0:00:02 > 0:00:07This series of programmes is about a man's climb to a sort of fame,
0:00:07 > 0:00:10and the effect it had on his life.
0:00:21 > 0:00:25Fred Dibnah, the Bolton steeplejack, was 40
0:00:25 > 0:00:30when, back in 1978, he took part in the first of 19 films
0:00:30 > 0:00:34which would record the ups and downs of his career.
0:00:34 > 0:00:40From his earliest days, Fred had set his heart on a life at the top.
0:00:43 > 0:00:49When I were a very small boy, and I used to go to school on the tram,
0:00:49 > 0:00:55you would see little fellas with flat caps, way up in t'sky on top of factory chimneys.
0:00:55 > 0:01:01It fascinated me as to how they got all the platforms up round the top.
0:01:01 > 0:01:04And life passed by, like,
0:01:04 > 0:01:08and I, er, passed a scholarship to the art school,
0:01:08 > 0:01:11where my attitude to life changed.
0:01:11 > 0:01:16I thought I'd end up with a clean-hand job, you know?
0:01:16 > 0:01:19Well, they had different ideas.
0:01:19 > 0:01:24They said, "You're good with hammer and chisel. Be a cabinet-maker."
0:01:24 > 0:01:29So they sent me to an undertaker's, you see, where...
0:01:29 > 0:01:36Bloody hell, all them boxes! And trestles. Even the undertaker himself looked like a corpse!
0:01:36 > 0:01:38So I thought, "I don't fancy this."
0:01:38 > 0:01:43So I got on me bike and went to t'Youth Employment Office.
0:01:43 > 0:01:48They said, "We've got a good job joinering." So I became a joiner.
0:01:48 > 0:01:55At t'weekend, I'd go out pointing houses, and I got enough money to buy five ladders.
0:01:55 > 0:02:00One day, lo and behold, the vicar of Bolton, Canon Norburn, rung up.
0:02:00 > 0:02:06"Will you come and look at me church tower?" It were the biggest thing in town.
0:02:06 > 0:02:09BELL PEALS
0:02:09 > 0:02:12All the other vicars round the town,
0:02:12 > 0:02:18I could waltz in and see them, knowing I'd been allowed to have a go at that.
0:02:18 > 0:02:20I could do their lesser churches.
0:02:20 > 0:02:26Then, after that, I've never been out of work since. It made me day!
0:02:26 > 0:02:33# Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;
0:02:33 > 0:02:39# Praise Him, all creatures here below;
0:02:39 > 0:02:45# Praise Him above, ye heavenly host;
0:02:45 > 0:02:53# Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost. #
0:02:55 > 0:03:00Fred's opening move in the factory chimney side of the business
0:03:00 > 0:03:04had been to clap a little one on his mother's house!
0:03:04 > 0:03:09For the rest of her life he had to sweep it, because nobody else would.
0:03:09 > 0:03:17- Where have you been?- We're doing our best. It'll be done smartly. As speedily as possible.
0:03:17 > 0:03:24- How long has it been smoking? - Oh, a month or two.- A month or two?! Why didn't you tell me?
0:03:24 > 0:03:27You normally do, don't you?
0:03:27 > 0:03:34- Pardon?- You normally cause bother... - You've not time to do anything for me!- Oh, I know.
0:03:36 > 0:03:38Right, stick it up, Donald.
0:03:40 > 0:03:43We've got it a bit...
0:03:56 > 0:04:00MOTHER: He's not a bricklayer, but he built that.
0:04:00 > 0:04:04Ooh, it was awful. I didn't want him to do that.
0:04:04 > 0:04:09The Evening News came round to take the photograph when I was at work.
0:04:13 > 0:04:18I built this chimney when I were about 17 years old.
0:04:18 > 0:04:26We had a stack like the one next door, with five pots on. Four were disused and smoke only went up one.
0:04:26 > 0:04:32I thought, "We'll take these four down and build a chimney stack."
0:04:32 > 0:04:37I didn't design it. I just built it. It just ended up that shape!
0:04:37 > 0:04:42Everybody said I were crazy! But it's never cracked.
0:04:42 > 0:04:50And it's got a lovely draught on it. Suck your house slippers off, when it's going at t'bottom!
0:04:51 > 0:04:54He went to art school.
0:04:54 > 0:05:00When he was 17 you'd think he'd work in an office, not doing what he does.
0:05:05 > 0:05:08LOUD WHOOSH
0:05:08 > 0:05:11Miaow! >
0:05:11 > 0:05:18It's not so pleasant on a Monday morning, when it's cold, the wind's blowing and you look up,
0:05:18 > 0:05:22and you think, "Oh, good God!" and so on!
