Whoever made the decision to capture this man's spirit all of those decades ago was a true visionary. How many local legends and genuine characters have gone un-noted.
I was like that with Michael palin also, in his series pole to pole ! My dad watched it in the late 80s and I hated it , now love it ! Must be an age thing
Yeah, definitely to him his family were a burden rather than a pleasure. Watching the videos it seems everything had to be his way. Holidays were traction engines, this one only came about because he was getting something from it. Note the “my money” comment. I actually have no idea why he ever got married or had kids as it all seemed a burden to be endured. He would have been much better of a single man. He could have focused completely on himself then and enjoyed his life much more but of course, back then, especially in culturally more Victorian places as the north was back then that was not how it worked, love did not come into it you had to conform so wife and kids it was.
what a man..a total legend...going on holiday to Blackpool and knocking a chimney down in the rain with Alison as labourer...in exchange for an engine part...
He didn't knock it down in the rain!! He set his latter up and came back once it dries up! He was nuts but not stupid! And he new how many dead heroes were out there
@@jerrybrandt9377 setting the ladder up is the most dangerous part so if he did that in the rain then I'm sure he would have done the rest in the rain as well but it just happened to be not raining the day after when he was knocking the bricks off as I assume he couldn't control the weather and he had to do the job while he was on holiday in Blackpool.
He couldn't do that now, these days you're not even allowed to light up a cig in the bloody open air. So much for a "free" country lol. And going to a place like that today is becoming like being interrogated at security at an airport.
@@Embracing01 sign of the times buddy, although as a smoker myself I'm glad the world is moving towards a smoke free place. Its a filthy habit that I can't kick just yet...
@@bcfcbennjy99 I agree, I don't like smoking, but people who do and like to it's a personal choice which shouldn't be taken away. They're not gonna ban it completely, that wouldn't be good for profit.
Followed by you got a black skirt with a slit up the side lol. That one lady straight was flirting hard for those times and meanwhile his lady is smiling from ear to ear cause her man gives it to her proper and they all know it.
This video of Fred's where he knocked the chimney down for his boiler plate is when I first met him. I was working in Blackpool and was passing the place. Seeing Fred's Land rover I pulled up and got my lump hammer and bolster chisel out the back of my van. I shouted up to him if he wanted a hand. I've got tools ready Fred I said. He laughed and said no your OK I've nearly finished. Some time later, I had been working in Bolton and on my way home I was passing Fred's so stopped and called in to see him. He made me very welcome and showed me his workshop. I said that I wished that I lived a bit closer and would love to be able to give him a hand at maintaining his steam roller. Being a maintenance engineer. the next time I saw him was at Doncaster has he was arriving at a rail-side show there. He had his machine on a low loader for that journey.
Fred was a great man and a lovely entertainer, very brave and talented. But a man of his time. Imagine treating your wife and family like this today. He is very much like a hyper version of my father in law. No idea what a family needs emotionally (not his fault) but a provider and grafter. Thanks for uploading this.
Top bloke. Does things the old way. Not much of what is shown exists anymore, but for us oldies, t'wasn't that long ago. But the hero for me is Alison (his wife). What a trooper! 3 kids, and a husband always in the shed or in the pub. I bet she cooks every meal, cleans the house, looks after the kids, and washes those clothes!
Carl Kamuti Yes but she had been with him 18 years. How she started with him 18 years is anybody’s guess, and I love Fred Dibnah. That being said he was a very selfish man in many respects, towards his family anyway.
Somehow I knew Fred wasn't going to the beach just for the sea air. Having lived with a father that collected old cars, vacation was never just vacation.
Blackpool sadly as always had a bad reputation, even back in the 50s and 60s, and today it's worse. I tend to stay away from places like Pleasure Beach cos I can't stand all this security crap where you feel like you're at airport friggin security.
I take my hat off to Fred, i understand just how difficult it really is when you haven't been on regular holidays and you can really see Fred is trying so hard not only to enjoy himself but the whole family! Well done Fred hat's off to you!
Love watching these. It's a nostalgia trip. Everything is just as I remember it as a kid. Except Blackpool; that's still exactly the same today, as it was back then.
