0:00:09 > 0:00:11It's going.
0:00:11 > 0:00:13Go away!
0:00:13 > 0:00:17HE SOUNDS HOOTER
0:00:31 > 0:00:33Done for!
0:00:33 > 0:00:36I'll go and get that thing.
0:00:38 > 0:00:40You like that?
0:00:50 > 0:00:53WHISTLE SOUNDS
0:00:53 > 0:01:00Fred Dibnah, the Bolton steeplejack, spent thousands of hours in doing up his steam-engine,
0:01:00 > 0:01:04to the detriment of other aspects of his life.
0:01:04 > 0:01:12Lots of people I've got to know through the chimneys say I spend too much time with my steam-engine.
0:01:12 > 0:01:18They tell me I should get on with their jobs! Which is true in some ways!
0:01:18 > 0:01:25I have neglected my business and everything really for the sake of this ten ton of iron.
0:01:25 > 0:01:28So it was bad news for family and customers
0:01:28 > 0:01:34when, in 1980, Fred was spotted building an extension to his engine shed.
0:01:34 > 0:01:37Their worst fears were realised.
0:01:37 > 0:01:45It came to light that he had his eye on the rusted wreck of another steam-engine.
0:01:45 > 0:01:48Have you given it any thought?
0:01:48 > 0:01:51- Me last offer, mmm?- Em...
0:01:51 > 0:01:57- It's difficult talking about the money side with someone you know.- Yeah.
0:01:57 > 0:01:59We had this trouble before.
0:01:59 > 0:02:07- Well, like, er, £2,000 sort of... you know... Am I getting any nearer?- Yeah, you are, Fred.
0:02:07 > 0:02:14- I was thinking of two and a half myself. - Ah! I'll give you 2,300 for it.
0:02:14 > 0:02:17We're getting rather nearer now.
0:02:17 > 0:02:22We're getting nearer. Yeah, I think we could begin to think about that.
0:02:22 > 0:02:28I think I'll have it, then. Give us a week or two to sort the money out.
0:02:28 > 0:02:35- It's a long time since we crashed into each other.- A few years! - Two steamrollers.
0:02:35 > 0:02:42- Could've been catastrophic, that. We sort of bounced off each other! - A terrible bang, wasn't it?
0:02:42 > 0:02:47We shouldn't have had as much pop as we'd had!
0:02:52 > 0:02:56Your dad's new engine. Coming in the shed.
0:02:56 > 0:02:59He'll make it all nice for us.
0:03:01 > 0:03:03It's beautiful.
0:03:03 > 0:03:06Have you almost done now?
0:03:06 > 0:03:10- Want another roller?- Eh? - Want another roller?
0:03:10 > 0:03:16No, not really. I think we can do t'rest with t'jack now.
0:03:16 > 0:03:20I think it's time we went for a pint, actually.
0:03:20 > 0:03:23There's steam coming off me.
0:03:23 > 0:03:28How are we going to manage paying for all the bits and pieces?
0:03:28 > 0:03:34- We managed before with that, didn't we? No more holidays. - We never had any!
0:03:40 > 0:03:48Fred geared down his steamroller to drive the machinery he'd use to make parts for the tractor.
0:03:48 > 0:03:56The roller was 14 years' work. Fred reckoned - optimistically - that he'd do this job in less than four.
0:03:57 > 0:04:03I can work in this shed sometimes till one o'clock in the morning.
0:04:03 > 0:04:09I contain my hammering down to nine o'clock. I don't do any heavy blows.
0:04:09 > 0:04:12I respect the neighbours!
0:04:12 > 0:04:20Donald says you can hear this hammer in his parlour which he says is 200 yards away.
0:04:20 > 0:04:25They're only bloody 20 yards away, so...
0:04:25 > 0:04:29Mind you, their house is up for sale at present.
0:04:31 > 0:04:36But now came a development no-one then saw the significance of.
0:04:36 > 0:04:41The first of Fred's films had been shown on BBC TV.
0:04:41 > 0:04:43Fan mail began arriving.
0:04:43 > 0:04:49There's one here - somebody knows where there's a steam-engine.
0:04:49 > 0:04:52Belongs to a blacksmith who died.
0:04:52 > 0:04:56Then it says - quite funny, this... it says,
0:04:56 > 0:05:01"His wife, who I feel was not sympathetic to his aspirations,
0:05:01 > 0:05:06"I should imagine would be delighted to be rid of it."
0:05:08 > 0:05:11We've got some here - cartoons, you know.
