The Fred Dibnah Story - Episode 1 Beginnings (4x3)
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- Опубликовано: 26 сен 2024
- 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.
I'm glad someone was clever enough to document this great mans work, absolutely love watching him.
Rip Fred
I was working on the IKEA site in Croydon in 1991. The site management team wanted a second opinion about the chimneys. I didn’t believe it when they said Fred Dibnah was coming to inspect them. Anyway a couple of days later lo and behold, this guy seems to have come off the nearby railway tracks,ignoring the official route into site. It was a hard hat site. But he is wearing a flat cap and carrying a hold-all. I knew then they weren’t joking: God had arrived! I still have his autograph (somewhere). He wrote beautifully in Victorian scroll: a class act!
There are not enough words to convey how much I adore this man..
I know those chimneys very well, with the yellow and blue banding round the top! Always makes me dizzy looking up at them, couldn't imagine being on top!!
@Wroger Wroger stfu, in 1991 very few places in the uk wore hard hats.
@Wroger Wroger come on you knew you were gonna get grief for that comment why bother saying it lol
@Wroger Wroger is everything that is wrong with this nanny state country
Fred had a seemingly casual approach but he knew exactly what he was doing. Total pro.
There's professional, right there.
Fred was a man's man, a real character who always left us wanting more... impossible to feel bored watching him
Yawn. Did you copy that out of a book of boring platitudes?
Exactly mate I agree a man's man and that's basically extinct now
He's a Northern legend and a proper National Treasure. I can think of ten folk in my family who thought him a good working man and would speak of him as a friend they never met.
@@unlokia you're a cool guy, so cool
@@RobertLocksley385he is a true men, not like those british hooligans who think they are mens
Just discovered this guy today over here in Ireland never been so fascinated by a documentary
He is a magnificent figure of a man , love from the US
I just stumbled on him today. If I was on top of one of those stacks, I'd have safety harnesses tied on me from every angle!!
I LOVE his steam roller.I grew up around steam engines used on the farm, so I understand his passion ❤
@@gracegoodenough5895 it always makes me smile when someone stumbles on old Fred's video's cause I know you will want to watch everything he ever did and it's worth it!
Great film. The part where he talks about the 'Dynamite men' just blowing a chimney up instead of giving the fellows that built it some respect and bringing it down with some effort involved... almost brought a tear to my eye.
What a quote. 👏
But the dynamite men just doing they job
And interestingly he went to art school. His work was as artistic as any of the great masters of art.
And a dollar in his pocket you know.
True British legend with balls of steel health and safety would have a fit nowadays haha . should be on a bank note. He doesn’t get the recognition he deserved
Haha. I started a new job a few years ago and started telling the person in my induction that health and safety has gone too far. Turned out he was the health and safety guy of the company 😂. Fred Dibnah was an absolute legend. True working class northern bloke.
@Twat Ketchup Didn't he get divorced from his wife?...I don't know the full story. Sad to hear that his house got looted...I never heard about that. !
@Twat Ketchup Fair enough. I did hear something about the divorce and stuff but not much really. I think i turned a blind eye to it all because i always sided with Fred. Can't blame the wife though i guess. Still a sad story. Thanks for the speedy reply mate.
They don’t make them like that anymore, legend 👍👍
Dibnah was an absolute mad lad even by 1970s standards. Even in those days you had some kind of basic safety equipment... except if you're Fred of course.
Proper old school and a total legend.
I use to watch Fred all the time with my grandad, and we use to always go to his house in Bolton. I have photos of us all in his back garden with his stream engine! What a certi man he was! RIP Fred 💙
Very cool!
Oh man I would have loved to been around him
Me and my grandad used to watch it together 👍great memories
I still can't believe he demolished that huge chimney by hand with zero safety equipment and ciggie in mouth. A truly amazing feat.
