- il y a 4 heures
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00:00Sous-titrage FR ?
00:30Yes.
00:32Well, here we are now in the hut where I write.
00:36I've been in this hut for 30 years now.
00:40Well, it's important.
00:41Before I start, I like to make sure I have everything around me that I'm going to need.
00:48Cigarettes, of course, some coffee, chocolates.
00:54And always make sure I have a sharp pencil before I start.
00:59I have six pencils, and then I like to clean my writing board.
01:05So many bits of rubber.
01:08There.
01:11And then finally one starts.
01:16And so, usually a few corrections needed.
01:33Henry Sugar was 41 years old, unmarried and rich.
01:38He was rich because he had a rich father who was now dead.
01:41He was unmarried because he was too selfish to share any of his money with a wife.
01:45He was six feet two inches tall and not perhaps as handsome as he thought he was.
01:50He paid a great deal of attention to his clothes.
01:52He went to an expensive tailor for his suits, to a shirt maker for his shirts, and to a boot
01:57maker for his shoes.
01:58His hairdresser trimmed his hair once every ten days, and he always took a manicure at the same time.
02:04He drove a Ferrari motor car which cost him about the same as a country cottage.
02:10All his friends were rich, and he had never done a day's work in his life.
02:14Men like Henry Sugar can be found drifting like seaweed all over the world.
02:19They're not particularly bad men, but they're not good men either.
02:24They're simply part of the decoration.
02:28All rich people of Henry's type, of course, have one peculiarity in common.
02:32A terrific urge to make themselves richer.
02:35The ten million is never enough, nor is twenty million.
02:38Always they suffer the insatiable longing for more money,
02:41and the terror of waking up one morning and finding nothing in the bank.
02:45These people employ various methods to increase their fortunes.
02:48Some buy stocks and shares and watch them go up and down.
02:51Some buy land or art or diamonds.
02:53Some bet on roulette, blackjack, horses.
02:56Some, indeed, bet on anything.
02:58Henry Sugar was one of those.
03:00And not at all above cheating, by the way.
03:03One summer weekend, Henry drove down from London to the countryside
03:06to stay with Sir William W.
03:08The house was magnificent, so were the grounds.
03:10But when Henry arrived that Saturday, it was already pelting with rain.
03:14The host and his other guests whiled away the afternoon playing games,
03:17while Henry glumly stared out at the drops, splashing against the windows.
03:21Henry wandered out of the drawing room and into the front hall.
03:25He drifted through the house, aimless, then finally mooched into the library.
03:32Sir William's father had been an important book collector,
03:34and all four walls of this huge room were lined with beautiful,
03:36antiquated leather-bound volumes, floor to ceiling.
03:39Henry Sugar wasn't interested.
03:41The only books he read were detective novels and thrillers.
03:43Nothing like that here.
03:44He was about to leave when his eye was caught and held by something quite different.
03:48It was so slim he never would have noticed it if it had been sticking out a little from the
03:52books on either side.
03:53He pulled it from the shelf.
03:55It was actually nothing more than a cardboard exercise book of the kind that children use at school.
03:59The cover was dark blue, but there was nothing written on it.
04:01On the first page, hand-printed in black ink, clear and neat.
04:04It said...
04:09Strange. Weird.
04:11What is this?
04:13He settled himself into an armchair and started from the beginning.
04:16The following is what Henry read in the Little Blue exercise book.
04:25My name is Zed Zed Chatterjee, head surgeon at Lords and Ladies Hospital, Calcutta.
04:29On the morning of the 2nd of December, 1935, I was in the doctor's restroom having a cup of tea.
04:33Three other doctors were present with me.
04:35Dr. Marshall, Dr. Mithra, and Dr. McFarlane.
04:36There was a knock on the door.
04:38Come in, I said.
04:41Excuse me, please. May I ask your gentleman a favour?
04:44This is a private room, I said.
04:46Yes, I know, and I'm very sorry to burst in like this, but I have a most, I think, interesting
04:50thing to show you.
04:51All four of us were pretty annoyed and we didn't say anything.
04:56Gentlemen, I'm a man who can see without using his eyes.
05:00He was a small man, about 60, with a white moustache and a curious matting of black hair growing all
05:04over the outsides of his ears.
05:05You may bandage my head with 50 bandages in any way you wish and I will still be able to
05:09read you a book.
05:10You seem perfectly serious. I felt my curiosity beginning to stir.
05:14Come in, please.
05:22All right.
05:24How many fingers is Dr. Marshall holding up?
05:26Seven.
05:26Once more, I said.
05:27Nine.
05:27Once more, I said.
05:28Three.
05:29Once more, I said.
05:30Three again.
05:30Once more.
05:32No fingers.
05:34Oh.
05:35What's the trick?
05:36There's no trick.
05:37This is a genuine thing I've managed after years of training.
05:40What sort of training?
05:41Forgive me, sir, but that is a private matter.
05:44What can we do for you?
05:46I work in a travelling theatre.
05:47We arrived in Calcutta today.
05:49Tonight, we give our opening performance at the Royal Palace Hall.
