Continuing the series of posts from my new book SPLASH!
From Chapter 7, “Diving In for Dollars and Pounds”:
The 4,000-yard-long Serpentine in Hyde Park: venue for some of London’s earliest and most notable purse swim-races, including the first known “back-swimming” race, in 1866. One reporter wrote that it was likely to be the last race for back-swimming as well.
Continuing the series of posts from my new book SPLASH!
From Chapter 7, “Diving In for Dollars and Pounds”:
Roping students to teach swimming was common in London by the mid-19th century, but Captain Stevens — the leaning roper here — might have been singular in his claims to success. According to his advertisements, he taught 60,000 people to swim over a 16-year span.