Fred Dibnah

Statue of Fred Dibnah

Fred Dibnah MBE (28 April 1938 – 6 November 2004), born in Bolton, Lancashire, was an English steeplejack, engineer and eccentric who became a television personality, a cult figure and, latterly, a national institution.

• "Did yer like that!?"
• " Mmmm. Aye. Oh aye. Y'know?"
• "A man who says he feels no fear is either a fool or a liar."
• "I realise that steam engines aren't everyone's cup of tea. But they're what made England great."
• "The modern world stinks."
• "We've become a nation of con men, living by selling double glazing to each other."
• "Steam engines don't answer back. You can belt them with a hammer and they say nowt."
• "I set out as a steeplejack in my youth to preserve chimneys. I've finished by knocking most of them down."
• "Height gives you a wonderful feeling of grandeur. You're the king of the castle up here."
• "I have a wash more now than I used to y'know... I have a shower everynight."
• "I'm just a bum who climbs chimneys."
• "Anybody who destroys anything made of stone should be prosecuted. It is not all beautiful, but it took a man all day to make one stone."
• "Steeplejacking's a bit of a spasmodic job, so you can play with your steam engine instead. It's a bit like being very rich."
• "If you make one mistake, it's half a day out with the undertaker."
• "It's a funny thing this celebrity. If you don't wave back you're a miserable bugger, if you do wave back you're a big-headed bugger. I don't know."
• "The thing is nowadays, you'll have 20 men working, yet 60 men telling them 'You can't do that, you ain't got a tin hat on'".
• "Teaching boys to bake cakes? That's no way to maintain an industrial empire."
• "By 'eck it were grand."
• "Them fancy London types don't know the pleasure of eating chips with fingers"
• "That's Bolton's biggest chimney that... and I climbed it for a ten bob wager. Never did get the ten bob though."
• Fred also previously received two honorary doctorates ..... They were both given by the relevant engineering faculties, but Fred always told people that they were for "back street mechanicing".
• "I've never fell off a big chimney. You'd only fall off one of them once."

Wikipedia has an article about:

Fred Dibnah

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Fred Dibnah

• Sheila Dibnah talks about Fred
• The Fred Dibnah Memorial Site
• Fred Dibnah's website
• Fred Dibnah on CultIdols.com
• The Fred Dibnah Fanclub - Lots of biographical detail, audio clips of Fred talking about his life, and photos
• A brief biography of Fred Dibnah
• Meet the original reality TV star (The Westmorland Gazette)
• Fred Dibnah - Some Personal photographic memories.
• Fred Dibnah Tribute site with many pictures
• Bolton Evening News tribute
• Fred Dibnah's Made in Britain (BBC History TV Series)
• TV's Fred Dibnah loses cancer battle (BBC News)
• Fred Dibnah Obituary (BBC News)
• Fred Dibnah's Obituary in The Times - probably his most biographically informative obituary on the web
• Fred Dibnah Obituary: Steeplejack who became a television celebrity (The Guardian)
• Obituary: Steeplejack Fred Dibnah dies, aged 66 (The Telegraph)