Rockall calling: adventurer plans historic live broadcast Splendid isolation for Rockall-bound adventurer

AN ADVENTURER will today begin his attempt to re-establish the UK's ownership of the remote island of Rockall.

Yorkshireman Andy Strangeway aims to stay overnight on the islet, which sits in the North Atlantic 187 miles from the nearest land. He also plans to erect a new brass plaque, to replace one that was left there in 1955 but which has since believed to have been lost to the weather, and also conduct the first live broadcasts from the islet.

Rockall is 82ft wide, 101ft long and 68ft high and lies 300 miles west of the Hebrides. The world's largest recorded oceanic waves - 95ft high - were measured there in 2000. It also lies outside the air/sea rescue zone, highlighting the daunting task facing Mr Strangeway and his team. Fewer than 100 people have landed on the island and only four have ever slept there before.

He said: "I am excited at what lies ahead in the coming weeks, but alongside this excitement there is also nervousness.

"Many years ago someone told me, 'You can only be brave if you have fear'. Well, if this is true, I reckon I must be very brave."

He and three other members of this team on Mission Rockall hope to complete the expedition by 28 July.

Mr Strangeway, 46, a decorator, has been preparing for months for the attempt, including undertaking climbing training and sleeping in extreme conditions in Yorkshire.

His last attempt to reach the rock in 2008 had to be aborted because of extreme weather.

He said his interest in Rockall started in 2008, the year after he became the first person to sleep overnight on all 162 Scottish islands which are 40 hectares (98 acres) or more in size.

Ownership of the uninhabited rock has long been disputed by Britain, Ireland, Denmark and the Faroe Islands and Iceland.

Since 1972, the UK has declared Rockall to be part of Inverness-shire - which, since local government reorganisation, makes it part of the Western Isles.

The earliest recorded landing on Rockall was believed to be in 1811, by an officer called Basil Hall from the HMS Endymion. Its exact position was first charted by Royal Navy surveyor Captain ATE Vidal in 1831.

On 18 September, 1955, the island was officially annexed by the British Crown when three Royal Marines - Lieutenant-Commander Desmond Scott, Sergeant Brian Peel and Corporal AA Fraser - and civilian naturalist James Fisher were deposited on the island by a Royal Navy helicopter.

The team cemented a brass plaque on Hall's Ledge and hoisted the Union Flag to stake the UK's claim. Mr Strangeway has had a replica of the original made to place on the rock.

He recently returned from a week's training session in Orkney and Shetland.

"Only the weather stands in the way of a successful expedition," he said."I am determined to re-establish the UK's claim to it by re-erecting HM Queen Elizabeth's plaque.

"This expedition has taken over three years to bring together and without the support of my long suffering wife Ruth it would never have happened."