0:05:22 > 0:05:27This year, it's been windy nearly every day.
0:05:27 > 0:05:30I don't think we've had a month
0:05:30 > 0:05:32when the weather's been decent.
0:05:32 > 0:05:37- It's either been blowing a force nine, or raining, or...- COUGHS
0:05:37 > 0:05:40..snowing, or freezing cold.
0:05:40 > 0:05:42So you suffer.
0:05:42 > 0:05:45Summer's best, when t'sun's shining,
0:05:45 > 0:05:50and everybody down below's all sweating away inside,
0:05:50 > 0:05:55and you're up there with a nice, cool breeze blowing. Beautiful!
0:05:56 > 0:06:03This particular job - I've got the contract for £7,000 to knock it down, a brick at once,
0:06:03 > 0:06:06right down to the bottom.
0:06:09 > 0:06:12WIND HOWLS
0:06:12 > 0:06:17The reason for the price were I didn't really want the job.
0:06:17 > 0:06:20If it had been a repair job,
0:06:20 > 0:06:25which, you know, on average takes a month, five weeks, it's not so bad.
0:06:25 > 0:06:30But when it comes into months and months, it's a bit different.
0:06:30 > 0:06:37Furthermore, when there's only one of you, and such a gigantic pile of bricks,
0:06:37 > 0:06:41you need a stout heart to take it on.
0:06:45 > 0:06:53The Briary here - there's too many buildings to drop the thing, or blow it up, as some people do.
0:06:53 > 0:07:00The chairman of Courtaulds won't let it be blown up, so I've got to knock it down a brick at once.
0:07:00 > 0:07:07Now we're in with a chance to get summat done. We've got everything working according to how it should.
0:07:07 > 0:07:10Like the chute at the bottom.
0:07:10 > 0:07:15You can have trouble if you don't get the plates right.
0:07:15 > 0:07:19They get bunged up and the bloke at the bottom has to clear the bricks.
0:07:19 > 0:07:27You've got to make sure he's out the way, cos if you drop one and it hits him on t'neck, he's dead!
0:07:30 > 0:07:37Really, you're dicing with death with a rotten old top on the chimney.
0:07:37 > 0:07:42There's been a lot of men died fiddling with them things.
0:07:45 > 0:07:48I've never fell off a big chimney.
0:07:48 > 0:07:50You only fall off one of them once!
0:07:50 > 0:07:55One day, I fell off a pair of steps in a little girl's bedroom.
0:07:55 > 0:08:00I landed on a drilling machine and knocked meself unconscious.
0:08:00 > 0:08:07I don't remember much about it, but t'morning after I couldn't get out of bed.
0:08:07 > 0:08:15I had to stay there for three weeks! That's about the only injury I've ever done meself.
0:08:15 > 0:08:20Donald, my labourer down there, he's a very important man.
0:08:20 > 0:08:25You've got to have a man who's got a reasonable amount in grey matter.
0:08:25 > 0:08:30Like here, this noise of these fans going, it's impossible to shout.
0:08:30 > 0:08:37If you get some young lad, his heart can be in t'right place, but if he sees a girl,
0:08:37 > 0:08:43he wanders away when you need him. You look down and he's gone!
0:08:43 > 0:08:49In the past, like, I've had lots of labourers. Some drank rather a lot.
0:08:49 > 0:08:52Sort of led me astray, in a way!
0:08:52 > 0:08:55Donald, he's a staunch teetotaller,
0:08:55 > 0:09:03so in lots of ways he's a good ambassador for me. He keeps me out of the pub!
0:09:09 > 0:09:15- Look at that! Summat gone wrong with it, Donald!- It is that, Fred!
0:09:20 > 0:09:26The bricks are coming out at t'hole all right, aren't they?
0:09:31 > 0:09:33Cheese butties again!
0:09:42 > 0:09:46- I don't think we'll get a yard a day off.- No.
0:09:46 > 0:09:50- Just about time for doing holidays. - I'll be lucky.
0:09:50 > 0:09:55I get fed up if I keep looking up there, you know?
0:10:02 > 0:10:05Most steeplejacks I know,
0:10:05 > 0:10:11people come and say, "He were always drunk when he went up!"
0:10:11 > 0:10:15I wouldn't say that I've ever done it drunk,
0:10:15 > 0:10:22but if you're banging away with a big hammer all day, a few pints don't do you any harm.
0:10:22 > 0:10:27It sort of kills the pain, there's no doubt about that.
