0:00:10 > 0:00:17- It's going. Going! - HE SOUNDS KLAXON
0:00:31 > 0:00:34Done for!
0:00:38 > 0:00:40Did you like that?
0:00:52 > 0:00:59Having knocked down, over the past 30 years, most of the chimneys within range of home,
0:00:59 > 0:01:06Fred Dibnah had to travel further afield for work. This morning, he was deep in the Yorkshire Dales.
0:01:06 > 0:01:09CROWS CAW
0:01:09 > 0:01:16Really, I've always liked climbing up church spires. There's summat magical about 'em.
0:01:16 > 0:01:24Once you get right where the point is, it feels quite nice. It's not like a chimney, it hasn't the bulk.
0:01:24 > 0:01:27The views are quite splendid.
0:01:28 > 0:01:32- What's it like? - It's all rotten, you know.- Yeah.
0:01:34 > 0:01:36It's been in a long time.
0:01:36 > 0:01:39- Well, nearly 150 years.- Yeah.
0:01:41 > 0:01:44WOMAN: It seems such a dangerous job.
0:01:44 > 0:01:51- It is.- That's an understatement. - If you make a mistake, it's half a day out with the undertaker.
0:01:53 > 0:02:00When I were a lad, I used to be a joiner till I were 21, before I went insane and started this job,
0:02:00 > 0:02:04the guy I worked for knew I wanted to be a steeplejack.
0:02:04 > 0:02:09And every time somebody fell off a chimney, he'd pin it on the door.
0:02:09 > 0:02:17- When I were 21, the door were full of pictures of dead steeplejacks. But I'm still here.- You are, yes!
0:02:18 > 0:02:21Help!
0:02:21 > 0:02:23..a terrible experience!
0:02:23 > 0:02:28But you say 150ft up? Johnny can beat you at that.
0:02:28 > 0:02:31He lives about 2,000ft up!
0:02:31 > 0:02:34Right in the sticks of Malham there!
0:02:36 > 0:02:41- What do you do? Are you a farmer on this mountain?- Yes. A hilly-billy.
0:02:41 > 0:02:46Them woolly things. Them woolly things that you make poems out of.
0:02:48 > 0:02:53This sort of church, if you look up above the clock,
0:02:53 > 0:02:57you'll see the louvres. They're hanging out, falling out.
0:02:57 > 0:03:02- 500 years old. What do you reckon? - Time for renewal.
0:03:02 > 0:03:04What about the cost?
0:03:04 > 0:03:09I don't know. You won't have much change out of 600 or 700 quid.
0:03:09 > 0:03:12That much? For some wood?
0:03:12 > 0:03:19Yeah, yeah. It don't look so big from down here but it's two inches thick and it is oak!
0:03:19 > 0:03:26- Oh, well, I'll let them know. - A Taiwanese bloody mahogany front door is 100 quid!
0:03:30 > 0:03:35Now, with the work getting further away from home,
0:03:35 > 0:03:39I find myself, like, booked into hotels.
0:03:39 > 0:03:44At one time, I used to get very overawed. I didn't like hotels.
0:03:44 > 0:03:48The communal eating part was frightening -
0:03:48 > 0:03:55not picking the right knife and fork up and being gazed upon by strange eyes.
0:03:56 > 0:04:03At the beginning of the, like, the euphoria and excitement of a new job far from home,
0:04:03 > 0:04:10the first three-quarters of the week is all right and then you begin to miss being at home.
0:04:10 > 0:04:17It's a bit like being a sailor, I suppose. You get on a ship and you disappear for six months.
0:04:17 > 0:04:25It's a strange life when you've been coming home for your tea at 5 o'clock every night for years.
0:04:25 > 0:04:29I get frustrated that I can't get on with me tractor.
0:04:29 > 0:04:36When you're working at home, after tea, if you only do half-an-hour in the shed, it's a little bit nearer.
