Downstream

pastime. And why, when the
river is now generally seen as
one of the world’s cleanest
metropolitan waterways, are
we so worried about
pollution?
In recent years Thames
swims are more likely to be
for stunts and protests, from
John Prescott’s 1983 swim
against dumping nuclear
waste in the sea, to Trenton
Oldfield’s disruption of the
Oxford vs Cambridge boat