Coast

[talking about Victorian swimwear]

Neil Oliver:
There was a strict dress code. And quite a double standard for men and women.

Kate Rew:
The Victorian lady had to be very properly dressed when she went into the water. And these are the kinds of things that they wore - you needed a good pair of pantaloons, below the knee, obviously, to preserve her modesty; and then a kind of dress or smock over the top. And these were sometimes weighted down with lead pellets round the hem to stop them floating up.

Neil Oliver:
Lead is what you want in a swimming costume in the open sea, isn't it? Half a pound of lead shot.

Kate Rew:
Be like swimming in a sort of Hessian sack, I think, by the time it's wet.

Neil Oliver:
And what about me? What do *I* get?

Kate Rew:
You, delightfully, get to swim in the buff.

Neil Oliver:
[facetiously] Oh come on! I wanted a duffel coat, wellington boots and a hat!

[talking about the dried cod for which the Lofoten Islands are famous]

Neil Oliver:
This is what the Vikings took with them on their epic voyages, because once it's dried it's preserved and it will last a long time. Now believe it or not, I was supposed to eat a bit of this, after first tenderising it by beating it with this hammer. Now I've eaten some things in my time, but I draw the line - this is *beyond* rank. I tell you: if this is what the Vikings ate, as well as being terrifyingly violent, they must have had breath that would stun a monkey!