UKH

FD pushing the boundaries back in the 70's. The whole episode is a great watch, but the 'move' is from 5.30 onwards.
youtube.com/watch?v=QTv1a_nACCs&

The bit where he brings the chimney down starting about 26 min is mental!

Love a bit of Fred. My Dad rode on his traction engine years ago.

I've worked a lot with Oldham and Teeside Steeplejacks and they are a special breed ....

This one’s pretty impressive too. I love his shaking out technique and use of the heel hook on the overhang. 

youtube.com/watch?v=3R3-YwDZrzg&

I remember watching that on the tele a long time back.  They found a gem there.  there.  And after the 5b move onto the platform, can you imagine the move the other way, having to look down as you did it??? E11 all right

I wonder how he moved the platform down a yard, once he'd finished one level?  I guess he hung off the platform while he dug new fixings a yard lower and then rebuilt the platform, bit by bit.  What a faff.

I bet he had arms like popeye..

I see from other clips, he sets up a pendulum to swing around. Guessing he uses that. Pretty Necky!

It was interesting to hear him in the last clip talk about chimneys having  distinct characters, no matter height or condition, some were friendly, others felt more menacing. Reminds me of the John Redhead talking about Norwich Cathedral in Clowning around.

The way the whole platform just sways around, ye gods!

Thank God he had a cloth cap to protect him.

I love his labourer's site wear, a two piece suit.
Straight down the local temperance bar after work without having to get changed.

I always feel cheered up after watching Fred, he was sadly almost certainly the last of a type, a true antidote to the excesses of the smartphone/social media age. 

Same when exploring old mines. Some are friendly, others are, well, you get this...    feeling.

The often misused/over-used term 'a national treasure' springs to mind. Fearless stuff, with an unexpected degree of elegance

Sometimes I get to a crag it feels a bit unfriendly and I get a bit nervous, then once I've got warmed up a bit and it realises I'm not going to hurt it and me it we can get on like a house on fire.  Some crags are just a bit shy.

Seeing him climb on the scaffolding at the top is terrifying..

Great film shots.

One of our neighbours, who is a steam engine owner once climbed up a chimney with him. Fred sat on the top eating his sandwiches, while Roddy lay down on the platform and couldn't move until it was time to descend.

Makes me feel queasy.

Never saw him climb one, but I saw him demolish a few in my youth, quite a site.

Ah. But some mines are just nasty, evil, even...

Go on?  Any examples?   youtube.com/watch?v=ReYbrlG4BAU& *shivers*

No ropes? Hat that looks more like a beanie than a helmet? This is clearly a highball.

Does his technique for laddering a chimney count as aid? Check out the below clip from 5:20

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F04dGK1_wYA&feature=youtu.be

Sorry scoth, I seem to have hijacked your thread.

Where do I start! In my immediate area, the Foel Ispri, Ceunant Hyll and Tyddyn Gwladys mines give me the creeps. Near Penrhyndeudraeth the Bwlch y Plwm mine is friendly but the neighbouring Pant y Wrach and the Catherine and Jane mines are a different kettle of fish. The Llanberis copper mine...

I had a friend who worked on roofs in Glasgow maybe thirty years ago. I remember him telling me about demolishing a chimney on a tenement in the same way Fred was doing it in the film. He told me the platform shook every time he hit the brickwork.

Another time he was left alone to work on a tenement roof access to the roof was from the back green via a very long ladder, four floors to the roof. He carried one of those 4ft gas cylinders up the ladder on his shoulder to get it into the roof..

Those Dibnah programmes are fantastic on all sorts of levels, eg the street scenes are wonderful. I've seen them before but it's always good to watch one of them again - thanks.

A question: had Dibnah taken that level of skill and nerve to the crags, how good might he have been? And the same sort of question in reverse: how might Brown and Whillans, for instance, have got on with climbing industrial chimneys and church spires?

Yes, I can remember watching the episodes as a kid and simply marvelling at the spectacle of it all. But returning to these now, with a few more years behind me, I've noticed and learnt new things. It was really surprising to learn he went to art school and interesting to hear him describe how that shaped his thinking about the world.

Also noticing his distinct technique climbing the ladders, very much like classic climbing technique of straight arms and using his feet/heels etc. when possible. He would be the one for the 50m pitch!

It also worth noting how thankfully social norms have moved on. It was cringy seeing his attitude towards his wife, especially in the second episode in Blackpool. Maybe it wasn’t surprising he had 3 marriages!

'Did you like that?' says Fred after the chimney falls. It so reminded me of places I lived in as a kid and growing up in the 1970's. Health and safety? It was another planet never mind another time.

One of my jobs in 1973 was climbing into the back of a cement mixer to remove hardened concrete with a jackhammer. Ear protection? Er, what? I *think* I took the engine keys with me so the frigging thing couldn't be started while I was in there, but I'm not entirely sure.