Safety equipment? The only safety equipment needed for that in my case would be a safety harness in case I fall lol
@@brianmeen2158lol in india and many another countries they doing the same without gear today
And after having a few pints 🍺
The overhang at the beginning omfg 🙀
Never ever get bored of watching this man.
Broke the mould when HE made FD.
I do some climbing with all the modern gear ,harness ,dynamic rope, cams, belay devices, hexes&nuts, sticky rubber shoes etc.Fred had flat cap& work boots and has climbed higher than I'll ever do
but he smoked woodbines!
@@uttaradit2 🤣
haha that guy smoked like a chimney going up a chimney
Dont forget his park diive smokes
@@andrewmcguire8529 the type of man that builds countries
This should be compulsory viewing In schools, teaching students about the history of our society and how hard some people have to graft for a living, great stuff.
Good idea, except with all their phones, gizmos, and lefty propaganda, I doubt any would appreciate or understand any of it.
They prefer to encourage them to be whatever gender they like these days, eat plants and draw rainbows, a very backwards step in humanity
@@Chef2866 , and yet, they call it 'progress'.
@@SagaciousFrank it's sad to think the left originally represents people like this but now they demonise them
@@SagaciousFrank That's because they invert everything. Remember that... then it all makes sense. Not that it is good; quite the opposite is true. All very intentional.
Great stuff , can remember Fred being on tv as a kid but never watched it at the time , now he fascinates me.
“Even the undertaker himself looked like a corpse” 😂😂😂
Great 👍
You couldn't say that nowadays; it's probably dead shaming or something 🙄
This guy has balls of steel how comes we dnt get people like this any more top man👍
because health and safety muppets ruined it.
I always wonder about the camera man that’s shooting the film.
@@jreg2007 , to be fair what Fred did was quite crazy. Brave, but crazy as well. I wouldn't have the bottle to do what he did, and with insurance being a must now, things have to be safer. Whilst I thinking improvements in safety is a broadly a good thing, there's no doubt it has gone way too far in many areas, and is only there is keep jobsworths in employment. I think balance is the key. Unfortunately the balance has swung too far the other way now.
@@jreg2007 go to China, quatar, brazil, india, bangladesh, there are many millon of people who work harder than fred, fred was amazing but nothing in comparsion with this countrys
I agree he was a top man, but he walked in and out of 4 jobs before he found his calling. Young people today don't get that opportunity to try out different trades without paying for qualifications.
watching him take down that chimney was one of the most fascinating things i've ever witnessed
Thats one brave camera man to be ontop with Fred...
No amount of millions would have me up there.
I bet it was top 10s maybe very low hundreds of pounds in pay for the TV crew back in the 60s / 70s
Totally different to what it is now unfortunately, world was better.
Remarkable man & sorely missed even to this day. You can never get tired of watching a genius at work.
27 minutes and ten seconds 😂😂😂. The pinnacle of British health and safety breaches. He was an absolute top bloke !!! Loved watching his programmes when I was a kid. I watch these over and over again on you tube. Fearless Fred.
One of my heroes,a genuine real man.
This great country we live in was built by people like Fred 🇬🇧🌹
I agree, and it's a shame that it is no longer considered relevant to teach that fact in schools today.
The greatness left Britain a long time ago
Your sure right there, Look at it now....
I'm not British but you guys have the right to be proud of your history! Hard working people 👍🏻
Building that little work of art chimney at 17 is unbelievable! Imagine asking a 17 year old to get off the PlayStation and do that these days!
If you asked me twenty years ago as a seventeen year old and I would have melted into the floor. Unfathomable effort.
A man who was 100 percent confident in his own ability
Amen!
'give us a kiss love'.. I had every ounce of confidence in that one'..🙂
They don't make em like this anyone. If Fred was born today, health and safety would chew him up and destroy him.
@@SagaciousFrank I have no clue about the UK, but in the states, OSHA doesn't apply to a sole proprietor. As in, the owner himself isn't bound by OSHA rules, only subordinate employees.