Fred is a true legend but let's not forget what a star Alison was for putting up with a man that pretty much left her to do everything. Both very strong people in their own rights.
Thank you to the people who recorded this, and the people who uploaded this. I Come back here every year or so and watch them all. Keeps me going for abit.
I find it so desperately sad yet a fact of life that most of the people at the opening of the Barnardos shop will be gone. Even the lovely lady giving Fred the scissors will be some age now. Enjoy life as none of us can outrun time.
As a 32 year old guy from Manchester seeing what Blackpool was like back then brings back memories when we went to Blackpool when I was young. Good old days
It was so nice to see Fred out of his comfort zone so to speak and I mean that in the best possible taste.a great Edwardian man.👍ps,...I'm watching this again in 2022.
He was a genius. Very interesting that he liked classical music because the rhythm he has going up that ladder is so steady. I've been up some shady ladders on the rigs and nice and slow I went. Unreal speed goin up. What a man.
I was a brick hod for years carrying heavy loads up scaffolds up to 20 lifts high. When you’re carrying gear up ladders you need to lean back so you can see up and keeping your arms straight is less tiring than keep them bent.
I bet his steam engine has some crazy torque! I admire his sheer ingenuity and technique when felling chimneys. By Jack hammering a section of the chimney and propping it up with wooden beams. Then lighting them on fire to be able to get away and keep the area clear!
In another time, I would have loved to meet this incredible brave man. His sense of humour is infectious. To have a pint and a good ol natter with this geezer, would be amazing.
@@JamieR1988 He might not have used a hi-vis or fall arrest harness, but Fred's experience and keen eye for detail gave him the confidence to know that if it was possible to safely complete a task of not. Like you say, I reckon he'd fully support the new generation of lads who work at height having access to all the PPE required by the HSE. Plus he'd be telling them to get rid of those Benson & Hedges lol
I remember going to Blackpool around 1980/1982. It was pretty crap, always bloody raining and everything was really expensive whilst simultaneously being cheap and uncheerful. Almost twenty years later I went back with my partner and it had declined. Fourty years later and it one of the most deprived areas in the UK...
Allison really is a fine woman and a long suffering good sport with care and patience It truly is a shame that old self interested Fred didn’t pay her more time & respect !
Lmao long suffering wife. Fred worked hard to give her and the kids a very good life. Her only worry was what to spend the cash on. Left him and took the money and kids and all the woke brigade thinks of is poor Allison. Cry me a river
Hopeless at family life because he got enjoyment from providing for his family. He put food on the table, clothes on their backs and was a nice guy to boot. Just because he didn’t particularly enjoy doing family activities? So what? He tried his best. I’m sure they rather a drunk that beats them or leaves them for another woman though, right?
@@theculturedthug6609you weren't paying attention, on the side of the gold mine ride at the pleasure beach it had a date board where you take a photo and it said 2 July 1980.
Amazing, all of my uncles are exactly like this man, All born in Poland thought... I dunno how they all managed to have the exact same sweaters though....
Fred didn't want to go on Holiday, then to add to it, they had full film crew with him and the family, even at the beach! I hope his steam engine was preserved.
@Dan Roberts that’s why getting wed after six weeks is a no no, take time to get to know a person is a good idea before you agree to marry...You can’t change a person but many women have these visions that they can...Feeling sorry for her isn’t really cricket..Fred’s net worth when he died was 2 million which he left for his 5 kids 3 of which were from here, I’m sure she’s ok, and her and her kids fully deserved it..❤️
@@Roscoe.P.Coldchain 2 million's nothing these days. I never knew they married after only 6 weeks together, that's quick lol. I wonder where she is now, unless she's dead. I'm guessing second wife Sue is still alive.
what amazes me is how he totally depends on fixing his ladders by hammering spikes into the brickwork, when he knows the bloody brickwork is so weak he can tap it and it falls apart
Those old chimneys are much more held together by their own weight than "stuck" together with the mortar. If you wedge something in between two bricks halfway down a chimney stack it has 10 ton of bricks pressing down on it - that isn't going anywhere. When he knocked the chimneys down by hand he was just bashing apart bricks with no weight on top. Whereas look at the footage of him knocking the bottom out of chimneys, he needs a sledgehammer or even a pneumatic drill type thing.
