History of Sunbathing

As far back as the Greeks, white skin was a sign of wealth.  To have a suntan meant that you were associated with serfdom and working in the fields.

In the 1920s, Coco Chanel accidentally came across the sun tan when she was photographed in Cannes having caught too much sun.

However, the time for sunbathing was still very rare as working families tended to holiday no further than their nearest seaside attraction or holiday camp.

During WW2, women resorted to painting their legs with Bovril as stockings were hard to obtain.

Bournemouth Beach

In 1946, French designer, Louis Reard unveiled the first bikini at a swimming pool in Paris.  Modelling the bikini was showgirl, Micheline Bernardini.  The bikini got it's name from atomic testing being carried out by the Americans off the Bikini Atoll in the Pacific.

1960's saw the introduction of commercial air travel, places such as Spain became popular holiday destinations.

1970s, saw the introduction of self-tanning lotions such as Coppertone and in 1978 the subbed was introduced.

A survey carried out on British holidaymakers in 2000,  reported that 50% of holidaymakers said that returning home with a suntan was the main reason for going on holiday.

In 2009, warnings were raised that sunbathing was causing an increase in malignant melanoma with cases in the UK quadrupling in the past 30 years.  For the first time, famous stars were seen to be covering up.

In 2010, with the help of Girls Aloud singer and ex-suntanner, Nicole Roberts,  it was made illegal for tanning studios to allow under-18s to use sunbeds.