05:52I am billed on the programme as Imdad Khan, the man who sees without his eyes.
05:56Whenever our company arrives in a new town, I go straight to the largest hospital and ask the doctors to
06:01bandage my eyes in the most thorough and expert fashion.
06:04It is important this job is done by doctors, otherwise people may think I'm cheating.
06:08Then I go out into the streets and do a dangerous thing.
06:11I looked at the other three doctors.
06:12Dr. Mitther and Dr. McFarlane had to go back to their patients.
06:15Go on.
06:15But Dr. Marshall said.
06:16Why not?
06:17Let's do the job properly though.
06:18Let's make it absolutely certain.
06:20He can't see anything.
06:20You are extremely kind.
06:22Please do whatever you wish.
06:23Before we bandage him, I said to Dr. Marshall, let's fill his eye sockets with something soft and solid.
06:27Dough.
06:27Perfect.
06:28You nip down to the hospital bakery while I take him into the surgery and see his eyelids.
06:31I let Imdad Khan down the long hospital corridor to the surgery.
06:34Lie down there, please, I said.
06:35I took a small bottle of collodium from the cupboard.
06:37I'm going to glue your eyelids shut with this stuff.
06:40How do I remove it later?
06:41Just dab a bit of alcohol carefully below the lashes.
06:44That'll to solve it.
06:44Keep your eyes closed while we wait for it to harden, please.
06:47Two minutes passed.
06:48Try to open your eyes, I said.
06:50Of course, he couldn't.
06:51I took a lump of Dr. Marshall's dough and plastered it over one of Imdad Khan's eyes.
06:54I filled the whole socket and let the dough overlap onto the surrounding skin.
06:59I did the same with the other eye.
07:00I pressed the edges down hard.
07:02That isn't too uncomfortable, is it?
07:04I asked.
07:04Not at all, thank you.
07:05You do the bandaging, I said to Dr. Marshall.
07:07My fingers are too sticky.
07:09Pleasure.
07:09I'll just pop these here.
07:12Dr. Marshall laid a thick wad of cotton wool on top of Imdad Khan's dough-filled eyes.
07:15It's stuck in place.
07:16Sit up, please.
07:18Dr. Marshall wrapped a roll of three-inch bandage round and round the man's face and head.
07:21Please, do leave my nose free for breathing.
07:23Of course.
07:25Sorry, it's going to be a pinch on the tight side.
07:31How's that?
07:32Splendid, I said.
07:33He looked like a man who had suffered some terrible brain operation.
07:35How does it feel?
07:36It feels very good.
07:37I must compliment you gentlemen on doing such a thorough job.
07:41Imdad Khan stood up off the bed and walked straight to the door.
07:51Great Scott.
07:52Did you see that?
07:53He put his hand bright on the doorknob.
07:54Dr. Marshall stopped grinning.
07:56Imdad Khan was walking normally quite briskly along the hospital corridor.
07:59Dr. Marshall and I followed five yards behind him.
08:01And very spooky it was to watch this man with an enormous white and totally bandaged head strolling casually along
08:05the floor.
08:05He saw it, I cried.
08:07He saw that trolley.
08:08This is absolutely unbelievable.
08:09Dr. Marshall didn't answer.
08:11His whole face was rigid with shock disbelief.
08:14Imdad Khan came to the stairs and went down with no trouble at all.
08:16He didn't even put a hand on the stair rail.
08:18Several people were coming up, you can see how they reacted.
08:21At the bottom of the stairs he turned and headed out the doors of the street.
08:25Dr. Marshall and I kept close behind him.
08:28Below us in the courtyard a waiting proud of a hundred barefoot children shouted in search towards our white headed
08:32visitor.
08:33He greeted them by holding both hands above his head.
08:35He walked directly to a bicycle mounted it and pedaled a figure eight around the courtyard.
08:39The barefoot children chased him cheering and laughing in his wake.
08:41He sped straight out into the caotically bustling traffic of the busy street with honking careening motorcars whizzing around him
08:46in every direction.
08:47He wrote superbly.
08:49For a minute we kept him in sight.
08:51Then he turned a corner and was gone.
08:53I can't bring myself to believe it, Dr. Marshall said.
08:55I can't bring myself to believe it.
08:57I can't either, I said.
08:58I think we just witnessed a miracle.
09:01The rest of the day I was kept busy with patients in the hospital.
09:04At six in the evening I drove back to my flat for a change of clothes.
09:06I took a long cool shower.
09:08I drank a whiskey and soda sitting on the veranda with only a towel around my waist.
09:11At ten minutes to seven I arrived at the Royal Palace Hall.
09:14The show lasted two hours.
09:16To my surprise I enjoyed it.
09:17The juggler, the snake charmer, the fire eater, the sword swallower pushed a rapier four feet down his throat and
09:21into his stomach.
09:22Last of all, to a great fanfare of trumpets, our friend Imdad Khan came out to do his act.
09:27Members of the audience were called on stage to blindfold him with sheets and scarves before he threw knives all
09:31around a small boy's body and shot a tin can off the small boy's head with a revolver.
