Tom Blower lands on the beach with crowd of on-lookers

Tom Blower swam the English Channel August 4th 1937 from France to England in a time of 13hrs 31mins.

He swam it a second time 29th August 1948 in a new record time of 15hrs 31mins. He started his swim from the Western Beach, Dover, and finished at Cap-Gris- Nez. ( Ratified Independent)

11 Sept 1951 he once again swam from England to France from St. Margarets Bay to Calais, in a time of 18 hrs 42 mins. This made him the first person to swim England to France twice. They were both part of a two-way attempt. On his 1951 swim he swam for 3 hours on the return.

He was winner of the Morecambe Cross Bay Swim from 1935 to 1938. He became the first person to swim from Ireland to Scotland, in 15hrs 26mins in 1947. It was on his second attempt.

In 1948 he swam Dover to Ramsgate, in a new record time of 4hrs 36mins, beating the old record by 1 hour 38mins. He was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1964.