good point. I watched these episodes when they came out all those years ago, I was a lot younger then but was still very impressed, now I've done quite a bit of work myself and it SCARES me to watch these episodes again because I know now how easy it is for ladders to slip, ropes to slip, steel pegs hammered into brittle bricks to simply fall out, just a little wind or rain or frost and ice to turn a simple job into a suicide job. Just a little wind can catch your jacket and be enough to tumble you off a height.I don't put a ladder up a wall now without securing it to a RAWLBOLT or similar. He's a true LEGEND.
Fred goes to Blackpool and he's interested in the mechanics of the Pleasure Beach and no doubt the architecture of Blackpool Tower. As they say " lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink"...Fred's mind wasn't far from where he really wanted to be.
I love Fred to death as he was the last of a dying breed, but he should never have got married. Like Merlin 2010 said has anyone ever seen a man more out of his comfort zone with the kids in the beach. Really sad but its not his fault. He just wasn't that sort of bloke. Felt sorry for the kids and Alison who was an absolute saint for staying with him so long. Blokes like Fred need to be single. Work, Pub, Hobbies - Job Done !! Glad to see James Beck appreciates Fred also as I appreciate is you tube content today. The modern day Fred !!
Came up from Bolton on Sunday to Lytham, love the place, some new housing estates gone up in last 12 months or so. Amazed to see the " old" Bolton too, although it doesn't seem that long ago ...
My lass would never in a million years be pulling ladders up the side of a chimney in the pissing down rain...not a chance haha. His wife is very supportive of Fred haha.
I was thinking that, probably not much warmer in the cab. Looking at the state of it I'd say there would be more than a few holes in the bulkhead and them heaters in the series 2 were a waste of time, same in them all actually.
Yup but must be a thrill! I wonder what his kids were like when they're adults. From our perspective now I'd bet they were messed up but it was all normal back then and you just got on with it. I'm just glad I'm alive now, these are interesting times.
If you watch some of the later programs that fred did you can see he was a man of great talents,you only had to look at the so called "Sketches" he did .
I wondered what you were on about for a min then I got it, ha ha could Boyd Coddington draw or sketch a car or did someone else do the sketches I saw on the walls of Boyd's office walls?
So in my tiny book Mr. Dibnah is one of the real quadrillionaires quite the bloke I am proud to emulate his fearless and quite genius of intuition in most practices, bit of a totaler I am not much for the drink. A real man, anyone could be proud if only we could be. Mr. Dibnah and those like him are the real quadrillionaires intrinsically wealthy beyond our dreams. Possessed with protean skill sets 98% of the population are left to wish they could achieve. True Craftsmen with the ability to repair and operate everything they see across the globe on land and sea. The last of a dying breed unfortunately for you and me. Real Women and Men not toxic or disposable in any way, not afraid to get their hands dirty for you and me.
Alison thought she was getting a holiday in Blackpool and didn't bank on being a steeplejack's mate on the job and getting socked down to her knickers like! lol
Funny how they at the time present it as a bit of a funny quirk that Fred would rather work than be with his family, while when you watch it today this is somewhat sad to watch.
Whoever made the decision to capture this man's spirit all of those decades ago was a true visionary. How many local legends and genuine characters have gone un-noted.
True story man
Priceless gold brother
He's a Legend to me and I'm a Yank.
They couldn’t have picked anyone better it captures so much
Superb comment
I remember my dad watching this when I was a kid and thinking it was boring here I am 20 years later watching every episode I see
I'm here for the exact same reason 😅
me too!, father passed over a decade ago and i'm in my 40s and totally get it now. Jeez Fred's children must be in their 40s and 50s now too
I was like that with Michael palin also, in his series pole to pole ! My dad watched it in the late 80s and I hated it , now love it ! Must be an age thing
Likewise I was the same
Same !!!