09:34Then, finally, a metal barrel was fitted over his already bandaged head.
09:38The boy placed a needle in one of Imdad Khan's hands and a length of cotton thread in the other.
09:42An enormous magnifying glass was positioned in front of him and, with no false moves, he neatly threaded the thread
09:47through the eye of the needle.
09:54I was flabbergasted.
09:57Backstage I found Imdad Khan sitting quietly on a wooden stool while he removed his stage makeup.
10:01You're curious, Doctor. Am I correct?
10:03Most curious, I said. Once again I was struck by the peculiarly thick matting of black hair growing on the
10:07outsides of his ears.
10:08I'd never seen anything quite like it on any other person.
10:10I have a proposal. I'm not a writer by profession, but if you'll tell me exactly how you developed this
10:15power of being able to see without your eyes,
10:17I'll take it down as faithfully as I can, then I'll type it up and try to get it published
10:20in the British Medical Journal,
10:21or maybe even in some famous magazine. Would that help you to become better known?
10:25It would help me very much.
10:26Splendid. I have a sort of private shorthand I use for taking down medical histories.
10:30I believe I got everything Imdad Khan said to me that evening, word for word.
10:33I give it to you now, exactly as you spoke it.
10:42I was born in Kashmir State in 1873.
10:45My father was a ticket inspector on the National Railway.
10:48One day, a conjurer came to our school and gave a performance.
10:52I was spellbound.
10:53Two weeks later, I took all my savings and ran away from home to join a travelling theatre company.
10:58That was in 1886. I was 13 years old.
11:01For three years, I travelled with this group all over the Punjab.
11:05By the end of it, I was playing top of the bill.
11:08All the time, I was saving money, which finally added up to just over 3,000 rupees.
11:14At this moment, I heard tell of a great famous yogi who had acquired the rare power of levitation.
11:20It was said that when he prayed, his whole body left the ground and rose up 18 inches into the
11:24air.
11:25At the very least, a terrific effect.
11:28Moustache?
11:31I quit the theatre company and made my way to the small town on the banks of the Ganges, where
11:36rumours said this yogi was living.
11:38One day, I overheard a traveller mention a hermit he'd encountered not so very far away in the densest jungle,
11:43all alone.
11:44That was enough for me.
11:45I dashed out to hire a horse and cart.
11:49As I negotiated with the driver, a man appeared and said he was going in the same direction
11:53and suggested we share the ride and split the cost.
11:56Well, what truly fantastic luck.
11:59Talking to my companion, I found that he was the disciple of the great yogi himself
12:03and on his way at that very moment to visit his master.
12:06I blurted out,
12:07This is the man I'm looking for. Please may I meet him?
12:10My companion looked at me long and slow.
12:13That is impossible, he said.
12:15From this point forward, he refused to answer my questions.
12:18However, I managed to learn one small thing.
12:21The time of day, the great yogi commenced his meditation.
12:24My companion signalled to halt the cart, dismounted and was gone.
12:29I pretended to drive on, but just around the corner, I jumped down and snuck back along the path.
12:33Already, the man had disappeared into the jungle.
12:36I had a rustling in the undergrowth.
12:38If that's not him, I thought, then it's a tiger, and I'm about to be pounced upon, thoroughly thrashed,
12:43and eaten in little torn morsels of bloody flesh.
12:47It was him.
12:50There was not even a shadow of a trace of a path where the man was walking.
12:54He was pushing his way between tall bamboos and every kind of heavy vegetation.
12:58I crept after him, very quiet, keeping at least a hundred yards behind.
13:02Whenever I lost sight of him, which was most of the time, I was able to follow the sound of
13:07his footsteps.
13:08For half an hour, this tense game of follow the leader went on.
13:11Then, suddenly, I no longer heard the man in front of me.
13:14I stopped and listened.
13:16All at once, through the thick undergrowth, I saw a little clearing and two small huts.
13:21My heart jumped.
13:22There was a small waterhole next to the nearest hut, with a prayer mat beside it,
13:26and above, a large baobab tree, with beautiful, thick, leafy branches.
13:31All through the great noontime heat, I waited.
13:33On through the heavy, wet heat of the afternoon, I waited.
13:36Then, as five o'clock approached, I quietly climbed up my tree and hid among the leaves.
13:41Finally, the great yogi came out of his hut and sat cross-legged on the mat.
13:45Each movement he made was calm and gentle.
13:48He put his hands palm downward on his knees and took a long breath through his nostrils.
13:52And, already, I could see a sort of brightness was melting over him.
13:56For fourteen minutes, he remained perfectly still in this position.
14:00And then, as I watched, I saw, quite positively, his body slowly lifting off the ground.
14:07Twelve inches, fifteen, eighteen, twenty.
14:11Two feet above the prayer mat.
14:14Up in the tree, I said to myself,
14:16There, before you, is a man sitting in the air.
14:20Forty-six minutes by my watch, his body remained suspended.
14:24And then he slowly descended back to earth until his buttocks rested again upon the mat.
14:29I climbed down from my tree and ran straight over.
