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£1M CHANNEL SWIMMER WALLIAMS HONOURED

Comedian and first-time Channel swimmer David Walliams was honoured at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards after swimming the English Channel for charity. 

David Walliams

The Little Britain comedy show star, who trained for 11 months, took on the gruelling challenge in July, crossing the channel in the super fast time of 10 and a half hours to raise more than £1m for Sport Relief.

Walliams said it was "very humbling" to be at the star-studded ceremony to receive his special award for the swim. 

"The worst part was the cold, it really gets you down so I had to start thinking about Abba songs to keep me happy, and I thought about you a lot," he told a laughing Gary Lineker. 

"I saw a lot of jellyfish, but luckily I didn't get stung. I did go through some sewage." 

Walliams, who said he had been congratulated recently for swimming the Atlantic, said he and Little Britain co-star Matt Lucas wanted to carry on supporting Comic Relief, but that "we might go back to writing funny sketches" instead of attempting new physical challenges.