Documentary series on steeplejack, engineer and Victorian styled legend Fred Dibnah. This 1996 series is edited from several previous documentaries. This version is in the original 4x3 aspect ratio.
Not often I find myself thankful to the RU-vid algorithm but I found myself spending a whole Sunday afternoon binging on this gem of a series. Thoroughly enjoyed it. What a guy! RIP Fred.
Yes me too I remember watching them with my grandad years ago... Found Found them again somehow and spending my Sunday watching all these episodes...best Sunday iv. Had for a while...
I watched these films when they came out and I am watching them again now. They are pure 100 percent entertainment. Big thanks for posting these. Two thumbs up.
My interests are in computing, tech and high end hifi, that’s mainly the subjects that I follow on RU-vid. And yet what I enjoy the most is finding a Fred Dibnah video I’ve never seen before, a completely amazing man. RIP Fred.
Just discovered him and have been binge watching these documentaries . I couldn't believe the first clip I seen of him a few days ago. climbing up some gigantic chimney , with no harness , on a flimsy looking ladder and then he proceeded to tell a story about himself or a colleague that would have alcohol induced shakes on a morning so they struggled to do the job but they were perfectly fine after 5 pints for lunch lol
Cannot thank you enough for uploading these! I remember watching them as a kid with my grandpa, just rewatched the whole thing again at 23 and I've got goosebumps. Fred reminds me so much of my grandpa, I think they were the same age when they died also (66). I myself grew up in Bolton, my grandparents were in Wigan all their lives. Again thank you so much for uploading these, what a man!
The next time you mention how old you are you’ll likely be in your fifty’s - yesterday I was 23, today I’m 53 - I never imagined getting here so fast; I was warned, and next year I’m going back home - leaving the planet I mean, this one sucks like a Dyson.
I met a Steeplejack once and he said he had to be drunk to go up the chimneys. I hope demolishing them is much safer nowadays. Days when men worked so hard and risked their lives with just their skills and basic tools. RIP Fred you were amazing 👌🙏
I love how he jokes about tunnelling for coal as if he has no intention of ever doing so. The funny part is he actually ended up doing so, what an absolute legend that man was.
He should have been Knighted long ago, he was a great Britain as big an engineer as Britain has produced, a fantastic man, a one off, and a natural story teller, i treally miss his lovely voice and his description of his art
@@TheHoggcast I've much more knowledge than someone who only has the TV progs to go by as I have researched the subject. He was issued cease and desist notices from the HSE and left some jobs in a perilous state after being unable to finish them. Non of that will you see on the TV show. About the closest to his reckless attitude you will get was the programme drinking and climbing. I guess you think it was a great idea to have 5 pints of beer at lunch and then go up a 200ft chimney to do demolition!
I've only recently found these Fred Dibnahs videos here on RU-vid. He was an interesting man and incredible talent and I enjoy his content. Thanks for posting.
So sad at the end when he said about how he didn't want to die and thats exactly how he did pass away...he deserved better than that bless such and incredible man.
Fred reminds me so much of my granddad, except he was a coal merchant. His life was his work and ill always remember him in his blue overalls, he did the lot, selling the coal, loading, unloading, doing deliveries. He was supposed to retire but never did, he still went out to the yard every day much to my grandmas disappointment, but she stayed with him. The only thing that stopped him was some rare form of alzheimers, but even then stuck in a chair and blinded he would ask my nan to read the accounts book to him whilst my uncle took over the running of the business. Quite sad that all nan wanted to do was finally enjoy some time travelling with him but he jusr coulsnt let his work go and in the end it got too late and she cared for him until he passed. Grandad also loved steam engines and i remember as a young child in the 90s being taken to various steam rallies with him
If anyone wants to see a beautiful old building and actually many others, go to Aberdeen on the north east coast of Scotland. Their King's College in the "Old Aberdeen" area was built in 1495!! It is stunning and the majority of it hasn't been touched. There's rows of houses with the main doors just 5ft high as well. Very surreal
My grandad was a stonemason in England and knew Fred back in the 70s . true hard men back then take me hat off to them , emagin health and safety if they saw you climbing a ladder like they did would have a field day
Yes but given the story about dead steeplejacks at the start it that entirely a bad thing? Part of appeal of these, at the time, might have been that even by health and safety standards of the day Fred took some awful risks. I recently watched some of these with my Dad who worked on building sites in 1960/70s and even he was shocked by some of things he saw.
Fred speaks to my soul. His view on modern life is exactly the way I feel myself. I find myself looking backwards instead of forwards and longing for life as it was more and more. What an incredible legend This man was
For anyone who's never been to Yorkshire, it still looks like this in the Dales. Same single track roads, dry stone walls and sheep. The only difference I suppose would be traffic. Theres lots more of that nowadays but if you know where to look, theres still tranquility. The usual tourist spots of the UK are so crowded now, so if you like green lowlands, sheep, the smell of cow poop and the odd glass of beer, Yorkshire is worth a look.
When I were a nipper, my biggest fear while climbing the old dilapidated roofs on old derelict sites, I was always fearfull of falling into a space that had no ground access. These walls were a hundred and fifty feet high, These derelict sites were rampened back in the 60s 70s. Some were like a little mini town within it's walls. The danger we were in is chillig when I think back. These buildings were over 100/50 years old, built in the Industrial Revolution. We were up on the roofs for the lead and copper and the blue banger slates. Poverty early 70s. I get Fred, right down to his male chauvinism, and it weren't in a bad way. Fred needen a woman that's why had two wife's. He was sharp as a blade behind that exterior. He disarmed people in a nice way with his way . He should have tried his hand at writing a ghost writer maybe. Your missed Fred, at least we have you on film buddy . RIP Fred and regards to your family and colleagues/friends. Many Irish love Fred a kinderd spirit, ☘️🇮🇪🇬🇧
We did the same as kids in south London, late 60s early 70s, would go into empty houses and derelict factories, not to get scrap, but to explore, what now would be classed as “urban exploration” on various RU-vid channels, so it’s nothing new, there was hazards and danger, but would I swap my childhood for today’s sitting and playing xbox etc all day? Not a chance.
