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1979: Fred Dibnah - Steeplejack: Full Documentary | BBC Archive
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March 1, 2026
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March 1, 2026
301,535
3,876
468
1.44%
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49:36Now Playing"There's no brave men. Any man who says he's brave's either a bloody idiot or a liar."
By popular demand, here is the entire 1979 documentary following Bolton steeplejack Fred Dibnah. Some copyright music has been replaced.
Steeplejacking was the only job Fred Dibnah ever wanted from early childhood when he watched "little men in flat caps" working up in the sky. At 15, for a bet, he climbed the biggest chimney in Bolton by night, at 17 he built a factory chimney on top of his mother's home, and in his twenties he started steeplejacking in earnest at the parish church. From there he worked his way up.
His mistakes up chimneys have scattered crowds and wrecked a car and a building, but the only accident he has suffered was a fall from a small ladder while decorating a bedroom. Soberly facing mortality, he looks forward eventually to a longer descent.
Clip taken from Fred Dibnah, originally broadcast on BBC Two, 6 September, 1979.
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