Steeplejack Fred Dibnah single-handedly demolishes a massive chimney stack, brick by brick, from the top down 1979.
Steeplejack Fred Dibnah single-handedly demolishes a massive chimney stack, brick by brick, from the top down 1979.
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Is he still up there? Lord, that’s either great job security or the biggest mistake in bidding for a job ever.
OSHA having a heart attack watching this.
Heights generally don’t bother me. Ladders do. This is making me very uncomfortable.
And di he die in his bed, with his boots on?
I wouldn’t climb that ladder for all the tea in China but Fred Dibnah was a legend.
I could listen to Fred talk all day.
It must have been uncomfortable climbing that ladder with his huge balls.
What a legend..
Which town was this chimney in?
I was hoping they would explain how he moves the wooden scaffolding as he works his way down.
I love the ones where he has to climb ‘over vert’ ladders where the top of the stack gets wider so the laddering leans outwards.
Truly an absolute legend.
This is a person of a different breed of people.
My mate has an old vice of his. He took a trip to his house. The guy used to go to the pub for dinner. Down a few newkie browns and back up the ladder. Madman.
Dew, ice, fog and he climbs that ladder without protection. What a guy.
Thank you, BBC
Not a safety rope in sight. Bloody miracle he lived long enough to get old.
Anyone know how long these projects took? I know he said months but that thing is huge
He was fascinating on TV towards the end of his life he was given several TV shows if I recall correctly talking about old buildings and things like this and even still bloody climbing stuff. Guy had no fear and absolute trust in what he was doing.
I remember when he took a load of flak for saying he had a pint on the job. No shit you need a pint!
Good lord, I actually gasped out loud when he got to the top and had to clamber over the makeshift staging. Unreal.
Nope
I think I’m actually older than he is but why does he seem like such a “grown up”?
Maybe they were just better at adulting back then…
It’s wild that he had absolutely zero safety equipment. That climb over the scaffolding at the top was no joke.
I have literally had nightmares from which I woke with a jump and in which I am trying to get from ladder to something higher but offset just like he did in the beginning.
Gargantuan nope.
They don’t make em like Fred anymore
No fall protection that’s crazy.
This dude must have been off the charts with functional strength. That climb is wicked and his hammer looks heavy af, swinging that shit all day, what a man.
My hometown is Bolton, there’s a statue of him in the town centre.
“You only fall off them once” he says lol
He’s 41 in this video. I’d have put him much older, aside from the crazy ladder climb and scaffolding mounting acrobatics
Did he say a friend comes to visit him on the job? I’ve never been that good of a friend to anyone in my life.
insurance men and me don’t mix. 😅
Every day is leg day for Fred.
I can’t believe nobody has asked this yet but how the f did they record this? Cameras back then were huge and heavy. Someone climbed up there after him with a camera and over the scaffolding?
Chuck Norris once looked Frank Dibney in the eye, and Dibney looked back, and then Norris gave a knowing nod of approval and went on about his day.
Fred? Fred! That’s the wrong chimney.
so at first – i saw him not even clipped to the ladder and i was like…omg.
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then when he got to the top and pulled himself up on that janky home made scaffolding i almost threw up in my mouth.
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the audacity to later say “i know one thing – i’m not going to die.”
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just huge brass balls.
My luck, I’d spend 30 minutes climbing the ladder, another 10 struggling to climb up over the scaffolding, then drop my hammer and have to go back down to get it.
There was a bit of local controversy following his death. A small local brewery wanted to name a beer in his honour called ‘Dibnahs Cap’.
His wife was adamant in demanding royalties from it. So they told her to piss off and named it Flat Cap instead, then named the following two beers Old Slapper and Gold Digger.
No hard hat
No high viz
No safety ropes
Just the biggest pair of bollocks you have ever seen.
Is anyone also wondering what he does when he needs a toilet break? I guess with his head for heights he just squats over the edge instead of going up and down the ladder?
This guy is fascinating, but we’re also here because we like the word *steeplejack*.
Accounting for inflation, £7,000 in 1979 is equivalent to $56,513 in 2023.
Still a hard pass from me.
“Ive never fell off a big chimney, you only fall off them once like”
RIP you legend.
Met him at Chelford Traction Engine Rally when i was a kid. Sorry, when i were a lad like
I fell into a hole on YouTube watching the show about this guy, watched almost all of it. For anyone considering it, I say go for it! Ol Fred seemed like a genuinely cool, very likable fella. The kind of person you just wanna have a few beers with and listen to their stories.
The UK in the 70’s was wild.
“I won’t die from falling off a chimney, I’ll die in bed with my boots on, y’know.”
From wikipedia:
>*He died from bladder cancer in November 2004, aged 66.*
Too soon, but man did he keep his word. So long, guvnah.