0:05:11 > 0:05:14They're even doing drawings.
0:05:14 > 0:05:18"It's no use - you'll have to get an ironing board, love."
0:05:21 > 0:05:28Some of the correspondents spoke of the danger of Fred's job and asked how the family dealt with it.
0:05:28 > 0:05:35When Jane was first born, he wanted me to walk to all the chimneys he was working at.
0:05:35 > 0:05:41I pushed her round to the first chimney. I was frightened to death.
0:05:41 > 0:05:45I came home and didn't go to another one for a long time.
0:05:45 > 0:05:50You can't sit at home thinking, "What's going to happen today?"
0:05:50 > 0:05:55You've to just put it to the back of your mind.
0:05:55 > 0:06:00He's safer up there than he is on the ground sometimes.
0:06:00 > 0:06:02I just believe in God.
0:06:02 > 0:06:08I think if you behave well and you're good, you're looked after.
0:06:08 > 0:06:15If you worry all the time about it, you will fast become a bloody nervous wreck.
0:06:15 > 0:06:19I just don't think about it.
0:06:19 > 0:06:27The only time when the wind gets up a bit is when you're going to do something particularly hazardous,
0:06:27 > 0:06:31not just the everyday run-of-the-mill steeplejacking.
0:06:31 > 0:06:37Climbing ladders and dancing on the tops of chimneys is pretty safe.
0:06:37 > 0:06:45You've always got a feeling in the back of your mind that if you put one foot wrong you're dead.
0:06:45 > 0:06:49It's half a day out with the undertaker.
0:06:49 > 0:06:56On a lighter note, others who wrote were curious about how this partnership began,
0:06:56 > 0:06:59and why they had eloped to Gretna Green.
0:06:59 > 0:07:06It transpired that from his vantage points, Fred had long kept Alison under observation.
0:07:06 > 0:07:13He used to tell me when I went to work or school and the clothes I wore.
0:07:13 > 0:07:21I thought you were nice. Never thought I'd marry you, you know, but, sort of...
0:07:21 > 0:07:26She actually came to the pub. I were propping the bar up.
0:07:26 > 0:07:34- I'd had some Dutch courage and asked her out.- "What are you doing tomorrow?"- That were it, yeah.
0:07:34 > 0:07:40She said nothing. "I'll meet you at the top of t'street." That's how it started.
0:07:40 > 0:07:48We had a lot of mickey took out of us cos I'm, like, ten years older than Alison. It went on and on.
0:07:48 > 0:07:53Their lot wanted so many at the wedding and so did our lot.
0:07:53 > 0:07:57So one night, we'd had a pint or two,
0:07:57 > 0:08:03and we decided to go and stay with a friend in Kirkcudbrightshire.
0:08:03 > 0:08:12But when we arrived there, this woman said, "But he isn't here no more. He's gone back to Bolton."
0:08:12 > 0:08:17There were only one bus a day up this bloody mountain, you know.
0:08:17 > 0:08:22So we've got to then stay there - or they invited us to stay there.
0:08:22 > 0:08:29And I slept with the farmer in his bed and he had a big nightie and one of them hats with a bobble,
0:08:29 > 0:08:36like Rip Van Winkle and Alison slept in a big wooden cot... didn't you?
0:08:36 > 0:08:44And I tried my best to talk to the old farmer about traction engines but he weren't that well up on them,
0:08:44 > 0:08:48but he knew the whereabouts of one or two.
0:08:48 > 0:08:53But the next day, what could we do? We couldn't lose face and come home.
0:08:53 > 0:08:56So we decided that we would go to Gretna Green.
0:08:56 > 0:09:03Alison, being a bit religious, decided that we'd have a do at the church.
0:09:03 > 0:09:10We went to see the vicar but he weren't too keen, he didn't like runaways.
0:09:10 > 0:09:16Sort of Alison did the talking and I just stood in the background. He weren't keen.
0:09:16 > 0:09:22And over his mantelpiece, he had a bloody magnificent picture of the Forth Bridge.
0:09:22 > 0:09:28I started admiring this picture and his sort of attitude slowly changed.
0:09:28 > 0:09:34And he condescended to do the job. The great day come some weeks later.
0:09:34 > 0:09:40When we turned up and knocked on the door, he were nowhere about.
0:09:40 > 0:09:45Then we heard this shuffling and he appears at the door in his pyjamas,
0:09:45 > 0:09:50and he said, "Och, aye, I'd forgotten about you. Hang on."
