Blue plaque unveiled to honour the first British woman to swim the Channel
Video report by ITV News Meridian's Charlotte Wilkins
A blue plaque has been unveiled to commemorate the birthplace of the first British woman to swim the English Channel.
A ceremony was held outside the Brighton home of Mercedes Gleitze where she grew up.
Ms Gleitze completed the challenge in 1927, swimming from France to England in 15 hours and 15 minutes.
Members of Ms Gleitze's family were there as the Mayor of Brighton and Hove unveiled the plaque.
The Labour MP for Kemptown and Peacehaven, Lloyd Russell-Moyle, said it was a 'long overdue acknowledgement of her amazing achievements'.
A feature film about her achievements called Vindication Swim is due to be released later this year.
It tells the story of Mercedes, who fights to overcome the cold waters of the English Channel and the patriarchal society of 1920s England.
It also tells of how her accolade was plunged into doubt when a rival claimed to have completed the same swim in the same week.
Members of the cast and crew were at the ceremony, including the film's director Elliott Hasler.
Mr Hasler says the film aims to be as real as possible to encapsulate what it would have been like for Ms Gleitze.
He said: ''Everything you see in the film you see is for real. That was very important to me, to capture the kind of essence of Mercedes and do things for real as she would have done them.
"Everything you see out at sea, is in the English Channel. There's no tanks, no blue screens, this is all for real.
"And Kirsten Callaghan, who plays Mercedes, is in the water doing all of her own stunts. There are no body doubles, there is no fakery at all."
The swimmer became an icon of the 1920s but her family knew very little of her achievements until she died in 1981.
Her nephew Gerard Carey said: "It's brilliant that the family get the recognition they deserve.
"And the fact they've made a film about her is wonderful and it's just bringing family history to life."
It is hoped that the blue plaque, along with the upcoming feature-length biopic, will revive Ms Gleitze's status as a 'female sporting trailblazer'.
As well as swimming the Channel, Ms Gleitze became the first person to swim the Straights of Gibraltar and across the waters dividing Robben Island and Cape Town.