Mr Brunstad still plans to make the swim from Dover to France

George Brunstad - who is an uncle of the Hollywood actor Matt Damon - planned to make the 21-mile crossing on Wednesday, his 70th birthday.

But stormy weather made the waters too choppy to swim on Wednesday morning.

Mr Brunstad, who lives in Connecticut, said he plans to stay in Dover and swim the Channel when the weather improves.

I've swum in cold ocean conditions before, but this is Mount Everest George Brunstad

The oldest person to have swum across the Channel is Australian Bertram Batts, at the age of 67 in 1987.

Mr Brunstad, who retired as an American Airlines pilot in 1994, had wanted to make the swim from Dover to the French coast on his birthday and become the first septuagenarian to achieve the feat.

An experienced, long-distance swimmer, he has won open water world championships and has been training in the cold waters off Maine to prepare himself for the Channel conditions.

Stick it out

Mr Brunstad told BBC Radio Kent on Wednesday morning: "I started to think about swimming the Channel about 10 years ago but not seriously until the last year or so.

"The world championships in New Zealand and Italy were in cold water and I've swum in cold ocean conditions before, but this is Mount Everest.

"This is 'the swim'.

"The furthest I've swum in competition is 10 miles and the longest in training is 14, but with the Channel tides you can't get away with less than 25 miles and it can be, with the currents, as much as 30."

Mr Brunstad plans to stay in Dover until the next time the tides are suitable for another attempt.

He said: "I'm afraid it's up to God and Mother Nature, we'll have some favourable tides from 5 to 11 September and I'm going to stick it out."

Mr Brunstad's attempt is aimed at raising money for children in Haiti.