14:31The great yogi was washing his hands and feet in a basin.
14:34How long have you been here? he said sharply.
14:36Suddenly, he picked up a brick and threw it at me so hard,
14:39it broke in two as it struck my right leg just below the knee.
14:41I have the scar still. I'll show it to you.
14:46This was actually a stroke of luck.
14:48A great yogi isn't meant to lose his temper and fling bricks.
14:51The old man was humiliated, remorseful, and deeply disappointed in himself.
14:56He explained to me that though he could not take me on as a disciple,
14:59he would, nevertheless, give me some informal instruction in order to make amends for attacking me.
15:04An attack I fully deserved, by the way.
15:07This was in 1890. I was nearly seventeen years old.
15:12Now, what was the great yogi's instruction? Here it comes.
15:16The mind is a scattered thing. It concerns itself with thousands of different items at once.
15:21Things you are seeing around you, things you are hearing and smelling,
15:24things you are thinking about, things you are trying not to think about.
15:27You must learn to concentrate your mind in such a way that you can visualize at will one item,
15:31one item only, and absolutely nothing else.
15:33If you work hard at this, you may be able to concentrate your conscious mind on any one object you
15:37select
15:37for approximately three and one half minutes.
15:39This will take around twenty years of diligent daily continual effort.
15:42Twenty years, I cried.
15:44Twenty years, it may take longer. Twenty years is the usual time,
15:47if you are able to do it at all, by the way.
15:48I'll be an old man by then.
15:50The time varies. Some take ten years, some take thirty.
15:53On an extremely rare occasion, a special person comes along
15:56who is able to develop the power in only one or two years,
15:58but this is one in a billion, not you.
16:01Is it really that difficult to concentrate the mind for just so much...
16:04Almost impossible.
16:05Try to see.
16:06Shut your eyes and think of something.
16:08Think of just one object.
16:09Visualize it.
16:10See it before you.
16:11In a few seconds, your mind will start to wonder.
16:13Other thoughts will creep in.
16:14It's a very difficult thing.
16:16Thus spoke the great wise old yogi.
16:20And so, my exercises began.
16:24Each evening, I sat down, closed my eyes and visualized the person I love best in the world,
16:29which was my elder brother, who died aged ten from a blood disease.
16:32I concentrated on picturing his face, but the instant my mind began to wander,
16:36I stopped the exercise, rested for several minutes, then I tried again.
16:40After five years of daily practice, I was able to concentrate absolutely on my brother's face for one and a
16:46half minutes.
16:47I was making progress.
16:51In the meantime, I began to earn quite good money given conjuring performances.
16:55By nature, my sight of hand is very good, but always I continued my exercises.
17:00Every evening, wherever I was, I settled myself down in a quiet spot and concentrated my mind on my brother's
17:06face.
17:07Sometimes I lit a candle and began by staring at the flame.
17:10A candle flame, as you know, has three separate parts.
17:14The yellow at the top, the merve lower down, and the black inside.
17:17I placed the candle 16 inches away from my face, absolutely level with my eyes,
17:22so I did not have to make even the tiniest adjustment of my eye muscles by looking up or down.
17:27I stared at the black part right in the center until everything around me disappeared.
17:31Then I shut my eyes and began to concentrate on my brother's face.
17:36By 1907, when I was 34 years old, I could concentrate for three minutes without any wandering of my mind
17:42whatsoever.
17:43It was also at this time that I began to become aware of the slight ability.
17:46Just a queer little feeling that when I closed my eyes and looked at something hard with fierce intensity,
17:52I could see the outline of the object I was looking at.
17:55I thought of a thing the old yogi had said to me.
17:57Certain holy people have been known to develop so great a concentration they can see without using their eyes.
18:04Each night, after I performed my exercises with a candle flame, I drank a cup of coffee,
18:09then I blindfolded myself and sat in my chair, trying to see without my eyes.
18:13I started with a deck of playing cards.
18:16I studied the backs, I guessed the values immediately.
18:18I had a 60% success rate.
18:20Later, I bought maps and navigational charts and pinned them up all around my room.
18:24I spent hours looking at them blindfolded, trying to read the small lettering of the place names and the rivers.
18:29Every evening for the next eight years, I proceeded with this kind of practice.
18:33By 1915, I could read a book straight through, cover to cover, blindfolded.
18:37I had it.
18:39At last, I had this power.
18:42Of course, as you know, it became my entire conjuring performance.
18:45Audiences loved it, but no one ever believed it to be genuine.
18:48Still don't.
18:49Even doctors such as yourself, who blindfolded me in the most expert fashion,
18:52refuse to believe anyone could see without his eyes.
18:55They forget that there are other ways of sending an image to the brain.
18:58Himbad Khan fell silent. He was tired. What other ways, I asked?
19:04Quite honestly, I do not know.
19:07The seeing is done by another part of the body.
19:11Which part?
19:22That night, I didn't go to bed.
19:23This man would have scientists all over the world telling somersaults in the air.
19:26He must be the most valuable man alive.
19:28I had to find out exactly how it was, biologically, chemically, magically,
19:32that an image could be sent to the brain without using the eyes.
