Swimming is a crucial life skill – it could quite literally save your life. I enjoy swimming and had multiple long distance and life saving awards from my early years. Not sure why I had to rescue a solid brick from the bottom of the deep end of the local pool fully clothed but I guess if i ever see a brick in trouble I could effect a rescue.

Anyway, here’s a map of the history of swimming the English Channel. I never attempted it – far too much like a miserable thing to do, not least dodging ships in the busiest passage of water on the planet but people who’ve given it a go (usually for charity) have my admiration.

Original prompt (ChatGPT)

Please create a map of the English Channel and show the history of crossings made by swimmers. Please include male and female record swims, the first known crossing, and any key celebrity swims. Augment the map with images as appropriate.

There were a couple of iterations needed to improve the actual path of the route itself.