A 70-year-old grandfather who achieved his ambition of becoming the oldest person to swim the Channel said he had no plans to stage a repeat.

Retired breast cancer surgeon Roger Allsopp entered the record books after swimming from Dover to northern France in 17 hours and 51 minutes.

Wearing a pink swimming hat, he claimed the new Guinness World Record in the early hours of Wednesday morning, exhausted by the distance of 21 nautical miles.

At 70 years and four months, Allsopp beat the record set in August 2004 by George Brunstad, the uncle of the Hollywood star Matt Damon.

Retired airline captain Brunstad, from Connecticut in the US, swam the Channel aged 70 years and four days in a time of 15 hours and 59 minutes.

As he recovered from his ordeal in Dover and toasted his record, Allsopp, from Guernsey, said: "I feel really, really good about it. "The alternative to fail would have been very sad. It was very hard work and I had to work all the way." He added: "My body has told me not do anything like this again."

Allsopp said his first craving after arriving on dry land was a glass of lemonade and he was now looking forward to plenty of rest.

On seeing France come into view, he said: "I thought it was a long way away and the last bit was particularly hard.

"I remember treading on sand but I don't remember anything after that until about halfway home on the boat."

He added that the most difficult part of the challenge was waiting around as changeable weather patterns forced postponements over several days.

The grandfather-of-three was initially inspired to take part in the challenge by an inscription at a pub in Dover marking Brunstad's cross-Channel achievement.

Allsopp's successful attempt came 136 years after British merchant navy captain Matthew Webb became the first person to swim the Channel, doing the breaststroke from Dover to Cap Gris Nez in 21 hours and 45 minutes.