[2] Roebuck was educated at Giggleswick School in North Yorkshire, also the alma mater of Keith Duckworth, another well-known figure in Formula One.
He wrote freelance articles for many publications, as well as being Press Officer for the Embassy Hill team in 1975.
[2] Roebuck's weekly column, entitled "5th Column",[2] in deference to Emilio Mola Vidal, a Nationalist general in the Spanish Civil War, became a must-read for its insights into drivers, team managers, and some of the self-important bureaucrats running Formula One in the late 1970s and 1980s.
While covering Formula One (a category of racing that he loved more than any other), he became close to several drivers, notably Gilles Villeneuve,[3] Chris Amon, Keke Rosberg, Mario Andretti, Eddie Cheever, Derek Warwick, Ayrton Senna, and Alain Prost.
Among Roebuck's freelance outlets were Autosport, plus Autoweek in the United States and a retrospective column in Motor Sport.