Coronation Brickworks Chimney Demolition: Guinness World Record (1980)

[@johnadams6865]

at last I've found it Film of MY WORLD RECORD demolition I was the explosives engineer that did all the design and preparation. it took me 5 weeks with 5 men to break out 3 openings in the base of each chimney to control the direction of fall. Drill holes for the explosives in the 2 legs at the front. Wire up all the explosives, one of the most difficult things was to make the sequence last for for the 3 minutes that the TV wanted to make a sequence for TV.

[@JL-rx6hl]

just found this, well done bloody good job. wonder how long they took to build?

[@martywarner1779]

@@JL-rx6hl ... I'm a Brick&Blockayer with over 25 yrs exprience, those chimney stacks are quite impressive, I could only imagine the blood sweat and tears gone into building one of those, the engineering feats back then are simply astounding considering what we have now, I could probably lay 5 feet per day factoring that the scaffold. Bricks, mortar are set up decently and with with height changes I could only guess as each chimney stack is over 50 meters tall..... I'd say there would at least been 4 Men with the same skill levels laying togethor and probably 4 labourers keeping the Layers active. Only my guess but it would be better if you heard it from the horses mouth.

[@windleshamwanderer3728]

I delivered 21 packs of bricks to the housing development opposite the main entrance of the old London brick works, about 4 years ago. Ironic, isn't it.

[@bartonseagrave9605]

I'm the chimney sweep that had to clean them and i'm only twelve.

[@lendavidhart9710]

@@martywarner1779 Marty, how did they build those things so perfectly?, your right, they are impressive!

[@columkenn]

Something sad about seeing all that brickwork and industry and landmarks demolished.

[@Alexander78031]

Вы абсолютно правы. Всё это строилось, с тонким расчётом, главная цель которого была защитить людей от зловредных выбросов в атмосферу. Но вместе с трубами , - снесли и само производство, оставив массу людей без работы и средств к существованию.

[@downhilltwofour0082]

The last little bit with the long shot was most impressive! Amazing to see.

[@stewartross1233]

The cameraman couldn't have messed it up anymore if he tried. The golden shot was the wide one showing each chimney falling in turn!

[@dougaltolan3017]

Patience. Very last scene of the clip is exactly what you want.

[@geoffdecorator1701]

1980 was the year i left school at 16 ,became a Decorator till the present day .It was also the year the industrial landscape of Britain began to change forever ,the first site i worked on was called Winterbottoms in Salford Lancashire .It was a 150 year company that went bust followed by countless more throughout the 1980s ,they simply couldnt compete against cheaper foreign made merchandise .Most of these huge engineering companies were using old out dated machinery and working conditions from the previous century ,the company i worked for had a sideline in redundant machinery etc and i was present when vast amounts of machinery were stripped apart and sold off abroad with rest the being cut up for scrap .Have a very clear memory walking through an enormous works in the summer of 81 ,a place that the year before would of been packed with workers and machinery . Its a very sad feeling you got in these places that i can only describe as like walking through a grave yard ,whole lives and careers ,friendships and long established relationships all lost forever .

[@vk2ig]

"Most of these huge engineering companies were using old out dated machinery and working conditions from the previous century" It's sad that these companies couldn't modernise and keep themselves in business and their workers employed.

[@shazwunder7967]

I grew up nearby. These chimneys filled the surrounding county with a stench so bad its probably given me permanent brain damage. I can still smell it, I had constant headaches as a child, nosebleeds too. I remember being happy to see them go but I guess it would have been better to re-purpose the existing site😏 I think many of the chimneys were unsafe but the factory was cool looking.

[@peterbaird9245]

All I can say is were is " Fred Dibnah"🔥🔥🔥🔥

[@Cola64]

Peter Baird it would’ve went world wide if he dropped them stacks 🤙🏻

[@djohnbarber9113]

1 out of 10 for spelling: Should be “Where is Fred Dibnah” not “Were is . . . “. Go and stand in the corner!

[@peterbaird9245]

@@djohnbarber9113 Oh no you are not one of them.....LMAOOO, I think Fred could have handled my miss uses of the word "were".

[@peterbaird9245]

@@djohnbarber9113 Also I am in the corner.

[@michaelgoulding6609]

i would much rather look at the chimneys than a load of bloody trees

[@richardscott6716]

This was a job for Fred Dibnah....

