Robbie Robinson, AKA the Admiral Robbie Dale, has passed away in Lanzarote aged 81 after living with dementia.
During the '60s, The Admiral – who was given his nickname by fellow boat that rocked DJ Dave Lee Travis – became one of the senior DJs on Ronan O'Rahilly's Radio Caroline South in the English Channel. With 14 million people tuning in daily, he became a household name who hobnobbed with the likes of the Rolling Stones and The Beatles.
When the British Government tried to sink the offshore pirates by introducing the 1967 Marine Offences Act, Dale was among the presenters who decided to stick it out in the North Sea despite the risk of heavy fines and imprisonment.
After Caroline was forcibly towed into port by a shipping supply company it owed money to, Robbie transferred to a Dutch pirate station, Radio Veronica, before returning to terra firma in London and setting up a contract cleaning business.