All steeplejacks used to work like that until Industrial Roped Access took over, safer and faster.

Out of interest, how would you get up a chimney using Rope Access techniques?

As a teenager I was told to go down into a cellar and shovel up solidified diesel/engine oil. Whatever it was it reeked and the fumes made my eyes water. My 'PPE' was a length of cloth wrapped around my face. It was my dad who gave me the job - thanks, Dad!

Effing big prusik knots!

It does me, it has me thinking about something Royal Robins wrote about a person's safety not only depending on their equipment, but their physical skill and abilities too. That he didn't die from doing what he did probably says a lot.

As opposed to Dibnah's effing big testicles! 

They still ladder the chimneys in almost the same way but they Don’t use dogs (like pitons), they use Hilti fix instead! Lead climbing Using the fixings as the runners is the way to mitigate the consequence of a fall of the ladder, when you get to the top you leave a rope in place so you can use a fall arest device to climb up and down the ladder whil being protected from a fall. 

Yeah I’ll bet! [shudders]

Nice video, and spooky, but jesus christ the sheer amount of harking back and "they don't make them like that any more, now we have {insert generic, inexpensive generalisation about this generation here}" in the comments is wretch-inducing. It's almost like people forget how much of a domestic abuse enthusiast the man was. As quaint as images like the one portrayed in this doc are, that era was rammed with racism, misogyny, homophobia, and whatever else you care to throw at it. Perhaps the fact that I was fortunate enough not to live through it biases me, but I do not see it as the shining example of 'Britishness' that many other people seem to...

Whoa there, Mr Morris! As someone who grew up in 'that era' I can assure you that it wasn't the hellish pit of despair you seem to think it was. Of course, many of the failings you list were well entrenched in the 1970's but it was also a period of huge change culturally and socially. Attitudes were on the move. I used to have huge arguments with my dad about his views on race and lots of other things (mostly getting my hair cut). People often talk about the sixties being an era of change and they're right of course. I was born in 1959 so was a bit too young to appreciate the summer of love, Woodstock and all that but I do know that 1970 and 1980 were an entire epoch apart. Now, if I compare 2000 say with 2010, or 2010 with 2020 there isn't really that much difference (coronavirus notwithstanding). However, the world of 2030 is probably going to be another world altogether from 2020. I won't bore you with the things I think were better in my youth ( there were a few).

I appreciate your input. I would note, however, that you grew up through that period as a white man (I make no assumptions of your sexuality here) so perhaps did not face the forms of prejudice that I mentioned (I certainly hope you did not).

I think you raise some valid points, and perhaps I came on too strongly, but it was issued as a counterpoint to the aforementioned wretch-inducing comment section which is rife with the exact kind of people who you find propping up dingy pubs round the country sneering at the new generation because we (perhaps I am not anymore) don't do prejudice as well as they do. Harking back to that era has always left me feeling uneasy, since you only ever hear it from one subset of society: the ones who are least likely to have been the object of prejudice.

That is not to say that there is nothing of value from those times, apparently "they don't make them like that anymore" after all.

And for what it's worth, it's "Dr Morris" I couldn't help myself!

A Master Class in grandstanding, Doctor.

Congratulations.

Didn't actually live in that era, but somehow an expert on it... 

Thank you! If you define grandstanding as vocally cringing at complete gammons harking back, then I will take the praise. I never expected to find support in this thread, but if I triggered you enough to reply, then carefully edit that reply then I will chalk that up as a victory.

I think what I am saying is don't be so hard on the past and the people alive then. A lot of the failings of society in any age are just products of ignorance and fear, much of them passed on by parents and previous generations. I got a very good education entirely funded by the state, something which was available to anyone prepared to study for it. That's one thing that was better than today where society is a lot more divided in many ways. I wasn't a punk, more a metal head, but the whole ethos in the late seventies changed and brought about a more inclusive and diverse society. I went to see Slade in 1979/80 and there were all kinds of folks there: punks, mods, skins, skas and even long- haired greebos like me. All getting along having a great time. That's another thing better in the past - good old rock and roll! Young people were the catalyst for change back then. Anything progressive you see around you in society had to have its origins in the past. I hope young people today have the urge to clear away the whole pile of crap the world is in danger of sliding into. Greta Thunberg and her followers give me a lot of hope that not everyone is just out for themselves.

Nice post, I used to watch Fred's programmes on the BBC, as a kid in the late-90s/early-00s. But I'm disappointed by a couple of things.

1. That this thread isn't titled Thread Dibnah. ​​​​​​

2. That an interesting and niche thread on Dibnah's chimney climbs looks set to finish as another tiresome battle in the culture wars. And all because one person took one post out of 36 that can be said to be general praise of Dibnah's virtues ("they don't make them like this anymore") and exaggerated it so they could accuse everyone else of tolerating domestic abuse, racism and other evils.