[@Fcutdlady]

Except he wouldn't have done it with explosives

[@lendavidhart9710]

Except for Fred Dibna, said they should come down with dignity "smoking" for the last time!

[@bashtherich5372]

@@kingy002 they dont mean any disrespect.Just when it comes to chimneys,People think of Fred!

[@baconsandwich2007]

As Blaster Bates used to say, "You'll always get a big crowd when you knocking down a chimney, but no body will stand there and watch some poor bugger build it!"

[@copee2960]

Wow you've dragged some memories up for me there our kid of me dad and his mates having a drink and a laugh whilst listening too Blaster bates on record player ha ha

[@stevenherrold5955]

what were you expecting ? the bricklayer to get up and dance the macarena

[@jamesrobert4106]

Blaster was a good friend of my family. He was EXACTLY the person on those recordings and a brilliant man.

[@MrMagicMovies]

10:01 for the decent camera angle.

[@terryboehler5752]

Thanks for the heads up. I quit watching because of the camera work. So much nicer to see the thing at 10:01. Thanks again

[@edwardjonez6615]

"DID YOU LIKE THAT?"

[@naui_diver9290]

Nice...miss that bloke

[@Kev-lfc10-163]

Oh aye Fred😂

[@petermostyneccleston2884]

I would have liked it much better, if Fred had burnt the chimneys down, properly.

[@Drobium77]

amazing how many people stand and cheer on their own communities losing all their work

[@jayrobthorn6847]

Drobium77 because we have got to please the environmentalist loons by getting rid of all our industries and now as one gentleman as said in one comment which I have quoted all we have now is distribution warehouses all over the country full of Chinese crap.

[@wendymcanena2421]

Brain dead fucktarded sheeple

[@davidphilips5543]

Well said. It's a small part of their heritage they are losing.

[@bruceburns1672]

You don't see factories like this in Britain any more , everything now just comes from Asia .

[@alexandergrube6437]

or america

[@paulcookies]

Talk to your dumbass government. They let it happen

[@MrMagicMovies]

Who thinks they should've employed Fred Dibnah to tackle these chimneys one by one? Or maybe even simultaneously...now THAT would've been a much more interesting world record!

[@tobermoryattraversiamo9575]

I recall Roy Castle being there announcing the world record so their must be other film from his show 'Record Breakers' perhaps?.. After they came down we all rushed into the dust to grab a few bricks as mementos. My dad was a loader ( removing the bricks from the hot ovens on a twin wheeled wheel barrow) there until they closed. You wouldn't find many Brits doing the crappy conditioned work back then! LBC - London Brick Company got taken over by Hanson ( US firm) in its later years before going tits up. Thanks for posting...

[@MrMagicMovies]

9:46...he was right! The final four chimneys at nearby Stewartby brickworks were demolished on 26th September 2021. The site closed in 2008. Here's some footage I took: kzbin.info/www/bejne/jZ-nh2yDhsaEn80

[@brianholmes849]

I wish cameramen would grasp the principle of zooming right out of a shot and losing all context.. We got a sequence of single chimneys falling and got no impression of the whole picture.

[@MrMagicMovies]

Brian Holmes There is a replay near the end of the video which shows the entire demolition at 10:01. I agree though, those previous camera shots were appalling.

[@brianholmes849]

Thanks! I had lost interest by that stage. That shot is the one we needed all along.

[@freewill1114]

I must agree; editing of the camera work was terrible. I had given up on seeing the most desirable view: all the chimneys falling together, then there was finally a shot at the end that should have been the first shot. The camera operators did a good job, it is the editing that sucks.

[@toddkratzer7953]

Cameraman was an ass at filming that.

[@johnadams6865]

There was 1 place on the site where you could see all 18 chimneys, and I planed the whole sequence to be filmed from that spot. None of the film crews set up on that spot, so all the film failed to show the planed effect of the chimneys going down in seqence like dominoes in a circle. Unfotunatly I was too busy setting up the charges and wiring it all up to have any say in where they set up, but I must agree the camera editing was not the greatest

[@letsbereasonablefergawdssake]

Holy Hell, that 30 second flare was unreal! Quite literaly there's someone (or possibly a few) at the end of many long weeks preparing for this culmination of years spent mastering the craft...they cant believe how many people have gathered to see-and all the network cameras as well. Cartoon-esque dynamite push lever in hand, time to take a few deep breaths and calmly start counting d....AND THEN THAT GODDAAM INSANITY FLARE COMES OUTA NOWHERE

[@ГаврилоПринцип-и7ф]

Thank God I was patient. The part of the video that we're all waiting for is at exactly 10:00 Thank me later

[@vk2ig]

Or you could do what I did: mouse along the red "progress line" at the bottom of the view screen until you see the still showing the falling, go a bit earlier than that and click to watch the video from where you want.