Do not think i have ever seen a man more out of his comfort zone than Fred on the beach with his family.
He dresses like my old grandad when we'd go to the beach. Except he'd keep his cap on.
Fred's comfort zone is unlike any other.
😂😂😂😂 Exactly!
Smoking a cig on the rollercoaster
Yeah, definitely to him his family were a burden rather than a pleasure. Watching the videos it seems everything had to be his way. Holidays were traction engines, this one only came about because he was getting something from it. Note the “my money” comment. I actually have no idea why he ever got married or had kids as it all seemed a burden to be endured. He would have been much better of a single man. He could have focused completely on himself then and enjoyed his life much more but of course, back then, especially in culturally more Victorian places as the north was back then that was not how it worked, love did not come into it you had to conform so wife and kids it was.
That last 10 second clip where he’s eyeing Blackpool tower up like it’s a tart in a club is perfect 😂
Walking in and getting oil on everything he touched. RIP legend.
... NEWSPAPER ON FLOOR TO WALK ON... LAST OF THE SUMMER WINE WITH OILY WESLEY..🤓
what a man..a total legend...going on holiday to Blackpool and knocking a chimney down in the rain with Alison as labourer...in exchange for an engine part...
He didn't knock it down in the rain!! He set his latter up and came back once it dries up! He was nuts but not stupid! And he new how many dead heroes were out there
@@jerrybrandt9377 setting the ladder up is the most dangerous part so if he did that in the rain then I'm sure he would have done the rest in the rain as well but it just happened to be not raining the day after when he was knocking the bricks off as I assume he couldn't control the weather and he had to do the job while he was on holiday in Blackpool.
The man came down the roller coaster with a cigarette and a smile. This man is an icon.
I couldn't stop laughing.
Absolutely brilliant
He couldn't do that now, these days you're not even allowed to light up a cig in the bloody open air. So much for a "free" country lol. And going to a place like that today is becoming like being interrogated at security at an airport.
@@Embracing01 sign of the times buddy, although as a smoker myself I'm glad the world is moving towards a smoke free place. Its a filthy habit that I can't kick just yet...
@@bcfcbennjy99 I agree, I don't like smoking, but people who do and like to it's a personal choice which shouldn't be taken away. They're not gonna ban it completely, that wouldn't be good for profit.
"What do you run on?"
"Guinness!"
Quality series this. Thanks for uploading.
Followed by you got a black skirt with a slit up the side lol. That one lady straight was flirting hard for those times and meanwhile his lady is smiling from ear to ear cause her man gives it to her proper and they all know it.
This video of Fred's where he knocked the chimney down for his boiler plate is when I first met him. I was working in Blackpool and was passing the place. Seeing Fred's Land rover I pulled up and got my lump hammer and bolster chisel out the back of my van. I shouted up to him if he wanted a hand. I've got tools ready Fred I said. He laughed and said no your OK I've nearly finished. Some time later, I had been working in Bolton and on my way home I was passing Fred's so stopped and called in to see him. He made me very welcome and showed me his workshop. I said that I wished that I lived a bit closer and would love to be able to give him a hand at maintaining his steam roller. Being a maintenance engineer. the next time I saw him was at Doncaster has he was arriving at a rail-side show there. He had his machine on a low loader for that journey.
@daniel ray I bet you don't live in the UK, it's smaller than you think
I smell poo
@@millerschannel7798i smell steam!
Today on things that never happened…
I believe you John. I saw him quite a few times in his landrover, I'm living on the Lancashire/ Yorkshire border. He'd always wave.
It's impossible to dislike fred , he,s an absolute Saint god bless his sweet soul may he rest in peace!!!
Fred!!! Your wife is being kidnapped “oh aye” Fred!!! Your steam engine is being nicked “bloody hell fire”
😂😂😂
😂😂😂😂
Priorities 😄
Well the Steam engine is worth more and doesn't nag at him.
Fred was a great man and a lovely entertainer, very brave and talented. But a man of his time. Imagine treating your wife and family like this today. He is very much like a hyper version of my father in law. No idea what a family needs emotionally (not his fault) but a provider and grafter. Thanks for uploading this.
