Warm applause for cold five and a half minutes.

Nearly 200 people lined Bideford Bridge and Quayside on Christmas morning to see a Bideford hairdresser swim the river Torridge and become probably the first person to swim the river at Bideford on Christmas Day, certainly this century.
The hairdresser, 25 years old, Mr Keith Seymour, of Allhalland Street, Bideford, made the crossing from East-the-Water to the Bideford Quay in five and a half minutes.
Blankets were quickly draped around his shoulders and he walked barefooted back to his home – a hot bath had been arranged. A generous tot of spirit helped to warm him up on the way back.
The full Gazette article is dated 3 January 1958.