Splash! 10,000 Years of Swimming by Howard Means

Published by Allen and Unwin, London, 2020. 

Covers very similar territory to Strokes of Genius: A History of Swimming by Eric Chaline (Reaktion Books, London, 2017). Means references Chaline. 

Both cover the theory of "the aquatic ape" - the theory that at some time, human ancestors spent time as water-based mammals, and so swimming has some genetic component. Neither accepts it as it is still open to debate. 

Both books traverse the evidence for swimming in the Ancient World, and through the Middle Ages and Renaissance to the current day. Looks at changes in clothing worn for swimming, bathing boxes, competitive and recreational swimming. 

Means focuses a little more on the United State, Chaline on Europe. 

Neither spend any time considering the role of the public pool in Australia. For that I recommend the ABC TV documentary, The Pool, and Pool, a book which accompanied Australia's official entry at the Venice Architecture Biennale in 2016. See also Swimming Australia One Hundred Years (University of NSW Press, 2008).

Stokes of Genius : A History of Swimming by Eric Chaline

Published by Reaktion Books, London, 2017.

Covers very similar territory to Splash! 10,000 Years of Swimming by Howard Means (Allen and Unwin, 2020). Means references Chaline. 

Both cover the theory of "the aquatic ape" - the theory that at some time, human ancestors spent time as water-based mammals, and so swimming has some genetic component. Neither accepts it as it is still open to debate. 

Both books traverse the evidence for swimming in the Ancient World, and through the Middle Ages and Renaissance to the current day. Looks at changes in clothing worn for swimming, bathing boxes, competitive and recreational swimming. 

Means focuses a little more on the United State, Chaline on Europe. 

Neither spend any time considering the role of the public pool in Australia. For that I recommend the ABC TV documentary, The Pool, and Pool, a book which accompanied Australia's official entry at the Venice Architecture Biennale in 2016. See also Swimming Australia One Hundred Years (University of NSW Press, 2008).

 

At the Pond: Swimming at the Hampstead Ladies' Pool (Daunt Books, 2019)

Photo from CultureFly.co.uk 

 

I found this small volume of 14 essays utterly intriguing. 

Hampstead Heath in London contains three swimming ponds (and others for angling, model-boating etc; created when the Fleet River was damned in the 17th and 18th centuries as reservoirs for water supply to Hampstead and Highgate). The swimming ponds are one for women, one for men and one mixed. 

The writers who contributed include some well-knon, Like Margaret Drabble and Esther Freud, some not so well-known. It is divided into 4 sections, Winter, Spring, Summer, Autumn. Some swim year-round, some are summer-only. 

The Pond as it is known is legendary amongst certain Londoners. It is "wild swimming" in a huge city ... many describe the wildlife and the vegetation...moorhens, ducks, snakes, reeds and grasses etc. The temperature is never what I would call warm, and in winter there can be ice, and of course snow on the ground. There seems to be several hundred hearty souls who do swim year round. However, there also seems to be a sort of reverence, an elitist aura around them. One writer says "they know the lifeguards". 

Also intriguing are some of the "rules" and customs ... eg there can only be a certain ratio of swimmers to lifeguards, so on a hot summer's day you may have to wait to drop in down the metal railing. Imagine trying to impose that at one of Sydney's (un-lifeguarded) ocean pools!) 

Hampstead and Highgate are high-end London suburbs, nowadays often populated by the very wealthy, though they weren't always - they were arty and bohemian in the past. 

I couldn't help comparing the Pond's mores with those at Sydney's McIvers Baths - the Ladies' Pool at Coogee. Some seem similar - the older coterie of "gatekeepers", sticking within your own groups, the basic changerooms, topless sunbaking, but the convivility in the water, and the style of swimming seems a little more open at McIvers. As well, apart from a couple of essayists with southeast Asian heritage, there is know mention of it as a refuge for diverse cultural groups like Muslim women or nuns or others who want to swim in a women-only environment. 

