Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
A steeplejack celebrated for television documentaries on demolishing and restoring industrial chimneys and steam engines.
On the island
Eight records
The sound of a locomotive steam engine
The keepsakes
In conversation
Presenter asks
0:52Would you have been happier being born in the 1890s than being around here in the 1990s?
Yeah, well, I used to think I would have been until I went in the Science Museum the other day and had a look round at how dentists did the job. Horrible. Uh, but nevertheless, uh, you know, I think I could have put up with all of that. And, you know, the age of Isambard Kingdom Brunel and George Stevenson to me seemed much more exciting than than it does now, you know.
Presenter asks
1:36But what is it that you love about all that old heavy machinery and all the intricacy of it?
Well, they were the th the really the things that them men did, and they hadn't got much to do it with. They they accomplished magnificent feats with uh not a lot, and now we've got everything and we can't even make the trains run on time, you know. It's it's bad news, isn't it?
Presenter asks
14:18Have you got no nerves, or are you just mad?
No, no, the the the thing is, there's no brave men, you know. I mean, I get to the jitters many a time, you know, and think, you know, mind what you're doing, or you might end up with half a day out with the Undertaker, you know, you're finished.
The book
Various
Well, I don't think I'll be bothering Wi Will here too much at all. I have a magnificent collection of um Bound Volumes of The Engineer, you know, which of course is still produced to this very day, uh, a magazine for engineers.
The luxury
Well, I think I'd take my steamroller and just park it up and give it a shine every now and again. It won't be much use for anything, would it?
Presenter asks
23:36What was it you dreamt of? Did you want to work at that great height? Or did you want the freedom? Or did you love the idea of the work? What was it?
I thought it would somehow or other heroic for a start, you know, and and and also exciting and romantic in a way, you know. And also I could make some sort of name for myself, you say, which, God forbid, I never ever dreamed that I would end up like making an Academy Award winning film. That was furthest from my mind from ever. I actually thought when I mended the town hall clock in Bolton that that wa would be my one and only claim to fame.
Presenter asks
27:12Your divorce... That must have been very difficult.
Uh Yeah. It it we were at the time. I've got over it now, like, but you know, I'm one of the few men who had his divorce filmed. which I can laugh now, but I didn't then not tell you.
Presenter asks
32:00Do you sometimes think that that's perhaps how you'll meet your Maker one of these days, you've dropped from a great height?
No, you know, i it's it's never ever entered my head that that that I would I would kill myself doing, you know, being a staple jack. Um You know, I I don't think me me or the wife, you say that you've got some divine protector somewhere who sort of helps you out when things are going a bit wrong, you know, there's half a factory chimney coming towards you and you're running in the other direction.
“I think I could have put up with all of that. And, you know, the age of Isambard Kingdom Brunel and George Stevenson to me seemed much more exciting than than it does now, you know.”
“They accomplished magnificent feats with uh not a lot, and now we've got everything and we can't even make the trains run on time, you know.”
“I get to the jitters many a time, you know, and think, you know, mind what you're doing, or you might end up with half a day out with the Undertaker, you know, you're finished.”
“I thought it would somehow or other heroic for a start, you know, and and and also exciting and romantic in a way, you know.”
“I'm one of the few men who had his divorce filmed. which I can laugh now, but I didn't then not tell you.”