0:10:27 > 0:10:32I've had characters work for me who in a morning, at nine o'clock, like,
0:10:32 > 0:10:37they've got the shakes and have a hell of a job getting up.
0:10:37 > 0:10:45But after they'd had about five pints at dinner time, they were quite full of beans!
0:10:45 > 0:10:50In 20 years, I've only ever had two calamities.
0:10:50 > 0:10:57One were a load of bricks fell on top of a blacksmith's shop and completely demolished it.
0:10:57 > 0:11:02And I thought, "This is the end of my steeplejacking career!"
0:11:02 > 0:11:05I can laugh now, but I didn't then!
0:11:05 > 0:11:09When I come down, I were shaking all over! In the pub!
0:11:09 > 0:11:16But Mr Courtauld decided that what I'd wrecked weren't worth keeping anyway,
0:11:16 > 0:11:21so there were only a very small claim off the insurance people.
0:11:22 > 0:11:28Now, I have to have a third party insurance policy for people like Courtaulds.
0:11:28 > 0:11:32If I kill one of their operatives, I'm in dire trouble!
0:11:32 > 0:11:37I mean, they'd commandeer me traction engine or summat!
0:11:42 > 0:11:46Insurance men and me don't mix, you know?
0:11:46 > 0:11:49The thing is, I don't intend dying.
0:11:49 > 0:11:57It's a bit like being a motor car racer, or this fella who jumps over cliffs on his motorbike.
0:11:57 > 0:12:02I bet he's not got life insurance! If he has, it'll cost him a fortune.
0:12:02 > 0:12:06No, I don't really bother with that side of it.
0:12:06 > 0:12:14I know one thing - I ain't gonna die... There's no doubt I'm gonna die in bed with me boots on!
0:12:24 > 0:12:27Has anybody rung up today?
0:12:27 > 0:12:32No. I went to town this morning, shopping.
0:12:32 > 0:12:35Spending all me money again?
0:12:35 > 0:12:40Mummy, there HAS been a man rung up for Daddy, when Jane phoned.
0:12:40 > 0:12:44That's right. He didn't leave any name.
0:12:44 > 0:12:48- What did he sound like? - I never spoke to him...
0:12:48 > 0:12:51Happy at work, devoted family man,
0:12:51 > 0:12:56Fred had a competing interest to which he was addicted -
0:12:56 > 0:13:03this 1912 Aveling and Porter steamroller, which had taken him 14 years to rebuild.
0:13:05 > 0:13:10This thing and me - it's a "death do us part" job,
0:13:10 > 0:13:15because it's nearly caused divorce and much upset in the household,
0:13:15 > 0:13:18and no holidays and all that.
0:13:18 > 0:13:23"You love your bloody steamroller more than you love me!" and that.
0:13:23 > 0:13:32A lot of men who have these things go through it, especially the ones who have one engine and one wife!
0:13:32 > 0:13:39Me wife complains that I spend more time here than I do over there in the house, you see.
0:13:39 > 0:13:44I suppose in a way it's better than being down the pub all night,
0:13:44 > 0:13:48or out womanising, or breaking and entering or summat!
0:13:50 > 0:13:55Well, it never had a name when I got it.
0:13:55 > 0:14:03So we were gonna christen it. When it made loads of row, I thought, "We'll call it Thunderbolt!"
0:14:03 > 0:14:08Then I thought I might gain some grace if I call it after the wife.
0:14:08 > 0:14:14I keep telling her, "It's not every woman who's got a steamroller named after her."
0:14:14 > 0:14:18WHISTLE BLOWS
0:14:18 > 0:14:22CLATTERS LOUDLY
0:14:51 > 0:14:55Oh, steeplejacking's a bit of a spasmodic job.
0:14:55 > 0:15:00So you can play with your steam engine instead.
0:15:00 > 0:15:02It's a bit like being very rich.
0:15:02 > 0:15:08You know, you can just have a day off when you want, like.
0:15:18 > 0:15:24Lots of people who I've come to know over the years with the chimneys say,
0:15:24 > 0:15:31"You spend too much time playing with your steam engine! You should get our job done."
0:15:31 > 0:15:34Which in some ways is very true.
0:15:34 > 0:15:39I have neglected me business and, well, everything, really,
0:15:39 > 0:15:42for the sake of ten ton of iron.
0:15:42 > 0:15:45WHISTLE BLOWS
0:15:45 > 0:15:49Well, the job is getting more urgent now.
0:15:49 > 0:15:54You've about 30 or 40 feet to point and one or two bands want replacing.
0:15:54 > 0:16:00- Really, we've got to get you on the job. We can't wait much longer. - Don't worry!