[@guyhammond6971]

Looks like all the bricks they made,when into their own chimneys

[@Superstrike_11]

It's neat to see the different types of building material affect the way the chimneys come down. I live near Berlin NH, and the concrete core chimneys fell like trees where these sort of crumbled on the way down.

[@johnboyginger]

Make way for the crappy distribution warehouses for Chinese made crap.

[@jayrobthorn6847]

Johnboyginger I couldn’t agree more, absolutely spot on, they have got rid of all our manufacturing bases over the past 40 odd years and now we have to ship in the inferior crap thats comes out of China, wouldn’t surprise me if even the cheapo bricks that are like polystyrene which they are building these cheap box houses out of nowadays comes from China as well.

[@maxwebster7572]

@@jayrobthorn6847 You can't blame them for sending jobs overseas. Just try and ask an employee to do something here and you are nothing but a big meanie and they are off on stress leave.

[@jayrobthorn6847]

max webster And where did all these laws come from in the first place such as sick leave etc, they came from the Brussels meddlers thats who making it a walk in the park for people not to work, then theres the European time directive which again as complicated things, this wasn’t the case 50 years ago, which is why we need to leave the EU dictate club the sooner the better and make our laws as a sovereign country once again.

[@TheManFrayBentos]

@@jayrobthorn6847 Idiot. Give us a wave from the Sunlit Uplands, you fool.

[@jayrobthorn6847]

@@TheManFrayBentos You spastic lol.

[@bb1040]

The wide angle shot at the end was much better than all those close ups, where you really could not appreciate the fall properly. Only one thing would have made it better, and that is if they could have dropped them all at the same time. But probably had to leave some room for them to come down without getting tangled up on the way down. LOL

[@MurrayJoe]

I was thinking the same thing, I was wishing they zoom out, not in.

[@q.e.d.9112]

@@MurrayJoe I suspect most people were. TV, which was still only 625 line resolution (up from 405 lines) was the medium of the close-up and, I suspect that influenced how camera operators saw their shots. That final wide angle shot may have been rather less impressive on a 625 line CRT TV.

[@JaeV2000]

i never have or ever will get to see one of them amazing brickworks

[@MrMagicMovies]

I'm gutted I never got to see this brickworks or Ridgmont. Although, I did grow up in Stewartby, (which was once the largest in the world) so I got to experience the final 10 or so years of that and witnessed a few chimney demolitions with my own eyes. It closed in 2008. 4 chimneys remain.

[@ajb07]

@@MrMagicMovies Last four are being felled this coming Sunday (28/09/2021 at 11am). Going to build 1,000 houses on the site - wonder where the bricks will come from...

[@AndyMitchellUK26]

@@ajb07 Wish I could have seen it. Sadly I work nights so I had to sleep while it was happening :(

[@bg147]

At least they provided the wide angle at the end.

[@andrewhoward7200]

Such impressive old things with so much hard work go into their production, pity they can't be used for something else- I don't know what though!

[@ynot6473]

and the youtube add that just came up was for a chimney repair specialist!!LOL.

[@SailorAllan]

when this first started I thought it was gonna be a Monty python skit.....waiting for John Cleese to walk on camera and grab the mic.......

[@webstercat]

Same here. Especially since the interviewer was over the top with the absurd questions…

[@anthonyjohnramsey]

HALF THE BRICKS MUST HAVE BEEN IN THE CHIMNEYS

[@jonathanhill8691]

they should have gotten fred dibnah to do it!

[@ridemgis]

And next of course, we have, ...the Larch. Monty Python could not have a done a better job with this video!

[@GERRYMALONEY47]

10 minute video for 20 seconds of Destruction

[@drewby613]

And just like that, the price of used bricks plummeted.

[@steeevo0136]

That would have upset Fred Dibnah no bloody end ! 😂

[@and7barton]

There's always a fool who shouts "Timber !"

[@MusicFanatical1]

What would you have shouted?

[@and7barton]

@@MusicFanatical1 Anything but "Timber" - Timber doesn't even come into the equation.