Top bloke. Does things the old way. Not much of what is shown exists anymore, but for us oldies, t'wasn't that long ago.
But the hero for me is Alison (his wife). What a trooper! 3 kids, and a husband always in the shed or in the pub. I bet she cooks every meal, cleans the house, looks after the kids, and washes those clothes!
Those women don't exist in today's world.
Keep watching, she leaves him before the series is out.
True, old style marriage, but Fred climbed 100% of those chimneys.
Carl Kamuti Yes but she had been with him 18 years. How she started with him 18 years is anybody’s guess, and I love Fred Dibnah. That being said he was a very selfish man in many respects, towards his family anyway.
He worked hard bring in the bloody money doing high risk work
Somehow I knew Fred wasn't going to the beach just for the sea air. Having lived with a father that collected old cars, vacation was never just vacation.
I was six when this was filmed, i'm 50 now! So called MEN today don't have PATCH on old fred! Rest in piece sir!
Climbing that ladder two rungs at a time, total legend
I was a window cleaner from age 16 onwards, two at a time is normal for someone who uses Ladders daily. Well spotted
I have much respect for Fred but also Alison. A true mother ❤
It seems like she was a great woman who knew the reality of the relationship but still adored him.
I'm from the north of England, and Blackpool so called "pleasure Beach" was the bane of my summers too. RIP Fred Dibnah!
Blackpool sadly as always had a bad reputation, even back in the 50s and 60s, and today it's worse. I tend to stay away from places like Pleasure Beach cos I can't stand all this security crap where you feel like you're at airport friggin security.
just saw this man for the first time the dude is awesome i hope he rest in peace
I live a couple of miles from where he used to live. It's good to see the old Bolton. saw him a few times outside his house while driving past.
I take my hat off to Fred, i understand just how difficult it really is when you haven't been on regular holidays and you can really see Fred is trying so hard not only to enjoy himself but the whole family! Well done Fred hat's off to you!
Love watching these. It's a nostalgia trip. Everything is just as I remember it as a kid. Except Blackpool; that's still exactly the same today, as it was back then.
Blackpool is a very different place these days. Very run down in places and full of immigrants.
Poor Allison. What a great woman she is Fred was so lucky to have her. She left him when she seen the light. and what life is about
Fred is a true legend but let's not forget what a star Alison was for putting up with a man that pretty much left her to do everything. Both very strong people in their own rights.
Thank you to the people who recorded this, and the people who uploaded this. I Come back here every year or so and watch them all. Keeps me going for abit.
I find it so desperately sad yet a fact of life that most of the people at the opening of the Barnardos shop will be gone. Even the lovely lady giving Fred the scissors will be some age now. Enjoy life as none of us can outrun time.
Bless them all❤
I like his beach attire, fits right in.
And smoking while on a roller-coaster, classic.
@thomas Prior If real life was a video game that jumper would give + 1000 points to all stats. It would be very valuable.
@thomas Prior Right. Might be worth a mint in time.
Today he wouldn't be allowed to light up just walking around the place let alone on a ride with this stupid smoking ban.
Fred on the rides still smoking lol
"Them high up rides wont bother Fred" haha . Have Cig Fred!!! Haha. Cheers Grant.
As a 32 year old guy from Manchester seeing what Blackpool was like back then brings back memories when we went to Blackpool when I was young. Good old days
What a man , legend, born in the wrong century, wise ,hands on guy, that could make anything, not many around like him nowadays.
Poor poor Alison.
Went for a holiday
Had to put up ladders on a chimney in the rain
It was so nice to see Fred out of his comfort zone so to speak and I mean that in the best possible taste.a great Edwardian man.👍ps,...I'm watching this again in 2022.
I love Fred's honking honker!!
He just reminds me of my Grandad. Love watching Fred
That block of shops with the barnados is just a landscaped space now, Hen and Chickens pub on other block is luckily still there, just about.
He was a genius. Very interesting that he liked classical music because the rhythm he has going up that ladder is so steady. I've been up some shady ladders on the rigs and nice and slow I went. Unreal speed goin up. What a man.
