John Royden is the present 'heir apparent' to the baronetage currently held by his father, Sir Christopher Royden. In 1992 he faced his greatest challenge - to swim the English Channel. He decided to take it on for two reasons, firstly to raise money for two worthy causes with which he had personal involvement, and secondly to complete the challenge which has defeated 5,580 out of 6,000 people over the last 80 years.

John learnt to swim in Australia at the age of four where his family lived in a house on the beach. He swam at school and spent much of his summer holidays in Scotland swimming in lakes and rivers. At other times he has swum stretches which took around three hours to complete.

John has a keen interest in the history of the family and has made visits to Liverpool and Wirral to discover more about his shipbuilding family.

Visit his website here for more history of the family and archive material.

John Royden's Web Pages.

He runs his own investment consultancy in London, Royden & Co PLC.