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Hello, this is 6 Minute English from BBCLearningEnglish, I'm Neil.

And I'm Georgina.

Can you swim Georgina?

I can, Neil.

I learnt to swim as a child and now I enjoy swimming for exercise and to relax.

In the summer hundreds of keen swimmers like Georgina head off to swimming pools, lakes

and beaches to take a dip and in formal idiom meaning go for a swim.

Swimming has many health benefits and since ancient times has been used to promote strength

and well-being.

But swimming is not just about exercise, there's far more to it beneath the surface as we'll

be finding out in this programme on the history of swimming.

Although evidence suggests that ancient Mediterranean people dived eagerly into temple

pleasure pools, lakes and the sea, other cultures have swam against the tide.

Another swimming idiom there, Neil, meaning not to follow what everyone else is doing.

Someone who did enjoy swimming was the poet Lord Byron.

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