A Year with Fred (Relief, Ecstacy and Magic) part 2 A repeat broadcast from 1991 of the BBC2 series about Bolton Steeplejack Fred Dibnah. Date: Thursday 5th September 1991
"99% confident it won't hit any houses" Got insurance down from £3K to £700. That's because he was a master of his trade. To the outsider it all looks hap hazard placement of tyres and wood and drilled holes in the chimney here and there. But this was precision , years of experience to drop that chimney into its own footprint. What a legend, a master of his trade and two fingers up to H&S. The likes we will never see again, the foresight of the TV producer to document this man's work cannot be ignored. Immortalised for ever 👍👍
, I worked at a cotton mill outside Stockport and would do the paper run early doors AM for the blokes there and now and then would bump in to Fred getting his fags half the time he was on his way to Bolton at this daft hour having driven through the early hours he’d say hello light a fag and ask what we did at the mill the on his way utter gentleman and very genuine
Spot on ..the camera man followed him around for 12 month up every chimney.. did so without even telling his family what he was doing most days ..he was Lord and lady pilkingtons relation from St helens ...so glad he did 🙏..Nicholas Wilding well in ....
@@vejet i don't know when your grandad was around but mine certainly wasn't born in the stone ages. Fred was more fitted to the iron age, not quite sure the point of your comment, maybe you think the degenerated youth of today is a good thing.
@@vejet thank you for your in-depth reply. Firstly i have to say I'm a big believer in progress, of course if we can make things easier and effective, esp re getting essential jobs done safer, workers rights etc, i call myself a socialist, have you read 'Road to Wigan pier' ? Socialists were referred to as machine lovers. The point i was making on the other hand is that in the developed society it seems to be having the opposite effect of what the socialist aim is - to further develop the individual so he can reach his true ability. All this progress has given us 20 yr olds that can't even hold a shovel, I'm working on a roof in about 10 mins for the day and I'm greatful for the advanced telehandlers etc but you still need some brawn and ability. Ps, fred could have used the modern methods of tnt etc (in some cases) but chose to do it the old way out of respect of the men who built them.
I always thought that the way Fred brought down the chimneys was far more respectful than explosive demolition, Fred’s way at least they went down with one last puff of smoke!
Great man that is missed by many. I remember the video of fred laddering a chimney with not a ounce of fear in his ability. I still shudder every time that I see those 2x videos. RIP Fred.
No way I would accept anything from the fake royals. Look up the House of Guelph, part of the Windsor family tree. This shows not only were they not English or German, they were Jewish.
They knight footballer’s and entertainer’s who have never got their hands dirty and are vastly overpaid to entertain people. We have our priorities wrong.
I wouldn’t call it absolute precision, it was more a matter of using his common sense and Victorian engineering knowledge of how that chimney would drop once he’d applied his skills to drop it.
What a lovely guy got a lot of time for this man what a legend we’ll never forget Fred always think about him and what he did still whatch his videos too rip Fred 👍👍
I grew up in the early fifties on the Lancs, / Yorks, border when Fred would have melted into the community as did the remnants of blacksmiths, chimney sweeps, and Herriot type farmers and time served tradesmen. A wonderful time full of what now seem eccentric characters harking back to the Victorian age that Fred loved so much. I feel lucky to have been around in that time compared to the world that we now have to endure.
An era the likes of we will never see again. No community spirit and friendship, all about me, me, me. Britain is no longer the country it once was, made so by the people like Fred who knew how to work for a living and was an asset to the community and country in general. We now put sportspeople and so called celebrity entertainer’s on pedestals who would not know a hard days work and dirty hands. R.I.P Fred, thankfully we have these early film records to watch and enjoy seeing a man as a legend in his own time. Sadly passing at such a young age from cancer, aged 66. I am 85 and cannot imagine losing the past 20 years of my life’s activities. Southern Cross Observatory-42 South-Tasmania Australia. Former Leeds Pom
This is just the most amazing watch ever! The thing is falling down and people are less than 35m away!! Could you imagine pulling stuff like this off these days! The man is amazing and what a different era it was back then and this only early 80's!