0:16:00 > 0:16:05- I'll...- But I am worried, because we want to get this job put right.
0:16:05 > 0:16:12- We've got the mill in good order, and we want the chimney in good order.- Nothing will fall off.- Good.
0:16:12 > 0:16:17I'll be here as soon as the last few bricks at the Lilac have gone.
0:16:17 > 0:16:24- You will have me then till your job's finished. I won't go nowhere else.- Good.
0:16:28 > 0:16:31Morning, Lenny.
0:16:31 > 0:16:37- When could you do the job for us? - This is another problem. It would be towards next winter.
0:16:37 > 0:16:44There again, if summer's nice and healthy, we might end up here pretty quick.
0:16:44 > 0:16:49- Could you complete it by the end of October?- Possibly.
0:16:49 > 0:16:52TOOTS WHISTLE
0:16:52 > 0:16:56- Morning, Mr Shephard.- All right?
0:16:56 > 0:17:01Fred managed to keep his engine in coal and his head above water
0:17:01 > 0:17:04with some big chimney felling jobs.
0:17:04 > 0:17:08On a Sunday in 1979, he did one at Rochdale,
0:17:08 > 0:17:12which, unforeseeably, set him on the road to fame.
0:17:12 > 0:17:15Fred, these two chimneys want dropping.
0:17:15 > 0:17:20When you've got rid of t'mill, there'll be plenty of room.
0:17:20 > 0:17:23I come the other day and had a look.
0:17:23 > 0:17:30- There's an house over there on that corner. If we can keep it away from that...- Go towards the canal side.
0:17:30 > 0:17:36- And we don't block t'canal up as well!- Make sure we don't!
0:17:36 > 0:17:40Why not try and do both at t'same time?!
0:17:40 > 0:17:43- Two for the price of one(?)- Oh, aye.
0:17:43 > 0:17:46Mmm. Well.
0:17:46 > 0:17:51Four hundred for t'little 'un, and five hundred for t'big 'un.
0:17:51 > 0:17:58- That's the cheapest you can do, is it?- Oh, aye. Aye.- You'll soon be a millionaire at that rate!
0:17:58 > 0:18:03Yeah, I think I can manage them without blocking t'canal up,
0:18:03 > 0:18:06doing any damage, breaking windows.
0:18:06 > 0:18:10My main competition is the dynamite men.
0:18:10 > 0:18:17When it comes to felling a chimney, they'll come along and, you know, blow it up in half a day.
0:18:17 > 0:18:21So they only need... quarter of t'money I want.
0:18:21 > 0:18:27So that's why, on television, every one you see going down is blown up.
0:18:27 > 0:18:34There's none of them done with the pit props and the big fire like they did it in 1899.
0:18:34 > 0:18:41Which, um...you know, I like doing it that way, cos it's more spectacular, and it's, um...
0:18:41 > 0:18:44You get a bit of a build-up to it.
0:18:44 > 0:18:48Whereas when you press that plunger, boom, that's it.
0:18:48 > 0:18:53It's over with. You've not really done so much.
0:18:53 > 0:18:58You've destroyed something that it took a few men a long time to erect.
0:18:58 > 0:19:05A lot of hard, bloody sweat and labour. When they finished it off, no doubt, they put a Union Jack up.
0:19:05 > 0:19:08You've blown it up pressing a button.
0:19:08 > 0:19:16Whereas if you've got to hack your way through three foot of brickwork at the bottom,
0:19:16 > 0:19:21with a few hundred ton squeezing on it, it's not died too easy, has it?
0:19:24 > 0:19:28CHISELLING
0:19:47 > 0:19:52It's unbelievable, this! We shouldn't be here today, really!
0:19:54 > 0:20:02I've had instances where people have come, where I've wanted a couple of hundred pounds, for £25!
0:20:02 > 0:20:09Madmen, you know? No pit props, nothing. Just chop the bottom out, like a tree.
0:20:09 > 0:20:14They don't know to an hour when it's gonna go. Just keep bashing.
0:20:14 > 0:20:20And when it's creaking and groaning, just run over the road!
0:20:20 > 0:20:25You don't need anything - only a sledgehammer and a bit of lunacy -
0:20:25 > 0:20:27and you're in business!
0:20:33 > 0:20:36Then you come on the insurance men.
0:20:36 > 0:20:43They'll send some little lad out from their office, who's never seen a chimney fall down,
0:20:43 > 0:20:45and he's gotta work out the risks.
0:20:45 > 0:20:53By the time it's gone back to HQ, it could have been Groucho Marx knocking it down. Which upsets me.
