Who Taught You to Swim
 

My father taught me to swim taking me to an old Victorian Pool. It was rusting, rotting and freezing. There were water polo goals hoisted to the roof that were never lowered for use.

I was too skinny to enjoy the cold water and although I did swim I was too chilled through to relax.

Then Rolf Harris came on TV with a teach children to swim programme. I guess it started with a Public Information Film:

http://625.uk.com/pifs/teachem2swim.htm

Which was so successful that that gave him his own series.

From Rolf Harris I learned to blow water out of my nose by running my hand down my face and to enjoy being in the water.... Thanks Rolf.

At the time Rolf Harris was a light entertainment singer and high speed artist from Australia.
He matured to become the grim reaper in Animal Hospital "It's so sad, poor little Rover was just too weak to make it though the night......."

I had to download Ultimate Media Player to actually play the video as it is in *.ra format, but it does play.

Rolf Harris
 

Oz junior backstroke champion in Perth 1945 and showbiz ever since.
At 82 never been busier and his new Rolf's Animal Clinic is running on Channel 5. Not many get invited back to Glastonbury at his age either.
(better not forget the sitting by HM for him - not bad - saw it at the Queen's Gallery)

a neighbor taught me, he about 50, me about 5

my high school math teacher
 

From England, Mr. Ivey had married an American woman somehow and come to the United States, where he taught high school math... and also taught children to swim in his backyard pool, as a public service. He did well, but I didn't... and couldn't really swim until college, where it took me an entire year to pass the class.

learning to....
 

I often liken it to snow skiing - so frustrating when you seem to sink so many times in the attempt - but one day something clicks into place all of a sudden.

I taught myself!:D

who....
 

me here taugh myself.

me too....
 

Interesting that I struggled with breast stroke having seen that as the start of learning imposed by all instructors - but in fact got my confidence in my own front crawl.

College water safety
 

I didn't know how to swim growing up. When I got to college, it was a requirement that you know how to swim. This was in the days when Physical Education was a required part of college curricula. If you didn't know how to swim, you took a semester of swimming instruction (water safety, really) instead of regular P.E. The "final exam" in the course was to get into the middle of the deep end of the pool and by whatever means you chose, stay there without touching the bottom or sides for half an hour. I liked swimming enough to take a full year of swimming, which was also my intro to water polo. It wasn't my intro to speedos, which I already liked to wear to the beach, because classes were held nude. You could wear a suit if you wanted to, but only one or two of about fifteen guys ever did.

true......
 

.....but what's going on here? (some kind of misplaced joke ?)

Allan 8100 arrives as new member December 12 and the same day there are FIVE posts from him . There is a self-introduction in off-topic forum and some of what he writes is coherent and well presented - but the rest is rubbish.