19:35Blind people might be able to see, deaf people to hear, who knows what else.
19:38This incredible man must not be ignored, I thought.
19:41I started transcribing with great care everything Imbad Khan had told me that evening.
19:45I wrote for five hours without stopping.
19:50At 80 o'clock the next morning, time to go to the hospital,
19:52I finished the most important part, the pages you have just read.
19:54I didn't see Dr. Marshall until we met in the doctor's restroom for our tea break.
19:58I told them as much as I could in the ten minutes we had to spare.
20:00I'm going back to the theatre tonight, I said. We can't lose him now.
20:03I'll come with you.
20:04At a quarter to seven that evening, we drove to the Royal Palace Hall.
20:06I parked the car and the two of us walked to the theatre.
20:09There was something wrong, I said.
20:11There was no crowd outside the hall, and the doors were closed.
20:13The poster advertising the show was still in place,
20:15but I now saw that someone had printed across it in black paint.
20:17The night's performance cancelled.
20:20I asked an old gatekeeper standing by the locked doors.
20:23What happened?
20:24Someone died.
20:25Who? Of course, I already knew.
20:27The man who sees without his eyes.
20:30How? I cried.
20:32He went to sleep and never woke up.
20:35These things happen.
20:39We walked slowly back to the car.
20:46I felt an overwhelming sense of grief and anger.
20:48I should never have allowed this precious man out of my sight.
20:50I should have given him my bed and taken care of him.
20:52Imdad Khan was a maker of miracles.
20:54He had communicated with mysterious and powerful forces
20:56far beyond the reach of ordinary people.
20:57Now, he was dead.
21:00That's that, Dr. Marshall said.
21:02That's that?
21:04Yes, I said.
21:06That's that.
21:12This is a true and accurate report of everything that took place
21:15concerning my two meetings with Imdad Khan.
21:20Well, well, well.
21:22Now, that is extremely interesting.
21:25This is a terrific piece of information.
21:29This could change my life.
21:50The piece of information Henry was referring to was that Imdad Khan had trained himself to read the value of
21:56a playing card from the reverse side.
21:58And being, as mentioned, a dishonest gambler, Henry realized at once he could make a fortune.
22:05He went downstairs to the butler's pantry and asked for a candle, a candlestick, and a ruler.
22:10He took them to his bedroom, locked the door, drew the curtains, and turned off the lights.
22:13He put the candle on the dressing table and pulled up a chair.
22:16He noticed with satisfaction that his eyes were exactly level with the wick.
22:20Using the ruler, he positioned his face 16 inches from the candle, as indicated in the book.
22:25Imdad Khan had visualized the face of the person he loved best, which in his case was his deceased brother.
22:31Henry didn't have a brother.
22:33He decided instead to visualize his own face.
22:43As Henry stared into the tiny black area at the center of the candle flame, an extraordinary thing happened.
22:48His mind went absolutely blank, his brain ceased fidgeting, and all at once he felt as if his entire body
22:54had become encased snug and cozy within that little black area of burning nothingness.
22:59Admittedly, this lasted only 15 seconds, but from that moment on, no matter where he was or what he was
23:03doing, he made a point of practicing with the candle five times a day.
23:07For the first time in his life, he threw himself into something with genuine enthusiasm, and the progress he made
23:12was remarkable.
23:14After six months, he could concentrate absolutely upon the image of his own face for no less than three minutes
23:18without a single outside thought entering his mind.
23:21It's me, Henry thought. I'm the one in a billion gifted with the ability to acquire yoga powers at incredible
23:26speed.
23:28By the end of the first year, he'd exceeded five and a half minutes. The time had come.
23:37The living room of Henry's London flat, midnight.
23:40Henry shakes with excitement as for the first time he places a deck of cards upside down before him and
23:44concentrates on the top card.
23:46All he can see initially is the very ordinary design of thin red lines on the back, perhaps the most
23:50common playing card design in the world.
23:52He now shifts his concentration from the pattern itself to the other side of the card.
23:56He focuses with great intensity upon the invisible underneath of the card.
24:00Thirty seconds elapse.
24:01One minute, two minutes, three minutes.
24:03Henry doesn't move a muscle.
24:05His now highly developed concentration is absolute.
24:07He visualizes the reverse of the playing card.
24:09No other thought of any kind is permitted to enter his mind.
24:12During the fourth minute, something starts to happen.
24:14Slowly, magically, but distinctly.
24:16A black blob becomes a spade.
24:18A twisty squiggle becomes a five.
24:20The five of spades.
24:21Fingers quivering.
24:22He picks up the card and turns it over.
24:26I've done it, he says.
24:28Henry becomes a fanatic.
24:29He never leaves his flat except to buy food and drink.
24:32All day, and often far into the night, he crouches over the cards with the stopwatch beside him, reducing his
24:37time second by second.
24:38Within a month, he's down to a minute and a half.
24:40Six months, twenty seconds.
24:41Seven more months, ten seconds flat.
24:43His target is five.
