Little Britain star swims English Channel

DOVER - Clad in the briefest of swimming trunks and smeared in goose fat, David Walliams might have simply been trying out a new Little Britain character yesterday.

But instead, the comedian who bade his parents a fond farewell on a Dover beach at sunrise before plunging into the icy waters of the Channel, was about to perform a sporting feat of some magnitude.

Ten hours and 34 minutes later, the 34-year-old arrived in Cap Griz Nez, France, having swum more than 33km and raised over £400,000 for charity Sport Relief.

In a feat some might consider as barmy as the characters he portrayed on the show, Mr Walliams negotiated one of the world's busiest shipping lanes not to mention jelly fish, sewage and debris in temperatures of around 15degC.

"I was thinking about lots of Pet Shop Boys songs, Morrissey songs and Abba songs, it helped to calm me down," the comedian said as he headed back to Dover by boat last night.

"I've been told that my time puts me in with the top 50 Channel swimmers of all time, how did that happen? I've never done anything sporty before, I don't know what happened. I think it must be all the good vibes. I did it much faster than I thought, I thought I would do it in about 14 hours.

"I feel relieved, I felt there needed to be a happy ending to this story and there is."

Chomping on bananas and chocolate bars that were handed to him by pole from an accompanying boat, he completed the swim in good time as a helicopter and coastguard spotter plane flew overhead.

Channel Swimming Association chairman Michael Read, who is the "King" of the sport having completed the crossing a record 33 times, kept a watchful eye from the boat.

Mr Walliams, he said, had remained "remarkably calm".

"The last mile, and then the last few yards, are the most difficult. Everything seems to go against you, you're exhausted, your body feels like lead and seeing the end in sight doesn't necessarily help," he explained.

Despite the fact that 600 tankers and 200 ferries cross the Channel each day, Mr Read explained that the most imminent danger was from jellyfish.

"We've seen some of the larger ones, but there could be lots of little jellyfish in there too which could catch him," he said half way through the swim, adding: "If he gets stung he'll certainly know about it."

Meanwhile his trainer, former Olympic pentathlete Greg Whyte, kept an eye out for any signs of hypothermia.

The comedian agreed to the challenge after witnessing first hand the problems faced by the people of Ethiopia during a trip with fellow Little Britain star Matt Lucas.

Over the past 11 months, he has undertaken a rigorous training programme under the guidance of Mr Whyte.

It included swimming for up to eight hours in one go, and spending time in a special "cold tank" to acclimatise his body to the chilling temperatures.

"The first time I swam in a lake at that temperature as part of my training, I started hyperventilating with shock. It's difficult to get your head round just how cold it is," he explained.

More people have reached the summit of Everest than managed a successful Channel swim.

Less than 10 per cent of those who set off have succeeded in reaching France.

The extreme challenge was first recorded in 1872 when Englishman JB Johnson set off from the coast only to abandon it after an hour and three minutes.

Three years later Captain Matthew Webb became the first person to swim the Channel observed and unassisted.

It took him 21 hours and 45 minutes.

Under the Channel Swimming Association's (CSA) rules, the fastest verified swimmer is American Chad Hundeby, in 1994. It took him seven hours and 17 minutes.

Nine years later German Christof Wandratsch, 38, managed to beat the time by 14 minutes.

Others have been less lucky.

Glaswegian Jabez Wollfe made at least 22 attempts and never succeeded. He failed by yards in 1911, and by less than a mile on three other occasions.

The oldest swimmer to make the crossing was 67-year-old Australian Clifford Batt, in 1987 while the youngest was 11-year-old English schoolboy Thomas Gregory, who made it a year later.

- INDEPENDENT