Lewis Gordon Pugh

Environmental campaigner and swimmer

Lewis Gordon Pugh is an environmental campaigner, swimmer and lawyer. He studied Politics and Law at the University of Cape Town and Law at the University of Cambridge before working as a maritime lawyer in London. He left this job to become an environmental campaigner, and regularly addresses heads of state on the threat of climate change. He founded the Polar Defence Project in 2009 and serves on the Council of Ambassadors for the World Wide Fund for Nature.

Pugh is well-known as the first man to undertake a long-distance swim in the waters around the North Pole, and is regarded as one of the best cold-water swimmers in the world. He has undertaken long-distance swims in each of the world's oceans, was the first person to swim the length of the River Thames, and was the first person to swim across the width of the Maldives. Pugh has received numerous awards, including being appointed a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2010, the Sports Adventurer of the Year Award by the French Sports Academy in 2007, and the Freedom of the City of London in 2006.