What maybe looked like safety glasses (!) and a flat cap. Aye lad, priceless. I have to confess I can barely watch it. Toe-curling.
What maybe looked like safety glasses (!) and a flat cap. Aye lad, priceless. I have to confess I can barely watch it. Toe-curling.
Climbing those ladders is exhausting enough but it pales into insignificance compared to putting the ladders up. They're all fixed to the brickwork with rope tied to iron spikes that you drive into the mortar joints with a 3lb lump hammer. You're meant to rake out the mortar, drive in a wooden dowel first, then bang the dog (iron spike) into the dowel to split it afterwards so it holds firm but a lot of steeplejacks back in the day didn't bother with the dowel, consequently a lot of them had accidents! No screws or bolts were used and getting them out again is no fun either as they can become stuck fast and once they are out you have to have a bucket of mortar and a trowel with you to make good the holes afterwards.
Some good advice for Fred from Viz
Very interesting, thanks for sharing.Originally Posted by Thewatchbloke
I remember my dad making me watch Fred's program when I was a nipper and we only had one TV in the house. I certainly appreciate the fella more nowadays :0
That is just astonishing; I note that The Fred Dibnah Story is available on Youtube so I'll probably spend the weekend inflicting a few episodes on SWMBO in the interest of cross-cultural studies.
Watching the scaffolding video it's apparent that, even without having anything that approximates to the physique of a strongman, he must have had some incredible upper-body strength. Years of training in a working men's club bar, no doubt.
I have been aware of Fred Dibnah for several years, after all I married a Lancashire lass but when Eddie posted this thread last year it kicked off a renewed interest that has led to me watching upteenth hours of clips on youtube and the postie delivering various DVD box sets. I wish I had the provlege to have met this great character who is both inspiring and fascinating to watch and listen to.
Here's a video where Fred deomnstartes the laddering technique you have so eloquantly described. Incredible skills and ability to operate in such a dangerous situation with unwavering awareness. Amazing stuff:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F04dGK1_wYA
Absolutely brilliant! A proper chap if ever there was one. :)
I'm surprised that he can move his legs with balls that size! Absolute legend!
Watched it through my fingers, just as I did when I first watched it as a kid.
I alway"s liked this one of Fred no health and safety and his Klaxon didnt work either !
(Click to view)
Last edited by arthurDALEY; 13th October 2016 at 08:12.
Gulp - found that very difficult to watch!
That made me feel sick
See what happens once he's got his ladder fixed: How to erect a chimney scaffold.
It's from the same collection and there are a couple of others that are worth a watch.
Thanks Eddie, that gave me something decent to watch for a while and brought back some memories too.
I understand "Health and safety" and see why it works in the work place.
But for Fred it worked well until some office wallers thought it better to complicate the working mans day by putting in place enough red tape to make it much harder to carry out a simple task.And taking the scene here for eg,no persons other than Fred near the chimney,and were anyone else stupid enough to be there when they should not have been,is IMO natural selection to rid the planet of idiots that don't see the danger!.
Generalising.......I know it does and has saved many lives,but some health and safety IS bolx and we've all been witness to that at some stage when doing a simple task that is now so dangerous it requires triplicate signatures numerous cones hard hats hivis vests gloves and steel toe boots to put a kettle and toaster in the workplace!.
I used to enjoy seeing Fred on TV. I used to spend a lot of time working off the head of ladders, the furthest we climbed was 100ft to the top of a Turntable Ladder. Hook ladders needed good balance and a lean back to keep weight on the heel of the ladder and stop it swinging, however watching Fred climb that chimney had my toes curling and tingling! That's a long way up and down. We were the only station in the brigade that carried hook ladders, for the back of some old streets with yards leading down to the Wear that had no access for extension ladders. Even in the late 1970s H&S was creeping in, and you could only go to the second floor when training. This chap makes hook ladders look easy...
Last edited by magirus; 13th October 2016 at 19:40.
F.T.F.A.
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