Channel crossing pioneers

1785: Jean-Pierre Blanchard's balloon leaves the coast of Dover in Kent. Together with Dr John Jeffries, he made the first aerial crossing of the Channel in a hydrogen balloon. The balloon they used was 8.2 metres (27ft) in diameter with a gondola suspended beneath it in which to carry the aeronauts. Taking off from Dover in Kent shortly after midday, they landed in the Foret de Guines, not far from Calais, approximately 4-1/2 hours later
Photograph: SSPL via Getty Images

1875: Captain Matthew Webb, the first man to swim the Channel. It took him 21 hours 45 mins
Photograph: Getty Images

1926: US swimmer Gertrude Ederle, the first female to swim the Channel, is wished bon voyage by fellow US swimmer Lillian Cannon before starting her historic swim from Cap Gris Nez, France
Photograph: Hulton Archive/Getty Images

1929: Sir Sefton Brancker greets Louis Bleriot at Dover on the completion of his second successful flight across the channel - his first was in 1909
Photograph: PA

1968: The world's largest hovercraft, the Mountbatten class SRN4, the first cross-Channel car and passenger hovercraft service, operates between Dover and Boulogne. Run by British Rail Hovercraft (Seaspeed), day trippers can arrive in Boulogne for breakfast and spend more than 10 hours in France for only £3 return
Photograph: PA/PA

1974: Bernard Thomas, 51, of Llechryd, Cardiganshire, with the 5ft Welsh coracle made of reeds in which he rowed across the Channel to France
Photograph: PA

1979: Bryan Allen makes aviation history by flying the Gossamer Albatross across the Channel using only the power of his legs. The unusual airplane weighed only 75 pounds. The flight left at dawn from Folkstone, England, and landed on the beach at Cap Gris Nez in France. The flight lasted 2 hours and 49 minutes
Photograph: Jim Sugar/Corbis

2004: Sir Richard Branson with Neil Jenkins (right), managing director of Aquada, arriving in Calais after regaining the record for crossing the Channel in an amphibious vehicle. Using an Aquada - which can reach speeds of more than 100mph on land and 30mph on water - he made the crossing in one hour, 40 minutes and six seconds, beating the previous record of six hours, which was held by two Frenchmen
Photograph: Chris Young/PA

2005: Hilary Lister, from Kent, becomes the first quadriplegic to sail solo across the Channel. Able to move only her head, eyes and mouth she overcame severe pain to navigate her boat unaided through one of the busiest and most treacherous shipping lanes in the world
Photograph: Mark Lloyd

2005: Olympic rower James Cracknell (left) with Pete Craske prepare to set off for their record attempt at crossing the Channel on surfboards from Golden Sands beach in Folkestone
Photograph: Gareth Fuller/PA

2006: David Walliams enters the Channel for his Speedo SuperSwim attempt at Dover
Photograph: Victoria Dawe/PA

2007: The Sisterhood team, led by Emma Sayle (at back) head off from Shakespeare beach, Dover, at the start of the Cross Channel Challenge, in an attempt to break the world record for crossing the Channel in a dragon boat
Photograph: Chris Ison/PA

2008: Yves Rossy, from Switzerland, parachutes to ground near Dover after completing his attempt to cross the Channel from Calais using a single jet-propelled wing
Photograph: Michel Setboun/AP

2009: Christine Bleakley triumphantly completes the Thomson Sport Relief Water Ski Challenge, crossing the Channel from Dover to Sangatte. She skied the 22-mile stretch of choppy water in 100 minutes
Photograph: Danny Martindale/Comic Relief Ltd

2009: Edmond Salis, a French pilot on his way to Dover in Bleriot XI, a restored original of the plane in which Louis Bleriot crossed the Channel 100 years ago
Photograph: Philippe Fruitier/AFP/Getty Images

2010: Jonathan Trappe with his balloon after landing on farmland in Moeres, France. The adventurer took off from Kent Gliding Club in Challock, near Ashford, and crossed the Channel strapped in a chair beneath several dozen helium-filled balloons
Photograph: Gareth Fuller/PA