RE-RELEASE – Sir Bernard Freyberg's heroic wartime swim and our ANZAC tribute (with special guest John Hancock)
About this episode
This episode explores the heroic wartime swim of Sir Bernard Freyberg and features marathon swimmer John Hancock discussing notable historical swimmers.
This episode was originally released on 11/04/25. Our first 'swim history' episode! Featuring special guest John Hancock, a marathon swimmer and the organiser of this year's ANZAC Day swim in Wellington. In this episode John tells the story of the brave, accomplished, and fascinating Sir Bernard Freyberg who painted himself in black and undertook a stealthy nighttime swim in Gallipoli during World War One. We also discuss a few other notable swimmers in history: John F Kennedy, Kahe Te-Rau-o-te-Rangi, and Mao Zedong. Finally, John Hancock reflects on his own 'big' swims, across Lake Taupō and Cook Strait / Raukawa Moana. Lots of background links for this one – it is a history episode, after all! Shona's family war tortoise (Great War Stories, NZHistory.govt. nz). ANZAC biscuit recipe (Edmonds Cooking) Bernard Freyberg's Wikipedia page Image of Freyberg (taken in 1904 at Te Aro Baths in Wellington) is courtesy of Horowhenua Historical Society inc, Levin, New Zealand ' Debunking Freyberg's Mexican myth ' – NZ International Review ' When Sir Bernard tried to swim the Channel ' – Greymouth Evening Star, August 1950, via paperspast.natlib.govt.nz Kahe…
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