I was lucky enough to meet him as a kid, went around his back garden with my dad, he was a friend of my grandads, he was also friends with everyone in Bolton. We lost a legend
he was right. when I was growing up we had mole catchers and rabbit catchers, pale and spar makers in the woods, old boys with even older tractors baling hay and working deep in the woods all day, farm hands who could still milk cows by hand and tickle trout in the river, the odd, half mad character who couldn't work but talked to himself sitting by the river or on the wall by the church most of the day. Old ladies living in almost forgotten cottages with grimy windows and a garden full of trees where their husbands used to grow vegetables, that became Tasteful Towers with three stories and a swimming pool in the 1970's. All gone now.
@@bellerophonchallen8861 When I was growing up we had the nail extension repair lady, the car interior specialist, the male beauty salon owner and beard trimmer, the tanfastic tanning boutique officiator, the alucan collector, the mysterious worldphone card salesman from Abujabi, the strange photographer who hung round playgrounds, the plastic gardener and gnome painter, the openly atheist gay vicar, the first and only female ice cream van driver and the professional solvent sniffer who claimed he sailed back from the Falklands in a toy dingy from TJ Hughes. All gone now.
I like that Fred appreciated the art and labor it took to construct those chimneys and deconstructed them with equal art and dignity. The smoke coming out of the chimney is a fitting end to it's dismantling. Hats off to Fred
Yes Peter, you and Fred are right. It's sad when you think of all the hard graft that was put in to build these things just to be demolished. Same goes for old railway lines that were painstakingly constructed then closed years later, abandoned and forgotten. As Fred said, "Good old England will ever come back to them days again." RIP Fred. RIP England.
Have to admit. Allowing the chimney it's last chance to draw smoke is a far fitting way to demolish Ratherthan two days packing explosive for a two second event. Fred know how to do it right
I found it quite sad when he was talking about all the chimneys disappearing. You're watching someone who's acknowledging that a trade he'd spent his entire life mastering is now no longer needed. He was a truly beautiful soul. RIP Fred
Think it’s partly also the fact he grew up surrounded by these monuments of the victorians, when started whats demolishing one or two chimneys in a city of thousands. By the end though, his work was done and it must’ve saddened him to no longer have anything to look up at to remember the great engineers of the past
Moves quickly and forgets all, we talk about 4 men from thousands of year agos (generally speaking the population are not history buffs) but there won't be men like that again. @@luminousfractal420
Exploring Birminghams Black country by canal boat is still a great way to see some of the remnants of the Great Industrial Revolution. Much has survived and much has been lost. But the canals are very much alive and from Chester to London you can still find wonderful reminders of England's Industrial past as you explore the inland waterways.
He was climbing chimneys and erecting scaffolding 300ft high on his own with just one man on the ground well into his 60s,absolutely incredible human being,RIP Fred
When I started work there were characters like Fred in all walks of life everywhere. Sadly now like his chimneys they are all gone and life is very dull without them.Very sad.
They knew something we lost today. Hard to put a finger on it. Maybe sometimes faster isn't better, bigger isn't better, just knowledge to do it right which takes time to learn.
so true, I worked at a company in Clifton Junction (Swinton and Pendlebury) and in the 40's a bloke who worked on the tip built up a small footpath into a road way for the scrap wagon, over the years he laid thousands of bricks he found that had been dumped and used it as hardcore and it was used for years, and got the nickname Lol's Lane after his name. No one would dream of doing that today.
Only recently I was watching how he got the ladders up a chimney and put the scaffold around at the top.You watch a bloke do that and think. Engineer for sure. Clever man.
@LordGoomba I began my career in the mid 80,s in construction.Health and safety was just starting but basically it was still common sense that was the universal approach to not getting hurt.Health and safety on big builds must in itself cost alot of time and money now.Also if you got hurt at work then you couldnt go legal and claim compensation.That just didnt exist.
William Blake saw a bit of the real England dying with every chimney that was built to belch out black smoke and consume child labour. Hence his question "and was Jerusalem builded here among those dark, satanic mills"
Fred use to hate felling chimneys! everyone thinks he use to love it, but he didn't! he always preferred working on them and conserving Britain's great industrial past!
What Fred really hated, was he knew what would replace them. Housing & retail parks. What Fred knew, it was the death of the U.K. as a country that did it all. Those chimneys meant industry. & knocking them down, meant the death of Britain
If Fred were alive and well in 2020, they'd parade him on Morning TV and Phillip Scragfield and Holly Wigglebody would be shaking their heads in disapproval and publicly shaming him over some comment he'd made. I'm just not made for these times either.
