Ned Barnie

Photo from the Sam Rockett collection shows the swimmers of the 1956 Butlin's International Cross-Channel Swimming Race including 1 Jack McClelland (32 from Belfast), 2 Jack Cloutier (24) Canada, 3 Dogan Sahin (25 from Turkey), 4 Ronald Tarr (19 from London), 5 Clarence Conza (33 from New Zealand), 6 Ian Tirrell (33 from South Africa), 7 Erik Martin (53 from Sweden), 8 Jenny James (28 from Wales), 9 Maria Meesters (17 from Holland), 10 Baptista Pereira (35 from Portugal), 11 Margaret Sweeney (26 from New Zealand), 12 Greta Anderson (29 from Denmark), 13 Elizabeth Wild (22 from New Zealand), 14 Florence Burdett (27 from America), 15 Diana Cleverley (22 from New Zealand), 16 Brenda Fisher (28 from Grimsby), 17 Thomas Park (32 from California), 18 Harold Bracewell (47 from Blackpool), 19 Edward (Ned) Barnie (59 from Scotland), 20 Arthur Rizzo (28 from Malta), 21 Mohammed El Soussi (28 from Syria), 22 Fredrick Oldman (40 from Huddersfield). 23 Mihir Zen (27 from India), 24 Alfredos Camarero (25 from Argentina). Toufic Bleik (25 from Lebanon), Kurt Feilen (30 from Germany), John Healey (29 from Ireland), and Edna Borenstein (19 from Israel) are not included in the photo

William E. (Ned) Barnie (1896-1983) was nicknamed the Old Man of the Sea and was an open water swimmer and pioneer from Scotland. He was the King of the Channel® from 1951-1960 and competed in the Daily Mail races across the English Channel that brought the best marathon swimmers in the world to the Dover Strait. Sponsored and organized by Billy Butlin of Butlin's Holiday Camps between 1953 and 1959, the races followed the tradition of the Daily Mail races across the English Channel in 1950-1952.

Daily Mail Races

In the first Daily Mail race across the English Channel held in 1950 Barnie finished 5th in 14 hours 50 minutes. In the 1951 Daily Mail race across the English Channel, Barnie finished 16th in 15 hours 1 minutes.

Egyptian, 34-year-old Mareeh Hassan Hamad, won the 1951 Daily Mail race in 12 hours 12 minutes by 1 minute over Frenchman Roger Le Morvan. The results were as follows:

1. Mareeh Hassan Hamad (Egypt) 12:12
2. Roger Le Morvan (France) 12:13
3. Hassan Abdel Rehim (Egypt) - 12:25
4. Saied El Arabi (Egypt) 12:42
5. Brenda Fisher (England) 12:42 - First woman
6. Godfrey Chapman (England) 12:56
7. Winnie Roach (Canada) 13:25
8. Enriqueta Duarte (Argentina) 13:26
9. Lars Beril Warle (Sweden) 13:28
10. Raphael Morand (France) 13:45
11. Jenny James (Wales) 13:55
12. Jason Zirganos (Greece) 14:01
13. Jan Van Hemsbergen (Netherlands) 14:03
14. Sally Bauer (Sweden) 14:04
15. Antonio Abertondo (Argentina) 14:14
16. William E. (Ned) Barnie (Scotland) 15:01
17. Jenny Kammersgaard (Denmark) 15:38
18. Daniel Carpio (Peru) 23:05

The King of the Channel® is a title is bestowed on the man who has successfully completed more swims of the English Channel than any other. The title as well the accompanied Letona Trophy is awarded by the Channel Swimming Association.

King of the Channel® - The Letona Trophy	Number of Crossings	Years Held Title
Captain Matthew Webb	1	1875-1934
Edward Temme	2	1934-1951
William Barnie	3	1951-1960
Brojen Das	4-6	1960-1974
Melvyn Sharp	7	1974-1975
Des Renford	8-16	1975-1979
Michael Read	17-18	1979-1980
Des Renford	19	1980
Michael Read	20-31	1980-2000
Kevin Murphy	32	2000-2004
Michael Read	33	2004-2006
Kevin Murphy	34	2006-