@@SagaciousFrank he would chew up and destroy entire health and safety departments
6:00 mins in, look at the size of that chimney and he has to knock it all down by hand with a hammer and chisel!! no safety rails or anything to stop you falling in, wooden ladders connected together to climb up. Brave and very skilled indeed. Hats off to the man.
And at 6.20, when he climbs onto the platform, with nothing to hold him, every time I see it it makes me feel a bit rocky!
It's an amazing job. He's one of a kind Fred
Briar Mill Chimney Beal Lane Shaw near Oldham and in the background was the Cape Dawn,Dee and Ash which are all long gone Briar and Lilac Mill are still there though one of the few still standing
The truly wonderful Fred Dibnah, they broke the mould after Fred was born. R.I.P Fred. The world is a poorer place now that you're gone. 😢
Fred climbing over that scaffold 300 feet up 6 mins in with one hand on the ladder still astonishes me. A true grafter Fred with balls of steel.
Honest hard working man A product of the industry we once needed
We still need it, it's why we've imported cheap foreign labour from Europe whilst peddling a load of useless crap to children at school. I always wanted to get stuck in and work hard, but you're up against it all now, and the work ethic of this country has been crushed.
Third time watching this series. Can't get enough. Rip Fred
The ladder transition was awesome 😎
18 mins in I love and respect his feelings towards the work be does, how he respects the people that built it and how he likes to do how he does it
The man was a legend nerves of steel Rip Fred
2022 and I’m just discovering this absolute icon
having the same revolution in 2024💪
I watched this and drive down the hill looking over Belfast where I work. I couldn’t help but feel a little sad remembering all the chimneys that used to be everywhere, now long gone… there won’t be another Fred that’s for sure…
Don’t we all wish we could have Fred’s relaxed and simple outlook on life? Is that possible anymore?
nope. sadly not. All our gadgets, gizmo's, & "time-saving" wizardry, yet we're busier, & more stressed, than ever before. Simpler times, those were.
@@gavva2010 but are there some people that manage without?
@@samblake87 Anyone that manages without, is actually better-off imho. They're free of the rabbit-hole of ever-better tech. There are roads we're going down, that lead to nowhere, in many respects. Curiously, the Pandemic, for all the MANY negatives of it, is somehow teaching us some much-needed lessons - enjoy your own space. Enjoy your own country, & countryside. If you don't get to Marbella this summer, it's not the end oif the world. Let's learn to enjoy what we have, while we have it.
@@gavva2010 here here!
@@gavva2010 , exactly that. Times that'll never come back.
Fred is a true legend with not an ounce of fear . Loved watching him on the tv as a young boy. RIP Fred ❤️
A real working man, that was extremely interesting, loved watching Fred in earlier years.
Fred Dibnah was a man who learnt his trade from men long gone, a top pro who was a throwback to the magnificent Victorian age.
Fred really admired Issambaard Kingdom Brunel, both legends and great Englishmen.
Men like this were the backbone of our civilization. You think of all the infrastructure, the manufacturing plants, the castles & cathedrals of old and they were all built by men like Fred.
And today we have nothing but useless woke little jobsworths along with piss weak and utterly pathetic so called men.
Reminds me so much of my grandad. He always had a flat cap,black hands and stunk of red diesel.
"all you need is a sledge hammer and a bit of lunacy, like" haha gold
I remembered watching this back in the 70's, a real gentleman and no politically correct bs with him. RIP Fred
Bet he wished he had a drone!
Do you mean you hate women, gays and Muslims?
@@stevehay964 yes
@@stevehay964 can I ask a genuine question? Do you think that your brain is working correctly? So when you seen the original comment on this thread you thought it was about women, gays and Muslims? Nothing to do with the fact he was a hard working man who if his contribution to society was even measured with a bar chary or pie chart, would be so huge the printer would run out of green ink for the Fred portion. People like you are the problem with the world Today... not Fred, not me, not a Muslim or a gay. YOU!
