An Aberdeen man who recovered from bankruptcy is preparing to swim the English Channel, inspired by his personal friendship with the late boxer Muhammad Ali.
Paul McArdle, 48, has a colourful past, from rock bottom to mingling with greats.
Originally from Monaghan in Ireland, he’s currently working as a trainee nurse at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary.
Due to graduate from Robert Gordon University (RGU) with a BSc in Adult Nursing in December, Paul is on the up again after a rollercoaster 20 years.
Severely dyslexic, Paul struggled at school, leaving with no qualifications.
Thankfully he had the family printing business to fall back on, which he worked in for 22 years and which he bought from his father in 2006.
However, with the arrival of the financial crisis in 2008 came disaster. With clients turning to cheaper alternatives in China in their droves, the business failed and Paul went bankrupt.
‘It was a very low point all round. I just needed to pick myself up again’
Paul went through what he described as a dark period, which also saw the break-up of his marriage.
“It did affect me emotionally, and in every way really.
“It had been a family business, I bought it off my Dad and I didn’t want it going under on my watch.
“So it did put me down for quite a while, it took me a good 18 months to recover.
“My marriage broke up around that time as well, it was a very low point all round.
“I just needed to pick myself up again. At 38 I got back playing football and that lifted me up again, I hit the gym more and got into martial arts.”
Sport has long been a refuge for Paul. He played senior football in the League of Ireland and county rugby in his homeland.
And he is also a keen participant in martial arts, particularly something called pressure point fighting.
It was through this that Paul became interested in Chinese medicine and acupuncture.
‘Because of my bankruptcy, I couldn’t get any funding’
While retraining as an acupuncturist, a lecturer mentioned he’d be well suited to nursing.
“She said I’d make a good nurse, and I laughed at her, because I left school at 15 and I was just like, ‘yeah, no.’ But after talking to a couple of other lecturers who were nurses, I thought, ‘oh, maybe you’re on to something.’
“So I did an access course, and went to London to study in 2016.
“Because of my bankruptcy, I couldn’t get any funding or grants so I had to self-fund everything.
“I was there for two years, but with the rent and everything, I stepped off the programme and moved to Northamptonshire to do a nursing associate programme.”
Paul began working at Kettering General Hospital, and seemed to have finally found peace after the trauma of bankruptcy.
Then Covid hit.
‘I was putting people in body bags every day’
“I was already working on a respiratory ward, which was then our main Covid ward.
“I worked there for three years, but for the first 18 months of Covid it was horrendous.
“I was putting people in body bags every day, I got Covid off a patient and ended up in hospital myself.
“In the hazmat suit every day, thinking, ‘how many people are going to die today?’ It did take its toll eventually.”
Utterly drained, Aberdeen came up in conversation with a colleague.
“I spoke to somebody and they said, ‘you need to get your nursing studies back on track, what about Aberdeen, it’s very similar to your home town in Ireland.’
“I sent an email to RGU and then moved up, that was three years ago in May.
“I went back to Year One – I could get the funding at this point because I’d been in the UK for five years. So yeah, eight years to get a three-year degree. But it was the best thing for me, it made sense to start again.
“I took a job in the nursing bank up here and opened up an acupuncture clinic in Balmedie. In September I’ve got a new job starting in the neurology ward at ARI.”
‘I used to spend a lot of time with Muhammad Ali’
Paul is swimming the Channel in August 2025 for four charities.
When I asked him why, he began: “I used to spend a lot of time with Muhammad Ali in America. I’ve been to his house, watched old fights, been to his birthday parties.”
At this point I had to interrupt.
How does, with the greatest of respect, a normal bloke from the other side of the Atlantic become a personal friend of the great Muhammad Ali?
“He was always my hero growing up.
“In 2004 I decided to go to America and see where he grew up, what school he went to and all of that.
“I was just doing a bit of research, and I came across the Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville, Kentucky, which was being built then and which I donated a bit to.
“I sent him an email, and got to go over there to see him at the opening.
“I was given a VIP ticket, and had to undergo an FBI check beforehand because Bill Clinton was going to be there, and I was like, ‘wow, this is unreal’.
“So I went in, did the red carpet thing with all the stars for the opening, and it just kicked off from there.
“The following year I went to his birthday party.
“I went to his house for other things, went to his 70th birthday party, got signed boxing gloves.
‘I’m still in touch with Ali’s family’
“The night of his 70th birthday I was just like, ‘I can’t believe it’.
“There were 300 guests, and I was sat at the table with basketball players, there was Meg Ryan, singers.
“His wife Lonnie got up to speak and she’s thanking the Governor, the Mayor, this person, that person, Meg Ryan.
“And she goes: ‘There’s one person we really want to thank here tonight, he comes over to see us every year from Ireland, he’s very shy, his name’s Paul and he’s sitting over there.’
“And everybody just turned around, and I just started crying, thinking wow, she just mentioned me in his 70th birthday speech. Yeah, I still have that DVD.
“I must have met him at least six or seven times. I’m still in touch with his family, the daughters and his wife.
“His wife’s going to try and get me some good luck videos for the Channel swim from the likes of Will Smith, Lennox Lewis, Tyson Fury, and Billy Crystal. They’re working on that for me at the moment.”
‘I heard Ali’s voice in my head going: ‘swim the Channel, swim the Channel’
Back to the Channel swim.
“16-17 years ago I spoke to Ali about swimming the Channel for his organisation, the Muhammad Ali Center [which donates to humanitarian causes across the world].
“About six months into my training, I did my cruciate ligament playing rugby, and the whole thing just went out the window.
“I hadn’t really seen any water until I moved to Aberdeen.
“I happened to be overlooking the beach at Torry one day, and I just heard Ali’s voice in my head going: ‘swim the Channel, swim the Channel’.
“So I got back in touch with his organisation and said, you know, let’s do this again. He’d passed on by this stage, but his organisation’s still there, so that’s one charity.
“But I felt I needed to do something for a local charity as well. I work a lot at the neurological ward here in Aberdeen at ARI, so I contacted the Friends of the Neuro Ward.
“My mother passed away at the age of 38 thirty years ago with Multiple Sclerosis, so MS Ireland is the third charity.
“And then through Muhammad and schools in Ireland, I helped introduce a programme called Super You to help empower 15 and 16-year-olds to find greatness within themselves.
“It takes a bit of inspiration from Muhammad, and his organisation backed it, and he backed it. So that’s the fourth charity.”
A slathering of duck and goose fat: ‘I think it’s going to be mindset more than anything else’
As far as the logistics of swimming from the UK to France are concerned, Paul had to book the safety crew two years in advance.
They’ll sail alongside Paul (though he isn’t allowed to touch the boat), throwing food – mostly in liquid form – to him at intervals.
He’s not allowed to wear a wetsuit, just a pair of shorts and a slathering of duck and goose fat as he sets off from Folkestone.
Though not a straight line – Paul has to avoid shipping lanes – he expects to swim the 24 to 25 miles in around 17 hours.
Paul said: “I think it’s going to be mindset more than anything else.”
To that end, he’s hired a mind coach who has done 100 marathons in 100 days (and 60 ultra-marathons in 60 days).
He’s also got a swim coach who’s a member of the Channel Swimming Association.
“I do a lot of fitness training, rugby, football, martial arts, but this is a totally different level of fitness than anything I’ve been used to.”
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