There was a major controversy a couple of years ago, when the London Corporation, which manages the Pond said it was ok for transitioning or transitioned male to female Transgender users to officially use the pool (they had been anyway), with backlash from some. That seems to have settled down now. 

It probably helps to be a swimmer to enjoy the book, but I think it's also interesting in broader cultural terms as a slice of London life.

Here's the page of the Kenwood Ladies Pond Association, a voluntary group of women which cares about the Pond. There's new and info about current campaigns. There is a video called "City Swimmers" in the Gallery.

A story about closure due to sewerage leaks, and a protest against compulsory charges.

Here's some reviews of the book: 

By Natalie Xenos - click here.

By Rebecca Armstrong - click here.

You can easily search for more online. 

The Invisible Image: The Tomb of the Diver on the fiftieth anniversary of its discovery (Exhibition)

 

In 2018, we were fortunate to visit Paestum, in southern Italy, while this exhibition was on. 

The Tomb of the Diver dates back to 470 BCE, when this was part of Magna Graecia, so it is an Ancient Greek creation. The most famous image was found on the underside of the top slab of the tomb. It seemingly depicts as young man diving from a wall or tower into waves. 

The tomb of the diver is on permanent display at the museum; this exhibition told the story of 300 years of archaeological exploration into the mystery of the meaning of this particular depiction - a meaning which remains a mystery. 

It also included the display of ancient and modern works, "designed to illustrate the scientific, cultural, artistic and ideological knowledge which has ensured that, fifty years after the discovery of the tomb, the question of its meaning still remains wide open." 

Attic black-figure amphora attributed to the Priam painter 530-500BCE Side A - female bathers. National Archaeological Museum, Villa Giulia, Rome Source: Wikimedia

Nino Migliori The Diver, 1951. Photographic print, made 17 years before the discovery of the Tomb of The Diver

 

Vintage Swimwear: A History of Twentieth Century Fashions by Sarah Kennedy

A really interesting book, beautifully illustrated. Traces the history of women's swimwear from the early 20th to early 21st century. As someone who was a teenager in the 1970s, I just had to laugh at the crotchet bikinis! 

The book begins with a timeline.

The chapters are:

• From Brighton to Biarritz - the era of woollen costumes, bathing machines, and the birth of the swimsuit, from the late Victorian era through to the 1910s. Due respect is paid to Annette Kellerman and the sensation she caused when first appearing in a "unitard".
• The St Tropez Set -the 1920s - the divergence in American and European styles; the emergence of Jantzen as the company whose slogan was "The suit that changed bathing to swimming."The French fashion houses - eg Chanel - become involved, Cubism and Modern Art influences and the emergence of public swimming pools (Lidos).
• Star Quality - the 1930s, which brought the fabric revolution which brought the end of the knotted swimsuit; Hollywood and stars in swimsuits, as well as beach and other sporting leisure wear emerge; the emergence of the beauty pageant.
• The Return of the Hourglass - The war years (which saw the wthdrawal of nylon for parachute-making) Glamorous pin-up stars like Ava Gardner, Esther Williams, the birth of the two-piece suit (fabric saving!) and after the war, the development of more fabrics like Lastex, and the birth of the bikini.
• The Fabulous Fifties - hourglass figures and idealised body shapes, curvaceous and voluptuousness; swimsuits with lots of structure, glamour girls like Jayne Mansfield and Marilyn Monroe, and 'sexy innocence' eg Sandra Dee. 
• Far Out Grooves - The 'Swinging Sixties', the California scene, lots of stretch, and Bri-Nylon, the emergence of the crotchet bikini, and the glitz of the 'jet set'.
• The Beach Babe Revolution - everything was shrinking during the 1970s, the fabrics evolved towards those used today, big curvaceous bodies were out, the suntan essential. Lots of cutouts in swimsuits, disco influences, developments in racing swimsuits.
• Let's Get Physical - the fitness boom of the 1980s, muscular bodies, bigger breasts, higher cuts to make legs look longer.
• New Luxe Nineties - ethnic fashion, world music, ostentatious luxury and clean lines  and cruise collections, retro surf styles, and new Australian labels like Jets and Zimmerman, Watersun and Speedo going glam.
• Post-Millenium Trends - swimsuits that 'slim', designer resortwear, retro and Brazilian styling, celebrity trends

The Million Dollar Mermaid by Esther Williams with Digby Diehl

 

I saw a few Esther Williams films on TV as a kid and remember the excerpts in the That's Entertainment films. Williams was a national champion swimmer who was denied the opportunity to compete at the Olympics when it was called off due to World War Two. 

