IN THE SWIM OF THINGS

Come on in, the water’s lovely. MARION McMULLEN on some famous water babies who caused a splash

1

Queen Elizabeth, left, was the first young person in the Commonwealth to receive a junior lifesaving award from the Royal Life Saving Society. She was 14 when she earned her junior respiration award in 1941, but only recently learned she was the first. During a during a video call with the society she said: “I didn’t realise I was the first one. I just did it, and had to work very hard for it.” 2

Hollywood’s “American mermaid” Esther Williams was a teenage swimming champion and put her skills to good use in films like Bathing Beauty, Dangerous When Wet and Neptune’s Daughter during the 1940s and 1950s. She once said water was her favourite co-star. 3

Little Britain star and Britain’s Got Talent judge David Walliams swam the length of the Thames for Sport Relief in 2011, finishing at the Houses of Parliament in the heart of London after 140 miles in just eight days. He also swam the English Channel for the charity in 2006 and the Strait of Gibraltar, from Spain to Morocco with James

Cracknall in

2008.

5

Guardians Of The Galaxy actor Dave Bautista worked as a lifeguard before becoming a professional wrestler with the WWE and then turning to acting. He said: “I never excelled at one sport or had a very strong passion for anything other that wrestling and bodybuilding.” 6

Tarzan star Johnny Weissmuller began swimming as a child for his health and went on to win of five Olympic gold medals and 67 world titles before being cast in movies like Tarzan The Ape Man and Tarzan And The Amazons in the 1930s and 1940s. He said: “I started as a scrawny kid in Chicago and even that was lucky. It got me to swimming. Then all the good breaks in the world happened ... and kept on happening.” 7

American Buster Crabbe was the 1932 Olympic 400 metre freestyle swimming champion before landing the roles of Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers. He also played Tarzan and, at the age of 63, he set a world swimming record for the over-60s in the 400m freestyle swim in 1971.

8 Action movie actor Jason Statham was a member of the British National Diving

Team for 12 years and The Transporter and Fast and Furious star took part in the 1990 Commonwealth Games and the 1992 World Championships. He was inducted into the International Sports Hall of Fame in 2014.

9

The most famous Olympic swimmer is American Michael Phelps who has won 28 medals including 23 gold. He began swimming when he was seven and once said: “Swimming is normal for me. I’m relaxed. I’m comfortable and I know my surroundings. It’s my home.” 4

Screen legend and Oscar winner Clint Eastwood taught lifeguard training classes in the early 1950s and dug swimming pools before finding fame in long-running TV show Rawhide and then films like The Good The Bad And The Ugly, Dirty Harry and Any Which Way You Can, before turning his hand to directing. 10

One of James Bond star Sir Sean Connery’s early jobs was as a lifeguard before he found fame as 007. He did a stint at Portobello’s open-air pool in Edinburgh. A fellow swimmer at the Portobello fondly recalled how girls would “flock” around the young Connery with his open-neck lifeguard shirt, white trousers and tanned skin.