Annette Kellerman, Australian Mermaid

Champion swimmer, trailblazer and film idol - the adventurous life of our first Hollywood superstar, by the bestselling author of Sister Viv, Mrs Kelly, Hudson Fysh, Banks and Banjo

Born into a daring, musical family in 1886, Annette Kellerman was a force of nature and made for the stage - her first love - and encouraged to defy social norms from a young age. But after she was diagnosed with rickets as a child she took up swimming for therapy, and soon she became an Australian champion, beating boys, breaking records, and astonishing huge crowds by diving from great heights. By 1905, Annette was 18 and on her way to England in an attempt to swim the Channel and challenge endurance records in the Thames. Kellerman famously scandalised the public with a one-piece swimming costume that exposed her legs and arms, but her promotion of it changed fashion forever and popularised the sport for women as they were freed from cumbersome neck-to-knee outfits.

Annette thrilled audiences in London with a vaudeville act, and her underwater ballet routines, combined with her beauty and athleticism, helped her become known on both sides of the Atlantic as 'The Perfect Woman'. Hollywood embraced her and she became the first great sex symbol of silent films, with her risque and provocative costumes - and sometimes no costume at all. Annette was also one of the highest paid entertainers of her time and her story was immortalised in a lavish, Oscar-nominated Hollywood production starring Esther Williams. But despite all her fame Annette always saw the promotion of health, fitness and independence for women as her biggest and most lasting achievement, and her influence and spirit changed the lives of millions.