0:09:50 > 0:09:55He reappeared with his cassock on and his bloody pyjamas sticking out.
0:09:55 > 0:10:00So we got married with a vicar who wore pyjamas while he did the job.
0:10:00 > 0:10:04MUSIC: "The Wedding March" by Mendelssohn
0:10:06 > 0:10:09We've never looked back since.
0:10:09 > 0:10:13WHISTLE SOUNDS
0:10:13 > 0:10:21By now, Fred and Alison were beginning to discover a downside to being in the public eye,
0:10:21 > 0:10:26which, in their time together, they never quite managed to accept.
0:10:26 > 0:10:34Since we made our epic documentary, everybody wants to know about bloody steeplejacks and chimneys.
0:10:34 > 0:10:39I don't mind doing things for Dr Barnardo's and other good causes,
0:10:39 > 0:10:45but just lately I've had so many requests to these things
0:10:45 > 0:10:50that it's interfering with me work and me new steam-engine.
0:10:50 > 0:10:54I've not been able to touch it for many a week.
0:11:02 > 0:11:05WHISTLE SOUNDS
0:11:05 > 0:11:08Where is it? It's there.
0:11:15 > 0:11:19- Good morning.- Nice to see you again. Thanks for coming.
0:11:19 > 0:11:22- You got the scissors?- Yes, I have.
0:11:22 > 0:11:26Thank you on behalf of Dr Barnardo's. I'll give you a badge.
0:11:30 > 0:11:33- Have you got the champagne?- Yes.
0:11:34 > 0:11:37You're now a Barnardo helper.
0:11:37 > 0:11:41If you'd like to step this way, the ribbon awaits.
0:11:43 > 0:11:45Morning.
0:11:45 > 0:11:49Never done anything like this before.
0:11:49 > 0:11:52- Always a first time. > - Yeah.
0:11:54 > 0:11:58I now pronounce this venture duly going.
0:12:01 > 0:12:04- I'll turn the sign around. - That's right. Thank you.
0:12:04 > 0:12:07You can have your scissors back.
0:12:08 > 0:12:12- CHEERING - Put your finger over it quick!
0:12:14 > 0:12:16Thank you.
0:12:16 > 0:12:18Thank you.
0:12:18 > 0:12:20Good health.
0:12:20 > 0:12:25Traction engines are good things - they don't answer back.
0:12:25 > 0:12:29I can hit 'em with the hammer, you see.
0:12:29 > 0:12:31And they don't say nowt.
0:12:31 > 0:12:37- How much time do you spend on your traction engine?- Oh...
0:12:37 > 0:12:43- He'll have his breakfast with it, his dinner with it, his tea with it. - Then go to bed?- Yeah!
0:12:43 > 0:12:47I could be out there all day and night.
0:12:47 > 0:12:50Two in the morning, hammering away.
0:12:50 > 0:12:55- Very understanding neighbours. - Very understanding wife as well!
0:13:00 > 0:13:05This celebrity business is all very well
0:13:05 > 0:13:09if you could just escape from it every now and again.
0:13:09 > 0:13:12My life at present now...
0:13:12 > 0:13:18Whereas two or three years ago, I could go in my shed in the back garden
0:13:18 > 0:13:21and start work on my steam-engine
0:13:21 > 0:13:26and know full well there'd be no phone calls or anyone to mither me,
0:13:26 > 0:13:29Now it ain't like that.
0:13:29 > 0:13:33I just get outside and Alison's at the door,
0:13:33 > 0:13:40"Phone for you." So I've got to traipse across, answer the phone about some after-dinner speech.
0:13:40 > 0:13:44I've had very little money out of it, I've made very little.
0:13:44 > 0:13:50In one instance, I got two sackfuls of rivets for my new boiler
0:13:50 > 0:13:56as payment for an after-dinner speech at a Rotarians do, you see.
0:13:56 > 0:14:03The odd bottle of wine, the odd £20 here, the odd £40 there, sort of style.
0:14:03 > 0:14:09I'm looking at that business in that I'd be better off without it.
0:14:09 > 0:14:14I'd be better of concentrating on my backyard operations.
0:14:17 > 0:14:23With the approach of summer, another obstacle arose for Fred.
0:14:23 > 0:14:29Alison wanted a holiday - their first since their honeymoon.
0:14:29 > 0:14:37Now with the eldest of their three children in her teens, Alison felt it was time for a vacation.
0:14:53 > 0:14:59So Fred found himself at Blackpool and under orders not be mulish about it.
0:15:01 > 0:15:04Are you going paddling?