EmptyGlass99 Yea slag heaps pollution pumping chimneys an the misery of workin in such conditions. People talk of the good old days that’s because they never lived in the good old fukn days. Times change move on
I don't care for that statue either.. I agree it doesn't look like 'im at all .. My idea would be something similar to the look on the still shot in the Title's of the original Fred. series
@@ranvirbharj2340 Statue of a man sitting atop a long cylindrical object Innocent concepts can really easily go horribly wrong when the public's imagination is allowed to run free on your idea
There is something truly poetic about his method. Looking at the stack from a distance giving its last plume of smoke before it drops is tribute to the stack itself, and its history. Certainly a legend : D
Just started watching these videos had no idea who he was. I must say Fred was an amazing man who deserves to be remembered. RIP sir. Happy new year from Phoenix AZ
JC THEROD Old Fred was a British legend. He only started off on a programme like “ A day in the life of...” an got his own series out of it lasted a few years. It was real entertainment on British TV instead of all the cooking an gardening an doing up old houses shite that we av now. Never mind don’t get me started on that subject we’ll be here all night. Hope ur well an safe over in America mate stay home stay clean stay safe an let’s hope we make it through this pandemic Mick Liverpool UK 🇬🇧
@@mikeymc3094 I appreciate the kind words, My friend and yes i totally agree on all the garbage reality TV programs on the tube. I stopped watching Television years ago, ill only watch major sporting events sometimes. I think guys like Fred are the remnants of what England used to be, hell what real men used to be. Hey you're from Liverpool home of the Beatles that's cool, they are one of my favorites. Keep up the good work my friend and yes lets stay safe and wait this thing out. JCR Phoneix AZ
@@JCtheROD Hey Mick, just been reading the posts between you and Mick. I see you are a Beatles fan, well I am also in Liverpool, I live about a mile from Penny Lane and about three miles from Strawberry Fields. I totally agree with what you both said about the Tv, just garbage. Hope things are good in sunny Arizona. Take care and stay safe mate 😊👍.
You can’t beat jumping to jumping to conclusions can you. I also just assumed that everyone in a high viz jacket must be ‘elf n safety’ too. I always think we should be less safe and more unhealthy.
Watching this brings back memories of me staying with my grandad and watching Fred Dibnah with him. Good times shame they don't show more him on TV anymore. I could sit for hours watching him.
Fred left at the right time - he saw almost everything he knew disappear and you could see the hurt on his face at the end. Look at our society now. A cess pit of vacuous celebrity and cheap thrills.
Maybe social media will be demolished one day, a grand reset, we all get back to living contented with what we have instead of being attention seeking show offs.
Fitting that the man who felled so many of these giant monuments to Victorian engineering had such an understanding and appreciation of their works and vision. Like the reaper really. He never found any joy in their destruction, but took pride in his work, and always went about it in the 'right way' - giving those stacks one last chance to draw breath. My granddad always used to say the man was riveting, and not just because he must surely be riveted together!
I'm surprised he made it to 66 for how hard he worked plus sucking in all that soot and brick dust in all weathers and smoked like a trooper. Fair play to the guy. 👍
I once met Fred as he was going over the M62 in his traction engine he was towing his caravan it would have been in the early 90s a great ENGLISH MAN sadly not many left now . He could work on anything and what a speaker !! Sadly missed our Fred . RIP
Fred was such a character ! You can see the care he had for those chimneys.his total appreciation for the work that it took constructing them all those years ago,
I'm 26 and to me watching Fred to me was like watching a true craftsmen, there are very few if any people that apply such artistry to bringing down chimneys these days and he just had a working class charm, he hated destroying them but he did it in such a way that when everyone else was operating their modern machines he was there with hammers posts and wedges and his flat cap schooling idiots, I wish I could have met him but he will always be a legend. RIP Fred 😢 there's never going to be another
So true, you actually had to put some thought into things back then. Now any moron with a JCB can do as they please mowing over history and building modern plastic MDF council houses
broke this mans heart to bring these relics of the past down i had the pleasure to meet him in the late 80s it was men like him that built this country shame the next generations have ruined it
+Robert Oliver The next generation is saving the lives of hundreds of millions of people down the road at the cost of a few thousand businessmen's coin purses in the short term.
saving lives do you even live on the same planet ? the human race is a virus that consumes every vital thing on the planet we are dead its that simple it will just be about when......this planet will rid itself of the destructive people that dwell on it, that eat away all resources. We have fake money that runs the world and it means nothing global economy is collapsing at a huge rate but the idiots of the planet think money is the be all and end all..let me tell you long after money is gone food will be what wars are fought over
Park Mill (No 2) Bleasdale St Royton was a beautiful building I worked there in the 90s and ironically live where it was demolished. It was owned by the Shiloh group which was a Royton owned cotton syndicate and the last mill in the borough to actually still spin cotton up till it’s closure in 2001 I have wonderful memories working there with some very special people gone but never forgotten along with the gentleman himself RIP Fred ❤️
So sad that we have neither Fred or the age of British manufacturing now. We were world leaders but successive governments have let the country fall to it's knees. RIP Fred Dibnah and Great Britain.
The one and only Fred Dibnah, a man who was multi skilled, hard working, courageous and very knowledgeable about construction, demolition and engineering! A highly talented and genial man, whose TV programmes popularised engineering by explaining things in a very down to earth way how things were made in the past. He was a true hero in every sense of the word! He should have been knighted!
The Great Fred, a good man, fearless, a positive attitude, skilled, creative, brilliant and when he was in his prime he was a strong man. They were better days when men like were around.