I find Fred going up a ladder scary to watch he leans back so far with no safety line.
I was a brick hod for years carrying heavy loads up scaffolds up to 20 lifts high. When you’re carrying gear up ladders you need to lean back so you can see up and keeping your arms straight is less tiring than keep them bent.
Classical music helps you concentrate. I had a mate who used to listen to it while doing revision for his exams.
"She was soaked to her knickers" Because of you Mr Steeplejack
No, that's not great,... but she obviously loves him.
I bet his steam engine has some crazy torque! I admire his sheer ingenuity and technique when felling chimneys. By Jack hammering a section of the chimney and propping it up with wooden beams. Then lighting them on fire to be able to get away and keep the area clear!
In another time, I would have loved to meet this incredible brave man. His sense of humour is infectious. To have a pint and a good ol natter with this geezer, would be amazing.
These are so well done, i cry every time.
Fantastic uploads thank you.
I'd love to hear Fred discussing his thoughts on today's HSE regulations, that would be hilarious. 😁
I'd love to hear his opinions on a lot of things in today's time ^^ I'd laugh my fucking ass off.
Oh I'd love that as well.
FRED (2021 edition). Do you like that? Just popping me mask on to go up t'pub for me Guiness. Very important to be safe, y'know.
He'd be ok with them.
He said many a time that unsafe working environments aren't good.
@@JamieR1988
He might not have used a hi-vis or fall arrest harness, but Fred's experience and keen eye for detail gave him the confidence to know that if it was possible to safely complete a task of not. Like you say, I reckon he'd fully support the new generation of lads who work at height having access to all the PPE required by the HSE. Plus he'd be telling them to get rid of those Benson & Hedges lol
Watching Fred contemplate his life choices as he watches the guy chase the mules up and down the beach is priceless 😂 💀
"Com on luv ive give you an holiday now cop od this ladder" haha. Rough wi Smooth!!! Cheers for putting the Series on tube. Cheers Grant : )
Yes how many wives would stand for that in 2020 lols?
Fred was only 42 years old in this...wow.
Yes looks and acts 20years older
Pure Quality Content 👍
Thanks for the upload ❤️🇬🇧
Two steps at a time! All that way up. What a bloke
Half as many as he would otherwise climb. Buns of steel
Ladder lasts twice as long before the rungs wear out that way.
@@cunning-stunt if you remember to start on 1st rung Monday Wednesday Friday and 2nd Tuesday Thursday.
After watching this it’s not hard to see why this marriage ended in divorce.
I remember going to Blackpool around 1980/1982. It was pretty crap, always bloody raining and everything was really expensive whilst simultaneously being cheap and uncheerful. Almost twenty years later I went back with my partner and it had declined. Fourty years later and it one of the most deprived areas in the UK...
@@Embracing01as is most vacation spots
top bloke old school
Allison really is a fine woman and a long suffering good sport with care and patience
It truly is a shame that old self interested Fred didn’t pay her more time & respect !
Guys good at his job but family life etc he was hopeless. Should have stayed single
Lmao long suffering wife. Fred worked hard to give her and the kids a very good life. Her only worry was what to spend the cash on. Left him and took the money and kids and all the woke brigade thinks of is poor Allison. Cry me a river
Hopeless at family life because he got enjoyment from providing for his family. He put food on the table, clothes on their backs and was a nice guy to boot. Just because he didn’t particularly enjoy doing family activities? So what? He tried his best. I’m sure they rather a drunk that beats them or leaves them for another woman though, right?
@@golangismyjam calm down sweetheart. I’m sure the poster didn’t mean to upset you sensitive types.
All better now after your little hissy fit.
@@golangismyjam true even his daughter sold his steam engine that was named after her
Oh you want to go on vacation? Okay jump in the work truck. 😂 Legend!
I remember watching the first episode as a child .50yrs later im still watching fred
Enjoy the never ending pleasure of your workshop in heaven Fred. Your kind is sorely missed.
Such an amazing man and docu
" Did ya like that"
Yes Fred we did.
Rip great bloke.