0:15:04 > 0:15:07Caroline, are you going paddling?
0:15:08 > 0:15:14- How about you going to watch her? - There's no chance of me going in.
0:15:14 > 0:15:17- Roll your pant legs up.- No!
0:15:17 > 0:15:19Roll your pant legs up.
0:15:19 > 0:15:22My feet are black.
0:15:23 > 0:15:27- Dad, d'you want to play football? - Where can you kick it round here?
0:15:27 > 0:15:31- It'll be all right in front here. - Catchers!
0:15:31 > 0:15:34Round here. Go on, Dad, play catchers.
0:15:34 > 0:15:39Go on. Go and play with them for a bit.
0:15:39 > 0:15:45'Really I get most of my pleasure out of looking.
0:15:45 > 0:15:48'It's nice to see the kids all happy.
0:15:48 > 0:15:54'But when I were little, I never liked going away.
0:15:54 > 0:15:56'I used to have tantrums.
0:15:56 > 0:16:02'I'd be thrown on the coach for Blackpool which I never liked.
0:16:02 > 0:16:07'Maybe that's why I don't like it now. The damage were done early!'
0:16:07 > 0:16:09Aw, Caroline's sand pies!
0:16:09 > 0:16:13Now, are you having a run or are you walking?
0:16:13 > 0:16:18..Thank you, sir. ..Let's have a look at you. Come here.
0:16:18 > 0:16:23You go on Dinah, the little one on Peggy-Carol.
0:16:23 > 0:16:28Are you ready? Hold tight. Hold them bars, girls. Go on!
0:16:29 > 0:16:36That's a very energetic job - chasing them bloody things up and down all day!
0:16:45 > 0:16:48How about the big wheel?
0:16:48 > 0:16:51No! I'm not going up that!
0:17:05 > 0:17:08Hang on! W-Whoa!
0:17:08 > 0:17:10Oh, Daddy!
0:17:21 > 0:17:26It's t'best thing I've seen since I came to Blackpool.
0:17:28 > 0:17:31- They've got a winch like our one. - Yeah.
0:17:31 > 0:17:36There's good stuff up there. Everything's real stuff, like.
0:17:36 > 0:17:39That bloody waterwheel's working.
0:17:39 > 0:17:45They must've been round every scrapyard in Blackpool to get that.
0:17:55 > 0:17:59- Oh, my!- Fancy a go on that?- No! - Yeah...! No!
0:17:59 > 0:18:02- Eh?- No.
0:18:08 > 0:18:10It only lasts for 12 minutes.
0:18:10 > 0:18:13Oh, look at it!
0:18:16 > 0:18:18I wanna go on the trampoline!
0:18:18 > 0:18:21This sea air is making me tired.
0:18:33 > 0:18:36Come on!
0:19:01 > 0:19:05All these jolly holiday-makers in the pouring rain!
0:19:07 > 0:19:11Can't see many sunbathers or paddlers!
0:19:11 > 0:19:15- There's people on donkeys. - Very brave!
0:19:15 > 0:19:18The donkeys are out all day long.
0:19:21 > 0:19:24Can you see the big wheel?
0:19:24 > 0:19:29- We went up the big dipper last night.- We can go again tonight.
0:19:29 > 0:19:35The sea's coming in, whipping all the sand up.
0:19:35 > 0:19:40You might be able to make nice pies afterwards.
0:19:40 > 0:19:43I wouldn't go in off the end of that pier!
0:20:06 > 0:20:09There it is. Let's get the ladders up.
0:20:09 > 0:20:12THUNDER ROLLS
0:20:15 > 0:20:18HAMMERING
0:20:39 > 0:20:42Come on, love. Pull on this rope.
0:20:42 > 0:20:45- Right.- I'm getting wet.
0:20:45 > 0:20:49THUNDER ROLLS
0:20:49 > 0:20:51- Ready?- Go on, pull!
0:21:02 > 0:21:05Right, just hold it there a minute.
0:21:09 > 0:21:13- It'll only take another two ladders, won't it?- One.
0:21:13 > 0:21:16Just another one on top of here.
0:21:21 > 0:21:26- It'll not take so long this, love, now.- Oh, good.- Ten minutes.
0:21:26 > 0:21:30- Right, leave go.- All right?- Yeah.
0:21:32 > 0:21:36'One day, like, we got this phone call.
0:21:36 > 0:21:43'This chap says, "I've a chimney I want knocked down." I said, "Where?" He said, "Blackpool."
