Foundries and Rolling Mills

FRED DIBNAH has always been a man out of his own time. Growing up a youth in the 1940s in Bolton, Lancashire, he lived near the railway lines and there began a lifelong fascination with steam locomotives.
Fred’s love for all things steam is also a practical one; for the last 27years, he has been renovating a steam boiler and engine in his back garden and it is now nearly complete. As Fred grew up, despite parental disapproval, he pursued his first goal of becoming a steeplejack, and it was his outstanding skill in his chosen profession that led to his first appearance on television.
DAVID HALL, once a journalist and teacher, has been producer for over 25years, making programmes for the BBC, ITV Network, Channel 4 and other broadcasters around the world. He worked with Fred since 1998 on Industrial Age, Buildings of Britain and Age if Steam. His latest work includes a documentary on Fred’s garden and Founders of the Great Dynasties for History Channel International. He enjoys travel, fell-walking and watching Manchester United whom he has followed since the 1950s.

David Hall is one of Britain's bestselling non-fiction writers. 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.
David's 30 years producing and directing network television programmes include a number of years at both Yorkshire Television and the BBC, as well as making landmark documentaries for Channel 4 and the History Channel.
A lifelong Manchester United fan, one of his books chronicles life in Manchester in the aftermath of the deaths of the Busby Babes in the Munich air disaster.