Man to Swim the Length of the Amazon - or 'Die Trying'

Known variously as "Big Man of the River" and "Fish Man," Martin Strel is attempting to swim the full length of the world's longest river - all 3,375 miles (5,400km) of it - or, in his own words, "die trying".

As a marathon swimmer, he is no stranger to staggering feats of endurance. After conquering the English Channel early in his career he has gone on to swim the length of the Danube, Mississippi and Yangtze rivers. None of them, however, compares with the terrors waiting for him in the Amazon: anacondas, crocodiles, poisonous freshwater stingrays and even the occasional bull shark that works its way upstream.

But Strel, 52, remains philosophical: "I'm concerned, of course, but if I think of that stuff I would never jump into the water," he told reporters. He even had a ready reply when asked about every man's greatest fear in the equatorial waters - the toothpick fish that can enter the body by swimming up the penis, and can only be removed by surgery. "I never urinate straight into the water, I always urinate straight into my wetsuit," he said.