We see this was shot in July 1980 - Fred would have been only 42!
Are you sure? I thought it was about 1986/7.
@@theculturedthug6609you weren't paying attention, on the side of the gold mine ride at the pleasure beach it had a date board where you take a photo and it said 2 July 1980.
Amazing, all of my uncles are exactly like this man, All born in Poland thought... I dunno how they all managed to have the exact same sweaters though....
Fred didn't want to go on Holiday, then to add to it, they had full film crew with him and the family, even at the beach! I hope his steam engine was preserved.
It is but it’s current owner seems a wealthy farmer that doesn’t seem interested in discussing Fred. Well kept though.
@@mysticgeneie4668always the way mate what you gonna do aye
@@mysticgeneie4668 Thats snobby of them
Fred smoking a cig on the roller coaster caused me to spit my beer out lol
Day out.....still thinking of the workshop.....what a guy!!!!!
I shouldn't find it so funny, but it really cracks me up how he ways 'I'll have a word with THE wife' 😅
Offered a job in Barbados, but Donald doesn't like camping out so we scrapped it hahaha hahaha
😂 smoking on the ride, what a great guy!
Alison looked like she was doing a slow burn with all of the attention provided to Fred.
So many amazing old and new rides in that amusement park in Blackpool that would be totally illegal today haha!
"It's going....it's going" he yells while aggressively cursing a duck in his hands
Allison a star hope she's ok and family a good woman .
@Dan Roberts that’s why getting wed after six weeks is a no no, take time to get to know a person is a good idea before you agree to marry...You can’t change a person but many women have these visions that they can...Feeling sorry for her isn’t really cricket..Fred’s net worth when he died was 2 million which he left for his 5 kids 3 of which were from here, I’m sure she’s ok, and her and her kids fully deserved it..❤️
@@Roscoe.P.Coldchain she still alive she's now Alison Butterworth
They divorced
@@Roscoe.P.Coldchain 2 million's nothing these days. I never knew they married after only 6 weeks together, that's quick lol. I wonder where she is now, unless she's dead. I'm guessing second wife Sue is still alive.
Such a wonderful. Human being. 🌹
Uncalled for distractions, like that bloody flute music...
what amazes me is how he totally depends on fixing his ladders by hammering spikes into the brickwork, when he knows the bloody brickwork is so weak he can tap it and it falls apart
Those old chimneys are much more held together by their own weight than "stuck" together with the mortar. If you wedge something in between two bricks halfway down a chimney stack it has 10 ton of bricks pressing down on it - that isn't going anywhere. When he knocked the chimneys down by hand he was just bashing apart bricks with no weight on top. Whereas look at the footage of him knocking the bottom out of chimneys, he needs a sledgehammer or even a pneumatic drill type thing.
good point. I watched these episodes when they came out all those years ago, I was a lot younger then but was still very impressed, now I've done quite a bit of work myself and it SCARES me to watch these episodes again because I know now how easy it is for ladders to slip, ropes to slip, steel pegs hammered into brittle bricks to simply fall out, just a little wind or rain or frost and ice to turn a simple job into a suicide job. Just a little wind can catch your jacket and be enough to tumble you off a height.I don't put a ladder up a wall now without securing it to a RAWLBOLT or similar. He's a true LEGEND.
In the one he says something like the higher you go the deeper guys tend to knock them in,because of fear.It was classic Fred lol.
Others beat me to it , it’s the weight of all the bricks above tones pining the bricks in place
But what about the dogs near the top? Not much weight from bricks there. But he probably knew what he was doing or he would die early.
When life was simpler, and donkeys on the beach, top notch memories, and good old fred did a chimney as well, happy days
Fred goes to Blackpool and he's interested in the mechanics of the Pleasure Beach and no doubt the architecture of Blackpool Tower. As they say " lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink"...Fred's mind wasn't far from where he really wanted to be.
I love Fred to death as he was the last of a dying breed, but he should never have got married. Like Merlin 2010 said has anyone ever seen a man more out of his comfort zone with the kids in the beach. Really sad but its not his fault. He just wasn't that sort of bloke.
