How skimpy outfits caused scandal at the Serpentine [View All]

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How skimpy outfits caused scandal at the Serpentine
By Cahal Milmo
Published: 23 August 2005

To Londoners, the Serpentine is an oasis of calm where the raciest feature is the fleet of rowing boats. But some 70 years ago the lake was a hot-bed of raunchy impropriety, according to Scotland Yard.

A Metropolitan Police file unearthed at the National Archives in Kew, west London, has revealed considerable disquiet among police about the conduct of bathers at the pool in Hyde Park in the early 1930s.

As guardians of the capital's moral well-being, the Yard asked for extra officers and for a fence to be erection to combat a series of abuses, including "women of doubtful character" who "display themselves in flimsy bathing dresses".

The memo from an anonymous superintendent complains that the arrival of the women between 4pm and 8pm on summer evenings attracts "vulgar" men and teenage boys to the lido's mixed-bathing area.

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article307678.ece

The '30s! No wonder it all led to another world war......