FROM star performers who have disappeared at curtain up, to the tragic death of a pop idol's roadie and the secret visits by the Royals, life has never been dull at the popular Poole venue.

Originally from Sheffield, Robin sold his touring theatre company and headed south in 1980 to help out as a stage manager for three months - and never left!

Before long he was technical manager and by the mid-90s was masterminding the plans for a multi-million pound refurbishment. It took until 1998 to get the necessary funding and in 2002 Poole Arts Centre was re-opened as Lighthouse, Poole's centre for the arts, with Robin booking theatre and community arts.

Although there have been many big occasions over the last three decades, Robin names visits by The Queen, Prince Andrew and Princess Diana as his personal highlights.

"Prince Andrew would make private visits when he was in the services here and had a house in the Purbecks," says Robin. "He would come twice a month, mainly to the cinema, and book a whole row of seats. I doubt people sat in the cinema realised it was him."

He also recalls the first time the Arts Centre had to deal with bona fide rock royalty - The Who - and their first Farewell Tour in 1981.

"It was the biggest gig we ever did in terms of size and the amount of work for a two-and-a-half hour show. We sold all 2,500 seats in 45 minutes. It was the first time I'd seen fans queued right round the building to buy tickets.

"Of course it ended up with them smashing up their gear at the end."

He says David Essex was one of the friendliest artists - but even he caused some worries.

"He would always chat - unless it was speedway night and he would go off to watch it and you would have to try and get him back on time to go on stage."

John Lydon gave him the biggest headache when he played Poole with Public Image Ltd following the break-up of the Sex Pistols.

"I was told he had a reputation for disappearing so we actually locked him in his dressing room - but he escaped out the window!

"We found him an hour and three quarters later on Poole Quay sat in a pub chatting to the locals. He'd totally forgotten that he was supposed to be on stage - it was the longest interval we have ever had!"

Not surprisingly there are plenty of backstage stories of rock n' roll excess.

"Ten bottles of Scotch, ten bottles of brandy and two crates of Champagne was a normal request. I remember Lemmy from Motorhead would have this bottle in which he had mixed all the shorts together."

Tina Turner proved to be a bit of a diva - on her second visit she was booked into the then five-star Carlton Hotel.

"She walked in and said: I can't stay here, it's the pits!' and asked to be taken back to Bristol where she had stayed the night before in a Holiday Inn."

Then there was the famous night in 2004 when Oasis booked Lighthouse for an intimate warm up show ahead of their big comeback at Glastonbury.

"Oasis was a pure one-off - getting a band of that reputation," says Robin. "They weren't worried about the audience - they just wanted to rehearse. They asked for four TVs - one in every room.

"But then Cannon and Ball had to have exactly the same in two different rooms because they weren't talking to each other at the time. They even entered from different sides of the stage and only spoke on stage."

Boy bands like Wham! and East 17 attracted hordes of screaming girls; but a hastily-arranged Jackson Five show - fronted by the King of Pop himself - in 1979 was very low key.

On one occasion Robin admits came to blows with the manager of a big heavy metal band who had sneaked live flame effects into the show, despite the council refusing to allow it on safety grounds.

"The flames were so big they hit and scorched the ceiling so we met on a back corridor behind the platform, he made a facetious comment so I ended up smacking him. He came back the next day and apologised though."

The lowest point in Robin's Lighthouse career was just two weeks into his time there when Kate Bush's production manager was killed as the crew stripped all the equipment away after her concert.

"He'd been to the bar and came back into the hall and one of the traps at the back was open. It was a three foot fall to a sub-floor but having fallen he then rolled off it six or seven metres into the basement and didn't land feet first."

Kate Bush hasn't toured since.

As one of the south's major venues, the opening of Bournemouth International Centre in the mid-1980s hit the Arts Centre hard, ushering in a new era. Further changes were forced when UCI opened a mulitplex cinema at Tower Park in 1989.

"Up until then we had been the only independent cinema in Poole and Bournemouth so that was a big challenge, but cinema continues to pay its way."

Funding from the Arts Council and the local authority helped the venue re-establish itself and it continues to thrive - indeed, it is on the brink of selling its 10 millionth ticket. Quite an achievement, says Robin, when you consider it was celebrating selling its five millionth just five years ago.

"This is my 45th year in the business so I'm fairly committed to it now - I don't see it as work but as a way if life."