[@johncford3957]

It seemed to start out like a Monty Python skit.

[@mikelamothesr.8998]

These bring with them a period of melancholy tinged with nostalgia or vice versa, for a bit after. A pint or two, a rousing verse or two of auld lang syne and it is gone.

[@stevemorris6855]

Great interviews...

[@Matthew-it2jw]

34 Years later and it still hasn't been broken.

[@AndyMitchellUK26]

And now it is all gone :(

[@Durgesuth]

Great vid👍 I’ve watched Fred Dibnah demolishing and maintaining chimneys.... But never seen the great men that built them.... The days when men were men...

[@chuckwagon5518]

Those poor chimneys probably just saw a picture of Rosie.

[@stevewhite5374]

John has a mullett, well done John!

[@rsmith3033]

YEAR 2022 still kool to watch ! looks like big fire works in reverse !

[@titoupapy4119]

Très impressionnant, je ne connaissais pas ce film qui date pourtant de 1980. Pas mal pour l'époque, bravo et merci pour le partage.

[@doloresmyatt9737]

not a burning tyre or a Fred Dibnah type saying "did you like that" in sight.

[@MonkeyHunch1]

I prefer the Fred Dibnah type

[@mr.yuk4858]

Dam! That factory survived the bombings during ww2 and then they decided to blow it up after all that. What a shame.

[@tomkent4656]

Guy Michelmore is a better composer than he was a news frontman!

[@southerneruk]

Not long after the London Brickworks company went under and Redlands bought them out, most of the bricks that London Brick company use to make no longer are made

[@salfordladcraigedeane2356]

Wow amazing, question is where Fred dibnah, ,

[@markgoddard2560]

Always some interviewer asking stupid and obvious questions. It’s an art form now., 40 years later.

[@michaelsullivan3581]

Strange how much this was obviously a Monty Python sketch!

[@q.e.d.9112]

That’s a tribute to how on-the-nose the Pythons were.

[@webstercat]

I’m a yank and immediately thought it was going to be a skit. The interviewer was over the top.

[@scoop4363]

After watching CDI, this was just a missed opportunity.

[@dougalexander7204]

Hey, you scratched our chimneys!

[@webstercat]

Those questions were beyond absurd.

[@jonlari8273]

It would be now national heritage building.

[@triplevxd]

Unlikely. The last 4 chimneys on this site were grade 2 listed, but were still demolished in September.

[@fifthof1795]

Love Guy's youtube music channel.

[@John01GM40]

1980s TV presenters are themselves a bit of history. They don't look or sound like that now (thank heavens)

[@leokimvideo]

they did stuff big in the 80's

[@wilkinsandwonkinsandmore1308]

I didn’t know your were here

[@Nicolchu_]

Wham's Shoulder-Pads

[@gertiethebus]

I know you

[@NoggleBaum]

count down starts @7:35

[@Stephen-gp8yi]

Fred dibnah must have been pulling his hair out bless him!

[@johnniethepom7545]

I wonder if anyone remembers my father Tony Harris who worked there in the early 60's , he was a lorry driver.

[@Jungleland33]

I think I saw more chimneys than pixels.

[@dodojack1045]

Not nearly as intetesting as Fred Dibnah.

[@terryatpi]

1980. Same year as Mount St. Helens. Boom!

[@bongobrandy6297]

Jeremy Clarkson is seen placing the reasonably priced Liana under the 3rd from left smoke stack.

[@englishincontext4025]

Astonishing that the long shot was right at the very end. Don't get the point of closeups on falling brickwork.

[@hawkeyemontgomery2136]

Do yourself a favor and Skip up to 7 minutes and 54 seconds and watch the destruction of the building and chimneys. The first 7 minutes and 50 seconds are all about the story of the bricks that were made in this brick Factory and all the stupid crap that this guy wants to run his Jaws about

[@tstar2001uk]

I remember it happening. I was a spectator...

[@waltersilas1659]

Hi. Do you remember what day it was. I am writing an article on that

[@tstar2001uk]

@@waltersilas1659 Thats a long time ago, i was only 12. I will ask a family friend who used to work there if he remembers....

[@waltersilas1659]

Thank you for trying. From what I could find it was probably in October 1981. It would have to work 😁 don't worry about it if you can't find the day Thanks again

[@tstar2001uk]

@@waltersilas1659 Thinking about this bit more, it was either a weekend or school holiday sometime in the summertime. I believe that the year was 1980 not 1981...

