 The ninth of 10 children born to Anthony and Elizabeth Robinson, an Irish father and a Scottish mother, Robinson moved with his family to England from County Donegal in his early teens.He briefly trained to become a Catholic priest at St. Mary's Seminary of the Holy Ghost Fathers at Castlehead, Grange-over-Sands, Lancashire.He began a career in accounting in 1965 as a clerk with the Matchbox Toys company.