Felt sorry for the kids and Alison who was an absolute saint for staying with him so long.
Blokes like Fred need to be single. Work, Pub, Hobbies - Job Done !!
Glad to see James Beck appreciates Fred also as I appreciate is you tube content today.
The modern day Fred !!
Absolutely correct. It wasn’t fair on Alison or the kids, all deserved better.
@@FannyShmellar Those kids wouldn’t exist if she didn’t marry him. Not everybody needs to be coddled.
What a wonderful man.
Alison just proves in this episode to me why she was the Best one out of the Three wifes.
Blackpool Pleasure Beach - 1980; was there and 10 yrs old - grew up in Lytham; great to see the old look of the place !!
Came up from Bolton on Sunday to Lytham, love the place, some new housing estates gone up in last 12 months or so.
Amazed to see the " old" Bolton too, although it doesn't seem that long ago ...
total legend...
i love my old Town and Fred....
What a legend
This is the first time I ever saw Fred without his cap and overalls.
This is when men were men, we will never see the likes of men like Fred again. What a shame. What a character fearless.
iNCREDIBLE.
That shot of the fairground ride " The Enterprise" brings back some very funny and happy memories.
My lass would never in a million years be pulling ladders up the side of a chimney in the pissing down rain...not a chance haha. His wife is very supportive of Fred haha.
I always liked watching Fred.met him once when I was a kid...the real star is the wife proper good woman😎
Which one?
First one😂
@@desmondbroad1305 I never met Fred, would have absolutely loved to. But i agree, she seemed like a good mother and wife.
Just over 43 years ago July the 2nd 1980 I wasn't even born things where better I think anyway x
Fred rolls up face covered in soot,very down to earth.
16:30 Kids in the back of Fred's Land Rover. Did they come all the way up from Bolton like that? Must've been bloody cold. LOL
I was thinking that, probably not much warmer in the cab. Looking at the state of it I'd say there would be more than a few holes in the bulkhead and them heaters in the series 2 were a waste of time, same in them all actually.
Yup but must be a thrill! I wonder what his kids were like when they're adults. From our perspective now I'd bet they were messed up but it was all normal back then and you just got on with it. I'm just glad I'm alive now, these are interesting times.
@@satyris410 no it's the kids of today who are messed up and if you can't see that then time to open your eyes.
To paraphrase W. C. Fields; "Fred Dibnahs are like elephants: I like to look at them, but I wouldn't want to own one."
If you watch some of the later programs that fred did you can see he was a man of great talents,you only had to look at the so called "Sketches" he did .
I wondered what you were on about for a min then I got it, ha ha could Boyd Coddington draw or sketch a car or did someone else do the sketches I saw on the walls of Boyd's office walls?
So in my tiny book Mr. Dibnah is one of the real quadrillionaires quite the bloke I am proud to emulate his fearless and quite genius of intuition in most practices, bit of a totaler I am not much for the drink.
A real man, anyone could be proud if only we could be. Mr. Dibnah and those like him are the real quadrillionaires intrinsically wealthy beyond our dreams.
Possessed with protean skill sets 98% of the population are left to wish they could achieve. True Craftsmen with the ability to repair and operate everything they see across the globe on land and sea. The last of a dying breed unfortunately for you and me. Real Women and Men not toxic or disposable in any way, not afraid to get their hands dirty for you and me.
A true legend
Alison thought she was getting a holiday in Blackpool and didn't bank on being a steeplejack's mate on the job and getting socked down to her knickers like! lol
He allways looked massively uncomfortable doing anything that didn't involve a steam engine or a chimney.
"Do what makes you happy"
Funny how they at the time present it as a bit of a funny quirk that Fred would rather work than be with his family, while when you watch it today this is somewhat sad to watch.
Yes a bit heatless that of Fred. My Dad was like Fred in many ways except he loved Holidays with his family.
Remember watching this as a kid .his chimney climbing terrified me
Reminds me of both my grandads both wore bonnets like Fred,and they were just like Fred old school
Caps not bonnets
Having a smoke on the water log flume what a bloke RIP Fred
My kind of holiday