[@waltersilas1659]

@@tstar2001uk very useful. Thank you very much!

[@hojoinhisarcher]

Strange monty python feel to it.

[@MonkeyHunch1]

JR with his initials on his helmet lol. Professional vandal

[@bekigaskin4185]

Very sad that the promise to return it to nature and plant 250,000 trees never happened. Instead the land got sold on for thousands of houses.

[@AndyMitchellUK26]

Always the way. Developers don't care about anything other than money.

[@carlomezzatesta4659]

I hope they used the reclaimed bricks for the new house's. And had streets could like brick lane.

[@barryparks4838]

Why did they wear hats that don't fit?

[@obroberts5929]

I hate it when they zoom in and you can't get the whole perspective.

[@billmorris2613]

Good morning to all from SE Louisiana 14 Dec 21.

[@paulfox7899]

There's little difference between this reporter and how he sounds and a Monty Python sketch.

[@christophernorton33]

Just think of all the reclaimed bricks now on sale for restoration work . 👍

[@michaelgrace1298]

"did ye lark tha"

[@Kev-lfc10-163]

Aye I did Fred😂

[@AndyMitchellUK26]

8:28 what film features that music? I can remember it from a kids film but not sure what and it's driving me bonkers!

[@q.e.d.9112]

It’s listed in the video description.

[@AndyMitchellUK26]

@@q.e.d.9112 I can see the name of the song but I'm trying to figure out what movie the segment that starts at 8:56 is from. The song title doesn't show what film has that song in it from online searches.

[@q.e.d.9112]

@@AndyMitchellUK26 Can’t help, sorry.

[@RobKoelman]

The film is 'Babe'. The music is Camille Saint Saens Symphony No 3. Better known for its popularized version under the name 'If I had words'...

[@AndyMitchellUK26]

@@RobKoelman You absolute legend! I knew I had heard it in a movie before but couldn't quite place it. Thank you :)

[@richardbeal7015]

cameraman should have filmed not close up

[@howlandowlle7953]

. Gravity at it's most magnificent.

[@webstercat]

I kept expecting to see Benny Hill to run by.

[@romandybala]

where's Fred Dibnah

[@lkmayhew9390]

Job well done👌

[@bogey19018]

Those brick are worth more now then when new.

[@erikmeidoorn1745]

18 Brickstone Chimneys Falling

[@marclaw4511]

The end of industrial Britain,can it get better.

[@RJSRdg]

Imagine what it would have been like of Fred had demolished them!

[@SegoMan]

While building a chimney at a brick maker where does one get a cured brick to build it with? The what brick came first debate has begun...

[@CoalCrackerCummins]

Should have hired Fred

[@jimlepeu577]

Well! That was crap, only at the very last instant did they show it happen, for the rest of it, it was what these TV people consider “artistic”

[@breathecenteraccept120]

10 unnecessary minutes of people rambling and then 37 seconds of the wonderful moment of all chimneys falling...

[@markwintz6000]

it's a shame they zoomed in too much

[@tomrogers9467]

Why does the intro interview sound like a Monty Python skit!

[@StwR1989]

7:34 for the good stuff.

[@steamgent4592]

Wow that's sad and sucks so bad!

[@SHASHA-de2wp]

Stupid to destroy this part of history

[@Steven_Rowe]

The reporter reminds me of a something out of a Monty Python sketch. I wonder what old Fred Dibnah thought of that lot. His method was far more interesting as you didn't know exactly when the chimney was coming down.

[@arhassoc]

Exactly the reason the Factory Inspectorate and HSE hated him for his total lack of control over the site and procedures!

[@chifanpatt]

Wasn’t a James Bond scene filmed here once?

[@tortinwall]

Oh those mullets.

[@Abc3030m1]

What is the exactly definition of at same time??

[@Kev-lfc10-163]

What?

[@johnadams6865]

They were all detonated at the same time, with one push of the button, but were wired with a series of delay detonators to cut down the size of the explosion. If they were all detonated together the blast could have broken windows in local property's

[@harrycurrie9664]

I wonder who the person was that peeped out of the shed just before the first chimney fell.

[@johnadams6865]

me

[@johnadams6865]

It was me

[@harrycurrie9664]

@@johnadams6865 I knew it was as soon as I saw the soot on your face. 😎