Geoff Swallow

In this episode Geoff Swallow gives a paper on Swimming History for the Sport & Leisure History seminar series hosted by the British Society of Sports History in association with the Institute of Historical. Geoff explores the material and representational spaces and meanings of the 1901 Jarvis-Nuttall swimming ‘match’ created by the press in which the two fastest swimmers went head to head in a very unusual simultaneous contest. Geoff also explores the grey areas around amateurism and professionalism in the late Victorian era, as well as describing the increasing internationalisation of swimming competitions.