24:45He knows that unless he can read through a card in a maximum of five seconds, he won't be able
24:48to work the casino successfully.
24:50Yet the nearer he gets to his target, the more difficult it becomes to reach it.
24:54It takes four weeks to get from ten seconds to nine, five more to get from nine to eight.
24:57At this stage, hard work no longer bothers him.
24:59Of course, he's able to work for twelve hours straight, no trouble at all.
25:02He knows with absolute certainty he'll get there in the end.
25:04The last two seconds are the hardest.
25:06Eleven months, but late one Saturday afternoon.
25:16Five seconds.
25:18Henry goes straight through the pack, timing himself with every card.
25:20Five seconds.
25:22Five seconds.
25:23Five seconds.
25:25How long has it taken him to reach this moment?
25:28Three years and three months of uninterrupted effort.
25:33There were well over a hundred legitimate casinos in London.
25:35Henry was a member of no less than ten of them.
25:37Lord's House was his favourite.
25:39It was the finest in the land, located in a magnificent Georgian mansion.
25:43Good evening, Mr Sugar.
25:44Said the man behind the desk whose job it was to never forget a face.
25:46Henry ascended the marvellous wide staircase and entered the cashier's office.
25:50He wrote a cheque for ten thousand pounds.
25:51Well-fed women circled the roulette wheel like plump hens around a feeding hopper.
25:56Men with crimson faces, cigars between their lips, counted their chips, eyes glittering with greed.
26:02Odd.
26:03For the first time in Henry's life, he looked with distaste upon a room full of frankly horrible rich people.
26:07Henry searched for a vacant seat directly on the dealer's camera left at any of the blackjack tables.
26:12The dealer took Henry's plaque and dropped it into a slot on the table.
26:15He was a young-ish man with black eyes and grey skin.
26:18He never smiled and only spoke when necessary.
26:20He had exceptionally slim hands and there was arithmetic in his fingers.
26:23He picked up a wedge of 25-pound chips and placed them in a pile on the table.
26:27He didn't need to count them. Those nimble fingers were never wrong.
26:29He slid the pile to Henry.
26:31As Henry stacked his chips in front of him, he glanced at the top card in the dealer's shoe.
26:35In five seconds, he read it as a ten.
26:36He pushed out eight of his chips, 200 pounds, the maximum stake allowed for blackjack at Lord's House.
26:40He was dealt the ten. For his second card, he got a nine.
26:43Nineteen altogether. On nineteen, you stick.
26:45You sit tight and hope the dealer doesn't get twenty or twenty-one. It's a given.
26:49When the dealer came round again to Henry, he said...
26:51Nineteen.
26:51He passed on to the next player. Wait, said Henry.
26:54The dealer paused and came back to Henry. He raised his eyebrows and looked at him with those cool black
26:58eyes.
26:58You wish to draw to nineteen? He asked crisply.
27:00There were, of course, only two ranks in the shoe that wouldn't bust a nineteen, the ace and the two.
27:04Only an idiot would risk drawing on nineteen, especially with 200 pounds on the table.
27:08The back of the next card to be dealt lay clearly visible. The dealer hadn't touched it.
27:11Yes, Henry said. Another card. The dealer shrugged and dealt it.
27:15The two of clubs landed neatly in front of Henry alongside the ten and the nine.
27:18Twenty-one.
27:18The dealer said evenly.
27:19His black eyes glanced up again into Henry's face and rested there, silent, watchful, puzzled.
27:25Henry had unbalanced him.
27:27He'd rarely, if ever, seen anyone draw on nineteen.
27:29This fellow had drawn on nineteen with a calmness and certainty that was quite staggering.
27:32And he'd won.
27:34Henry caught the look in the dealer's eyes and realised at once he'd made a silly mistake.
27:37He'd attracted attention.
27:38I beg your pardon?
27:39He must never do that again.
27:41He must be very careful and even make himself lose occasionally.
27:44The game went on.
27:45Henry's advantage was so enormous, he had difficulty keeping his winnings down to a reasonable sum.
27:49In an hour, he'd won thirty thousand pounds.
27:51There he stopped.
27:52Could just as easily have been a million.
27:54Thank you.
27:56Henry was now almost certainly capable of making money faster than any other person in the entire world.
28:03Interesting.
28:09Had this been a made-up story instead of a true one, it would have been necessary at this point
28:12to invent some kind of a surprising and exciting end for the thing, something dramatic and unusual.
28:17For example, Henry could go home to his flat and start counting his money.
28:20While doing this, he might suddenly begin to feel unwell.
28:23He has a pain in his chest.
28:25He decides to go to bed immediately.
28:27He takes off his clothes.
28:28He walks naked to the cupboard to put on his pyjamas.
28:30He passes the full-length mirror against the wall.
28:32He stops.
28:33Automatically from force of habit, he starts to concentrate.
28:36All at once, he sees through his own skin.
28:38Like an x-ray, only better, he sees everything.
28:41Arteries, veins, the blood pumping through him.
28:43Liver, kidneys, intestines.
28:45He sees his heart beating.
