English steeplejack, mechanic and television personality
Fred Dibnah
MBE
Dibnah in 1985
Born
Frederick Dibnah
(1938-04-28)28 April 1938
Bolton, Lancashire, England
Died
6 November 2004(2004-11-06) (aged 66)
Bolton, Greater Manchester, England
Resting place
Tonge Cemetery, Greater Manchester, England
Occupation(s)
Television presenter, steeplejack, mechanical engineer
Spouses
Alison Foster
(m. 1967; div. 1985)
Susan Lorenz
(m. 1987; div. 1996)
Sheila Grundy
(m. 1998)
Frederick Travis Dibnah, MBE (28 April 1938 – 6 November 2004), was an English steeplejack and television personality, with a keen interest in mechanical engineering, who described himself as a "backstreet mechanic".[1]
When Dibnah was born, Britain relied heavily upon coal to fuel its industry. As a child, he was fascinated by the steam engines which powered the many textile mills in Bolton, but he paid particular attention to chimneys and the men who worked on them. He began his working life as a joiner, before becoming a steeplejack. From age 22, he served for two years in the Army Catering Corps of the British Army, undertaking his National Service. Once decommissioned, he returned to steeplejacking but met with limited success until he was asked to repair Bolton's parish church tower. The resulting publicity provided a boost to his business, ensuring he was almost never out of work.
In 1978, while making repairs to Bolton Town Hall, Dibnah was filmed by a regional BBC news crew. The BBC then commissioned a documentary, which followed the rough-hewn steeplejack as he worked on chimneys, interacted with his family and talked about his favourite hobby – steam. His Lanky manner and gentle, self-taught philosophical outlook proved popular with viewers and he featured in a number of television programmes. Towards the end of his life, the decline of Britain's industry was mirrored by a decline in his steeplejacking business and Dibnah increasingly came to rely on public appearances and after-dinner speaking to support his income. In 1998, he presented a programme on Britain's industrial history and went on to present a number of series, largely concerned with the Industrial Revolution and its mechanical and architectural legacy.
Dibnah died from bladder cancer in November 2004, aged 66.[2]
^"BBC Two - Fred Dibnah's World of Steam, Steel and Stone, Backstreet Mechanic".
^Higgins, James (10 February 2007), "Fred Dibnah £1m will shock for widow Sheila", The Bolton News, retrieved 19 March 2018 (incorrectly reports death as November 2005)
Frederick Travis Dibnah, MBE (28 April 1938 – 6 November 2004), was an English steeplejack and television personality, with a keen interest in mechanical...
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bbc.co.uk. "FredDibnah's Made in Britain, A Lifetime's Achievement (Part 2)". BBC. 17 June 2013. Retrieved 2 July 2022. "FredDibnah's World of Steam...
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is, however, popular within China's old industrial centers. The UK's FredDibnah, a steeplejack, became a celebrity for his technique of chimney felling...
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of what the BBC described as a "normal, working-class Boltonian" was FredDibnah, a small-scale company director in the construction industry (and therefore...
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while hydraulic shears are used to remove the bridge's structural steel. FredDibnah used a manual method of demolition to remove industrial chimneys in Great...
personality, a dragon in BBC2's Dragons' Den (2011), born in Tonge Moor FredDibnah (1938–2004) – steeplejack, engineer and TV presenter, born in Farnworth...
Enough" inside the castle. The documentaries Made in Britain (2005) with FredDibnah, The Shakespeare Theory (2013) with Derek Jacobi and A History of Britain...
in the problem domain; judges included Professor Michael French and FredDibnah. Scoring was at the judge's discretion and could be given for categories...
living vans, from their outset. In his last TV series, FredDibnah's Made in Britain, FredDibnah travelled around industrial Britain with his traction...
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opened as a nature reserve. In September 1997, the celebrity steeplejack FredDibnah was hired by Safeway supermarkets to demolish the unused 450-foot (140 m)...
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The Pallisers) 28 October Graham Roberts 75 actor (Z-Cars) 6 November FredDibnah 66 presenter and steeplejack 9 November Emlyn Hughes 57 Former footballer...
competition which included: Henry Fowler, Winston Churchill, Sir Edward Elgar, FredDibnah, Robert Riddles, Baby Scot (nickname for class), Jack Mills (Great Train...
demolition, by steeplejack FredDibnah. This event was filmed and featured in his autobiographic TV series 'The FredDibnah Story'. The site remained empty...
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