Lewis William Gordon Pugh, OIG, (born 5 December 1969) is a British-South African endurance swimmer and ocean advocate. Dubbed the "Sir Edmund Hillary of swimming", he is the first person to complete a long-distance swim in every ocean of the world, and he frequently swims in vulnerable ecosystems to draw attention to their plight. Pugh is known for undertaking the first swim across the North Pole in 2007 with the aim of highlighting the melting of the Arctic sea ice. In 2010 he swam across a glacial lake on Mount Everest, to draw attention to the melting of the glaciers in the Himalayas and the impact the reduced water supply will have on peace in the region. In 2018 he swam the full length of the English Channel to call for 30% of the world's oceans to be protected by 2030. Pugh was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2010 and the United Nations appointed him as the first UN Patron of the Oceans in 2013. In 2016 Pugh played a role in creating the largest marine reserve in the world in the Ross Sea off Antarctica. The media coined the term "Speedo Diplomacy" to describe his efforts of swimming in the icy waters of Antarctica and shuttling between the US and Russia to help negotiate the final agreement on the reserve. Pugh currently serves as an Adjunct Professor of International Law at the University of Cape Town. Early life and family Pugh was born in Plymouth, England on 5 December 1969. His father, P.D. Gordon Pugh, was a surgeon in the Royal Navy, an author, and a prolific collector of ceramics of the Victorian era. His mother, Margery Pugh was a Senior Nursing Sister in Queen Alexandra's Royal Naval Nursing Service. Education and early career Pugh grew up on the edge of Dartmoor in Devon. He was educated at Mount House School in Tavistock. When he was 10 years old his family emigrated to South Africa. He continued his schooling at St Andrew's College in Grahamstown and later at Camps Bay High School in Cape Town. He went on to read politics and law at the University of Cape Town and graduated at the top of his Masters class. In his mid-twenties he returned to England, where he read international law at Jesus College, Cambridge, and then worked as a maritime lawyer at Ince