0:20:53 > 0:20:58When I think of all the ones I've done that have gone OK,
0:20:58 > 0:21:01and yet the premiums keep going up all the time.
0:21:01 > 0:21:04Well, I've nearly given them up now.
0:21:04 > 0:21:10There's nowt in t'way I'll do it and take it on me own back. Good luck to them men.
0:21:10 > 0:21:16I mean, they've got big Jags and pinstripe suits, and what have I got?
0:21:16 > 0:21:19Second-hand bloody Army Land Rover.
0:21:19 > 0:21:23I just about manage to keep that going!
0:21:25 > 0:21:28DRILLING
0:21:38 > 0:21:44Some years ago, I were doing one that when you come home at night,
0:21:44 > 0:21:51I thought, "Christ! I hope the bugger goes right!" Because we'd only got 60ft to get it in.
0:21:51 > 0:21:58I came home and I'm having me tea in the kitchen, and it come on the TV, "Here's one that went wrong."
0:21:58 > 0:22:02I knew it were summat up in t'chimney line.
0:22:02 > 0:22:10I run in t'front room just in time to see this factory chimney, chhhh, straight through the mill!
0:22:10 > 0:22:17Just been kitted out for a three-shift system. It's still shut, that mill, somewhere in Yorkshire.
0:22:17 > 0:22:23Chopped the mill in half! Well, them were the dynamite men.
0:22:23 > 0:22:29Well, how do you think I should feel after that? When I've gotta do this one...
0:22:29 > 0:22:34They'd got a field to get theirs in. I'd gotta get it down a 60ft slot.
0:22:34 > 0:22:40From that day to the Sunday that we did it, my nervous system weren't too good!
0:22:40 > 0:22:44HAMMERING
0:23:02 > 0:23:05A bit more wood round this side.
0:23:13 > 0:23:16Plenty wood on there.
0:23:19 > 0:23:22Morning.
0:23:30 > 0:23:34We'll give it a general sousing over after.
0:23:36 > 0:23:38Ooh, yeah. Yeah, we'll hear it roar.
0:23:41 > 0:23:47- Fred!- What, love?- How are you going on?- All right, love.
0:23:47 > 0:23:49How are you?
0:23:49 > 0:23:55- We'll be safe over there, won't we? - I hope so! Yeah, I think so.
0:23:55 > 0:24:00D'you want me to light it, like I usually do, or not?
0:24:00 > 0:24:05- I usually light it, and then he... - Leave me alone! I don't know!
0:24:05 > 0:24:10- Then he takes it off me.- Oh, light the fire, you mean?- Mmm.- Yeah, yeah.
0:24:15 > 0:24:18Oh, he's panicking like buggery.
0:24:18 > 0:24:24- Who do you mean?- The Welsh fella. - The factory inspector. - Everything's beautiful.
0:24:24 > 0:24:29You don't think it's gonna go that way? The wind's blowing that way.
0:24:29 > 0:24:34"If it goes backwards," he says. It's a three million to one chance!
0:24:34 > 0:24:40- He says, "What's in that tank?"- I don't bloody know. He asked me too.
0:24:40 > 0:24:44- He's nervous. - Anyway, that having been said,
0:24:44 > 0:24:49we will let you know when we've got all the evacuation done.
0:24:49 > 0:24:54- We're sealing this road off. - Yeah.- With white incident tape.
0:24:57 > 0:25:02< Can we have everybody out, please? Beyond the white tape.
0:25:09 > 0:25:11A DOG BARKS
0:25:20 > 0:25:24Let it get going. Turn it round a bit.
0:25:24 > 0:25:29That's it. Great. Now, then, right in t'middle, there.
0:25:29 > 0:25:32Right, you can give it to me now.
0:25:32 > 0:25:34Thank you.
0:25:41 > 0:25:44Bloody thing won't burn!
0:26:37 > 0:26:40Won't be long now.
0:26:49 > 0:26:52D'you see it moving? The stick?
0:26:52 > 0:26:55That stick?
0:26:59 > 0:27:01I hope the bloody thing goes.
0:27:01 > 0:27:04It's going! Going!
0:27:04 > 0:27:07HE SOUNDS A HOOTER
0:27:29 > 0:27:32Did you like that?
0:27:34 > 0:27:38Right in the right shop, innit?
0:27:38 > 0:27:40Give us a kiss, love!
0:27:40 > 0:27:43Are you all right?
0:27:44 > 0:27:52It were a good 'un. I knew it. I had every ounce of confidence in that one. We just got it right.
0:28:31 > 0:28:36Subtitles by Judith Russell BBC Scotland, 1996