London Thames News

A giant 50ft rubber duck is being prepared for a sail down the River Thames to celebrate the launch of a Facebook FUNdation, a bursary granting funds and rewards for daft ideas to encourage the British to have more fun.

• Entertainment
• Thames
• Giant duck

Olympic rower Greg Searle officially naming The Thames's new lifeboat Dougie and Donna B, after its donors.

• UK
• Thames
• RNLI

Olympic rowing medallist, Greg Searle, was welcomed by the crew of Chiswick RNLI Lifeboat Station to help the charity officially name its two newest lifeboats. I was out on one of the new lifeboats serving the Thames. It's faster, bigger and better for saving lives.

• UK
• Thames
• RNLI

A man who jumped into the River Thames to disrupt the annual Oxford/Cambridge boat race has been found guilty of causing a public nuisance.

Trenton Oldfield, 36, of Myrdle Street, E1, was convicted at Isleworth Crown Court and will be sentenced on Friday 19 October.

Shortly before 2.30pm on Saturday 7 April police were alerted to a man in the water where the race was being held. The man had deliberately swum into the path of the leading boats, bringing the race to a halt.

Officers from the MPS's Marine Policing Unit attended and took the man back to the riverside where he was arrested and subsequently charged.

Oldfield had prepared for his protest by wearing a wetsuit beneath his clothing.

• UK
• Thames
• Trenton Oldfield

A protester who swam into the Thames to disrupt this year's Boat Race could have been killed, four-time Olympic gold medal rower Sir Matthew Pinsent told a court.

Sir Matthew, who was assistant umpire during April's race, made a written statement to police just hours after Trenton Oldfield, 36, was plucked from the path of the speeding Cambridge and Oxford boats.

Oldfield, of Myrdle Street, east London, denies causing a public nuisance but admits swimming in the path of the crews. London's Isleworth Crown Court heard that Sir Matthew was immediately behind the university crews on a launch with umpire John Garrett.

• UK
• Thames
• east London

It is known as London's River Marathon - with a gruelling 21 mile course all the way from the Isle of Dogs to leafy Richmond. Like the capital's other marathon, the Great River Race is a colourful mixture of fun and fierce competition - with amateurs taking to the water alongside Olympians.

• UK
• River Marathon
• Race