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Fred Dibnah

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 Goucho 05 Sep 2015

These may have been posted on here before, but I've only just seen them.

So does anyone else find what Fred Dibnah used to do, just a little bit unnerving?

youtube.com/watch?v=6W_7uIapoHc&

youtube.com/watch?v=3R3-YwDZrzg&
Post edited at 15:11
 marsbar 05 Sep 2015
In reply to Goucho:

I've not seen them on here, but I always loved watching him on TV. Proper character.
In reply to Goucho:
Yowzer! That doesn't make comfortable viewing does it?
A bloke who really knew the meaning of hard graft.
Post edited at 16:30
 Nick Alcock 05 Sep 2015
In reply to Goucho:
Makes my teeth itch and brings on a definite pucker and clench,
Post edited at 17:19
 Hyphin 05 Sep 2015
In reply to Goucho:

'mon once you've got a couple of planks down you can work as comfortably as though you were on the ground............
Bernard Shakey 05 Sep 2015
In reply to Goucho:

So one programme where he dug his own mine shaft in his garden, said he'd always wanted one ! his local council came along and closed it down, as he hadn't applied for permission , brilliant
 NorthernGrit 05 Sep 2015
In reply to Goucho:

Don't worry, he had the answer to the nerves.

youtube.com/watch?v=pGnCbRnmeYM&

 gethin_allen 05 Sep 2015
In reply to Goucho:

I love watching Dibnah, it was such a different world back then both good and bad.

The one film of him taking down a chimney by propping it up on sleepers and burning them out is great, him standing a few feet away from the base of the chimney checking progress as it starts to collapse.
 ThunderCat 05 Sep 2015
In reply to Goucho:

I actually get pains in my hands watching stuff like this. Like all the nerves from my wrists to my fingertips start screaming out.

Love the way he's puffing on a tab while he starts the climb down.

What a chap.
OP Goucho 05 Sep 2015
In reply to gethin_allen:

In today's Health & Safety obsessed world, where you have to get 2 colleagues and an inflatable crash mat to stand on a footstool to get a ring binder down from a shelf in the office, there's something wonderfully anarchic about Dibnah's way of doing things.

2
 browndog33 05 Sep 2015
In reply to Goucho:

My uncle died working on the chimneys as a steeple jack in the 70's..

What proper character Fred was though, they really don't make them like that anymore, and as someone above mentioned Fred was definately a grafter that led from the front.

M.
XXXX 05 Sep 2015
In reply to Goucho:

As someone who occasionally has to work hanging from tall structures I personally welcome today's health and safety legislation.


3
 craig h 05 Sep 2015
In reply to Goucho:

I've enjoyed following in his footsteps, albeit with a little more health and safety.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/21913923@N03/5880706681/in/photolist-9XErrX-9...
1
 Andrew Lodge 05 Sep 2015
In reply to Goucho:

I always loved his line

"One slip here and it's half a day out with the undertaker"
 gethin_allen 05 Sep 2015
In reply to Goucho:

> In today's Health & Safety obsessed world, where you have to get 2 colleagues and an inflatable crash mat to stand on a footstool to get a ring binder down from a shelf in the office, there's something wonderfully anarchic about Dibnah's way of doing things.

Exactly, we had to go on a course to use the 3 step ladder to reach the top chemicals shelf. I didn't do the course but used the ladders anyway because I'm a rebel :-b

I wasn't so sure about the boozing and driving a massive traction engine. In his one show he'd had about 5 pints!
The thing that made it easy for FD. was the use of mild steel Giggly pins,

 gethin_allen 05 Sep 2015
In reply to google:

> The thing that made it easy for FD. was the use of mild steel Giggly pins,

Giggly pins?
 The New NickB 05 Sep 2015
In reply to Goucho:

I watched Fred take down many a local chimney in the 80s, actually under a lot of the same Health and Safety legislation we operate under today.

He actually did dangerous stuff pretty safely!
 The New NickB 05 Sep 2015
In reply to gethin_allen:

> The one film of him taking down a chimney by propping it up on sleepers and burning them out is great, him standing a few feet away from the base of the chimney checking progress as it starts to collapse.

He took down dozens of chimneys that way, being local I remember watching being a regular weekend activity!
 gethin_allen 06 Sep 2015
In reply to The New NickB:

> He took down dozens of chimneys that way, being local I remember watching being a regular weekend activity!

The one I'm thinking about pretty much landed on his toes and had him running like hell.
 3leggeddog 06 Sep 2015
In reply to Goucho:

Fred was a childhood hero. I even forgave him for advertising greenhall whitleys excreble ale.