28:46He looks at the point in his chest where the pain is coming from and sees a small dark lump
28:50inside the large vein leading into the heart on the right-hand side.
28:52A blood clot.
28:53At first, the clot appears to be stationary.
28:56Then it moves.
28:56The movement's very slight, only a minimetre or so.
28:59The blood in the vein is pumping up behind the clot and pushing past it, and the clot moves again.
29:03It jerks forward about half an inch.
29:05Henry watches in terror.
29:06He knows a large blood clot which is broken free and is travelling in the vein will ultimately reach the
29:10heart.
29:11He is about to die.
29:12Now, that wouldn't be a bad ending for a work of fiction.
29:14This story isn't fiction.
29:15This story is fact.
29:16The only untrue thing about it is Henry's name, which wasn't Henry Sugar.
29:19His name has to be protected.
29:20Still must be protected.
29:22Apart from that, this is a true story.
29:24And because it's a true story, it must have the true ending.
29:28Here's what actually happened.
29:33Henry walked for an hour.
29:35The evening was cool and pleasant, the city still wide awake.
29:38He could feel the thick bankroll in the inside pocket of his jacket.
29:41He patted it gently.
29:43A lot of money for an hour's work.
29:45Yet, he was a puzzled man.
29:47He couldn't understand why he felt so little excitement about this tremendous success.
29:51This sort of thing had happened to him three years ago before he started the yoga business.
29:54He'd have gone crazy with excitement.
29:56He'd have been rushing off to the nearest nightclub to celebrate.
29:58But Henry didn't feel excited.
30:00He felt sad.
30:02Every time he made a bet, he'd been certain to win.
30:04There was no thrill, no suspense, no danger.
30:08Of course, from now on, he knew that he could travel all around the world making millions.
30:11But was it going to be any fun?
30:12Another thing, was it not entirely possible the process he'd gone through to acquire yoga powers
30:17had completely and utterly changed his entire outlook on life?
30:20It was possible.
30:22The next morning, Henry woke up late, got out of bed, saw the enormous bundle lying on his dressing table,
30:27and didn't want it.
30:54What?
30:55Good morning, sir.
30:56That's for you.
30:57It's a present.
30:59Present.
31:00For what?
31:02Put it in your pocket.
31:05Of course.
31:14What is it?
31:16It's their body.
31:17Keep it!
31:24Hey!
31:28Come here.
31:34Thanks, my brother!
31:37My brother!
31:39Am I dead, boy?
31:40My brother?
31:40Oh, my baby!
31:41I'm dead, boy!
32:11Just giving away some money
32:12I do beg your pardon
32:13I won't do it again
32:13They'll soon go away, I'm sure
32:15The policeman took one hand off his hip
32:16And produced a 50 pound note
32:17Aha, you got one yourself
32:18This is evidence
32:20Where'd the money come from?
32:21I won it at Blackjack
32:22I had a tremendously lucky night
32:24Henry gave the name of his club
32:25And the policeman wrote it down
32:26In a little book
32:27Check it up, they'll tell you it's true
32:28The policeman lowered the book
32:29I don't care
32:30Don't you?
32:30Not at all, not whatsoever
32:32In fact, I believe your story
32:33But that doesn't excuse what you did
32:35Even the tiniest little bit
32:36I didn't do anything illegal, did I?
32:40Illegal?
32:41You're an idiot!
32:43If you're lucky enough
32:44To win yourself
32:45A tremendous big sum of money like that
32:46And you want to give it away
32:47You don't throw it out of the window
32:49You give it somewhere
32:50It'll do some good
32:51A hospital, for instance
32:53Or an orphanage
32:54There's hospitals and orphanages
32:55All over the country
32:56Got hardly enough money
32:57To buy the kids a present for Christmas
32:59Then along comes a spoiled idiot like you
33:01Who's never known for a minute
33:02What it's like to be hard up
33:03And you throw the stuff out into the street
33:06With that, the policeman
33:07Stomped down the stairs
33:08And banged out of the front door
33:09Henry didn't move
33:10The policeman's words
33:11And the genuine fury
33:12With which he'd spoken
33:13And struck hard and deep
33:14He was ashamed
33:16It was an awful feeling
33:23Then very suddenly
33:24All at once
33:25Henry felt a powerful electricity
33:26Tingling through his entire body
33:28And there began to come to him
33:29The great and marvellous idea
33:30That was to change everything
33:32Henry started pacing up and down
33:33Taking off the points
33:34That would make his marvellous idea possible
33:37One
33:37I'm going to win a very large sum of money
33:39Each and every day of my life
33:40From this moment forward
33:42Two
33:42I must never go to the same casino
33:44More than once every six months
33:46Three
33:46I must never win too much money
33:48In one sitting
33:49£50,000 a night
33:50That's my limit
33:51Four
33:51£50,000 a night
33:53For 365 days a year
33:55That's £18.25 million
33:57Five
33:58I'll keep moving
33:59No more than two or three nights
34:00At a stretch in any one city
34:01London