The extended family used to be builders and specialised on Dutch barns. Not great with heights and could only do so much. The fear is that you get casual and make a mistake. And that is a real problem when you are bored or tired.
Back then you would give a price for any Job and the customer would accept right away without bother... Today there are too many of us needing to work, so customers makes auction with the job amd we all starve together...
If only schools focused on town history (in this case Bolton's) and taught about people like Fred. I think we'd have a generation who'd understand the values of Bolton. There used to be respect for everything, people, parks, streets. People had love and unity. I miss my youth and I'm only 30.
This should apply for everywhere in the UK. I hated history when i was in school but once i left and started working for my uncle he told me lots of great stories about where i live and what all the names of the towns where centuries ago. One story i will always remember will be the battle of brunanburh (bromborough in todays language) and how it was fought between the armies of 4 kings and was one of the bloodiest battles ever fought. And it happened to of taken place where a farm is today which my uncle knows the owner of. Time Team did an excavation there for an episode. Thats the kind of history people want to hear
Fue un gran mecánico clandestino asín se definió el mismo un ingeniero auténtico de forma autodidacta y aparte su abilidad para Acer esos trabajos a tantos metros de altura y sin seguridad ninguna solo sus manos. Como este hombre no hay otro
Great line, but he basically helped to destroy our heritage. I bet the architects and developers were wetting themselves when Fred was demolishing chimneys because they knew they would making alot of money. And look at Bolton now, all its identity as gone like so many towns.
@@Embracing01 very true and very sad but times move on I'm afraid. There are still many chimneys left but sadly not in use. Times move on, just like all the pits back in the day.
@@paulholla True, but that doesn't mean life gets better, in fact quite the opposite. I think of Fred now as being a useful tool who was willing to knock down the chimneys he so loved, and paid handsomely for it, and paving the way for what the government/council wanted in its place. I think when he was awarded his MBE, that was basically his reward for services rendered. No true working class hero would bow down to the Royal Family, but we've seen this time and time again with so called "working class heroes" where they purport to be for the people and against the system, yet 20/30 years later they are too happy to accept an MBE or Knighthood. That's my personal view.
I’m from Walsall and i love watching this top bloke. Would’ve loved to have met him, everything has gone now from the chimneys he worked on, to the legend he is today and forever ♥️ kids these days don’t care about our British history or any part of history that was once here. Never forgotten Fred 🙏🏻
It was okay for his wife at the time, explaining why he should do these steeplejack jobs, but Fred was well into his 50's and should've been climbing up ladders. Maybe it was the insurance money, who knows. Fred didn't need to do that work; he was a multi-talented tradesman. He enjoyed it so much; it became part of his life. RIP Fred.
It reminds you of what it means to be a Human Being and how gradually those pleasures of life are being taken from us , like enjoying a beer in the local , I blame Tony Blair
There is a word for this type of person: polymath. A jack of all trades, master of none, is oftentimes better than a master of one. Cheers to a life of creativity and upsetting the fruit basket.
We always tend to look at the good old days with rose tinted specs, however, the camera never lies (except for in our age of highly edited and AI produced content). This is what real life looked like back then and even Fred himself had a longing for a time before his. The beautiful irony in his work is that he helped push the technology of old out of the picture to make way for modernisation, I only can speculate but I think he had more intentions of preserving and restoring the great chimneys and architecture of the past. When priced out of your aims a man can only do the jobs given to him and we now live in a world of corporatisation and rapidly approaching globalism. If only we’d cemented his values into the generation following his we’d probably stand a fighting chance on the world stage but instead we let hedonism and valueless jobs run this country into the ground. We produce nothing, we own nothing, and we have no right to make our own choices. We have an over-bearing government and authorities controlled by the misty, baseless and faceless execs who run the omnipresent global companies. Family and community values are a dying value set from days gone by, and the great thinkers and tinkerers who could challenge the norm to design a better way of life have lost their foothold to those in control who fight against anything that could remove that control from them. We may well get cities with self driving cars and remove the problem of traffic, we may well get a virtual world to call our own and play God in, we may get cures for the infamous ailments of the modern day, but does this really benefit us and restore our freedom, or does this further isolate and box us in to keep us under the thumb of the controlling tyrants who parasitically survive on our labour. If I could have once chance to speak to deceased it would be to Fred to see what he thinks of the current trajectory of our country. I’m sure he’d have a solution.
As a follow up, I know this isn’t the most inspiring or positive outlook on the world of today and I can assure all you reading that I don’t genuinely hold these pessimistic views near and dear. That being said, it’s arguably not a stretch of the imagination to conclude that life is becoming evermore stripped down to a bare minimum existence. I do understand that I would not be complaining about having less face to face interaction and such if I’d been placed into the modern era after existing in the post war period in which Fred was raised. I’d rather have my iPhone and beef burgers than 1 1/2 tattered shoes and carrot for tea. Life has always been tough for the workers but I think the issue today is that us workers are kept coddled and isolated, we don’t have the means or the skills to exist without the corporations who ask for cake and pay in crackers. I just hope that within the coming years the new blood of our country realise just how damaging it’s been to embrace the rebellion against tradition and can create a better suited way of life that adapta alongside the quickly and ever changing nature of society of present and future.
