Talk:Fred Dibnah

Date of birth
Obituaries in The Guardian, The Telegraph, and The Independent all give the d.o.b. as 28 April 1938. In the absence of a reliable source it should stay like that. Mr Stephen (talk) 15:38, 30 April 2016 (UTC)


 * His wife, Sheila, has posted a copy of his birth certificate on Facebook showing the 29th. Perhaps the newspapers were wrong - can this be adjusted? 2A0D:3344:2B8:2F10:70FE:15A1:927C:E9DA (talk) 10:13, 20 May 2024 (UTC)
 * We have no reason to doubt his wife, but Facebook is not considered WP:RS and birth certificates are excluded as WP:PRIMARY. Somewhat bizarre, I know. Newspapers do sometimes get things wrong. Martinevans123 (talk) 10:33, 20 May 2024 (UTC)
 * I that see his own website here says 29th. But this book says 28th. Martinevans123 (talk) 10:51, 20 May 2024 (UTC)

GA ?
This article has deteriorated since the 2009 GA and I think probably our standards have improved since then also. I have doubts about whether this now qualifies, especially given its substantial reliance on one source. - Sitush (talk) 20:03, 18 March 2018 (UTC)
 * It's hardly surprising that the two main sources are the two extant biographies. The article remains comprehensive and well referenced and there are no problems with style, grammar, punctuation or spelling. On the other hand I think it would be a good thing generally if WP GAs and FAs were automatically reassessed every few years, as there are undoubtedly some horrors lurking out there. Personally I think this article would survive a GA review but I'm just an ordinary editor, not some WP guru. --Ef80 (talk) 14:15, 27 July 2018 (UTC)

Drawings
I think Dibnah's especial skill in technical drawing is worthy of note. Could someone put in a sentence om this, together with a reference to one or more of the broadcasts in which we see his drawings? (I don't have access to any recordings,so I can't do this.)

Regards to all, 79.75.143.232 (talk) 14:06, 23 September 2018 (UTC)

A Commons file used on this page has been nominated for deletion
The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page has been nominated for deletion: Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. —Community Tech bot (talk) 02:06, 31 July 2019 (UTC)
 * Fred Dibnah at Prescot.jpg

National service
The intro has an unattributed assertion that he served in the Army Catering Corps, but there is a later reference with citation (I don't own the Hall reference to check) that he was in the 14th/20th. Anyone know which is true? It is conceivable that he could have done both, I suppose, but highly unlikely for a national serviceman. CharlesSpencer (talk) 17:39, 3 October 2019 (UTC)

Betsy, a steam roller
Commons has a picture of a steamroller with "F Dibnah, Steeplejack, Bolton" painted on it, which might look well in this article. However, the picture claims the steamroller is from 1912 (as does the article Aveling & Porter). Whereas this article mentions a 1910 Aveling & Porter steamroller, and a 1912 Aveling & Porter traction engine. Also the steamroller was supposed to be named "Allison" after his wife (while "Betsy" in the picture must named after his mother). So I can't just slap the image on because I'd have to figure out the correct date, which I'm not able to do, anybody know which is correct? Possibly this is the "traction engine". Card Zero (talk) 21:44, 23 February 2022 (UTC)


 * Looks like it's this one 1912 Aveling & Porter no. 7632, Reg DM3079. Obviously a roller. 86.188.121.44 (talk) 22:07, 23 February 2022 (UTC)