More on KentOnline
More on KentOnline
Over the years, crossing the English Channel has proved a challenge too strong to resist for both the sublime and the ridiculous.
There's no denying that covering yourself in grease and plunging into the waters to swim the 26-mile stretch through the waves of jellyfish and human excrement is something you have to take your hat off to. But paddling across the busiest shipping lane in the world in a bath tub? Or flying over it with a jet pack strapped to your back?
We take a look at just a handful of the more extreme methods folk have crossed between the UK and France...well aware there will no doubt be many more to come.
In a bathtub
You could never accuse Tim FitzHigham of having led a dull life. And in 2005 he demonstrated that by becoming the first man sat in a bath tub to cross the Channel as part of a remarkable fundraising push for Comic Relief.
After bad weather had scuppered an attempt the year before (a Force 6 gale blew in, forcing him to abandon the effort on safety grounds just five miles away from the finish), he got in his roll-top Victorian copper bathtub and paddled it across the world's busiest shipping lane in a little over nine hours.
It formed part of an impressive trek which saw him traverse the Channel and then row around the Kent coast and along the Thames to Tower Bridge. However, because the French authorities refused him permission to start his journey from there, he navigated across the Channel from Folkestone before returning on a support boat and then continuing the multi-legged journey towards London.
Granted, he wasn't just rocking about in the bath tub - it was attached to a support frame - but credit where credit's due. He not only raised thousands of pounds for charity, but even got a letter from the Queen congratulating him on his efforts (the bathtub boat was named Lilibet II after the Queen's childhood nickname).
Tim is no stranger to the spotlight. A comedy night he used to co-host at London's Comedy Store and the Edinburgh Festival gave a platform to the likes of Jimmy Carr, Simon Pegg and Russell Brand, he also hosted BBC Radio 4's Tim FitzHigham: The Gambler show which saw him attempting to take on wild bets made in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Skydive
Felix Baumgartner's exploits are certainly not for the faint-hearted. And while his name may not ring an immediate bell with you, the chances are you'll remember his most celebrated, and daring, achievement in 2012.
For he was the man who stood in the perfectly stage-managed doorway of a space capsule some 25 miles above the Earth's surface, and festooned in Red Bull branding, leapt out of the door in what was, for a couple of years at least, the highest ever skydive.
And as he reached speeds in excess of 700mph - he went so fast he broke the sound barrier - on his fall back towards the ground, he certainly had ample time to think about how much easier life was when he was just skydiving across the Channel.
It was in 2003 when he threw himself out of an aircraft at an altitude of 'just' 9,750 metres above Dover and then proceeded to freefall the length of the Channel, landing in Cap Griz-Nez in an outfit designed to cope with temperatures of -40C, an oxygen tank, and a specially designed carbon wing strapped to his back. It was a world first.
He reached speeds of 200mph before releasing his parachute over French soil. It took 14 minutes.
Now 51, Fearless Felix as he was known, he was last spotted flying helicopters in an aerobatic fashion (natch).
Single jet-propelled wing
While for many a trek over the stretch of water which divides us from our continental cousins is a feat of time-zapping endurance, for Yves Rossy it was more a case of simply holding your nerve.
Because in 2008 he leapt from an aircraft at 2,500 metres above the ground over Calais and fired up a single jet-propelled wing he had strapped to his back.
Hitting speeds of 120mph he whizzed above the water before powering down, releasing his parachute and floating down to terra firma at Dover in a mere 13 minutes.
It was a case of third time lucky for 'Jetman', as he was imaginatively named, after bad weather scuppered previous efforts.
The Swiss military-trained pilot didn't have long to relish his success though. Having landed on Friday, three days later he was in the air again heading to Egypt - this time in the cockpit as pilot of a commercial plane.
And just in case you were wondering, he's still at it at the age of 60. Earlier this year he demonstrated not only can he now take off from a standing start - lifting up vertically - but also soaring above Dubai. The video for which is well worth a watch...
Amphibious Part I
Ah, how times change.
