celtic Manor,
0:22:30 > 0:22:32which hosted the Ryder Cup in 2010.
0:22:41 > 0:22:45Newport was transformed in the 20th century.
0:22:45 > 0:22:47There were new white collar jobs,
0:22:47 > 0:22:49with the arrival of the passport office
0:22:49 > 0:22:51and, later, the patent office.
0:22:51 > 0:22:56But this was an age when the white heat of technology promised new prosperity
0:22:56 > 0:23:01and the Llanwern Steelworks brought it to Newport in 1962.
0:23:01 > 0:23:05Stretching for three miles, it was the most modern steelworks in Britain.
0:23:05 > 0:23:08It provided jobs for 6,000 people.
0:23:10 > 0:23:12There was smart innovation too.
0:23:12 > 0:23:17Not just this sculpture, the Steel Wave, but the mole grip.
0:23:17 > 0:23:21It was invented and manufactured here.
0:23:21 > 0:23:26It was such a success that I remember Newport being marketed as "The Home of the Mole Grip".
0:23:26 > 0:23:28There's glamour(!)
0:23:30 > 0:23:34Instead of loading ships, Newport made good business breaking them up.
0:23:34 > 0:23:41More than 500 ships, including top liners, were scrapped by Cashmore's Yard, who sold off the fittings.
0:23:45 > 0:23:50The interiors of the SS Empress of France ended up in the White Hart pub in Machen.
0:23:50 > 0:23:54They included this mirror from the ship's lounge.
0:24:00 > 0:24:03Newport's cultural mix changed too.
0:24:03 > 0:24:07Welsh, English and Irish were joined by immigrants from the Commonwealth.
0:24:07 > 0:24:11It became a truly multicultural town.
0:24:12 > 0:24:16There was a growing Jamaican community in the Pill area
0:24:16 > 0:24:19when Roy Grant arrived in 1962.
0:24:19 > 0:24:25He found work at an engineering firm, but the weekends were reserved for Caribbean style partying.
0:24:26 > 0:24:29Great time! It was fantastic.
0:24:29 > 0:24:32After a really rough day at work,
0:24:32 > 0:24:36where people were facing discrimination,
0:24:36 > 0:24:40whether they get the worst job or whatever it is, they don't complain.
0:24:40 > 0:24:44The weekend, they want to let it out, they want to have a drink, sit down,
0:24:44 > 0:24:46they want to dance and get rid of it.
0:24:52 > 0:24:58If it wasn't for music, us Jamaican, Caribbean people would just go mad.
0:24:58 > 0:25:01They couldn't survive the restriction.
0:25:03 > 0:25:07Eventually, a Jamaican restaurant and nightclub,
0:25:07 > 0:25:08the Silver Sands, opened in Pill.
0:25:11 > 0:25:16It was run by Eulah White, thought to be Newport's first black businesswoman.
0:25:16 > 0:25:18It was a popular place.
0:25:18 > 0:25:24As for Saturday nighttime, we had people from all over.
0:25:24 > 0:25:28From London, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff. All around.
0:25:28 > 0:25:33One of the regulars was rock star to be Woody Mellor,
0:25:33 > 0:25:37who spent a year working as a gravedigger in Newport.
0:25:37 > 0:25:41He loved the Silver Sands and learned about Jamaican music there.
0:25:42 > 0:25:46Woody left Newport with a head full of Jamaican music
0:25:46 > 0:25:49and a much-improved ability to play the guitar.
0:25:49 > 0:25:54Within a couple of years, he was at the forefront of the punk revolution with a new name,
0:25:54 > 0:25:58Joe Strummer, frontman of the Clash.
0:25:58 > 0:26:03# Midnight to six man
0:26:03 > 0:26:06# The first time from Jamaica... #
0:26:06 > 0:26:11The Clash mixed hardcore guitar songs with the rhythms of the Caribbean.
0:26:11 > 0:26:16It was a revolutionary sound, which owes something to the musical culture of Newport.
0:26:24 > 0:26:29The town which grew up by the river had come a long way from its roots as a trading port.
0:26:31 > 0:26:36As Newport evolved into a modern city, the river became all but irrelevant.
0:26:43 > 0:26:48Roads were the route to prosperity and once again,
0:26:48 > 0:26:52Newport was in the right place to benefit.
0:26:52 > 0:26:56The Severn Bridge opened in 1966, bringing the motorway to Newport the following year.
0:26:56 > 0:27:01It travelled through the first motorway tunnel in Britain.
0:27:01 > 0:27:04Boring the tunnels damaged some local houses,
0:27:04 > 0:27:08but Newport became the first Welsh town on the motorway network.
0:27:08 > 0:27:13It's been the centrepiece of the local economy ever since.
0:27:15 > 0:27:17It helped bring the Koreans to Newport.
0:27:17 > 0:27:22For a while, learning Korean customs was all the rage.
0:27:24 > 0:27:29Everyone was queuing up to welcome electronics giant LG to Newport.
0:27:29 > 0:27:33After all, they said they'd bring 6,000 jobs.
0:27:36 > 0:27:40But LG was a false dawn. Few of the jobs ever came.
0:27:40 > 0:27:43And those that did vanished in a few years.
0:27:44 > 0:27:48A chill economic wind was blowing through Newport.
0:27:51 > 0:27:57Steelmaking ended at Llanwern in 2002, sending shockwaves through the local economy.
0:27:58 > 0:28:02Now there are cuts at some big public sector employers.
0:28:02 > 0:28:08City centre shop closures have added to a sense of gloom.
0:28:19 > 0:28:21It's easy to dwell on the negatives,
0:28:21 > 0:28:24but there are plenty of positives too.
0:28:24 > 0:28:28This new university campus, Newport hosting the 2010 Ryder Cup,
0:28:28 > 0:28:34there are housing and office developments springing up all around the centre.
0:28:35 > 0:28:39Newport is a city at a crossroads,
0:28:39 > 0:28:43needing to reinvent itself yet again for the 21st century.
0:28:43 > 0:28:46If its history teaches us anything,
0:28:46 > 0:28:48it's that that is, well, perfectly possible.
0:28:53 > 0:28:57Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd