Fred Dibnah - Steeplejack

[Brighton TID]

Just watched him on TV demolishing a chuffing tall factory chimney in the 70s. Basically, working from ground level, Fred fixed his ladders up the side of said chimney, climbing and fixing more lengths as he went, higher and higher. His wife (wife) helped him rope up the lengths of ladder from the ground with some kind of pulley arrangement Fred constructed at the top of each run.
Once he reached the top, he sat on the chimney rim and started knocking out the bricks one by one, chucking them into a skip on the ground.
All the time, the old boy was without a harness and had a fag on in his mouth. In fact, there was not one piece of personal protective equipment in sight, no hard hat, goggles or gloves, let alone sunscreen or a hi vis jacket.

Health and safety gone mad.

 

[Bevendean Hillbilly]

Just watched him on TV demolishing a chuffing tall factory chimney in the 70s. Basically, working from ground level, Fred fixed his ladders up the side of said chimney, climbing and fixing more lengths as he went, higher and higher. His wife (wife) helped him rope up the lengths of ladder from the ground with some kind of pulley arrangement Fred constructed at the top of each run.
Once he reached the top, he sat on the chimney rim and started knocking out the bricks one by one, chucking them into a skip on the ground.
All the time, the old boy was without a harness and had a fag on in his mouth. In fact, there was not one piece of personal protective equipment in sight, no hard hat, goggles or gloves, let alone sunscreen or a hi vis jacket.

Health and safety gone mad.

Phew. I thought this was another yew tree moment.

 

[surrey jim]

Opened the thread expecting to see he had died

 

[Northstander]

Just watched him on TV demolishing a chuffing tall factory chimney in the 70s. Basically, working from ground level, Fred fixed his ladders up the side of said chimney, climbing and fixing more lengths as he went, higher and higher. His wife (wife) helped him rope up the lengths of ladder from the ground with some kind of pulley arrangement Fred constructed at the top of each run.
Once he reached the top, he sat on the chimney rim and started knocking out the bricks one by one, chucking them into a skip on the ground.
All the time, the old boy was without a harness and had a fag on in his mouth. In fact, there was not one piece of personal protective equipment in sight, no hard hat, goggles or gloves, let alone sunscreen or a hi vis jacket.

Health and safety gone mad.

If you like that, check him out on this one!

I would rather stick rusty nails in my balls that do this!

 

[Bevendean Hillbilly]

Opened the thread expecting to see he had died

He has.

 

[symyjym]

He has.

I think he was mocking my Tony Hart RIP thread last week.

 

[Superseagull]

Watching Dibnah at work you have to wonder how he lived as long as he did. Health & Safety legend!

I liked the fact he did not bother with any public liability insurance despite the fact that he spent most of his life collapsing huge chimneys by basically lighting a big fire under them.

 

[Brighton TID]

If you like that, check him out on this one!

I would rather stick rusty nails in my balls that do this!

How the chuff did he get the ladders to the top?

Legend.

 

[surrey jim]

He has.

And 10 years ago! I genuinely thought he was still alive, watched a documentary on him around 2-3 years ago, possibly the same the op is talking about.

 

[Theatre of Trees]

Erecting scaffolding 200 feet up

[yt]6W_7uIapoHc[/yt]

 

[Brighton TID]

And 10 years ago! I genuinely thought he was still alive, watched a documentary on him around 2-3 years ago, possibly the same the op is talking about.

The documentary I saw today showed Fred taking a holiday on Blackpool beach with his wife and kids. Fred looked about as out of place as Jihadi John at a gospel sing-along. He was wearing a jumper and smoking a fag whilst reluctantly playing catch with his young daughter. He refused point blank to go paddling in the sea.
The programme demonstrated that Fred was far more at home working up a chimney than having a family holiday.

Honestly, I thought this bloke was all about boring steam engines. Turns out he was some kind of Brunel genius/nutter.

Absolute British thoroughbred.

 

[BN9 BHA]

The documentary I saw today showed Fred taking a holiday on Blackpool beach with his wife and kids. Fred looked about as out of place as Jihadi John at a gospel sing-along. He was wearing a jumper and smoking a fag whilst reluctantly playing catch with his young daughter. He refused point blank to go paddling in the sea.
The programme demonstrated that Fred was far more at home working up a chimney than having a family holiday.

Honestly, I thought this bloke was all about boring steam engines. Turns out he was some kind of Brunel genius/nutter.

Absolute British thoroughbred.

Fred was a legend and I always enjoy watching his programmes .
Very interesting bloke and watching him got me interested in Engineering and Brunel.

I could watch the steeple jack stuff over and over again, he had no fear whatsoever.

 

[Brighton TID]

Erecting scaffolding 200 feet up

[yt]6W_7uIapoHc[/yt]

Er, fecking hell! That is amazing.

Absolutely no kicker board or parapet railing to the scaffold in sight!

 

[The Brighton Bear]

An absolute legend from a bygone era. I loved his programs and his simple down-to-earth way of doing things. As has been said, he seemed to have no fear.

 

[Brighton TID]

An absolute legend from a bygone era. I loved his programs and his simple down-to-earth way of doing things. As has been said, he seemed to have no fear.

Probably had one of the most dangerous jobs in the world, yet died of cancer.
Smoked like a chimney (no pun intended) and probably breathed in more asbestos than fresh air. Yet his cancer was related to his bladder. Isn't life weird?

 

[Leekbrookgull]

Back in tne 80's he had set-up a fire demolition job taken about aweek to fix and was set to 'burn' on a Sunday,some vandels set fire to it on the Saturday yet it dropped where he said it would. A craftsman.

 

[Spicy]

An absolute legend as others have said. You can't even climb a stepladder now without having full safety gear and a crash helmet.

 

[The Fifth Column]

When I joined the Royal Navy in the early 90s his nephew was in my intake. We immediately called him Fred and he was a short fat lump with thick glasses so not that different to his Uncle really. He was fecking useless at everything with none of the practical skills of his Uncle Fred but during initial training somehow managed to pull a local girl who was so far out of his League if was mystifying. I never did find out how he managed to convince that girl to go out with him and I never found out his real first name but I'm sure Uncle Fred would have been proud of little fatty Dibnah.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Going up just a five feet ladder makes me all queasy. I went all unneccesary just watching the overhang clip.

 

[Lankyseagull]

He always said he was a Victorian born in the wrong century.