I grew up, finished an apprenticeship and studied engineering in Bolton. Since then I have worked and lived all over the world for decades now and thought I don't relate much anymore to my old home town anymore. But when I hear Boltoners speaking, like Fred, salt of the earth types like him, it sends me back and I realise that I'm still one of them. I've even kept my accent and refuse to change it even if I do sometimes get odd looks from people who don't know any better. And I still dream of pies, steak and kidney has always been my favorite, pudding and chips and just chips soaked in vinigar with lots of salt. They don't offer that where I live, you lot in Bolton don't know how good you've got it.
God bless Fred. There will never be anyone close to what he has done. A one in a million type of guy. A hard working and very modest man who was very skillful in many ways. I'm young enough to be his son but I find his vids addictive and have watched the same ones many times over
Time moves on and old tech goes but Fred was one of those oldschool guys had so much skill and knowledge. Respect him because his like are gone, now you google shit. RIP Fred, you made us remember.
The word "legend" is often branded around far to frequently nowadays but I would certainly put Fred in that category. He really is a LEGEND! What a man. ❤
only fred could bring down a chimney with such elegance ,and has a thought for the hard work that went into building it you can see it from his face. im with yah fred.
It brings back happy memories of me watching you bring down the chimney and repair them ,such a happy go lucky fella your still missed Fred but you live on in your videos ..R.I.P MR DIBNAH X
Met him several times. A lovely fella and proper old school. I always make a point of paying my respects at Tonge cemetery whenever I’m up that way. Rest easy chap.
A different generation, and one to likely never be seen again. You could hear the emotion in his voice when talking about them. Fred truly was a national treasure!
The video's about Fred's life and work truly touched me. Top bloke and truly a great example for all, too see him get older and put on weight broke my heart. RIP Fred.
I watched all of the Fred Dibnah videos on RU-vid, I never heard of him before. Fascinating man and very very clever. He was right, England will never recover back to the glory days on a great industry as it’s backbone, that’s all sadly gone now. I suspect Fred’s last wife was a gold digger and wanted the limelight with him and funds, so sad. The world needs more Fred Dibnah !
Kinda tragic watching the 1980s show, and seeing how many factories used to operate just from his vantage point on a chimney. And thinking how in the last 40 years nearly all of them have closed.
He’s a great character who was self taught,educating us all about his passion and enthusiasm for steam and traction engines who’s presenting skills made the layman understand and make equally as enthusiastic.On top of this his steeple jacking career adds more interest for people who again are drawn into Fred’s world....Sadly like those days,Fred has gone(RIP),but his memory and passion is captured for us all to listen and watch his life,presentations,witty stories and educating steam traction stories and these days gone by and all preserved on film. Where he lived and possessions,some now gone,should have been preserved by Bolton for the world. Thanks Fred for you life along with best wishes to all his family and many many friends the world over. We miss you! 👏👏👏👏👏👏👍🏴😉
There will never be another one like Fred. He taught and showed modern generations, just how things were done in the past. I always wanted to meet him, but never got that chance. Legend, Hero, seems hardly fitting to such a fantastic man.
David Seager I deliver around Nelson and brierfield, there's still grand old mills still standing and in use. No chimneys around but still they stand. Proper stone giants
All empires. However ours was the first to steal resources on an industrial scale during the industrial revolution. Indian GDP before we arrived was somewhere in the region of a third of the world's. At independence it was 4%.
I absolutely love these videos and Fred was old school you could tell he did his job to his best ability but still saddened to see these chimneys go as he said the chimneys feel the pain as did he. I wish I could of met the guy. R.I.P Fred Dibnah
Have only just seen these Fred shows for the first time and truly amazed at the skill and knowledge of this man. Never mind old school. He, s to cool for school. I'd have loved to have worked with him he was a font of knowledge. Rip Fred never forgotten..
A true character from a bygone era , loved the colourful way Fred discribed things and his work and passion for steam engines . He probably up their now chatting away with Brunnel . RiP Fred Dibnar .
Fred Dibnah was an inspiration to so many of us honest straight laced and hard working class he was passionate about his work be it repairing church spires or repairing,demolishing chimneys and his love of steam engines,nostalgia and the industrial bygone era id met Fred numerous times over the years always a pleasure i was at Park Mill that day there will never be anyone like him again god bless him R.I.P
A legend I watched wen I was young and still watched Fred wen a lot older. A true English legend gone but will never be forgotten. Rest in peace Fred sitting on that big chimney in the sky . Englands BEST.
Like he states he saw the hard work put into building it, the hard work when people worked on the plant or place. And he gave it respect when he brought them down wether brick by brick or by the fire pit to cast one last puff of smoke before it crumbles
Always a hero of mine and my dad's. We both would have loved to have met him. As stated here Fred was an incredible person and a national treasure. They don't make 'em like that any more! RIP Fred x
We need more Freds in the modern world a man that got things done ...lot's of things and not a single mobile phone , social media post or computer to help him just old fashioned mans ingenuity and basic engineering . RIP Fred a great Englishman .
Your memory is not lost, got a jim'll paint it shirt for you. But i remember watching you with my old man, about trains and engines. Dads gone and so have you. but memories will live on!