0:04:36 > 0:04:41But when you've been away all week and you come home,
0:04:41 > 0:04:47you're reluctant to zoom off into the shed in case you get a talking-to.
0:04:47 > 0:04:52You've been away all week and you disappear in the shed!
0:04:52 > 0:04:54In the course of his travels,
0:04:54 > 0:05:00Fred arrived at the Victorian refuse destructor at Cambridge.
0:05:00 > 0:05:07It's many years now since the chimney was in use and the station pumped its last load of sewage.
0:05:07 > 0:05:13But the site has been preserved and maintained by volunteers.
0:05:13 > 0:05:21Initially, when it were out of use and these lads first took over, they had some very unpleasant tasks.
0:05:21 > 0:05:28They had to dig out the well, which, of course, were full of human sewage. And it had solidified.
0:05:28 > 0:05:33And they had to dig 40-odd foot of this stuff out of this hole.
0:05:33 > 0:05:37All credit to them, they didn't give up.
0:05:37 > 0:05:40They've done it and it works.
0:05:41 > 0:05:46They all, like, live in a romantic world of long ago.
0:05:46 > 0:05:52It's like little lads who never grew up. I can't complain because I'm one meself.
0:05:53 > 0:05:59They're like romantics trying to escape from modern life in a way.
0:06:01 > 0:06:05- ENGINE BUZZES - Right.
0:06:05 > 0:06:10- It's warm in here, innit? - It certainly is.
0:06:11 > 0:06:16This engine started work here in 1895.
0:06:16 > 0:06:23- It pumped...over two million gallons of the drainage of Cambridge.- Yeah.
0:06:23 > 0:06:30- This had previously gone straight into the river.- Yeah. - This...- Big improvement!
0:06:30 > 0:06:36- This is the bit that controls it, is it? - Yes, this is known as the steam man.
0:06:36 > 0:06:40This is where the driver would stand.
0:06:40 > 0:06:44- It's a magnificently made thing. - It's marvellous.
0:06:44 > 0:06:48- The attention to detail. - The ends on the rods.- Yes.
0:06:48 > 0:06:53- CLACKS AND WHIRRS - It makes some lovely noises!- Yes.
0:07:01 > 0:07:06That's had a lot of time spent on it, made to look beautiful again.
0:07:06 > 0:07:11It must have looked magnificent when it were brand new.
0:07:13 > 0:07:19Look at them beautiful chimney stacks! All that carving - magic!
0:07:20 > 0:07:27Our town hall's got lions' heads, like them. When we mended it, we put some marbles in for eyes.
0:07:27 > 0:07:32I don't suppose the stone's very hard, not like it is in Lancashire.
0:07:32 > 0:07:35Although it's weathered well.
0:07:35 > 0:07:40Them balustrades up there look a bit fragile, don't they?
0:07:40 > 0:07:47A good gust of wind and it looks as though the lot would come down. But it must be all right.
0:07:47 > 0:07:51..Les choses qu'on trouve normalment
0:07:51 > 0:07:58dans les colleges dans les anees cinquante du septieme siecle. Au centre, c'est le porche originale
0:07:58 > 0:08:03d'un college qui etait la avant, un college fonde par Edward III.
0:08:11 > 0:08:15It's very nice in Cambridge. I like it very much.
0:08:15 > 0:08:22It strikes me as it's a laid-back existence being an academic or a student.
0:08:22 > 0:08:26I don't know if I'd like my sons to come here.
0:08:26 > 0:08:30It all depends on the academic ability, of course.
0:08:30 > 0:08:35I know men who have brilliant brains and have thick sons.
0:08:35 > 0:08:40And I know some, like, intelligent sons who have thick fathers.
0:08:40 > 0:08:43There's no weighing it up, really.
0:08:43 > 0:08:48The trouble with chimneys these days is not only that they are few,
0:08:48 > 0:08:53but also, as Fred approaches 60, those remaining take more climbing.
0:08:53 > 0:08:58Oh! I'm getting too old for this!