She grew up in a working class area of Los Angeles, was raped in her home for two years as a young teen; had an unsuitable teenage marriage, her second marriage was to an alcoholic gambler who used all her money; husband number three was a narcissistic controller to whom she thetheres herself and all but erased her own identity - he also wouldn't have anything to do with her children. It's a wonder Williams was the strong and assertive professional woman she became. 

In the era of #metoo, William’s story dishes the facts on the casting couch and the sexual harassment of men of her generation (Johnny Weissmuller, Victor Mature, Fernando Lamas, MGM execs), as well as the playing along with it of women. 

Williams has a lot of tell-all tales about her contemporary stars: Victor Mature and Jeff Chandler, with whom she had torrid affairs; Joan Crawford, Bette Davis, complementary about - one is Shirley Maclaine.

There's also all the behind the scenes stuff about how those swimming musicals were made. 

Williams died aged 91 in 2013. Her latter career, as a swimming pool and swimsuit business operator and her role in promoting synchronised swimming as a Olympic sport, as well as her final marriage is dealt with in one chapter. 

This book is a rollicking read. Some doubt has been case by some reviewers and friends of some of the people mentioned about the veracity of it all - especially, was Jeff Chandler a cross-dresser? Whatever the truth, she hardly comes out terribly well. I was also flabbergasted about her clams to have swanned around with the Spanish dictator Franco's crowd. This included a story of a drunken Duke of Windsor and his snarky wife. 

On of the best aspects is the goings-on at MGM. 

Ancient Assyria

Assyrians

Cecil Colwin writes in  Breakthrough Swimming (Human Kinetics, 2002 (available on Google Books as per link) : 

"In the ancient world, diverting rivers to protect city-states led to swimming for military purposes. Bas-reliefs housed in the British museum show a river-crossing by Assurnasir-pal, King of Assyria, and his army. When these reliefs were found in the ruins of the royal palace at Nimroud, students of swimming techniques were excited because here, at last, they expected to find evidence of swimming skills used in ancient times. Nineteenth-century observers thought the reliefs showed soldiers swimming either sidestroke or the trudgeon stroke, while 20th-century observers concluded that the Assyrians were actually swimming the crawl stroke! And so, as always, conclusions are drawn from one’s own vantage point. 

Above: Bas Relief of Assyrian army crossing river, from the British Museum.

Great Bath of Mohenjo-Daro, Indus Valley

 

Photo credit: Copyright J.M. Kenoyer/Harappa.com; Courtesy Department of Archaeology and Museums, Government of Pakistan from https://www.britannica.com/place/Mohenjo-daro

Mohenjo-Daro is located in Sindh province, in modern day Pakistan. It means "Mound of the Dead Men". It was built around 2500 BCE, contemporaneous with the Ancient Egyptian, Mespopotamian and Minoan Crete civilisations.  It was abandoned in the19th century BCE as the Indus Valley Civilizsation declined, and the site was not rediscovered until the 1920s.

From Stokes of Genius: A History of Swimming, by Eric Chaline (Reaktion Books, 2017):

" The world's oldest purpose-built, in-ground, enclosed swimming pool is the 'Great Bath' of Mohenjo-daro (2,500 - 1.800 BCE), one of the largest cities of the Indus Valley Cizilization (IVC). The pool, which was part of a larger complex, measures 12 x 7 m (29 x 23 ft) and 2.4m (8 ft) at its deepest. The superbly crafted structure made from close-fitting bricks held together with gypsum plaster, was coated with a layer of natural tar to make it completely water-tight. Bathers entered the water via two wide staircases at either end. Although the pool is just about long enough to do lengths, and deep enough to accommodate springboard diving, water polo and synchronized swimming, it is unlikely that it was ever used by the matrons of the city for lenghts of 'old-lady breaststroke' or for any other kind of recreational swimming activity. Based on later Indian religious practice, one theory holds that the complex that housed the pool was a college for the city's priesthood and that the Great Bath was reserved for their purification.

