• FREDERICK “Fred” Dibnah was born on April 28, 1938 in Bolton to Frank and Betsy Dibnah.
  • As a child he was fascinated by steam engines that was used to power the many textile mills in Bolton.
  • He loved to watch steeplejacks at work on the chimneys and tall buildings in Bolton and from his bedroom window he could see steam locomotives at work and would sit and watch them for hours.
  • He attended art college and his work mainly based on industrial themes.
  • He was a self-taught steeplejack although he had a helping hand from a draughtsman who taught him how to erect ladders up a 200-foot chimney stack and climb the ladders without falling off which would be a skill he would certainly need in his chosen career.
  • Dibnah had watched the activities of steeplejacks throughout his childhood, and witnessed his first chimney felling from his father's allotment near Bolton's former greyhound track.
  • His first job that involved ladders was given to him while he worked as a joiner.
  • He was asked to point a garden wall and then the gable end of the customer's house.
  • He used several short ladders, lashed together with rope and hardboard.
  • This gave Dibnah valuable experience and his employer expanded the business to include property repairs.
  • His career was interrupted by National Service and was drafted into the cookhouse and stationed in Germany.
  • This is thought to have been the only time Fred ever went abroad Fred became a celebrity when he was working on a clock tower in Bolton’s Victoria Square.
  • This was shown on the BBC and when film producer Don Howarth saw the footage he was fascinated.
  • He came to Bolton and watched Fred at work and realising the potential Fred’s TV career began — much to the surprise of Fred who believed no-one would want to watch him at work — he was always a very modest man.
  • Fred’s career was clearly a dangerous one. One of his many profound observations was that if you got it wrong then there was a very good chance you would later be spending “half a day out with the undertaker”
  • His home, in The Haulgh, would be a place of pilgrimage both in his lifetime — fans would often visit in the hope of getting a chance to chat with their hero — and following his death, so beloved was Fred to Bolton folk and those from much further afield Fred died on November 6, 2004.
  • Fred is survived by his brother Graham, his widow Sheila and former wives Alison and Sue. He was the proud father of five children, Jane, Lorna, Caroline, Jack and Roger and stepfather to Sheila’s son Nathan.