0:08:58 > 0:09:04People ask me, "How long are you going to keep climbing chimneys?"
0:09:04 > 0:09:07"Do you still climb up chimneys?"
0:09:07 > 0:09:12I've gotta do! I've got a big mortgage! I've got to keep going.
0:09:15 > 0:09:20Our income from the steeplejacking business has been going down.
0:09:20 > 0:09:26A couple of reasons are fewer jobs around and a lot more companies.
0:09:26 > 0:09:31Sometimes we've banked maybe less than £3,000 over the whole winter.
0:09:33 > 0:09:38Against the odds, Fred landed a big restoration job near home,
0:09:38 > 0:09:44which, tackled a few weeks at a time, would keep him in work through 1996 and beyond.
0:09:44 > 0:09:49This chimney is THE biggest chimney left in Bolton.
0:09:49 > 0:09:57And, er, I climbed up it when I were about 17, for a ten-bob bet, in the dark.
0:09:57 > 0:09:59I never got the ten bob.
0:09:59 > 0:10:02 It's rather ironic, really,
0:10:02 > 0:10:10that now, in the twilight years of my steeplejacking career, 40-odd years later, I've to repair it.
0:10:10 > 0:10:16It's now a listed building and supposedly has got to stay for ever.
0:10:16 > 0:10:20When we've finished repairing the chimney stack,
0:10:20 > 0:10:27we've been asked by the Royal Society for the Protection of Budgies to put this...
0:10:27 > 0:10:34water tank it looks like to me, but they call it a peregrine falcon's nesting box,
0:10:34 > 0:10:39and we've got to put this up on the south-west side, 30ft from the top.
0:10:39 > 0:10:46Now, peregrine falcons do not like pigeons. They have them for breakfast, dinner and tea.
0:10:46 > 0:10:53The local homing pigeon society's up in arms about it. They really don't want me to put it up.
0:10:53 > 0:10:56Me, personally, I'm not over keen on pigeons.
0:10:56 > 0:11:04They put me in bed once with some sort of disease I got off my cap that had been in pigeon droppings.
0:11:04 > 0:11:08COOING AND FLUTTERING
0:11:09 > 0:11:12Not pressed too hard by paid work,
0:11:12 > 0:11:16Fred expanded his collection of ancient industrial tackle.
0:11:23 > 0:11:28It's always been a lifelong ambition of mine
0:11:28 > 0:11:32to build a wooden pithead gear in the garden.
0:11:32 > 0:11:37Near here, there were a lot of collieries but they've all gone now.
0:11:37 > 0:11:41So I've put in for planning permission to erect this.
0:11:41 > 0:11:44Hopefully, some time in the future,
0:11:44 > 0:11:51we'll sink a 500ft mine shaft, and tunnel under the river and cemetery for the coal!
0:11:52 > 0:11:54Only a joke that!
0:11:54 > 0:12:01Really, it's a garden ornament in memory of the miners who once lived in this area.
0:12:01 > 0:12:07- Daddy, has mine got no oil in?- Yeah, it's got oil in.- I can't see any.
0:12:07 > 0:12:13The centre of attention in the yard was still the old steamroller,
0:12:13 > 0:12:20done up years ago as an expensive hobby, but now an essential prop in Fred's public appearances.
0:12:20 > 0:12:25I think sometimes he struggles with the celebrity aspect of it, in that,
0:12:25 > 0:12:30you know, if we've got something in the diary to do a public appearance
0:12:30 > 0:12:37when really he would quite like to be going off up a church steeple or in the garden.
0:12:37 > 0:12:40But he realises we have to do these things
0:12:40 > 0:12:45to earn enough money to keep ourselves in the winter.
0:12:45 > 0:12:49It's very odd, the celebrity business.
0:12:49 > 0:12:56At the beginning, it were quite frightening, you know, 18, 19 years ago. I've got used to it now.
0:12:56 > 0:12:59It doesn't bother me as much.