I can't recall seeing any female,gay or Muslim steeplejacks so why would he hate them?
I use to watch Fred on TV when I was a kid. Loved it.
The way he smoked, I'd have thought he'd have a chimney stack on his head.!
I never saw molten metal drip from his fingers - he was a chain smoker
Great man to watch on television in these days totally interesting Justin.
And here we are, a sad nation of distribution warehouses full of foreign made goods.
Not forgetting all the foreign workers distributing so called goods🤔..how England has changed and definitely not for the better.
@@redkop510 yup.
Great Curry's though
Soooo bloody right..
These huge buildings full of Chinese products ARE the demise of a once great country 🇬🇧
Thatcher's Britain
No one could ever argue You had a stout heart Fred.
OMG, watching him go from the ladder to the scaffolding at the top of a 300ft high tower is insane, I mean the scaffolding is actually wobbling around. The man knew no fear
He had full confidence in his own abilities. That is stripped off you nowadays.
What i want to know is how he lowered the scaffolding when it was hanging off the lip of the chimney he's knocking down?
By scaffolding you mean staging
That’s the bit that scares me to bits ! If it was me I’d slide on the inside of scaffold! Clinging to wall ! Nope that’s one job I couldn’t do lol
@@davidhumphreys7035 same way he got it up there sir .
I just discovered this guy on May 16, 2021, and he's one of my faves!!!
Fred is the absolute upper boundary of what a man should be. Regardless of generational change, its blatantly obvious this legend is the apex of the species. He was apparently so strong in the hand it was considered scary🤣
Its 2022 and this is still epic.
Loved this man. Genuine
rare breed of a man love listening to him sadly missed
Sir Fred Dibnah and Danny D are the nation treasures of Great Great Britain
him getting over that ledge at 5:56 is terrifying, no harness as far as I can see. absolutely insane.
More to the point, no double handrail.
Greetings
From the North Riding of Yorkshire i Love Fred Dibnah my son is a huge Fan It's a soothing change fronm a fast paced chaotic world Thanks Fred has good mannerisms And Humour Godbless ❤🕊️
A true hero and a one off, remember watching this series when it first came out. Back in the days when Britain was great and we had industry
Bloody hard work.
I was 2 years old when this was filmed.... I am old enough to remember a simpler time, and i do miss those days.
Better times in almost every single way
🎀I came here from a history and travel blog. Called,”Wandering Turnip.” He meantioned Fred Dibnah and I had never heard of him before.🎀
I can't help but feel like there needs to be men like this around. In the big picture today's world is new and fragile, and progress is always filled with setbacks. If it fails, aka gets set back to what it's always been, it's men like this that will ensure we make it. Son's and daughters should be taught the ways that got us to this point, so it's there if/when we need it.
Most intelligent comment I've seen on yootoob in months. Well done, my faith in humanity is slightly restored.
There are men like this around but the medias don't pay attention to them. They'd rather chase around the royals and poshies. The masses are all about idolizing the material side of life rather than hard working common folk they can actually relate to.
in his spare time he is Chuck norris's stunt man !
Coming from Yorkshire, i loved Fred, always tickled me that you never saw him without a tab in his hand !!!!
This man has balls the size of cannon balls. As a ex roofer I know exactly the risks ive taken, but nothing like fred dibnah has
I used to get vertigo painting my daughters dolls house chimney!!
🤣🤣🤣
What a man, one brick at a time! And who needs dynamite? Just some sticks, old tyres, old newspapers and a match will do. What a guy! The bravery and patience of FD was incredible.
Pure genius. Thank God for the recording xxx
It gives me shivers just looking at the video. Bravo the cammera man!
Fred should have been drafted into the SAS. He was fearless.
The SAS is gay
@@everythingfellapart Truly.
A true GENT. God bless.
There's some great footage here
20:08
God damn thats an impressive shot.
Must have been incredible to see these old monoliths of production dotting the landscape with all that snow and ice on them.
