“At that time the Daily Mirror was pioneering the use of photographs in newspapers,” says Cox. “So what better things to show than photographs of a woman in a swimsuit? The newspaper sponsored the channel attempt and dedicated many column inches to it. This made her famous.”

More significantly, it also marked an early point in one of Kellerman’s most enduring accomplishments, for which she is perhaps best known: popularising the one-piece swimming suit. Subsequently, according to Cox, “she expanded the accepted notions of what was proper, in terms of bodily display, and made it possible for a generation of women to learn to swim.”

Queen of the sea

Kellerman arrived in America in mid-1907 and the next year was on the cover of Variety. In 1910 she was cited as the fourth highest paid vaudeville entertainer in the country, and by 1914 was receiving an astonishing $2500 per week, which is $60,000 (£45,000) today. Kellerman had finessed a vaudeville routine involving a mermaid performance and underwater ballet. There had been other aquatic-themed vaudeville acts before her, including ‘Blatz, the Human Fish’ – who, according to the 2010 book The Detroit Electric Scheme, read a newspaper and played trombone underwater.