Fred Dibnah shares his passion for steam as he traces the development of steam power from the earliest experiments to the modern nuclear power plant which relies on the principle of the expansion of steam. As he does he unearths the best of our steam heritage and meets some of his fellow enthusiasts who devote their lives to finding, restoring, preserving and operating steam engines of all sorts of shapes and sizes.
Documentary series in which Fred Dibnah travels around Britain aboard his beloved restored 1912 Aveling and Porter traction engine in search of engineering skills and technology from a bygone age, a journey that will take him to ancient iron foundries, industrial sites and little workshops.
A steeplejack celebrates the craftsmanship behind feats of British architectural engineering.
Fred introduces us to his 3 great Victorian Heroes; Brunel, Robert Stephenson and Sir William Armstrong; and demonstrates some of their technological innovation and inventiveness.
Celebration of the many sides of Fred Dibnah - engineer, steeplejack, artist, craftsman, steam enthusiast and inventor.
Fred Dibnah has always had a passion for Britain's industrial past and its mechanical relics. Here he recounts its history, bringing to life landmark events from the eighteenth century up to the early twentieth century in his typically anecdotal and engaging manner.
Until 1978, Fred Dibnah was a steeplejack working locally to his own area of Lancashire. Whilst working on the Town Hall in Bolton, the local BBC TV filmed a short news item about him. As a result of this, Fred was approached by a television producer with a view to making 1 half-hour film as part of a series about people with unusual occupations. After several months of filming, the final article was an hour long documentary, screened in his own right. This won two awards for the producer. It was called "Fred Dibnah - Steeplejack" and was aired in 1979. The rest is history......
Beloved steeplejack, industrial historian and a man with a passion for steam, the late Fred Dibnah’s enthusiasms proved contagious to all who came across them. This collection brings together for the first time ever, previously unseen footage shot for the BBC with Fred at Britain’s railway workshops, museums and preservation lines. These are the programmes Fred would have made, accompanying the viewer on the journeys of a lifetime, sharing a world of knowledge and excitement, offering an opportunity to see much that has never been screened before.
Fred brings history vividly to life in his own inimitable hands-on style, and explains how the builders and engineers of the past created great castles, houses and churches, and developed a ship-building industry that was the envy of the world. Castle Builders From Roman and Iron Age fortifications to a medieval castle that became a Second World War command centre, Fred looks at the work of some of Britain's greatest castle builders. Shot on location at Dover, Eastnor, Warwick, Edinburgh, Beaumaris, Caernarfon, Conwy and Harlech Castles, Old Sarum and Hadrian's Wall. Master Builders Fred served his apprenticeship as a joiner and he always had a great appreciation for the work of the craftsmen who worked on construction projects throughout the ages. Here he visits Bath, Winchester, York, Lacock, Culross, Ightham Mote and a medieval tithe barn in Sussex to see the work of builders, thatchers, roofers, carpenters and stonemasons. Ship Builders Ship building was one of Britain's major industries and here, starting at the Historic Dockyard in Chatham, Fred gives his own distinctive view of the industry. He goes on board some of his favourite ships including SS Great Britain, HMS Warrior, the paddle steamer Waverley, SS Shieldhall and the Royal Yacht Britannia, visits the Windermere Steam Boat Museum and goes cruising on a steamboat on a Scottish loch.
Fred's backyard was his pride and joy. It was his playground, a place where he breathed life into rusty old steam engines. This unique collection features footage shot with Fred in his extraordinary backyard over seven years of filming for the BBC.
