Document of the Month

August 2008

Certificate awarded to Tom Blower for swimming the channel, 1937

Reference: DD 1891/3/4/2

This certificate was awarded to Tom Blower for swimming across the channel from France to England in 1937. He successfully swam the Channel from England to France in 1948 and 1951.

Tom was born in 1914 in Hyson Green in Nottingham. His swim across the channel when he was 23 years old smashed the world record. His achievement earned him the nickname 'Torpedo'. His other swimming successes included swimming the ten mile race across Morecambe Bay in 1935 and the northern Irish sea in 1947. He worked for John Players and Son, cigarette manufacturers in Nottingham. He died in 1955.

The Tom Blower collection includes photographs, correspondence and certificates.

August 2008 is an appropriate time to mark such great sporting achievements as the Olympics take place this month in Beijing.

See the certificate in more detail here [PDF 2483KB]

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