Over 4.4 million viewers watch the BBC?s The One Show on TV each weekday at 19.00hrs. Last week, the very popular 31 year-old presenter, Christine Bleakley from Northern Ireland, took on a special challenge in aid of the annual Sport Releif Charity. Considering she can barely swim and following a scare as a child, has a serious water phobia, her plan to waterski across the English Channel caught the headlines in almost all the popular Dailies and TV News bulletins in the UK and Ireland. It is exactly 22 miles from Dover on England?s south coast to the port of Calais in France ? and at this time of the year, the water is freezing and the air temperature is 5C / 40Fh
Following months of grueling training, watched closely by the TV viewers, Christine entered the English Channel waters in her black wetsuit at Dover at 07.45hrs. In just over 100 minutes and following eight falls in choppy waters, she made it through the busy shipping lanes all the way to Calais. Her great waterski effort also raised Euro 276,000 / $ 378,500. Well done Christine Bleakley. London?s Evening Standard and the Irish Daily Mail coverage tell the story in full.
