Fred Dibnah – Steeplejack (1979) [video] | Hacker News Reader

Fred Dibnah – Steeplejack (1979) [video]

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91 pointsgrhmc28 comments

If anyone is wondering how he got the ladders up the side of the chimney in the first place:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7e0C57orM1s&t=10m25s

I rediscovered Fred on YouTube a couple of years ago, and spent far too much time watching pretty much everything I could find.

As the title suggests, watching the overhang climb in this is enough to make you feel dizzy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3R3-YwDZrzg

Wow. Can't believe I've never seen that overhang climb video before. Found it hard to watch - I just can't imagine doing anything like that. But extremely impressive.

And 50 years old as well. He just looks like a tubby little fellow but I bet he's hard as nails under the overall.

I'm a little surprised that there weren't permanent ladders, or at least the gear to attach ladders, as a feature of the chimney. The cost of a dozen ladders and some bolts would be a few hundred pounds (in modern terms) compared to the thousands you'd pay a person to 'ladder up' a chimney before it could be worked on.

I wonder if they'd degrade to the point where they were no longer trustworthy? If we're talking about decades and decades which it seems like we are then at some point you'd maybe end up having to repair/maintain the ladder/access bolts as well as the tower itself.

There are steps on telegraph poles above a certain point - the wooden ones at least. Modern metal ones have signs that forbid the use of ladders and they end up using cherry pickers - which seems a bit backwards in an odd sort of a way.

His idea of a holiday was to knock a chimney down in Blackpool in exchange for a new boiler while his family went to the beach.

Yeah - that didn't work out too well for him. From his Telegraph obituary [1]:

"Dibnah did not much care for holidays and never wanted to go abroad. Alison, stoic for years, decided that there was more to life than climbing chimneys. She took their children on a package holiday to Greece, and on her return moved out with them."

[1] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1476086/Fred-Dibn...

Huge Fred fan here. A great example of a life spend doing what he loved and loving what he did. The rest of us could learn a lot from him.

I was an avid fan of Fred when he was regularly on UK TV.

A quality unlikely to be appreciated outside the UK, but his "Yorkshireness" is superb.

but his "Yorkshireness" is superb.

He was Lancastrian. It's minor detail but as a Yorkshireman I felt compelled to correct you.

Bloody hell, you're right! Existential crisis ensues

My Dad used to make me watch him growing up in the '70s and '80s. I don't think I really appreciated it properly at the time.

I find it wasn't necessarily what he did (steam engines, chimneys, etc.) even though that was pretty interesting in itself, but his attitude and infectious enthusiasm.

Fred had a working replica coal mine in his back garden. Here is the full programme on Youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcH4nY43msk

I went to school with Fred's Nephew!

Fred was well known around the area as a steam-machine-tinkerer extraordinaire.

An amazingly enthusiastic and talented man, and a wonderful/revealing snapshot of (mostly) northern England during the 70s.

Truely. Self taught and brilliant at what he did.

Though I know the ending, I still get nervous watching him on the top of dodgy smokestacks with no safety equipment!

I'm sure I shouldn't be spending my Monday morning watching this, but his enthusiasm is infectious. Also, the last thing I'd expect to see on HN, not that I mind.

indeed, and I'm (just about) old enough to remember this from the first time around. what on earth do people from America make of this? Mind you, they must have had chimneys over there to knock down too, so 'appen they had their own Fred to do it

I saw him bring down a chimney in Leigh as a school outing. Marvellous.

Fred was great. I used to love watching his programs when we moved 'down south' in my early teens.

From the overhang video: "Up here, if you make one mistake, it's half a day out with the undertaker"

Brilliant!

Absolutely loved watching Fred growing up. Interesting seeing it on HN, but I'm just glad it means a few more people can appreciate this amazing man.

Yeah, I posted it in response to the robotic bricklayer. Semi-tangential.

One of the last projects he embarked on before dying was to try and build a replica coal mine (with the help of a handful of friends) in his back garden. I believe there's a single episode made before the local council put the kibosh on things :(

Edit: Full hour long episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcH4nY43msk

Amazing guy!

It's the infectious enthusiasm that draws me in. He was an awesome man.

I see some of the same qualities in Guy Martin's presenting style.

Yes! I'm glad someone else notices the similarities. Both suck-it-and-see northerners (though I think Martin comes from Grimsby, not Lancs.)

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