0:12:59 > 0:13:06What do you do if somebody waves to you? Do you pull your face at 'em and look miserable and nasty?
0:13:06 > 0:13:11Or do you wave back? If you don't wave, you're a miserable bugger.
0:13:11 > 0:13:16If you wave, you're a bigheaded bugger! What can you do?
0:13:16 > 0:13:22- Fred, Fred, turn this way, lad. - You should have a Martini!
0:13:24 > 0:13:29- The cat's not happy. - CAT MIAOWS
0:13:29 > 0:13:34- I want to help too.- No, no. It's a technical job, this painting.
0:13:34 > 0:13:40Dibnah and Sons have been reviving a home industry in weathercock making.
0:13:40 > 0:13:44Lift it up and bring it round this way.
0:13:44 > 0:13:49I'll come all the way down with it, all right? We'll see how we go.
0:13:52 > 0:13:59It were really weathercocks, well, weather vanes, that started my career in steeplejacking off.
0:13:59 > 0:14:05I'd come fresh out the army and set myself up as a steeplejack of sorts
0:14:05 > 0:14:09and never managed to get a job for six months.
0:14:09 > 0:14:16And then, I was summoned to meet the Vicar of Bolton, a big tall fellow with a long black frock on.
0:14:16 > 0:14:21He were a canon, which I approached with a great deal of fear.
0:14:21 > 0:14:27I think the reason he liked me were the fact that he had a 1929 Humber car,
0:14:27 > 0:14:32and I arrived on me 1927 350 AJS motorbike. We got on quite well.
0:14:32 > 0:14:39We had another interest in common - firearms. For a vicar, a bit unusual but nevertheless...
0:14:39 > 0:14:44Anyway, we got the job of regilding these weather vanes,
0:14:44 > 0:14:50which enabled me to go to other vicars with a lot more confidence.
0:14:50 > 0:14:53I went up nearly every church spire.
0:14:53 > 0:14:57It's about 30 years since I put the gold on these.
0:14:57 > 0:15:04Somebody did them in-between but they didn't do a very good job, you know.
0:15:06 > 0:15:10Let's stand 'em up, see how tall they are.
0:15:17 > 0:15:19Yeah.
0:15:19 > 0:15:21- See?- Just a bit, yeah.
0:15:28 > 0:15:31- Nice to see you.- All right? There it is!
0:15:31 > 0:15:38- That looks superb!- Your ladder's not blown away.- This is the headmaster.
0:15:38 > 0:15:42- I'll get it and fix it up. - It looks great!
0:15:42 > 0:15:44It really does.
0:15:46 > 0:15:50I was going to say, six months ago, I saw the mock-up,
0:15:50 > 0:15:56- and I thought it might be a cockup. - No, no.- That's absolutely superb.
0:16:11 > 0:16:15CHEERING
0:16:28 > 0:16:31GENTLE SQUEAK
0:16:31 > 0:16:37This is the latest masterpiece in weathercock manufacturing.
0:16:37 > 0:16:42They get bigger and better every time. And the price goes up too.
0:16:42 > 0:16:46We've got these up to now, like, nearly £2,000.
0:16:46 > 0:16:51Putting the chimneys aside, I could go on making these till I'm 95.
0:16:51 > 0:16:57This is, actually, in remembrance of a gentleman who I once knew.
0:16:57 > 0:17:00His widow's paying the bill for it.
0:17:01 > 0:17:06BUGLE PLAYS: "The Last Post"
0:17:27 > 0:17:34Fred's most promising line of late has been the restoration of other people's steam engines.
0:17:34 > 0:17:38He landed a few small jobs and then a very big one.
0:17:38 > 0:17:45To repair this world-famed giant of the road, Atlas, owned by James Hervey Bathurst.
0:17:45 > 0:17:49It's a Fowler B6 tractor of 16-and-a-half tons,
0:17:49 > 0:17:53built in 1928 and now worth a small fortune.