When Virgin Atlantic marked its 20th anniversary in 2004, Sir Richard Branson broke the then Guinness World Record for the fastest crossing of the Channel by an amphibious vehicle - completing the trek to France in one hour, 40 minutes and six seconds.
It smashed the previous best of six hours.
He was behind the wheels of a Gibbs Aquada - which on the road can topple 100mph and on water some 30mph (or 26 knots for those of a maritime disposition).
However, Branson - who made something of a name for himself with his daredevil antics in balloons and boats during the 1980s and 90s - has long since lost his grip on the prize. Today the fastest crossing is a 2008 attempt which saw a Brit and a German co-pilot The Tonic across the Channel in a little over one hour and 14 minutes.
It's not the only cross-Channel record Branson has held.
In 2012, at the age of 61, he became the oldest person to kitesurf the stretch of water. He crossed from Dymchurch to Wimereux in three hours and 45 minutes - a record he still holds.
Today, the entrepreneur is swapping bailing out water mid-Channel for financially bailing out his key businesses in the light of the current crisis; most recently selling $500million of his Virgin Galactic stock - his venture to deliver space tourism - in order to ensure airline Virgin Atlantic doesn't collapse.
Amphibious Part II
In 2007 Top Gear was at the peak of its popularity. Courtesy of Richard Hammond's high-speed crash the previous year - and miraculous recovery - it had seen viewing figures rocket. So by the time the second series of the year began seven million viewers were tuning in each week to watch Hammond larking around with James May and Mr Marmite, Jeremy Clarkson.
And it was perhaps inevitable that at some stage the show's penchant for getting the team to take on car-based challenges would see them turning their cars into amphibious craft and tackle the Channel - motivated by a desire to beat 'Beardy Branson'.
So a Triumph Herald, Nissan Navara and VW Transporter were adapted and set sail from Dover.
May's Triumph came an early cropper shortly after it was launched, ditching 'Captain Slow' into the drink. The following day, as efforts resumed, May joined Hammond in his VW Transporter, but after taking on water rapidly, it too found itself sinking.
Regrouping once more, all three took to the Nissan with Clarkson at the wheel and, despite some hairy moments, saw Sangatte "get three more immigrants", as Clarkson put it.
Human-powered aircraft
If your two key interests are hang-gliding and cycling, then very few would at any stage, other than when a few pints to the wind, ponder how to marry the two together.
But for Bryan Allen, from California, it seemed to make all the sense in the world and an offer too good to be ignored.
And so in June 1979 he climbed onto a glorified bike at the heart of a flimsy looking contraption attached to wings in Folkestone and set out to create a bit of history.
The Gossamer Albatross, as it was known, took to the air and just about hung there as it crossed the Channel just yards above the water with a fleet of support craft in its wake.
Despite at one stage signalling the effort was over due to strong head winds, remarkably, some two hours and 50 minutes later, Allen spied through his plastic cockpit the sandy beach at Cap Griz-Nez and landed as planned on French soil.
However, his sore legs will have been eased by the knowledge that in doing so he had won £100,000 - a cash prize put up by industrialist Henry Kremer to encourage human powered flight. Equivalent to more than £500,000 today, the pedal-powered aircraft was created by US aeronautical engineer Dr Paul MacCready. Today, Allen works for NASA on its Mars exploration programme.
Hoverboard
For anyone of a certain age, the word hoverboard instantly conjures up images of one man. Marty McFly. But for those for whom Back to the Future was not a cultural touchstone, the high-tech contraption is perhaps now best associated with French inventor Franky Zapata.
Over recent years he has developed the technology which, in 2019, allowed him to zoom across the Channel on one his contraptions - albeit on the second occasion.
While a rather weightier version compared to the powered skateboards Michael J Fox used to escape from the clutches of Biff, its range was limited, requiring Franky to stop on a platform at the midway point in order to refuel. On his first attempt, he missed the landing zone and had to abort.
But on the second occasion all went smoothly and his FlyBoard Air was refuelled and the crossing completed in 22 minutes.
And we may not have heard the end of Franky - he's now working on a flying car. No doubt he'll have a self-drying jacket on the production line before we know where we are.
