The Wobbly Block was created by Ivor Skrewkyk and Tom Bullturn, two British masters swimmers.

Their aim was to build the internet’s leading swimming satire site, casting a wry eye over aquatic activities across the globe and taking an irreverent look at all things chlorinated. A fanzine for the swimming pool, if you will.

Ivor, or ‘Sir’ to his friends, had previously worked on UptheBeavers, a site for masters swimmers linked to Barnet Copthall Swimming Club. Sadly for Ivor a protracted argument with individuals from London Swimming brought a premature end to that site.

Without UptheBeavers Ivor was just another anonymous addition to the unemployment statistics, and he did not even have the advantage of being able to blame it all on the credit crunch. In desperation he fled for the Middle East, hoping to befriend a wealthy oil sheik and then marry his daughter.

However, while drowning his sorrows one night in one of the special nightclubs they have in Dubai, Ivor received a communication from his friend Tom Bullturn back in Britain.

At Tom’s insistence, Ivor checked his email and discovered that he had been inundated by nearly a dozen messages of support. He realised that not everyone involved with swimming was needlessly officious and completely devoid of humour. There were those out there who missed UptheBeavers and wanted something to replace it. Better still, Tom offered his help.

Ivor started to think about something his Grandma used to say to him. ‘I think you almost certainly have specific learning difficulties.’ she used to say, but then he thought about another thing she used to say. ‘Never stop fighting until the fight is done.’ she would shout, while recreating the entire courtroom scene from The Untouchables.

‘Tom and I could start a new site,’ he thought to himself, ‘and if each of those eleven people who emailed in donated £10,000 each year we could make it economically viable. It’s almost too easy!’

Naturally, some would think he was mad for setting up another website, but many people in the past had told Ivor he was mad: friends, family, court-appointed psychologists. Once again he would prove them all wrong.

Ivor’s awakening excitement was almost too much to bear. He sprinted down to the Dubai docks and immediately boarded a container ship bound for Britain (via Sydney, Anchorage, Istanbul and Cape Town).

Upon returning to his homeland the preparation began. Tom and Ivor rented new office space and set about creating the site. In the years since UptheBeavers had begun technology had advanced massively, allowing the new site to offer exciting new features like picture items, RSS feeds, sharing buttons and whatnot.

A number of possible URLs for the new site were considered. Ivor insisted that the choice was definitely between ihateeveryoneatLondonSwimming.com or yourenotgoingtolikethis.com. Tom suggested wobblyblock.com might be more appropriate.

Once the name was decided upon the hard work began. Coal was shovelled into the back of the server, the office candles were lit and the typing of code and content began. At the same time that the site infrastructure was developed hundreds of articles and graphics were produced. Only the very best would make the final cut for inclusion at launch.

Of course along the way there were good times and bad times. Spending half the development budget on a new sign for the office and the other half on pic-n-mix from a local motorway services was once such instance. But there were bad times too, like when the new sign fell off and blew away in the wind.

After months of work the site was eventually ready to launch. A Facebook fan site was created and old friend Steven Spielberg kindly offered to direct a teaser trailer as part of a sophisticated viral marketing campaign.

All that remained for Skrewkyk and Bullturn was to sit back and let the money roll in.