RAWTALK BY ROTTOK
THE LEGEND OF LEWIS
received an invite to attend a presentation by British born South African long distance swimmer Lewis Pugh at the Sandton Convention Centre late last year. You may have seen him in the Investec TV ads immersing himself in the icy waters of the North Pole as, in the background, a narrator with a strong British accent talks of the “Out of the Ordinary”. The fact that the organisers had to change from a smaller venue to one that could accommodate a couple of hundred, is testament to the public interest in the man. Lewis takes the stage. He is the picture of simplicity dressed in an un-tucked light blue shirt, an old pair of blue jeans and a pair of all stars. “A normal indoor swimming pool is about 27 degrees centigrade,” he opens and immediately gets down to business assisted by a projected photograph of him diving into the North Pole waters, “11 for the cold
26
EXPATRIATE
sea off Camps Bay and five for the water that killed the Titanic passengers. Fresh water freezes at zero. This salt water here in which I swam a kilometre is about minus one point seven degrees. It’s freaking freezing!” Laughter greets this introduction and Lewis goes on to tell the tale of his many ground breaking swims across the world. After the presentation, I bought a copy of his book “Achieving the Impossible” which was on sale and it proved to be a delightful read. The well written paperback is a life story that begins with his description of his journey into South Africa. Probably every expatriate remembers their first encounter with this beautiful country. Pugh’s description of his is fantastic. “I had read about the Statue of Liberty standing guard and welcoming immigrants to America as they sailed into New York,” he writes, “Table Mountain had the same effect on me
as RMS St Helena slowly steamed past Robben Island into Cape Town Harbour. If this was Africa, I wanted more of it.” His introduction to South Africa as a child was not a very pleasant one with most kids who had a ‘general antipathy towards England’ regarding him a “pom”. From the book, you gather that his British roots have remained strong. He reveals in seventh chapter that the fact that he still felt British drew him back to England to work at a London law firm and attempt to become an officer in the British Army. Ironically, when he was retrenched, he worried that it was because he was South African. Later in the book, he discusses that as he becomes famous, the question of whether he is South African or British comes to the fore. He writes: “South Africans regarded me as one of theirs.... though I loved South Africa,