Tom Lodge

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Tom Lodge (16 April 1936 – 25 March 2012) was an English writer and radio broadcaster who became well known for his work on Radio Caroline, the famous offshore pirate radio station, and later for his Zen practice in California, where he was known as Umi.

Early life
Tom Lodge was born in Forest Green, Surrey, the son of writer Oliver W. F. Lodge. His grandfather was physicist Oliver Lodge. When World War II began, his family moved to the United States so his father could teach there. After the war they returned to England near Painswick, Gloucestershire. Lodge went to Bedales School, where he developed a love for music, learning the violin and clarinet, teaching himself guitar and mouth organ, and playing stand‑up bass in a skiffle band.

Adventures and early writing
At eighteen he travelled to Canada and worked in a commercial fishery at Hay River on Great Slave Lake. During a fishing trip he was swept onto an ice floe; his companion died, and Lodge was rescued. He later wrote about these experiences in his first book, Beyond the Great Slave Lake (1957–1958).

Family and career in broadcasting
In 1956 he married Jeanine Arpourettes, and they had three sons: Tom Lodge Jr. (born 1959), Brodie (born 1961), and Lionel (born 1962). Tom Jr. would later become a presenter on Radio Caroline, continuing the family connection to broadcasting. In the late 1950s Lodge moved to Yellowknife, where he worked for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) as an announcer, and later served as CBC manager for CBXH in Fort Smith, Northwest Territories, before returning to England as a CBC correspondent.

Radio Caroline and beyond
In 1964 Lodge joined Radio Caroline as a disc jockey and programme director. He later wrote The Ship That Rocked the World, a book about his time there; the 2009 film Pirate Radio drew on this story. After the Marine Broadcasting Offences Act of 1967, he worked for BBC Radio 1. In 1968 he became a DJ for CHLO-AM in St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada, where he helped promote new music. In 1973 he founded a program at Fanshawe College in London, Ontario, called Creative Electronics, which evolved into the Music Industry Arts program that trained recording engineers and producers.

Later life and Zen
Although he later left radio, Lodge continued to contribute to Radio Caroline. In 1975 he began practicing Zen in California, and in January 1998 his Master gave him the name Umi and he began guiding people in Zen at the Stillpoint Zen Community near Santa Cruz, California.

Publications and legacy
Lodge published several works, including Beyond the Great Slave Lake and The Ship That Rocked the World, along with other writings on music and spirituality. He is remembered as a pioneering figure in pirate radio and later as a Zen teacher.

Tom Lodge died on 25 March 2012.