A fascination with manual labour is something I’ve always had. Perhaps rooted in seeing my dad making stuff, bewitched by his workbench and tools, in the garage of our childhood home.
I don’t recall now when I first encountered Fred, but he immediately had a certain appeal. His gruff no nonsense manner, and pride in his Bolton roots/accent, also strike a chord, of some sort. My maternal Granny was evacuated to Blackpool from London during The Blitz, so there’s a Northern connection in the family.
As appealing as he is, through his passion for ye olde ways and Victorian engineering, and such like, his flaws are also very much on display. His curmudgeonly old-fashioned old codger streak is ten miles wide. And he’s clearly very selfish and self-centred. But he’s openly and bluntly so; what you see is what you get.
One could pick apart his reverence for the past. But at the same time, he is on to something. and he’s not under any illusions as regards how hard life was in the ‘good old days’. Or is he? Well, that’s something I might mull over later in this piece (and/or any other Fred-centric future posts).
In the last year or two I’ve been revisiting my fascination with Dibnah. There are numerous TV series floating around, from later in his life. But I’m probably most beguiled by the old (BBC?) series, with the rather enchanting James Galway flute music, which is easily available on YouTube.
Fred was 40 or so when his career as a Bolton steeplejack brought him into an unlikely TV celebrity. As I’m typing this I’m watching the hard-drinking chain smoking Fred, working in the snow, with Donald, his tee-total sidekick, discussing other lesser steeplejacks and his distaste for the be-suited insurance men, as they prep a chimney for destruction.
His chequered love life, or marital life, and his views on things like marriage and the ladies, etc, are very old school and traditional. And probably the most uncomfortable and awkward watching is seeing how Fred and his various wives ultimately fail to connect.
So, Fred is a very flawed man. To call him a ‘hero’ seems a bit odd. Not long before he died, Fred was made an MBE, and he was and still is beloved by many. Over time his career would shift from the manual work of jobbing steeplejack to presenting the numerous TV series he made later in his life, which eloquently attest to his passion for historical engineering.
Learning that he had a stint at art school, and seeing the chimney be built for his mother’s home – you might think she’d be proud, but she seems to disapprove and view it as an annoyance! – all these things about his formative years are fascinating. His mother’s a cold and pretty miserable fish! Perhaps his troubles with women have some roots in this relationship?
In the end Fred’s hardworking boozing and all those fags caught up with him. It’s sad that such an industrious intelligent hardworking man should die before his time. No doubt he still had a lot more to do and to give.
And what if any legacy has he left? Certainly he was very popular. And perhaps he’s helped bring new blood into the fold, as far as wanting to keep some of the ‘old ways’ going? His own property and his collection of gear has had a chequered life since it’s creator’s death. I’m not sure if any of it still stands?