Fisher, Brenda

Brenda Fisher of Great Britain was successful in the 1954 race, and the first Lady home in a time of 14hrs 25mins.

Brenda was a very successful long distance swimmer; in 1948 she won the Morecambe Bay Championship and in 1951 she was the first Lady home in a new record time of 12hrs 42mins – she recieved a trophy from Eva Peron for being the first lady home. In 1954 she was the first lady home, her time was 14hrs 36mins.

In 1956 she swam Lake Ontario in a new record time of 18hrs 51mins. Also in 1956 she was the first lady home in the Nile Swim. In 1957 she swam for 15hrs 25mins in the Billy Butlin Swim.

Born in Grimsby in 1927, Brenda was the youngest of three siblings. Her older brother and sister were speed swimmers who were going to swim the English Channel but tragedy struck when the brother was killed in WWII. Brenda subsequently became her sister’s swimming partner, and ended up setting her own Channel swim record of 12 hours 42 minutes. In 1956 she won the 29-mile (47km) River Nile Swim, breaking the previous record. That same year she swam the 32-mile (51km) Lake Ontario from Niagara to Toronto, smashing the previous record by over two hours. Brenda was the only the third person ever known to complete that swim. When she retired from swimming competitively, Brenda became a swimming teacher in her home town of Grimsby. Her biography, Blonde In Deep Water, was published in 2015. In June 2018, at the grand old age of 90, Brenda was a guest on a special edition of Antiques Roadshow, proudly displaying her swimming awards, medals and photographs.