Leslie Palmer

Leslie Palmer started his swimming and water polo career with Barry SC. He won the Welsh half-mile title in 1926 at the age of 16 and retained it the following year, when he joined the Cardiff Polytechnic SC. Palmer also won the Welsh 220-yard title, and added the coveted 2-mile Taff Swim to his collection in 1926 and 1927, when it was for the Long-Distance Championship of Wales. On both occasions, he won by the narrowest of margins, by just inches in 1926. His future wife Shelagh Browning also won the famous race twice, in 1936 and 1937.

As a water polo player, Palmer captained the Polytechnic team many times to the Welsh Senior Water Polo title. He also played county polo for Glamorgan and was captain of Wales, and still captained them beyond the age of 40. Palmer later became a swimming and water polo coach, and coached the Welsh polo team for four years prior to becoming the Great Britain water polo manager in 1958.

Apart from his wife, Palmer’s brother Wilfred was also a top-class swimmer and brother-in-law Neville Browning was a Welsh international water polo player. In the 1950s, Palmer owned a caravan site at Swanbridge in South Wales.