Fred Dibnah's Victorian Heroes

Fred Dibnah's Victorian Heroes

Summary

Fred Dibnah was a man born out of his time. His era should have been the 'magnificent age of British engineering' - the nineteenth century - and his heroes were the great industrial engineers of the period whose prolific innovations and dedicated work ethic inspired a national mood of optimism and captured the hearts of the British public.

Fred Dibnah's Victorian Heroes
tells the stories of some of these men - including George and Robert Stephenson, Isambard Kingdom Brunel and Joseph Whitworth - and what it was that made them such inspirational figures to Fred. What were their backgrounds? Where did their drive and vision come from? What sort of people were they at work and at home? And what was their contribution to the history of industry and engineering?

Most of them - like Fred - were colourful, larger-than-life characters for whom no challenge was too great. Taking these fascinating characters as inspiration, Fred Dibnah's Victorian Heroes gets to the very heart of what allowed nineteenth-century Britannia to rule the waves . . .

Reviews

  • Straight talking, frank speaking - with Fred Dibnah you got what it says on the tin
    Daily Telegraph

About the author

David Hall

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.
Learn More

Sign up to the Penguin Newsletter

For the latest books, recommendations, author interviews and more