How life has changed. Police are really community friendly and people actually have common sense. What an amazing man he was, hard as nails and highly intelligent.
Back then they, now the police are a complete bunch of knobh****, you only have to watch those stupid Police Interceptor programmes where they act all cocky with too much power gone to their tiny brains with their hi viz jacket uniforms on (costumes really) and try having a conversation with these ex school bullys and see how confrontation they can be.
@@Embracing01 Could not agree with you more. When I was a kid I was always riding my motorcycle and the local police would tell me off and that was that, I had respect for them and was more scared of my parents when they took me back home. I'm afraid those days are long gone. Most cops now are completely power crazy.
@@richardcarr7557 I think alot of police have been brainwashed with the training courses they've been on. There's a sinister organisation called Common Purpose.
a unique British legend, i hope at the end he still had contact with his kids, didn't know his marriage to Allison broke down, RIP Fred your legend is now cast in Iron you would be proud of thanks to today's technology, quite ironic given your love was the Industrial Age, Go well
Turned out grand for him but sadly he died too young ,but thank goodness his fame so we have these treasured clips to look at ,these guys are becoming the last of their kind ,shame his family life didn’t last beyond that workshop.
IV said this before and I'll say it again......Fred and meny more were old school chaps......I do so look up to them, IV worked along side chaps like Fred.....I so love there teaching and presents, Rip mir sir Fred.
He truly was. Sure there are guys that can kill someone with their bare hands and act all tough, but send them up a chimney like Fred did, and they would be crying and shaking like little girls.
I have seen that one before.The thing came down like rain as opposed to toppling. That was a rotten old stack to do that and I bet he knew it.It looked like every single brick came apart.The trouble with these brick stacks was fluing coal contains sulpher which eats mortar.This stack was clearly knackered and beyond repair.
Fred clearly breathed in a lot of coal dust and smoke during working days as a Steeple Jack. I know someone from Bolton who's like Fred. this Polish Gentleman also loves steam engines too. he spent his working life repairing roads and building walls. we have been helping him out after his wife went back to Bolton but because of the state of his lungs and the recent heavy drinking he's in the process of being put in a home which is very sad.
Great comments indeed Glenn and one thing about Fred was that he was a keen observer on the quality and condition of the brickwork, especially when it came to the chimneys he was hired to drop. There was a brief moment that showed the mouthing Fred had cut into the chimney and it looked like he wall of the chimney was strangely thin for such a tall stack. I wasn't surprised that this one crumbled apart, when the brickwork at the bottom wasn't thick enough to keep supporting the weight, it seemed like only gravity itself was keeping the bugger up before Fred dropped it. It seems that most of the chimneys that Fred dropped in his life had fairly solid brickwork at the bottom, which made them a bit more predictable to how they were going to fall, but there would always be one or two that weren't so solid or reliable to drop.
True celebrity, admired by all for his knowledge, skill and experience - not for getting plastic put in their face and getting their arse out. although I’m sure the builders crack did make an appearance once in a while!
You tube recomendó este héroe, nada savia de el aquí en España, pero si el viviese todavía, viajaria a England conocerlo en persona, es la genacion de mi abuelo el también, minero y mecánico de locomotora.
I’ve got into me own fare bit of trouble as a kid like most but I’ve never tied a bit of clothes line between two opposing houses door handles but having heard that’s a thing, now at age of 52 I feel I need to try it at least once … 🤔
Imagine what Fred could've done with battery power, drills etc....I am in absolute awe of the bollocks this fella had...STEPS...he's stepped a few, but then again too many to mention...all at 90 degrees...didnt give a shit...hope yer having fun in chimney heaven Fred ❤💥🍊
There’s a few of us left that do. Sole traders that don’t need to fill in a encyclopaedia of risk assessments and safety inspections. Plan, turn up & get the job done for less. Every man is their own safety man. I’ve died 0 times so far
Why was his home not turned into a museum ? It could have been used to celebrate all the hardworking men who had worked in engineering and mining in the area and made such a vital contribution to our lives. Suspect council did not want it.