0:17:55 > 0:17:58We'll put it to the test!
0:17:58 > 0:18:01WHISTLE BLOWS
0:18:07 > 0:18:10I'll have a look at the bearings.
0:18:20 > 0:18:27- I'll buy one of these when Susie wins the pools.- What do you reckon it'll cost you?- Well...
0:18:27 > 0:18:33Maybe £80 - £90,000, you know, something on that score.
0:18:33 > 0:18:36WHISTLE TOOTS
0:18:42 > 0:18:46WHISTLE TOOTS
0:19:11 > 0:19:14- How are you?- Mind the castle.
0:19:16 > 0:19:23- I wasn't sure whether you were going to actually come back.- I didn't really want to bring it back.
0:19:23 > 0:19:30I've had so much fun with it back home that I got quite attached to it.
0:19:30 > 0:19:36I think we've cracked the bearings. There's no blue smoke coming off them.
0:19:36 > 0:19:41- Can we hear it ticking over, then? - Yeah, give it a swing round, Bill.
0:19:41 > 0:19:46ENGINE RUNS SMOOTHLY
0:19:46 > 0:19:53- Sounds fantastic.- I'm quite happy with it meself.- Come and have a drink. We'll play with it later.
0:19:53 > 0:20:01People used to walk away from it sighing, saying "Lovely engine - pity about the knocks."
0:20:01 > 0:20:04This is some room, innit?
0:20:04 > 0:20:09- A bit of a headache for your decorator.- And the cleaner, yeah.
0:20:09 > 0:20:1555ft high and it takes 10 hours to heat it to 10 degrees Fahrenheit.
0:20:15 > 0:20:18Two fireplaces, one on each side.
0:20:20 > 0:20:25How much did it all cost when they built it, this place?
0:20:25 > 0:20:31It's difficult to know at today's prices but nearly £600,000 then.
0:20:31 > 0:20:38- They had to sell quite a lot of land to build it.- It's still a lot of money in them days.- A huge amount.
0:20:38 > 0:20:43I think we'd rather wish they hadn't spent it sometimes.
0:20:43 > 0:20:47Yeah, made it half the size, easier to maintain.
0:20:47 > 0:20:53- These are interesting. These are cast iron inserts. - With oak in the middle.
0:20:53 > 0:21:00There's a lot of cast iron in the house. It's one of the first houses built with cast iron beams in it.
0:21:00 > 0:21:07- There was a shortage of oak at the time because they were making ships for the Napoleonic War.- Mm.
0:21:07 > 0:21:14- So cast iron was popular. - Some beautiful slabs of stone, isn't there? Big!
0:21:14 > 0:21:20- How did they lift them up? - My word! It's a long way up, innit? - It certainly is.
0:21:20 > 0:21:25- There's a bit that I repaired. - What, yourself, like?
0:21:25 > 0:21:29- Well, it's not a big job. - You put the slates on.
0:21:31 > 0:21:35- Magic!- That's the view. - That's all your lake?
0:21:35 > 0:21:40It's our lake and on a misty day, what we own is as far as you can see.
0:21:40 > 0:21:44That monument was put up by the builder of the house
0:21:44 > 0:21:48when his son died in the Peninsular War.
0:21:48 > 0:21:55- How did you become interested in iron monsters?- Well, I think it was in the blood partly.
0:21:55 > 0:22:00My grandfather was in the Grenadier Guards on the way to Omdurman.
0:22:00 > 0:22:07The train broke down on the way and he got up on the footplate and got the fire going again.
0:22:07 > 0:22:14He got a mention in the regimental history for that. Then he drove a shunter in the Great Strike.
0:22:14 > 0:22:17And my father was always interested.
0:22:17 > 0:22:21That means it's definitely in your blood.
0:22:21 > 0:22:26Then we bought a traction engine in Ireland. We used that for thrashing.
0:22:26 > 0:22:31Then I bought a derelict steam lorry and did that up.
