Very soon he was in the vanguard of a French renaissance of hard technical climbing which would shortly eclipse the efforts of the British and most other climbing nations.Berhault had already shown signs of becoming an exceptional climber; aged just 20 he had displayed remarkable levels of fitness and proficiency by climbing some of the hardest routes in the Verdon in heavy mountaineering boots. Their “revolution” was soon exported overseas to, among other places, the impressively steep French limestone cliffs of the Verdon Gorge.Livesey and Fawcett’s display of powerful free climbing there in the spring of 1978 opened the eyes of local climbers to the possibilities of scaling “extreme” routes on the intimidating 300-metre-high gorge walls without recourse to artificial aids. Two of the leading pioneers of this new approach were the Britons Peter Livesey and Ron Fawcett whose dominance of the domestic rock-climbing scene was virtually complete during the latter part of the decade. Patrick Berhault, who fell to his death in the Swiss Alps last week, helped shape the phenomenon of the modern French climbing star.In the mid-1970s rock climbing underwent something of a revolution.

Its leading practitioners swapped a predominantly amateur ethos, which had distinguished the sport since its inception nearly a century before, for the systematic training regimes of top-flight athletes. Bob Marley and the Wailers, Ken Boothe, just about every Jamaican singer you’ve heard of We would just all go there and record.Pierre Perrone. Patrick Berhault was respected by his peers for being one of a rare breed who excelled on both pure technical rock climbing and extreme alpinism. Paying tribute to Coxsone Dodd, the reggae singer Marcia Griffiths, said: Studio One was like Jamaica’s Motown, it’s where all the stars grew.

Ever-versatile, Dodd even pioneered the new dancehall sound with Sugar Minott in 1978 on the Live Loving album and regenerated the careers of the reggae singers Johnny Osbourne and Freddie McGregor.After moving to New York, Dodd delighted in updating his classic tracks for successive generations by adding syndrums and other modern effects. With archivists still poring over acetates and limited-edition 10-inch singles, his Studio One catalogue has been estimated to comprise around 6,000 titles. Both Tosh and Livingston recorded solo sides (“I’m the Toughest” and “Let Him Go” respectively) with Dodd, as ska evolved into rocksteady and the organist Jackie Mittoo and the singer-turned-bassist Leroy Sibbles became the Soul Vendors. Coxsone Dodd also recorded Ken Boothe, the Gaylads, Marcia Griffiths and Bob Andy and Dawn Penn (of “No No No” fame).From the late Sixties and into the Seventies, Dodd produced many instrumental reggae rhythms which formed the backbones for vocals hits by the Heptones, Alton Ellis and John Holt, and a succession of dub versions featured on dozens of albums still delighting collectors and influencing the likes of Primal Scream and the Orb today.