A Year with Fred - Relief, Ecstacy and Magic (part 2)
Vložit
- čas přidán 26. 08. 2024
- 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 👍👍
Great post Jon
Your absolutely spot on mate
Amen.
, 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 ....
100% won't ever get another fred today's age is billion miles apart. Legend of a man
An absolute legend of a man. RIP Fred
He signed something for someone and said take it to the chemist they'll give you prescription 🙏☺️🤣
Legend? A man looks after his family, not train sets.
@@steveprentice4513 says the recently divorced mr prentice 🤡🤡🤡
Love it. Not one person even attempted to tell all the local kids not to scramble on top of the rubble pile.
Kids aren't even allowed to get on a school bus unattended nowadays.
We need more guys like Fred now
Agreed
Men today are a shadow of their Grandad's
@@adamsmith4813 Like it or not we live in a different world today, there's no going back to the stone ages.
@@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!
" I'm only a bum who climbs up chimneys you know" Don't think so Fred , Sad to lose a real tradesman, and what a man!
I swear if this man were alive I would fly to England and buy him a beer and set in awe
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.
He dropped that tower with absolute precision with nothing but knowledge and confidence in his own ability.
Precision? They nearly died lmfao
With 30 years of demolition experiece i can say Fred was a very lucky man this drop being case in point.
..the fact that he turned&ran was testament to this😂..still though, legend of a man
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.
Love watching Fred's documentaries. Balls of Steel, really Man!
Although that Chimney did seem to implode rather than lay down?
Literally came down where it stood. The years of experience required to make sure that happens is immense.
Thst was not ment to happen...Fred often had luck on his side there
It wasn’t supposed to, hence the rapid retreat into the road when it came down 😂
@@TheYorkie72 Followed by the rapid retreat to the pub I imagine.
1991 we had the great Fred!
2022 we have love Island 😟
Fred was right when he said 'these modern times are like the fall of Rome'
The younger generations are just hedonists, seek pleasure before work ethic, narcissism before truth and worthwhile. No wonder they are so miserable.
Plus I’m a z list celebrity get me out of here. What tf has the world come to?! 🙈
Nothing beats the good old ways, having a smoke next to a chimney as it is about to collapse... respect!
The tragedy was that this great man was never knighted. We won’t see his like again.
Reason was he wore a flat cap and had dirty hands. Now if you are a tennis player that knocks a ball about that is another matter.
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.
@@EgoShredder I’m Jewish. I still think Fred should have been knighted as a true Brit. The Royal family are NOT Jewish BTW.
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.
The good old vhs, those where the days lol.
A real legend. Fred had a great life. Rest in peace Fred ✊🏼
Simply a legend .. the very heart and soul of the best of British and we’ll never see his like again ! RIP Fred ❤
Loved that man, watched all his seried
This man is my hero an absolute legend I myself work at chimneys and I find myself watching these videos of him over and over again
This is an unbelievably beautiful document.
RIP 🪦 Fred you was what Great Britain stood for you are the true English legend
He was most definitely a pioneer in a field no one wanted to plow. Just like the incredible work it must have taken to erect it decades before.
Thanks for the upload, they don't make em like Fred Anymore
I bet the Health & safety officials show Fred's videos at all their training camps.
Thank you very much for the upload.
People like Fred lived his life his terms.
A real legend.Old school .should have let him run the country.RIP FRED
Fred was one of a kind. sorely missed.
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 👍👍
it would be nice if all freds 1980's bbc programmes were brought out on dvd..topman🍺
Fred was bloody quick on his feet ....replayed it and by gum he can move
I had every ounce of confidence in that one!
I don't think so 😂
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
'It's got a preservation order on it that tree' 😂😂😂😂
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!
One of the last few real men, pity there were not more like him, Allison was a really nice woman!
That's flipping bonkers. The golden age of Pommy ingenuity
They well and truly broke the mould when they made fred...
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.
Absolutely 😐👍🏻
My hero,
Wish you where still here
A legend, just an absolute legend.
I whould have loved to met him and maybe spend some time wit him in his garden workshop.
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.
A true gentleman. A proper man.
Rip Fred, God bless
Once upon a time fred says "Did You Loike That?"
Fred. I dont think we'll see hes like again.
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
A proper man right here gent's
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.
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.
I never realised how decayed the chimneys where before being demolished.
@@Embracing01 Yes big time.The sulpher coal soot decayed the joints badly.Thats why so many were lost.
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.
Rip Fred atrue legend
What a guy tough as nails
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.
Hey nice upload!! Lots of new things in this. Thanks!
0:14 RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!! 😲
If you ever see Fred running towards yah, you had better damn well keep up!
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 … 🤔
Go for it Sea S
That's the crazy giggle of someone who survived a close brush with ☠️
Guy was a rockstar in the community
A working-class rockstar. Something the youth today would turn their nose up at
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.
Shocking really the disregard for any safety precautions.
Having said that you have to admire the bloke
That last thing that man needed was some safety regulation…
No one knew any different. It was like that, the way it was. Imagine seeing someone smoke indoors now!. Shock horror.
He got lucky with that one..didn't come down the way he expected 😂😂
Fred was a real insteresting bloke
Fred seems very social, but actually shy
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 ❤💥🍊
Let's hope he's not shovelling coal 😆
Lovely post Neil
The old card and boarded houses and businesses. Looks like the world I grew up in.
A genius and a gentleman
Proper bloke.
We need a free dibnah now!! Like a bob ross of the steam/chimney world
@baby trump whos in jail?
@baby trump Fre*D* dibnah died in 2004.
He’s joking because you wrote free dibnah.
@@fegstachops6746 😅😅😅 never noticed,ah well its staying unedited
Nobody grafts like this anymore
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
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
*
Legend.
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.
You don't get real men like him these days, climbing 309ft chimneys with no safty equipment.
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.
It was turned into a museum, but this snotty nosed fancy piece that was his last wife cashed it in, then those who bought it, closed it.
@@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.
@@Embracing01 She's still going. Living off his money.
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.
H&S have to go into therapy after watching this,kids all over the rubble pile🤣😅🤣😅🤣👍👍👍
Looks fun living back then doesn’t it versus 2022....with all the BS....😐😏
I agree
He looks like Max Miller when he was younger
The best drop
Sad all them chimneys went. They were like blades of grass one time!
Is that pub open around' corner yet
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.
@@clark5401 I agree, the same things really. And who said "you will own nothing but you will be happy".
@@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.
4:59 Fred looked at least 65 here. Cigarettes and smoke over the years…
yep lets all wait inside the damage radius and wait for it to collapse.
Health and safety would today have a meltdown 🥴
i use to get the runs with drinking Greenall Whitley ...
THE BOLLOX !!!! The ONE AND ONLY MR FRED DIBNAH 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👏g
Really hard understand what he is talking
Impressive.
So how exactly is he taking them down? Is the heat from the fire so intense that the chimney buckles?
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!
1:54 tree dodges several tons of bricks.
Dont believe how close public was next to it falling.. did he have sons and is theres a Dibnah demolition company living on today?
Top man
It’s grim up north
The cameraman was relocating when the most important event happened. Not his or her finest one!
0:29 should that not have fallen to the left where the fire was? I think that was a close call
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.
He was a Jack Nicholson type, Rip..
He looks like he ate someone's liver with a bit of Chianti
Wonder what Fred thinks of Building No. 7.
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 Yep I have heard of Dr Judy Wood, she's done alot of excellent research into how those towers fell.
@@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.
I think that police woman had a brick to the head lol
Poor Alison.