TV daredevil prepares to swim Atlantic

The presenter, 38, said he will battle feelings of “solitude and loneliness” when he spends up to 12 hours a day in the water, swimming the equivalent of the Channel, to make it in his target of 100 days.

He will also face the risks of icebergs and sharks during his epic 3,000-mile (4,828km) journey from the US to Cornwall, which will dwarf the gruelling achievement of comic David Walliams who swam much of the Thames last year.

Fogle was joined by wife Marina and their two children, two-year-old Ludo and one-year-old Iona, for the launch of his challenge at the Serpentine lake in London’s Hyde Park, the venue for the Open Water Swim at the Olympic Games.

Fogle said: “I’m not a particularly competent or confident swimmer but I love the ocean and I love a big challenge. It genuinely is into the realm of the unknown.”

Fogle’s previous escapades have included rowing across the Atlantic with friend and Olympic star James Cracknell, as well as racing to the South Pole. Only one other person has completed the ocean swim, and Fogle will be accompanied by a support yacht for sleeping and eating.

His journey will aid homeless charity Centrepoint and he will work with the World Wide Fund for Nature and the Plastic Oceans Foundation to use the trip to highlight the fragile state of the seas. Further details: www.theatlanticswim.com.