Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the freezing cold

Swimming metaphor, part two: In at the deep end, The Baron wrote last October when former Reuters correspondent and editor Paul Mylrea was appointed the BBC's director of communications. Now he has made headlines around the world for braving snow and ice to swim in Europe’s severe cold.

Back from another dip this morning - “freezing above water and a max of 1 degree C (32F) in the water” Mylrea reported (that’s him in the yellow cap and blue goggles at the pond on London’s Hampstead Heath) - he tells how word of his bravery spread around the world.

“Story is, I’ve been going up for a couple of months after an invite from a neighbour in Highbury. Quick cycle up, swim and return. Time in water - building up but aim for minimum one minute per degree! Last week (2 degrees C/36F) we thought a friend had turned up to watch the group of us (four Americans and a lone Brit) get our winter swim in, but it turned out (shame of shame for an ex-Reuters man) to be an AP photographer. Next thing we knew, it was on the Daily Mirror website and in the Independent paper version. Then a friend whose mother lives in Australia called to say she’d seen a picture of mad Englishmen in the freezing cold in her paper in Oz (not specified) to which friend (dining with us) said, yes, she was looking at one of them, only fully clothed this time. Another of the group saw someone looking at a picture of him on her iPad on the bus – she was reading the Washington Post. Finally, Media Monkey (in the Media section of the Guardian) couldn't resist.”

Nothing was said about it being cold enough to freeze the... etc, but The Guardian’s media blogger mentioned Mylrea’s black budgie smugglers and wrote: "When he joined the BBC, Mylrea said: 'The BBC has a unique relationship with both the public and the media and faces the challenge of constant and increased scrutiny.' Even when swimming on Hampstead Heath, it would appear." ■