In a way it's a shame they've gone. Industries and jobs destroyed that'll never come back. But yeah, the landscape is mighty impressive in this weather.
The balls on the guy who went up to the top of the chimney to film Fred working.
I'm just amazed at what Fred did with rope and timber. His determination, supreme confidence and physical stamina were off most people's scale.
His later TV career likewise a triumph. He was an accomplished worker of wood, stone and timber,an engineer, a presenter, a keen motorcyclist in his early years, a fairly good artist( he went to art school as a youngster) a steeple jack, and frankly excelled at everything he put his hand and brain to. An addendum, he also wasn't a bad demolition contractor either.
His passion for his subject was quite similar to Steve Irwin. They both pulled you into their world, their enthusiasm was infectious.
R.I.P Fred u will never be forgotten my friend. 🙏🇺🇲🗽🏴🙏
How did the camera man get up these chimneys with all the gear?
I love the commonness of the British man. He’s a legend addicted to watching the old programs now
Reality TV in the 70s.....showing legends doing legendary work
Reality TV today...fake everything full of fake celeb wannabees
Society now Is an embarrassment
Rip Fred 😪
Then be better. We are the new elites, what talents do these popular wannabees have?
It frightens the life out of me watching him climb these big chimneys ! especially when he’s at the top and crawling over the scaffold on the outside and actually moving the planks ! No safety harness and just relying on his grip ! What a steel nerve he had ! a true legend with apparently no fear !
Got to give some respect to the cameramen who went up there with him too. Don't know whether they would have had safety harnesses or not. Either way, I would not have gone up there myself.
Have and could listen and watch him for hours great!👍
i think if he were still around not even COVID could touch him this man is pure guts and balls, unfucking stoppable.
@Rich T Blame China they caused it :
"Not even covid " you say that like it's a big killer or somthing
He was almost killed by his own flat cap. Caught some disease through a cut on his scalp after putting it in some muck. He was tough, but not immune to death.
There is no way I could climb that chimney stack and then lean out to climb on the planks. No safety harness. I would be terrified. Fair play to the man. He had incredible nerve, confidence and skill.
Amazing. The chimney falling was like the end of an Antonioni film!
Looking back with the Carnival of Venice playing as he climbs is emotional
One of his Fav pieces of music
Respect man to Fred and the camera man!
If there’s one autograph I’d like to own, it’s an autograph from this man.
bloody hell 6mins 12sec hearts in my mouth when he is climbing over the running boards
Absolutely incredible how different fred looked with the tash and glasses! Either way fred is our national hero!
Watching fred just chills me out everytime.... absolute legend he was 😄
Amazing. He can climb them chimneys without stopping. Love watching him.
A legend Michelle
Fred,and Bob Ross,and Julius Sumner Miller,childhood in the seventies,I loved it,these men were my heroes.
I watch Fred when I have a shit day at work.
Totally agree with you
Speechless at the labour involved in this trade. What a man.
Balls of steel...not a chance I'd do that..legend of a fella..grafter...proper grafter not many of them about 2022.
Climbing the ladder to success
If you re watching this in 2022 you re not braindead yet😎 ,this MAN shure knew what real life is all about
I love this Documentary on Fred Dibnah when you him and hear his voice you expect him to be a Rugby League player also been a stepel jack it's rare trade and industry that no longer exists I remember seeing him at a steam expo outside Birmingham at Great Melvin in 1985 he was an interesting character, RIP Fred Dibnah 1939-2004 one of life's True Gentleman they don't make'em like that anymore.
I've had people work for me that at 9 in the morning they have the shakes a bit but after 4 or 5 pints at lunch they are fine! Classic Fred
Legend and hero of the comman man. We won’t see the likes of him again 😢
Dibnah should enter the English language as a word mean perfect genius .... " The lad did good there , his done a Dibnah"....
Fantastic man fred
Unique Gentleman......