Quotes

"Did yer like that?" (said after he's just felled a chimney)
"A man who says he feels no fear is either a fool or a liar."
"I realise that steam engines aren't everyone's cup of tea. But they're what made England great."
"The modern world stinks."
"We've become a nation of con men, living by selling double glazing to each other."
"Steam engines don't answer back. You can belt them with a hammer and they say nowt."
"I set out as a steeplejack in my youth to preserve chimneys. I've finished by knocking most of them down."
"Height gives you a wonderful feeling of grandeur. You're the king of the castle up here."
"I'm just a bum who climbs chimneys."
"Anybody who destroys anything made of stone should be prosecuted. It is not all beautiful, but it took a man all day to make one stone."
"Steeplejacking's a bit of a spasmodic job, so you can play with your steam engine instead. It's a bit like being very rich."
"If you make one mistake, it's half a day out with the undertaker."
"It's a funny thing this celebrity. If you don't wave back you're a miserable bugger, if you do wave back you're a big-headed bugger. I don't know."
"Teaching boys to bake cakes? That's no way to maintain an industrial empire."
"That's Bolton's biggest chimney that… and I climbed it for a ten bob wager"
Fred also previously received two honorary doctorates… They were both given by the relevant engineering faculties, but Fred always told people that they were for "back street mechanicing".