The Serpentine is the large lake that snakes across Hyde Park, London. It holds many secrets! Created by Queen Caroline in 1726-1730 it has hosted 300 years of boats, birds, swimmers and skaters…
The English Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley used to sail paper boats here – one reputedly made of a folded up ten pound note. (Ironically, his first wife Harriet, rejected by Shelley and pregnant with another man’s child, was later to drown herself in the very same spot).
In Bygone times, skaters would take to the frozen lake! Some would carry flaming torches to light their way, as chestnut sellers roasted chestnuts along the Serpentine’s banks. In 1940, the coldest January on record, wartime fun seekers flocked to the ice. In this welcome diversion, there were even skating displays such as ‘The Ballet of Youth’, pictured above.
And every Christmas Day, at 9am, swimmers take to the icy, winter water to try to win ‘The Peter Pan’ cup. Raced every year since 1864, the trophy is so named as J.M. Barrie, the author of Peter Pan, presented the cup to the 1904 winner.
Here is magical, silent footage of the race recorded on Christmas Day in 1922.
