Boat Race Protester Trenton Oldfield Says 'Too Cold' To Swim In River Thames This Year

Trenton Oldfield 'Wouldn't Have Swum In Thames If It Was This Cold'
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The man who jumped into the River Thames during last year's boat race between Oxford and Cambridge to protest against elitism has admitted he wouldn't do again this year, because it's just too chilly.

Trenton Oldfield was jailed for six months for swimming in front of the boat race, but in an article for the Spectator said he doesn't regret his time inside, and offered Chris Huhne some advice on how to survive in prison.

Writing for the magazine, Oldfield said: "If the weather had been this foul at the time of the last Oxford-Cambridge boat race, I might not have found myself in the middle of the River Thames, or served a six-month prison sentence in HMP Wormwood Scrubs."

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Trenton Oldfield, who disrupted the Oxford- Cambridge boat race

He also warned Chris Huhne against appearing elitist, writing: "I’ve never met Chris Huhne but it seems to me that his lack of joie de vivre and sense of humour, while perfect for coalition government, will be a real handicap in prison.

"As one con to another, I would advise Chris Huhne that he has made a profound mistake requesting to be isolated on a special wing in HMP Wandsworth and asking his fellow millionaire Nick Clegg to get him on agreeable gardening leave in HMP Leyhill, Gloucester.

"I suspect Mr Huhne believes he isn’t like the other prisoners. The law, at least, disagrees. And so would the other prisoners, who can smell elitism a mile away."

He said he emerged a "changed man" from prison, though not because of Her Majesty's justice system, but rather because he had become a father. He said he didn't find prison difficult adding: "Perhaps my convict heritage — my Australian ‘criminal genes’ — prepared me well for incarceration, but I survived. "