0:22:31 > 0:22:35- That was really good fun. I wasn't married then.- Ah.
0:22:35 > 0:22:40My mother was keen that I should get married. So she helped me paint it.
0:22:40 > 0:22:47She thought there was no chance of me getting married till the engine was finished.
0:22:47 > 0:22:50When I did finish it, I got married.
0:22:50 > 0:22:54Have you had much trouble with the wife since you got Atlas?
0:22:54 > 0:22:58Like the house, it was in the prospectus.
0:22:58 > 0:23:03- A lot of people I know have to sell engines for divorce.- Yeah, yeah.
0:23:03 > 0:23:08- I'm very keen on Atlas. I'm keen to keep...- Yeah, you've got to.
0:23:08 > 0:23:12I keep washing up and looking after the children.
0:23:12 > 0:23:18I've started doing washing-up now. I never did any before the divorce.
0:23:18 > 0:23:25- But you're lucky. If you've got a stately home AND several engines... - That's double trouble.
0:23:25 > 0:23:29- ..you've really got to watch it. - Definitely!
0:23:29 > 0:23:36One of the good things is that Bill Walker, who comes over and helps me, he's been through all that trouble.
0:23:36 > 0:23:43So every time we're about to go off to a rally, he brings flowers for my wife and a box of chocolates.
0:23:43 > 0:23:50- He's got it right. - Yeah, I must have a do at that. - He does the right thing.
0:23:50 > 0:23:54- Bunch of flowers goes a long way. - Yeah.
0:24:54 > 0:24:58- Does it run any better?- It does.
0:24:58 > 0:25:04- It's a lot quieter - apart from the gears.- Yeah, it's a shame about that. - That's another job.
0:25:04 > 0:25:12But there was no knocks. Nothing ran hot and, um, I think we got here in record time.
0:25:12 > 0:25:15We did, compared with three years ago.
0:25:15 > 0:25:20We ended up at half past eleven on that bridge there.
0:25:20 > 0:25:23We also didn't stop at a pub this time.
0:25:23 > 0:25:26No, we brought our own.
0:25:56 > 0:26:00I know one lad who fell off. He fell about 60ft
0:26:00 > 0:26:07and landed on a load of planks across a valley on the top of a building, in-between two roofs.
0:26:07 > 0:26:14And the planks saved his life. They must have broke his fall, even if it rearranged his bone structure.
0:26:14 > 0:26:22The thing is, I found about this because I rang him to invite him to a chimney-felling operation.
0:26:22 > 0:26:30And his little lass came on and I said, "Is your dad in?" She said, "No, he fell off a chimney."
0:26:30 > 0:26:38You shouldn't laugh, really. And then mum came on and said, "He's in hospital. You can go and see him."
0:26:38 > 0:26:45Me and Sue went and he were all trussed up like you see in Ealing comedies. All wires and strings.
0:26:45 > 0:26:53And he says, "I'm all right till I laugh. Then it feels like someone's hit me with a sledgehammer."
0:26:53 > 0:26:57Anyway, he's all right now. He's back steeplejacking.
0:27:11 > 0:27:14He went to art school.
0:27:14 > 0:27:20When he were 17, you'd think he'd work in office, not do what he does.
0:27:45 > 0:27:49If there's nowt doing for a fortnight, I get all grumpy.
0:27:49 > 0:27:54I get thinking nobody wants me no more.
0:27:54 > 0:28:00I gotta go and have a climb up something, you see.
0:28:00 > 0:28:05If I can carry on till I'm an old fellow, like,
0:28:05 > 0:28:11I don't know, and slow down a bit before I'm 70,
0:28:11 > 0:28:14the ideal way out would be, I think,
0:28:14 > 0:28:18instead of dying in bed of lung cancer,
0:28:18 > 0:28:24- just drop off on one sunny day when I'm about 75. That'll be the end. - LAUGHS
0:28:29 > 0:28:33Subtitles by Mary Easton BBC Scotland - 1996