12-mile crossing took 4.5hrs

David Walliams has completed his 12-mile swim for Africa with Olympic rower James Cracknell.

The pair took just over four-and-a-half hours to swim the Strait of Gibraltar, amid shipping, dolphins and whales.

It took a physical toll on Walliams, who was sick in the water. He said: ‘Swimming and throwing up... it shouldn't really go together. It was really tough.’

The swim was the last leg of Cracknell's ten-day trip from the UK to Africa in aid of Sport Relief. He rowed the Channel and cycled 1,385 miles through France and Spain before the Little Britain star joined him.

‘The worst four hours were definitely the swim,’ Cracknell the BBC. ‘I can't believe David volunteered to do that after having done the Channel... it was horrible.’

In 2006, Walliams raised more than £1million for Sport Relief by swimming the 21 miles across the English Channel in an impressive 10 hours and 34 minutes.

Published: 7 Mar 2008