A BBC radio presenter has been forced to call off a bid to run his entire three-and-a-half-hour morning programme while submerged in a dive tank.

Radio Solent presenter Nick Girdler, in full scuba kit with full-face communications mask, climbed into the tank, outside Southampton's BBC studios, to kick off his programme at 9a.m. last Friday. He fully intended to stick with it and sign off in bubbly style at 12.30. But difficulties set in when the water used to fill the tank turned out so murky that Girdler could not see properly and started becoming disorientated.

A feeling of nausea followed and, when it became clear that to continue would mean a perturbed, sick presenter, surrounded by bubbles but certainly not bubbly of mind, Girdler withdrew from the tank at 10.30 to continue the programme from his studio.

"I started to feel really tight around the chest, I got very tired," said Girdler. "The water was very thick and dirty, so orientating yourself in there was very difficult...All that, and doing interviews at the same time, was hard, but it was great fun and we should always remember that it's radio and it's about fun."

Girdler's early exit meant failure of a stated desire to exceed the three-hour underwater working stint of a German radio DJ, Frank Niessen, claimed as a world record. But Girdler's decision was fully backed by the professionals who helped prepare him for the stunt.

Andy Goddard, boss of Andark Diving which trained Girdler and provided safety cover for the tank session, said: "He did extremely well. His breathing, at the end, was very similar to that of a commercial diver. He was relaxed in the water, but I briefed him: 'If you're not feeling well, do not mess around - come up.'"

Girdler's producer, Alun Newman, remained pleased enough to have got the dive on air at all, after weeks of planning which included sorting out a raft of employment regulations covering training requirements, hazard assessment and operational procedures.

"I'm very pleased with how it went but I was slightly disappointed with the colour of the water," he said. "Straight from the main, it was a variable that we couldn't control. It looked like a massive, world record-beating cappuccino."

Newman was realistic about the radio presenter dive record idea. "What we're now claiming is a British record - and that British record only now exists, of course, because we've just done this! I don't think anyone else has bothered, becasue they couldn't see the point," he said.

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Radio presenter swops studio for dive tank

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