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Podcast: Today In History with The Retrospectors
Episode: The First Woman To Swim The Channel
Description: Gertrude Ederle smashed records on 6th August, 1926, becoming the first woman to swim the English Channel - and in faster time than any man before her.Â
Battling six-foot waves and jellyfish swarms, the American teen zig-zagged the current for over 14 hours from France to England. Sponsored by the New York Daily News, Ederle had a nation in thrall, who, thanks to newfangled wireless radio updates, were able to follow her progress live like it was the Super Bowl.Â
When she stepped onto the beach in Dover, journalists literally swam out to meet her. Back home, 2 mi...