Water’s Gleaming Gold: The Story of Hugh ‘Jumbo’ Edwards

Published by Lapwing Publishing Services

One wintry afternoon in 1943, a solitary airman lies injured and exhausted in an inflatable life raft. The debris of his Liberator bomber has disappeared beneath the waves of the Atlantic leaving behind a slick of black oil. He is the only survivor of a crew of eight. His name is Wing Commander Hugh ''Jumbo'' Edwards, one of the greatest oarsmen of all time.

Eleven years earlier, at the Olympic Games in Los Angeles, Hugh Edwards thrilled thousands with an astonishing two gold medals won in a single hour. On this winter afternoon, in the loneliness of the Atlantic and with darkness descending, he is now rowing to save his life.

Water''s Gleaming Gold is the incredible true story of the most extraordinary oarsman, Olympian, pilot, war hero and legendary British rowing coach. This is the tale of a man of courage and conviction - on a pursuit to redemption from public humiliation.

“One hell of a story” (Daniel James Brown, author of ‘Boys in the Boat’)

“A true Olympic and rowing hero, and a story that is both fascinating and truly dramatic” (Dan Snow, Oxford Blue, Historian, Broadcaster)

"We modern oarsmen and women are sometimes asked to row as if our lives depended on it lt is only Jumbo Edwards from the British Olympic rowing family who had to do that literally" (Sir Matthew Pinsent Olympian, Oxford Blue)