Downstream

where he was said to be ‘the
champion of the world for
speed’, born at Caen in
Normandy but coming to
England at the age of four.
His trick swimming (popular
in the period at indoor and
outdoor venues and
performed by both men and
women) now included
‘smoking, singing, and
writing; peeling, sucking, and
eating an orange in the water,
turning somersaults, the