Sure, anyone looking to appraise Dibnah's life in general should account for his wrongs. But up until our knight in shining armour arrived, this was a thread on his chimney climbing, and the posts should be read in light of that context, not an imaginary context conjured up and deployed as a means to harang others.

And if you feel his wrongs are still relevant to the discussion, fine let's hear it. But there are so many ways of telling people which don't involve accusing them of glorifying abuse, racism, homophobia, etc... You might find you're more persuasive if you don't do that, or maybe you aren't here to persuade anybody...

I think you're aiming this post at Dr AMorris aren't you, not the OP Scoth?

Oh yes, sorry! For the avoidance of doubt, I don't blame the OP or anyone else for Dr (lest we forget) A Morris' strange tirade.

I think you need to reread my first post where I state that I viewed the video and looked at the comments section (of the YouTube video) and was pretty horrified. I was not referring to any comment in this thread, otherwise I would have replied directly to that. FWIW I don't feel like people are doing that in this thread.

Perhaps read the YouTube comments section on the video to get a flavour of what I am talking about. Hopefully it will conjure up the same discomfort in you that it did in me. Perhaps not. At any rate, at no point was I accusing anyone in this thread of "glorifying abuse, racism, homophobia, etc", and to say that I was is disingenuous at best. I made it clear that I do not see that era as quite as quaint as the people in those comments (to restate, the ones on YouTube) seem to, for the "racism, homophobia, etc" that was rife at the time. This is not the same as accusing people of glorifying it, nor is is equivalent.

I've re-read your first post and it isn't at all clear that you're referring to the YouTube comments. The joys of the internet! It just goes to show how careful you have to be when posting on a forum especially with contentious comments. Anyway, I'm sat in one of my 'quiet places' (by the Wyre within earshot of the motorway) and it's time for a coffee from the flask.

Bear in mind, Dr Morris (the famous Dr Morris) that, first, your original post made no mention of the YouTube comments specifically and, second, that people viewing the YouTube clip via this Forum generally get an 'embedded' version in which no comments are visible.

Perhaps try to be a little clearer next time?

I grant you that lack of clarity was my failing in that, I thought the context of my post was enough, I was clearly wrong. I invite everyone to take a moment and have a scroll through the comments section on the video that prompted my initial post, perhaps it will put you in a similar frame of mind.

I also don't know why I am getting so much shit for pointing out that my title is "Dr" rather than "Mr", especially since it was clearly written in a tongue in cheek manner. Had I said "It's Mrs" in the first instance, I doubt I would get the snide remarks that I have seen here, and I worked long and hard for the right to use that title. Something to reflect on before belittling the achievements of others perhaps. Although I have enjoyed all the ways people have worked it into their posts, drinks all around!

Whilst you didn't mean it as such, it could be taken as "i am better than you". I have had someone correct me before, in person on the exact same thing, and whilst he too was attempting humour my immediate thought was "what an idiot". 

Anyway, i agree somewhat to your original posting. 

Edited to change "reaction" to "thought".

It's fairly unusual - actually vanishingly rare - for someone to insist on their title in a social context. I'm intrigued...

That's a helpful clarification, thanks. It's now clear that you're not accusing UKC members of glorifying or ignoring all of those terrible things. 

I've had a look at the comments section on the YouTube video and see what you mean, some pretty reactionary and distasteful stuff in there. And that's the tragedy: I'm sure we agree on a lot, but because you used quite strong and condescending language without due care, you inadvertently put off people who'd otherwise support you.

A case in point (which would stand even if we were all clear who you were referring to) is that you complain of prejudice but engage in prejudice in the same breath,

"the aforementioned wretch-inducing comment section which is rife with the exact kind of people who you find propping up dingy pubs round the country sneering at the new generation because we (perhaps I am not anymore) don't do prejudice as well as they do"

I hope you can see the irony in this. 

I think that is fair. I did not mean it as such, which is why I said it in such a clearly tongue in cheek manner (even to the point of using an smiley thing, against my usual rules of play).

I am being criticised on my clarity in one instance (understandably), but when I make a statement which is very clearly to be taken in good humor, I am again criticised as if I am being earnest. UKC forums ladies and gentlemen, basically as nonsensical as any other internet comment pool.

There you go again.

Just an observation on my part rather than a criticism. I can wholeheartedly imagine how much effort a Ph.D. requires. 

Absolutely!

Come on, we all know that a Dr of Philosophy isn’t a real Doctor. Maybe that’s why you’re getting some stick! 

Who did Fred domestically abuse? Google isn't turning anything up. 

Yes, I was wondering this. Even when the original TV programmes were aired a lot of Fred's attitudes were becoming outdated. I think the makers played this up a bit. In many ways he was an anachronism even in those days, a kind of reminder of a world that was passing away. I know he had several marriages but I've never heard that he was an abuser. Most people would probably not like being second fiddle to a steamroller.