Did You Like That? Fred Dibnah, In His Own Words

by Don Haworth, Fred Dibnah

A collection of the best stories from producer Don Haworth’s films about steeplejack Fred Dibnah, an unlikely TV celebrity and true British eccentric. This unique record of England’s decaying industrial landscape is recounted with true Northern grit by Fred himself.

Genres: Nonfiction

192 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1993

Reviews

[^ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Them be diff’rent oop North (a northern British dialect). Dibnah’s no eccentric caught in the Victorian age; he’s more a self-confident and forthright original; a man who knew his own mind, strongly uncompromising on his likes and his dislikes. An absolute gift to a TV film maker, and a TV audience.

This absolutely engrossing book collects the ‘best’ stories from the nineteen films that Don Haworth made for TV, beginning in 1979. It’s a glorious selection; a positive stays-pinging corset of memories and anecdotes firmly laced together to form a very coherent and moreish-ly readable commentary on the ending of one great industrial age (of steam), and the great 200ft+ factory chimneys (plus the odd church tower). Dibnah’s warmth and honest forthright opinions blaze throughout, as he philosophises on life as lived, warts & all; mainly from his life’s calling as a steeplejack http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3R3-Yw... ;and the sheer love and long slog of bringing a traction engine steam roller back into use, whilst getting on with life lived in the public eye.

He drinks beer, he smokes tobacco, he knows neither are good for him; but being the forthright Yorkshireman that he is, means that he’ll not hesitate to share his opinions; that as a steeplejack up an industrial chimney, “ … you don’t get much of a smoke on a windy day. The end glows like a welding iron and a whole cigarette’s gone in three puffs. … Smoking is a hazard, but then so is climbing chimneys.” (p.56). An undertaker offers him 10% discount; cheapskate really when one reads of some of the risks and near misses that Fred shouldered and survived. It’s interesting to compare Fred’s historic (even in his day) techniques http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClYNU_... with present-day best practice such as at (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-...

Fred, who died in 2004 at the age of 66, and after two divorces, three wives, and numerous children, was so openly passionate as to be positively selfish over that most abiding of addictions: a deep knowledge and love for the civil and mechanical engineering of the Industrial Revolution. Strongly underpinned by a very knowledgeable, practical, essential can-do (if he wanted to) attitude, his inner sense of self-confidence and self-worth was formidable. A real character. RIP.

[Reixma · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of my parents got this book, and I wondered what it was about. Having grown up watching him in some programmes on TV years ago, it intrigued me.

An interesting book written by collecting together interviews and conversations with Fred over the years, so it's an alternative way to write a biography.

Fred was definitely someone of an older time where ideas about gender norms were the standard, and the ways of things were definitely male dominated. He wasn't an easy person to live with.

Given the descriptions of his life, I wonder if he was neurodivergent. (Being neurodivergent myself, there are glaring markers that would be spotted today!)

Still, a man who put value in his work ethic and did what he did to perfection.

A book fans of Fred might enjoy.

[Judith Falkner · Rating 3 out of 5]

A well written tale evoking a lost industrial landscape, dotted with tall polluting chimneys and powered by Victorian steam engines.
Fred emerges as an engaging character but one with an old fashioned Victorian outlook.
His enthusiasm allowed me to enjoy the tv programmes he presented. He made history and engineering interesting.
His stories bring the social history of his time to life.

[Mavis Hewitt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very readable

[Roger Roud · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant couldn't put it down

A great story about a man who wanted to live his life his way and mother sucked into modern living as the stresses that go with it.

[Stephen Snell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting Book

Great book, always interesting to read about Fred. He certainly led a very full and happy life. Cheers me up, to read about his exploits.

[Darla Ebert · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dibnah is an unusual character with a story to tell. His stories did not really "grab" me but were ok. Steeplejacking aside, I learned far more about steamrollers than I ever expected to learn.

[Emma Minazza · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book, learnt a lot about Fred's life

[Ike · Rating 5 out of 5]

perfect

[Simon Bruce · Rating 3 out of 5]

I absolutely adore Fred Dibnah, and for that reason alone I gave it three stars... The information inside, is literally a collection of information, quotes etc taken from the several television show he starred in.

[Luke · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a huge fan of the late Fred Dibnah, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading about his early life, however I found that his tales and philosophies, and therefore the book itself, became quite repetitive in the later parts.