I think they'd be more interested in turning the house into a block of flats with 20 families crammed into it than a museum. More money to made that way from all the greedy housing developers and corrupt council.
@@IfInDoubt..I know that it was open to the public where you could have a guided tour, my dad went there once, took my camcorder but the video didn't come out so good as he pressed record at the wrong time and all he took was the floor and some bloke heard talking lol. He wasn't happy, but he had big hands and my HD camcorder is tiny lol. I think he last wife/partner was called Sheila, I'm assuming she's dead now.
I wonder why he left his last wife out of his will-maybe bits will emerge as I see more episodes. I started this series at his funeral-it popped up on my YT viewing options. A very sad end to a unique man in a time when so much Victoriana was being demolished to make way for the rubbish we see today and will be outdated almost before completion.
0:23 in the next few seconds you can see how close the debris came to those homes. Today, the Council would demand a blanket of back fencing and demolition wouldn't be by fire or dynamite. They'd have to push it over from the back in 20' - 25' foot stage's costing 125 - 150K. Truly, we're watching the end of the age of fire demolition.
Many negative comments about Fred and his selfish ways,they may be well founded,but he left an estate of 1-1 million pounds to his 5 children.Also his last wife received a large amount of money after contesting his will.Not a bad lad really *
Fred dibnah was a legend this is my favourite chimeny drop of mine that that Fred did sadly these days stupid health and safety people and insurance people would have a field day
He lost my respect a little when he accepted an MBE and said to a reporter that the Queen and the British Empire is what made Britain great. Sorry Fred but weren't the ones that made Britain great (or what's left of Britain, communist Britain more like), the Royal Family and British empire are about stealing land and resources from countries, they don't care about the people.
Communism is Capitalism's brutally honest brother. Communism tells you outright that they own you and you own nothing. Capitalism is like Communism but with a narccissistic personality disorder. You are given the illusion of freedom and owning your property but you are manipulated in to credit and debt and if you do not keep them repayments - you then find out who really owns your property and who owns you.
@@Embracing01 I believe Fred was given his MBE for services to support heritage steam. when he went to collect it I have read that he joked with Shelia his third wife by simply saying if they had given him a few bags of coal. He'd have flattened the Queen's drive with his steam roller.
@@eliotreader8220 But he still accepted it nonetheless, which is something I and many of other people would never do. If people really knew what the royal families are about and what they get up, there would pitchforks outside the palace gates waiting to string em up to the nearest lamppost, and Prince Andrew wouldn't be the only one.
No, he replaces part of the chimney bottom with hard wood and continues to take enough of the bricks away. Then part of the chimney is supported by wood that can be burned away. When the wood burns off it doesn't support the chimney anymore and it collapses. I think that needs a hell of a lot balls to make an opening to chimney bottom and trust the wood parts!
I know. Building 7 came down all on its own, supposedly from fire from the north and south tower, but that's nonsense IMO. They either used explosives or some kind of advanced weapon, and I'm going with the latter as there's alot of evidence the WTC had brought down with some kind of advanced energy weapon as evidenced by how it just turned into dust on freefall, hardly any rubble at all. Lots of vehicles some distance from the epicentre where found scorched but nearby objects which should've been affect weren't even touched.
@@Embracing01 Doctor Judith Wood and her "Where Did The Towers Go" presentation is essential viewing. She even took them to court with this scientific evidence. Been a while since I watched it, but I think her conclusion was direct energy weapons etc.
@@EgoShredder Beware of Judith Wood and her ilk. You are being led astray by theory and conjecture, however plausible or implausible. I refer to Christopher Bollyn (journalist). A true hero (currently exiled), who's interest is in identifying and prosecuting the perpetrators of the events of 9/11, who are known, and must be convicted of their crimes.
Yes it collapsed down instead of falling in a line. It was rotten. The supporting posts had not even burned through. Probably the heat from the fire and smoke mad the bricks more unstable than they already were. Lucky escape there.