very normal person, she is a working class woman who was a typist before she went into this world of swimming, so that s kind of what the film is showing, this ordinary woman who goes out there and does the extraordinary, really. taste who goes out there and does the extraordinary, really. extraordinary, really. we were seeinu extraordinary, really. we were seeing the extraordinary, really. we were seeing the start extraordinary, really. we were seeing the start of extraordinary, really. we were seeing the start of the - extraordinary, really. we were seeing the start of the film - extraordinary, really. we were - seeing the start of the film talking about method acting in its extreme, really, actually learning to swim, and quite a gruelling process to swim for the movie. mr; and quite a gruelling process to swim for the movie. and quite a gruelling process to swim for the movie. my hat goes off to kirsten callaghan swim for the movie. my hat goes off to kirsten callaghan who
she was, in the 20s and 30s, a major celebrity. even when she got married, her honeymoon, a swim across the hellespont in turkey. leaving today for turkey to attend the hellespont. and i hope to win for england this additional swimming honour. now, a hundred years on, kirsten callaghan has spent three years recreating those experiences for a film celebrating the life of mercedes gleitze. a role that was about more than just learning lines. she really had to swim the swims. it s very cold! and it changes so quickly. there was sea sickness, and there was i had really bad crime. during the winter, when it was very, very cold, sometimes if i lost my nerve, i would have to say, what would mercedes do? what would mercedes do? because she always stayed calm.
nothing, she never spoke to me about swimming at all. in fact, she lied about the fact that she was a swimmer to the neighbours that she lived with. you know, she was challenged, you know, you re mercedes gleitze, aren t you? she would deny who she was? it s laughable because it s obvious who she was, but she denied who she was because she didn t want that life any more. now, her life and the story of her repeated attempts to prove she really had 5wum the channel has been turned into a film. kirsten callaghan has spent three years training and swimming the swims. sometimes, if i lost my nerve, i would have to say, what would mercedes do, what would mercedes do? because she always stayed calm. itjust made me appreciate mercedes more for what she did, and how brave she was, to do it, and to do it alone. yes, she did it all on her own. a secretary who swam in her spare time and used herfame to raise money to build housing for the homeless. finally receiving a little of the recognition
Mercedes Gleitze became the first British woman to swim the English Channel in 1927 and has now been honoured with a blue plaque outside her home in Brighton.