"....we know little of the daily lives, social and political organization, customs and beliefs of the residents of IVC cities...and much of what archaeologists think they know, such as how they imagine the Great Bath was used, is inferred from later Hindu practice. Because the pool was part of an important complex in the centre of the city, it is presumed that it was used by its elite - most likely its priestly class. 

"....the one thing that strikes me about the pool, as a swimmer, apart from its rather modest length (as such it is not unlike many small hotel pools), is that it is quite deep. Whoever used it would have needed to have some competence in the water." 

Bathing Machine

Public Domain,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1261810

I was reading Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier, about Mary Anning and Elizabeth Philpot, renowned nineteenth century fossil-finders / palaentologists from Lyme Regis. 

There is a scene where Elizabeth's younger sister, Margaret, uses a bathing machine to swim in the ocean. 

"The bathing machine, a little closet on a cart, had been pulled far out into the water to give her privacy, and Margaret swam with it between her and the shore, preserving her modesty. Once or twice we caught a glimpse of an arm or a plume of water as she kicked." (page 48)

That got me wondering about any other references to these modesty-preserving contraptions, and their history. There's a pretty good write-up in Wikipedia. 

Above: Mermaids at Brighton swim behind their bathing machines in this engraving by William Heath, c. 1829. 

Queen Victoria used a bathing machine at Osborne Beach on the Isle of Wight, where it can be viewed. 

There is even a children's picture book entitled Queen Victoria's Bathing Machine. Read more about it here.

Howard Means, in his 2020 book Splash! : 10,000 Years of Swinning (Allen and Unwin, Loondon, 2020) devotes several pages to the onset and development of the bathing machine, whereby men and women (separately) were towed into the ocean in these horse-drawn contraptions. I have made a separate entry on Means' excellent book...here.

Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt and swimming: Val Kill

Franklin R partook in swimming therapy to help ameliorate the effects of his polio. He used to spend time at the Merriman Inn in Warm Springs in Georgia, where he swam in the natural spring water. In 1926 he bought the property and founded a therapy centre, which still exists. FDR died at Warm Springs. 

Meanwhile, at her property at Hyde Park, New York, Eleanor built a pool. It was a favourite family gathering place. There is home 16mm film footage recording the Roosevelts and friends and guests swimming there. One of the guests was Winston Churchill. 
In the filmed fictionalised account of the royal visit of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth (Hyde Park on Hudson) KGVI (Samuel West) is depicted swimming there with FDR (Bill Murray).

A project is underway to restore the pool. When we visited it was covered by boards (see photos below)

Eleanor Roosevelt at the Val-Kill pool.

Val-Kill pool, Summer 1940. FDR, Missy Le Hand and Eleanor R. From https://fdrlibrary.wordpress.com/tag/val-kill/

Eleanor on the lawn by the Val-Kill pool, Summer 1959. Photo by Keith M. Taylor. From https://fdrlibrary.wordpress.com/tag/val-kill/

Eleanor's swimsuit. From https://fdrlibrary.wordpress.com/tag/val-kill/

How the pool looked on Sep 15, 2013 when we visited.

The Pool: Australia's exhibition at the 2016 Venice Architecture Biennale

Australia's exhibition at the 2016 Venice Architecture Biennale is The Pool. It provides an insight into this aspect of Australia's cultural identity. Janet Holmes a Court, the Commissioner for the Australian exhibition writes: "A pool has been created within the exhibition space along with an immensely multi-sensory experience that transports visitors poolside..."

