Robbie’s father, Logan Scott-Bowden, swam ashore three times in the winter of 1943–44 to check the load-bearing capacity of the sand and to scout enemy defences.

On Gold beach, planners were especially worried about the possible presence of peat and clay just beneath the beach’s sand. Scott-Bowden and his partner Bruce Ogden Smith swam ashore in foul weather on New Year’s Eve to help them find the answer.

Half-a-month later, the two men twice swam ashore from an X-craft midget submarine onto Omaha Beach during a multi-day reconnaissance. Here the planners were particularly concerned about a sea wall and a bank of shingle at the back of the beach which, they feared, tanks would find difficult to cross.

The talk includes some great video footage shot by Robbie in the 1990s when Logan revisited the beaches and outlined his experiences.