IN 1875 Captain Webb became the first person to swim the English Channel - a feat that David Walliams from Little Britain replicated in 2006 for Comic Relief.
They were both hugely eccentric acts requiring bravery, determination and just a little madness.
Coincidentally, these are all words that could be used to describe 57-year-old Barbara Lewthwaite, landlady of The Hollybush Inn, Glasbury who has just announced that she is to swim 130 miles of the River Wye for charity.
Read the full story in this week's Brecon & Radnor Express - Out now!