Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #17430 in Books
• Published on: 2008-10
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 200 pages

Customer Reviews

Entertaining stories of "daring do"
This is a hardback book, 215mm x 300mm, with 200 pages and 275 colour and black & white illustrations. Author Alan McEwen was a close friend of master chimney demolition expert Fred Dibnah for almost 25 years. He has passionately and vividly written this excellent book that chronicles 28 of Fred's amazing and often exceedingly dangerous chimney drops. The book is extensively illustrated in both colour and black & white with some spectacular action shots.

This is a nice book to own if you were a fan of Fred's or simply interested in entertaining stories about his exploits. It would make a good present for someone into industrial history.

It is broken down into stories about individual chimney demolitions, with illustrations of the mill and often of the chimney drop itself, as well as Fred. The stories are surprisingly exciting, coming from a time (not that distant) when Health & Safety didn't stop you from getting on with the job. It's a book you can dip into but it's much more than a picture book, and tells tales that needed telling.

An unusual subject brought vividly to life
I knew Fred and I know Alan too and this book gives an insight into the admiration the latter had for the former. Alan faithfully acknowledges the skill and craftsmanship of Fred Dibnah and portrays evocatively the sentiment in Fred's heart as yet another magnificent monument to Victorian Engineering thunders, inch perfect in position, to the ground. Those of us who attended many of these Lancastrian Sunday morning spectacles will already know and recall the techniques, the preparation, the informality of those early occasions (all so well described by Alan including a brief and clear account as to how it's done) but few will remember the name of the mill, the goods it produced, the plant inside the engine house walls and the conversations we had with those around us as we stood waiting with baited breath for the chimney to tumble. But Alan has it all here and for me this is the true subject of the text. Alan tells a wonderful tale using the event of the chimney drop as a reason (or an excuse perhaps) to tell the tale. He brings the text alive with anecdotes and quotations aplenty but his writing is so eloquent he brings the day itself alive. Alan had also spent time with Fred and some of his close colleagues during the preparation of the `drop' and describes expressively the situation, the history and work involved.

The text covers 28 different `chimneys', all but about 5 of which stood within a 12 mile radius of Fred's own home, indeed a handful were within walking distance. The first account is of a chimney drop in early 1970 and the last, a painfully sad occasion for all who knew Fred personally, knowing that it would be his 90th and last, in 2004. Whilst the preparations of each, and indeed the occasion itself might be similar to the last, each and every one is an entertaining and thoroughly enjoyable read.

I would recommend this eminently readable book to anyone with any interest in industrial archaeology, in Fred Dibnah himself or in less conventional ways of the world.

'Our Fred' would have been so proud - a REAL book about him

On of the many good things about my late husband Fred Dibnah is that he frequently attracted many colourful characters like himself. Alan McEwen is one of the TRUE and most GENUINE of his lifelong friends - not just a mere aquaintance or one of these hanger's one types, but the 'real deal' who REALLY knew Fred. Fred and Alan spent many happy hour discussing amongst other things the complexities of engineering, steam engines, cotton mills and chimneys. Alan is just as expert as Fred in his own field; Master Boilermaker and Industrial Historian, he's also just as fascinating, and speaks in a language Fred respected. A knowlegeable historian himself, Alan beathes life into an already compelling subject by using his own skillful writing style and accute observational eye to carry the reader forth to share the excitement of being at the very demoltion site on the day of 'a drop'. This book is accurate and well-researched. The key lifes in the fact Alan kept extensive diaries of his own daily life and these natualy encompassed his many trips out with his pal Fred to witness the destruction of some magnificent edifices, relecs from the days Britain ruled the world. The great cotton mills and other palaces of the great industrial revolution - these drops were always recultantly carried out by Fred but 'necessary' in what he saw as the 'modern world'.

I opened the book - the first thing i saw was Caleb Wright's Chimney Demolition. I recalled Fred telling me about this when I first met him back in 1996. I read on, and was soon captivated, quickly scanning the many interesting photos (some never seen before) to get onto the next exciting chapter. the book is a massive A4 whopper - and well worth the investment. Some of the 'drops' Iattended with Fred, and it brought back many happy memeories, and again, Fred sprang to life with his thoughts and actions leaping up from each paragraph, his bravery and sheer true northern grit from every page. despite it's impressive size - do not dismiss this as a coffee table book. It's a learning tool.
Not only is the book a good, accurate insite to Fred, but leaves the reader in no doubt whatsover that they can comfortably settle into this masterpiece and be sure they are in for some splendid entertainment. I give this book my 100% support, and look forward to future books on different subjects from Alan and his lovely wife Christine ( she's a fab cook, too!). Keep your eye on the Sledgehammer Engineering Press website for further details of these. Perhaps some of you have read 'Chronicles of a Master Boilermaker'written in the past by Alan, and know what I'm talking about when I say he's a Master Storyteller too. Fred would have been proud of you Alan. Well done and thanks for keeping the legacy alive.