Sad to see him go, the last bastion of male supremacy
 quirky 06 Sep 2015
In reply to craig h:

India Mill chimney in Darwen, the skyline of my youth!
 craig h 06 Sep 2015
In reply to quirky:

It's a pretty dominant structure.
 wilkesley 06 Sep 2015
In reply to Goucho:

One of our neighbours, who is a traction engine enthusiast, was persuaded to climb to the top of one of Fred's chimneys. He lay down on top in abject terror while Fred ate his sandwiches.
 goldmember 06 Sep 2015
In reply to Goucho:

bast**d my hands are sweating now! coming down that after a hard days gaff musta be tough!
 toad 06 Sep 2015
In reply to Goucho:
I saw him do a couple of mill chimneys when I was a kid, very impressive, though his warning horn was incredibly ineffectual! I believe he was a tricky bloke to deal with IRL.

Blaster Bates was entertaining. Saw him blow up a bog oak once. Big peaty bang!!
1
pasbury 07 Sep 2015
In reply to Goucho:

I liked it when he'd emerge from a cloud of dust as an enormous chimney was felled a few yards away and say "did you like that then" in best Lancashire.
 deepsoup 07 Sep 2015
In reply to pasbury:
This reminded me a bit of Fred and those chimneys when I saw it..
youtube.com/watch?v=9NRmYzLrvfM&
Lusk 07 Sep 2015
In reply to Goucho:

He was f*cking hard was Fred!
 malk 07 Sep 2015
In reply to deepsoup:

lol- i was thinking wtf are they doing until it all became clear
 ByEek 07 Sep 2015
In reply to Goucho:

I love these videos. I was looking for a picture of how they do it these days. It involves completely wrapping the chimney, loads of scaffolding, netting, harnesses and helmets. Strange to think that only 30 years ago, it was a bit o'rope, the odd plank and a couple of pints in advance for courage.

But then I saw this!

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/01/27/curing-a-fear-of-heights-chimney...
 nniff 07 Sep 2015
In reply to Goucho:
I like his comment when someone asked him if he'd ever fallen off. His response was something like 'Aye, but the youth over there caught me'.

I just loved his enthusiasm for it and his matter-of-factness
Post edited at 16:53
In reply to Goucho:
As an ex-fireman, the thing that always gives me cold sweats watching Dibnah was the way he climbed with his hands on the strings of the ladder, not the rounds. With your hands on the rounds as you climb you have a good chance of saving yourself if a foot slips, with your hands on the outside of the ladder one slip and you are off!
Post edited at 18:42
In reply to Squidward Tenticles:

Rounds ----------- Run
yep its the same in construction muck on the run of any kind is better than falling

He also had painted ladders and that's a no no today -------------- paint hiding a possible flaw
 Andy Say 07 Sep 2015
In reply to Goucho:

> you have to get 2 colleagues and an inflatable crash mat to stand on a footstool to get a ring binder down from a shelf in the office.

I think you exaggerate somewhat. And, of course, the construction (and destruction) industry has one of the highest fatality rates going.

Still if you want anarchic work practises then that is your affair.
OP Goucho 07 Sep 2015
In reply to Andy Say:
> I think you exaggerate somewhat. And, of course, the construction (and destruction) industry has one of the highest fatality rates going.

> Still if you want anarchic work practises then that is your affair.

And the prize for taking a light hearted post too seriously goes to......
Post edited at 19:29
1
 craig h 07 Sep 2015
In reply to Squidward Tenticles:
The rungs are more likely to snap than the ladder stiles, and as it's only your feet that are on the rungs it's amazing how strongly you grip if a rung snaps.
Post edited at 19:27
 Andy Say 07 Sep 2015
In reply to Goucho:

> And the prize for taking a light hearted post too seriously goes to......

So you didn't mean it then?

And you do actually think that health and safety legislation is a good thing.

And you don't really believe that 'you have to get 2 colleagues and an inflatable crash mat to stand on a footstool to get a ring binder down from a shelf in the office.'

'Cos I get really hacked off with the 'Helf an Safty gorn mad' brigade' sometimes. I really do.
 goldmember 08 Sep 2015
In reply to Goucho:

What grade would be given to climbing India chimney in Freds style? easyish climb but So dangerous!
 Ryan Parle 10 Sep 2015
Man My hands are sweatting big time, had me looking for my bag of chalk!! I must admit i dont much like the idea of climbing that high without any protection.

I understand the comments about modern Health & Safety gone mad, i regulary have to work on a large 5m x 15m platform that is about 60cm from the ground, I got back from holiday to find about 30 big inflatable things that look like the Minions scattered all around the platform, i'm now actually worried that if i fall off i will bounce on the inflatables and smash in to something else. Up until now I simply made myself "aware" of the drop and subconciously kept away from the edge.

Then there is the time i was made to wear a harness whilst on top of a shipping container on the back of a lorry, i turned around to walk back to my ladder, tripped on one of the ropes and fell off the edge, i manage to grab the edge of the container and pull myself upright but still hit the deck before the fall arrest had fully extended. normally i wouldnt have used a harness & just kept a good hold on the chains of the Hiab crane. The site H&S guy got a piece of my mind afterwards,

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