Foreword
I first became aware of a ‘celebrity’ demolition expert when working at Granada TV in Manchester because someone loaned me an LP by the self named ‘Blaster Bates’ [born Derek Macintosh Bates] and to this day some of his recordings can still be found lurking in Charity Shops, though I must caution those of a tender nature in their purchase.
Then along came Fred Dibnah who was as much into preservation as he was into demolition: the latter operation drawing huge crowds, police control and householders sometimes urged to move out temporarily if the condemned edifice was considered to be in the ‘dropping zone’ But it would be perhaps fair to say that in his lifetime nobody was harmed during any of his often spectacular demolitions.
Who can but marvel at the sight of this cloth capped Boltonian loudly honking a bulbous motor horn as warning that “she’s going” only to be replaced a few moments later as he emerged from the dust filled chimney base and uttering, somewhat gleefully “did yer like that”
In his later years he became something of a TV personality when making series of films on often long forgotten forms of engineering. His knowledge of such things was encyclopaedic and today they stand as testimony to his passion & enthusiasm for preservation. In turn his films are a visual and lasting reminder to all that view them that this Country of ours was, and still is in some cases, the owner of some of the finest engineering feats the world has ever known.
Alan Ashton
Journalist and Radio Presenter
