Not since the great days of Itchy Guk, the famed Eskimo who was probably the most remarkable Channel swimmer of them all,* had there been such heavy human traffic in the choppy waters between Dover and Cap Gris Nez. Everyone seemed to want to swim the Channel. Last week a clothing salesman from Cuba and a Dutch housewife tried, both for the second time, and failed. Shirley May France of Massachusetts (TIME, Aug. 8) still hesitated before making the big plunge. In this crowd of fame-seekers, a short, stocky Yorkshire schoolboy named Philip Mick-man went almost unnoticed. But last week, 18-year-old...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In
