From
http://www.allstar.fiu.edu/aero/bleriot.htm:
Louis Bleriot achieved world acclaim by being the first to fly an aircraft across the English Channel, a feat of great daring for those times. On July 25, 1909, in his Model X125 horsepower monoplane, he braved adverse weather and 22 miles of forbidding sea and flew his machine from Les Barraques, France to Dover, England. This 40 minute flight won for him the much sought after London Daily Mail price of 1000 pounds sterling.