0:21:43 > 0:21:48'I thought, "Well... It's too far from Bolton."
0:21:48 > 0:21:56'He rang again and mentioned that he were the owner of a boilerworks, a pressure vessel company.
0:21:56 > 0:22:01'So I thought, "Oh, just the man that we need."
0:22:01 > 0:22:05'Because we needed a new front tube plate for the new engine.
0:22:05 > 0:22:09'So we popped over and showed him the drawing,
0:22:09 > 0:22:15'and he said, "I'll make you that if you'll knock my chimney down."
0:22:15 > 0:22:19'So we ended up here on our holidays!'
0:22:19 > 0:22:21THUNDER ROLLS
0:22:21 > 0:22:25What are you doing? Just get hold of the rope, love.
0:22:28 > 0:22:32- I'm not tall enough. - Well... Move there again.
0:22:32 > 0:22:36Don't worry about that. Just take the rope and pull.
0:22:36 > 0:22:39Take hold,
0:22:39 > 0:22:45- cos all the weight of the ladder's gonna come on you.- Right, with you.
0:22:45 > 0:22:48Right, pull.
0:22:50 > 0:22:52Higher?
0:22:52 > 0:22:55A long way to go yet.
0:22:55 > 0:23:02'Alison seized on the idea, you see, of coming to Blackpool.
0:23:02 > 0:23:09'I don't suppose she bargained on this kind of holiday - pulling ladders up a chimney in the rain.
0:23:12 > 0:23:17'She's pretty good at it. She has a bit of trouble tying the knots,
0:23:17 > 0:23:25'but one day, some years ago, like, she actually helped me to unladder a 200-footer, you know.
0:23:25 > 0:23:31'She volunteered for it! You have to take the rough with the smooth!
0:23:31 > 0:23:33'And today's bloody rough!
0:23:37 > 0:23:43'This is the price she has to pay for coming to Blackpool on holiday.'
0:24:12 > 0:24:16BABY SHOUTS
0:24:24 > 0:24:31I'm quite happy to do this. It keeps me off the sand, sort of thing!
0:24:31 > 0:24:38I enjoy it other than sitting on the bloody sand watching the tide go in and out all day,
0:24:38 > 0:24:40getting sunburnt.
0:24:42 > 0:24:47Yesterday, the wife were a bit subdued about Monday, like,
0:24:47 > 0:24:52when it rained all day and we all got wet.
0:24:52 > 0:24:55Soaked through to her knickers!
0:24:55 > 0:24:59- HE CHORTLES - Which is true.
0:25:01 > 0:25:07ORGAN PLAYS "I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside"
0:25:44 > 0:25:46Ah, this is it, is it?
0:25:46 > 0:25:49This is it, yeah.
0:25:49 > 0:25:55- You've got the right thickness. - Did the other one blow up?- No.
0:25:55 > 0:26:02- 70 years of rain running down the funnel.- You got your work out of it. - Not me. Someone else did, though.
0:26:02 > 0:26:11They just left it out in the rain. The boiler inspector wouldn't wear it. You need a new one.
0:26:11 > 0:26:18Have you seen any numbers on the plate? He promised me a test certificate with a number.
0:26:18 > 0:26:22It might be on the edge. I haven't seen it yet.
0:26:22 > 0:26:30- I suppose he'll give me a ticket for it.- It needs a certificate because it's a pressure vessel.
0:26:30 > 0:26:36I better go and knock a few more bricks off t'chimney. See you.
0:26:36 > 0:26:40- They'll make you a decent job anyway. - OK, See you.- See you.
0:26:47 > 0:26:53They've made a splendid job of it, the holes are all right
0:26:53 > 0:26:59and it's the right thickness. The last one we had made was too thin.
0:26:59 > 0:27:03They've at least got the right lump of iron for the job.
0:27:12 > 0:27:19I'm very pleased with the deal. I ended up with quite a few bobs' worth of engineering for nothing,
0:27:19 > 0:27:22only knocking this chimney down.
0:27:22 > 0:27:29It's turned out very nice for all of us really. They're happy down there on the beach,
0:27:29 > 0:27:37spending me money and making sand castles and I'm happy getting summat for nowt.
0:27:40 > 0:27:48They must be having a good time because at night they're all flaked out - into bed and unconscious!
0:27:48 > 0:27:53So really it's worked out very well all round.
0:27:53 > 0:27:57MUSIC: "Carnival Of Venice" by Briccaldi
0:28:27 > 0:28:33Subtitles by Martin Maguire BBC Scotland 1996