This was a joke I found incredibly funny when I was a child – ‘How do you make a swiss roll?’ – ‘Push him down a mountain!’ Very silly, very childish.
I have actually never tried to make a swiss roll, although I have made chocolate roulade which is a similar idea, a thin, rectangular sponge, rolled up while warm, and then when cool filled with deliciousness. I have to confess that as well as still thinking the Swiss roll joke is funny, I have a secret liking for shop bought swiss rolls made with flabby sponge and red jam (no particular fruit mentioned, just red – the same jam that we had as children at school to have with sago/semolina/tapioca for dinner) I also like the individual miniature swiss rolls, the plain sponge and jam ones, and the chocolate ones filled with a sickly white cream and covered in chocolate. My enjoyment of these has slightly diminished by the wrappers now being sealed plastic, not silver foil.
Maybe for English conversation next week I should bring in some traditional English cakes – I might try a swiss roll but will buy a Battenberg! Here is a recipe I could follow from the Spry cookery booklet, dated about 1953:
Lois Elsden 
I loved these once. I only had packaged Swiss rolls, but I had a fierce addiction during my youth. They are delicious!
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