34:02Monte Carlo
34:03Cairn
34:03Biorets
34:04Deauville
34:04Las Vegas
34:05Mexico City
34:05Buenos Aires
34:06Nassau
34:07Six
34:07I'll take the money I make
34:08And establish hospitals and orphanages
34:10All around the world
34:11I agree
34:12As a dream
34:12That sounds corny and sentimental
34:13But as a reality
34:14And I think I can actually make it work
34:16I don't think it would be corny at all
34:17It would be
34:18I think
34:18Wonderfully stupendous
34:19Seven
34:20I need a partner
34:21Someone who can sit behind a desk
34:23And receive all the money
34:23Then send it back out
34:24To the people who need it
34:25Someone I can deeply
34:26Emphatically
34:26Categorically
34:27Trust forever
34:29John Winston was Henry's accountant
34:30He'd also been Henry's father
34:31Father's accountant
34:32To John Winston's father
34:33Had been Henry's father's father's accountant
34:34You could be the richest man on earth
34:38I don't want to be the richest man on earth
34:43I can't operate in England
34:44The tax man will take it all
34:46I'll have to move to Switzerland
34:47I suppose
34:47But not tomorrow
34:48I'm not an unattached bachelor
34:49Like you and their responsibilities
34:50I must talk to my wife and children
34:52I must give notice to my partners
34:53In the firm
34:54I must sell my house
34:55I must find another house in Switzerland
34:56I must take the kids out of school
34:57These things take time
34:58One year later
34:59Henry had sent just over
35:00120 million pounds
35:02To John Winston in Lausanne
35:03The money was delivered
35:04Five days a week
35:05To a Swiss company
35:06Called Winston Sugar LLC
35:08Nobody except John Winston and Henry
35:10Knew where the money came from
35:11Or what was going to happen to it
35:12The Monday remittance
35:13Was always the biggest
35:14Because it included
35:15Henry's take for Friday
35:16Saturday and Sunday
35:17When the banks were closed
35:18He moved with astonishing speed
35:19Sometimes changing his identity
35:21Several times in a single week
35:22Often the only clue
35:23John Winston had
35:24As to Henry's whereabouts
35:25Was the address of the bank
35:26Which had said the money
35:27It was stupendous
35:49Henry died last year
35:50Age 63
35:51From a pulmonary embolism
35:53He saw it coming
35:53Quite literally
35:54But was very much at peace
35:55He'd been following his plan
35:57For just over 20 years
35:58He'd made 644 million pounds
36:01He'd left 21 well-established
36:03Well-run children's hospitals
36:04And orphanages
36:05All around the world
36:06Administered and financed
36:07From Lausanne
36:08By John Winston
36:08And his staff
36:10His work was complete
36:16Now
36:16How do I know all this?
36:18Good question
36:19I'll tell you
36:20Soon after Henry's death
36:21John Winston telephoned me
36:22From Switzerland
36:23He introduced himself simply
36:25As the head of a company
36:26Calling itself
36:27Winston Sugar LLC
36:28And asked if I'd come to Lausanne
36:30To see him
36:31With a view to writing
36:31A brief history
36:32Of the organisation
36:34I don't know how he chose me
36:36Probably had a list of writers
36:37And stuck a pin in it
36:38He would pay me well
36:40He said
36:40And added
36:41A remarkable man has died recently
36:43His name was Henry Sugar
36:44I think people ought to know
36:46A bit about what he has done
36:47For the world
36:49In my ignorance
36:50I asked whether the story
36:51Was really interesting enough
36:52To merit being put on paper
36:54This annoyed John Winston
36:55Very much
36:56Perhaps it even offended him
36:57In five minutes on the phone
37:00He told me about
37:00Henry Sugar's secret career
37:02It was secret no longer
37:04Henry was dead
37:05And would never enter
37:06Another casino again
37:08I'm coming
37:08I said
37:09In Lausanne
37:10I met John Winston
37:12Now over 70
37:13Also Max Engelman
37:14A renowned make-up artist
37:15Who travelled the world
37:16With Henry
37:17Creating fantastic disguises
37:18To conceal his identity
37:20They were both shattered
37:21By Henry's death
37:22Max even more so
37:23Than John Winston
37:24I loved him
37:24He was a great man
37:26John Winston showed me
37:27The original dark blue exercise book
37:29Written by ZZ Chatterjee
37:31In Calcutta in 1935
37:32I later copied it out
37:33Word for word
37:34One last question
37:35I said
37:36You keep calling him
37:37Henry Sugar
37:38Yet you tell me
37:38That wasn't his name
37:39Don't you want me to say
37:41Who he really was
37:42When I do the story
37:43No
37:43John Winston said
37:44Max and I promised
37:45Never to reveal his identity
37:46Oh I suppose
37:48It'll probably leak out
37:48Sooner or later
37:49After all he was
37:50From a fairly well known
37:51English family
37:51But I'd appreciate it
37:53If you didn't try to find out
37:54Just please
37:54Just call him plain
37:55Mr. Henry Sugar
37:58And that is what
37:59I have done
38:00I have done
38:41You've got to be
38:41I am
38:41You and baby
38:57I'm
38:58you
40:58...
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