Geoff Yeadon obituary

My friend Geoff Yeadon, who has died aged 75, was one of Britain’s leading cave divers. An extraordinary explorer, in 1979 he and his fellow diver and friend Oliver Statham completed a treacherous 1.8km underwater swim in the North Yorkshire cave system connecting the Kingsdale Master Cave with Keld Head – at the time the world’s longest cave dive in a single direction. The feat was recorded for posterity in a Yorkshire Television documentary, The Underground Eiger, which, when broadcast shortly afterwards, was watched by an astonishing 20 million viewers – giving both men, with their rock star looks and long hair, minor celebrity status for a time. Just over a decade later, in 1991, Geoff completed, with Geoff Crossley, what was then another world-record breaking traverse of more than 3km through the flooded tunnel (sump) between King Pot and Keld Head. Requiring decompression stops because of its great depth to prevent an attack of the bends, the dive took more than six hours. Born in Skipton, North Yorkshire, Geoff was the son of Thomas, a civil engineer, and Gladys (nee Pearson), a Post Office manager. His fascination with caving began at Skipton grammar school, where he joined