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Alan continued: “His name became synonymous with the stereo type no nonsense, straight talking Northern character, and of craftsmanship, hard graft and of daring do. Indeed, many years later when he became famous, he would delight his audiences with his colourful reminiscences and adventures regarding the Lancashire coal mining industry. By sharing the technology that has grown World of Books Group into the business it is today, we're helping charities increase revenue and reduce waste through re-commerce.
By the early 1960s the cotton industry and its ancillary trades were in a severe downward spiral of decline. With his trademark flat cap, enthusiasm and knowledge of the countrys steam past, his gift for storytelling, and his cry of Did you like that? Over the past 25 years he has operated as a contributor to heritage sector journals whilst establishing himself as an accomplished author in his own right. This second of two hugely successful volumes on Fred Dibnah MBE commemorates the life and times of a truly Great Briton.The steam bug infected Fred at a very early age possibly following his illicit visits to his father's place of work, a bleach factory. Well-known boilermaker (now retired) and author Alan McEwen has written a book on his good friend and Master Steeplejack, the late Fred Dibnah who died in 2004.
His latest work includes a documentary on Fred's garden and Founders of the Great Dynasties for History Channel International.
If you haven’t already read about him in the Middleton Guardian’s popular Bygone Days pages, Alan McEwen is fast becoming Middleton’s very own Fred Dibnah.
Alan’s book, published on 15th October 2008, describes no less than 28 of Fred’s chimney drops and with Fred’s ‘antics’ coupled with Alan’s ability to tell a tale – this substantial book (A4 hardback, 200 pages with 275+ illustrations) is sure to be in demand. Fred clearly loved all aspects of British industry and was fascinated by the numerous ancient coal pits with their distinctive headgear that he saw when taking a regular walk along the towpath of the Manchester, Bury and Bolton Canal.
Fred was awarded two honourary degrees: the first was from The Robert Gordon Institute of Technology, Aberdeen, and the second from The University of Birmingham. There are some books about a person and their work can only be written by an individual with a similar background both in industry and the life to that person, and their work. Cheshire based Keith Langston is a widely published and highly respected photo journalist specialising in railway and other transport related subjects.
Following Fred's untimely death, Keith embarked upon the creation of a book, drawing not only on his experiences with the Bolton born steeplejack and TV presenter, but in addition talking to a representative cross section of those persons who numbered themselves amongst Fred's many friends. The biographer of Fred Dibnah, he was also Fred's TV producer for many years, as well as a close personal friend, and has published a number of books celebrating Fred's life and interests. Fred’s greatest passion however, was industrial chimneys and steeplejacking, which had thrilled him from being a small lad when he had witnessed, during the local wakes weeks when the cotton mills closed, the sight of steeplejack’s’ red-painted ladders running up the sides of the towering mill chimneys and the tiny ‘Lowry-esq’ figures, the steeplejacks ‘dancing around’ on the platform some 200 feet up in the sky. Travelling the length and breadth of the country, the intention was to seek out the remarkable achievements of the craftsmen, engineers, inventors and industrial workers whose endeavour made engines like Fred’s possible.A poor condition book can still make a good reading copy but is generally not collectible unless the item is very scarce. Wearing his early trademark stove-pipe hat he is the epitome of the great Victoria engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel as he works to reduce 200 feet of old mill chimney to rubble.
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