As I can't visit Venice this year, I've contented myself with buying the book. There are contributions from:

• Tim Flannery - an influential environmentalist, discussing the history and continuing relevance of the Great Artesian Basin, including the hot pools at Moree, Lightning Ridge and Pilliga in NSW and other states;
• Ian Thorpe, Olympic champion, talks about what is so appealing about the act of swimming, what he loves about pools and the feel of water;
• Designers Anna Plunkett and Luke Sales explore their experiences of the pool growing up, and the pool in memories of childhood;
• Christos Tsolkas, author of Barracuda (starting soon as a drama series on ABC TV). He sees the pool as a deeply symbolic artefact of Australian culture. He tells the story of the pool from his childhood into adulthood;
• Anna Funder, award winning author, looks at the importance of public pools in the towns and cities of Australia;
• Hetti Perkins tells the story of the Freedom Riders who challenged the exclusion of Aboriginal people from the public pool in Moree in 1965. It was a turning point for the struggle for Aboriginal rights in Australia; working towards a PhD on the role of the public pool in Australia. Here she talks about competitive swimming and its legacy;
• Singer-songwriter Paul Kelly has got into deep water in many places on his tours and speaks of a place for family gatherings, celebrations and everyday meditations. 

It even includes my favourite Women's Weekly swimming pool cake recipe. And lots of great illustrations.

Exhibition website

Here is an article on the exhibition from the New York Times.

Swimming in Ancient Rome: Caracalla and Pompeii

"Swimming was one of the favourite activities of Roman boys, and it was widely practiced in the Tiber River, next to the Campus Martius. Most Roman baths were also equipped with plunge pools, in which swimming was enjoyed. There are some accounts of women who knew how to swim in ancient times." (this website)

Julius Caesar was famous for his swimming ability.

Swimming was part of boys' education, and the Romans built the first swimming pools separate from bathing pools. 

"The first heated swimming pool was built by Gaius Maecenas of Rome in the 1st century BC. 

The Baths of Caracalla and other baths built by the Romans were enormous, but the swimming tanks set aside for actual swimming were usually very small, although the natatio - the open air swimming pool rather than the bathing pools - measured 50 x 22 metres (source: Wikipedia). The walls rose to more than 20 metres and the northern facade was structured by three huge columns made from grey granite. Between these columns were niches on several levels for housing ornamental statues. It was roofless, with bronze mirrors mountes overhead to direct sunlight into the pool area. The entire bath area was on a raised platform 6 metres high, to allow for storage and furnaces under the building. 

 Read more here. 

Below: The Baths of Caracalla (multimedia reconstruction and aerial plan)

Piero and me at the Baths of Caracalla in January 1984. In the summer of 1992 we went to see a performance of Aida there.

According to Wikipedia, Caracalla was built between 212 and 216 AD under the reign of Emperor Caracalla. They also incorporated a library with two separate and equal sized rooms: one housing Greek langauge texts, and the other Latin language texts.

 They were the inspiration for the design of Pennsylvania Station in New York City.

Ancient Pompei - the Stabian Baths

For detailed information about these baths, click here.

There was a pool measuring 13m x 8m and 1.5 m deep. On either side were shallow basins where athletes could wash prior to entering the pool.

Cicero complained that he needed a wider pool to avoid hurting his hands against the wall.

The Palaestra (a series of small rooms containing baths), with a swimming pool in the middle:

Own photo taken on visit 30 May 2008

Photo taken 30 May 2008

The plan of the baths above is from this website. "V" represents the pool, "S" the Palaestra. 
Other features of the complex: 
A: main entrance on Via Abbondanza
B: secondary entrance off Via Stabiana
C: ?
D and E: original entry to women's baths (no access to palaestra)
F: an entrance
G: an entrance
H: an entrance
I to N: Men's baths
I: small annexe of apodyterium
J: Vestibule to men's baths
K: Changing room (apodyterium)
L: Tepidarium (warm room)
M: Caldarium (hot room)
N: Frigidarium (cold room)
O: ?
P: Tepidarium women's baths
Q: Caldarium women's baths
R: ambulatory goving entrance to women's baths
T: dressing room for the pool complex
U and W: wash rooms for swimmers
X: Locker room for players of a game resembling ninepins
Y: Latrines
Z: Individual bathing rooms

