A father-of-two has completed his long ambition to swim the English Channel — in memory of his own dad who died from a tumour. 

Ben Rosenberg, from Willesden Green, completed the 21-mile stretch in 13 hours and 16 minutes to raise funds for brain tumour research after his father Ray died from one.  

Ben approaching French Coast after 13 hours in the water (Image: Brain Tumour Research) He set off from Dover at 6am on July 18, braving chilly air temperatures of around 16 to 17 degrees Celsius, arriving in time for supper.

The 45-year-old kept asking the crew in the support boat what his fundraising total was as he got closer towards the French Coast.

“I couldn’t believe it when it hit £20,000,” Ben said. “The only thing I wasn’t prepared for was the number of jellyfish and all the debris.”

His live fundraising eventually hit £40,000 for the Brain Tumour Research charity.

Ben stuck to Channel Swimming Federation rules — no wetsuit, only standard swimwear, cap and goggles.

It’s not the first time he’s made a splash for the charity, having raised £10,000 in 2019 in the four-mile ‘Bosphorus Cross-Continental’ swim in Turkey between Europe and Asia.

“The two challenges aren’t in the same league,” Ben tells you. “My Channel swim was five years in the planning after getting the idea perhaps a bit ‘punch drunk’ from my Bosphorus swim.”

Ben navigated training while working full-time as head of BBC distributions, juggling work and family life with early morning lengths in the pool and strict training camps, with the support of his wife Lucy.

“The swim was important to keep Dad’s memory alive,” he says. “He never got to meet his grandchildren.”

Ray Rosenberg died in 2001 following a six-year battle with glioblastoma after a seizure out of the blue.

“I was 22 and was flung into an alternate dimension,” Ben recalls. “Time isn’t a healer, just an anaesthetic.”

Ray, a solicitor and prominent member of the Jewish community, had brain surgery in 1996 and more treatment in 2001, then suffered a bleed on the brain and never regained consciousness.

Funding for research has not been a national priority, the charity points out.  

Charlie Allsebrook, from Brain Tumour Research, said: “Sadly, 16,000 people a year are diagnosed in the UK with a brain tumour — yet only one per cent of the national spend on cancer research is allocated to its research. We’re determined to change this, with the support of people like Ben.”

The charity campaigns for the Government and larger charities to invest more in research into brain tumours to help speed up new treatments and ultimately find a cure. It is calling for an annual spend of £35 million to improve survival rates in line with other cancers.