The Crossing by Kathy Watson

The Crossing by Kathy Watson

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Summary

In 1875, Matthew Webb, a British Navy captain, launched himself into the English Channel at Dover. 21 hours and 45 minutes later he walked ashore at Calais, becoming the first man to swim the English Channel. This biography shows how Webb helped to bring the sport of swimming into the modern era.

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The Crossing by Kathy Watson

On the night of 24 August 1875 Matthew Webb, a 27-year-old British Navy captain, launched himself into the English Channel at Dover. Twenty-one hours and 45 minutes later he became the first man to swim the English Channel. In this acclaimed biography, Kathy Watson shows how Captain Webb was instrumental in bringing the sport of swimming into the modern era. It is also a study of the Victorian drive to push back the boundaries of endurance. In THE CROSSING, Watson uses this great British eccentric's extraordinary life as a springboard to explore themes of obsession and failure and the emerging force of the media, and swimming's place in our psyche.
'.. deftly tells the story of the burly seadog... with a light touch that belies the depth of her research' Sunday Times
Since graduating from Oxford with a degree in English, Kathy Watson has worked as a journalist and became editor of Women's Realm. She swims three to four times a week and still daydreams about swimming the Channel.
SKU Unavailable
ISBN 13 9780747262138
ISBN 10 0747262136
Title The Crossing
Author Kathy Watson
Condition Unavailable
Binding Type Paperback
Publisher Headline Publishing Group
Year published 2001-01-04
Number of pages 256
Cover note Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.