Pool postcard: Community swimming pool, Farquhar Park, York, Pennsylvania

I collect vintage postcards of swimming pools. I plan to post one a day as far as possible. If you know any of these places, especially the fate of the pool, I'd love to hear from you! At the International Swimming Hall of Fame website, I learned the following about this pool:

"The Farquhar Park Pool opened Thursday, July 8, 1922, in York, Pennsylvania. The Community Swimming Pool Association, a private group, was the owner. Following the opening of the swimming pool, The White Rose Amusement Park opened adjacent to it, long before Disney World, Six Flags, Hersheypark and other gigantic amusement havens of the current age.

The park had everything an amusement park required -- plus a huge dancing facility, White Rose Crystal Ball Room. Within the open-air structure was a restaurant. No bars in those days of prohibition. The dance hall was oval-shaped with a high ceiling.  Top flight orchestras provided music as the big band era was just getting under way.

In the late 1940’s, the pool was at the center of a racial controversy, as African Americans and other non-whites sought equal access to public areas.  Rather than allow non-whites to swim, community leaders chose to close the pool. "

I found that in 2007 it was operated by the YMCA, so guess it must have re-opened at some stage! I found a subsequent (undated) article in the York Daily Record which stated that "The $9.1 million YMCA Graham Aquatic Center, which replaces York's Farquhar Park Pool, will open June 12."

Public swimming pools NSW Central West and South

Swimming has been part of the Australian consciousness for a long time. In the late 19th century swimming baths were built in capital cities (see Melbourne City Baths, for example). Rock pools were built along the Sydney coast as job creation schemes during the Great Depression. Modern aquatic centres are built as major competition venues.

And after the Melbourne Olympics in 1956, a golden age of community building resulted in almost every town council and its citizens striving for a community pool, and 50m Olympic pools spread across the suburbs of major cities (I blog regularly about Bexley pool for example, opened in the 1970s).

My mate John travels for work around the towns of the NSW Central West and Riverina, and is partial to a swim. Here's a collection of snaps he's taken of various swimming venues.



Albury Swim Centre, February 2011




Canowindra February 2011 "At midday I was the first swimmer for the day"




Cowra. "28 degree water temp is no good for me. Nice complex though. Toddlers pool is under cover."




Gulgong. May 2011




Tumbarumba February 2011 "Very clear, delightfully cool water."



Tumut March 2011

Tumut March 2011



Wodonga. Feb 2011. This has been closed down - outrageous!



Young February 2011

Henry Scott Tuke

Born 12 June 1858 in York, died 13 March 1929 in Falmouth, Cornwall.

His family moved to Falmouth in Cornwall in 1859, where his father practiced medicine. (His father specialised in psychiatry and campaigned for the humane treatment of the insane. His family were social activists.

Harry spent long summer days swimming and on the beach. He engaged in nude sea bathing throughout his life.

Tuke drew and painted from an early age, and trained at the Slade school and in Italy and Paris. He settled in Cornwall.



The Bathers 1888




Three Companions




August Blue 1893




Boys Bathing 1907




Boys Bathing 1908



Boys Bathing 1912



Ruby Gold and Malachite 1902



The Bather 1924

More about Tuke in Wikipedia.

I first "met" Tuke in the opening passage of Charles Sprawson's book Haunts of the Black Masseur:

" I learnt to swim in India, in a pool donated to the school by the Edwardian cricketer Ranjitsinhji. I was the only English boy in the school. My father was the headmaster, and Sir K.S Ranjitsinghji, the Jam Saheb of Nawanagar, its most eminent old-boy, though he was only one prince among many there. Sometimes his successor allowed us to bathe in the flooded subterranean vaults of his palace nearby, among columns that disappeared mysteriously into black water. On the walls of the palace above there still hung Tuke's paintings of bathing boys that the Jam Saheb had collected during his cricketing years in England." (Sprawson  p1-2)