Peter Snow

For other people named Peter Snow, see Peter Snow (disambiguation).

Peter Snow
Born	20 April 1938 (1938-04-20) Dublin, Ireland
Occupation	Television and radio presenter
Known for	Swingometer Newsnight ITN
Spouse	Alison Carter (1964–1973) (one daughter and one son) Ann MacMillan (1981 to date) (two daughters and one son Dan)
Children	Three daughters and three sons

Peter Snow, CBE (born 20 April 1938) is a British television and radio presenter. He is the grandson of First World War general Sir Thomas D'Oyly Snow, and cousin of Jon Snow, the main presenter of Channel 4 News, nephew of schoolmaster and bishop George D'Oyly Snow, and the brother-in-law of historian-writer Margaret MacMillan. He is also the father of fellow TV presenter Dan Snow.

Early life

Snow was born in Dublin where he lived at 77 Leeson Street, he then spent part of his early childhood in Benghazi, Libya, where his father was a British Army Officer.

Education

Snow was educated at Wellington College, an independent school in the village of Crowthorne in Berkshire, and subsequently read Greats (Classics) at Balliol College, Oxford University, where he was taught by R. M. Hare.

Life and career

Snow was a newscaster for Independent Television News (ITN) from 1962, but gained a much higher profile after he was recruited to present the BBC Two in-depth news programme Newsnight which began in 1979. He left Newsnight in 1997 and presented Tomorrow's World (with Philippa Forrester) and the BBC Radio 4 quizzes Masterteam and Brain of Britain, amongst other projects.

He has been involved in the live general election results programmes for many years, first at ITN and later for the BBC. He presents statistical analyses of the election results, and took over responsibility for these following the death of Robert McKenzie, and became largely associated with the "Swingometer" when it was reinstated in 1992. He is known for his somewhat excitable style of presentation and ever-more elaborate props and graphics, though perhaps his most famous prop was the most basic - a sandpit which he used to illustrate the progress of the First Gulf War. In 1994 he parodied his election role by providing analysis of the entries for the Eurovision Song Contest in the BBC's two contest preview shows ahead of the final in Dublin. His data analysis predicted that either France or the United Kingdom would win. They finished 7th and 10th respectively.

He survived a plane crash at Port Blakely, Washington, United States on 1 October 1999 when the De Havilland DHC-2 MARK I, registration number N9766Z in which he was a passenger hit trees on a film project for the BBC.

Along with his son, Dan, Snow presented a TV series Battlefield Britain, covering battles on British soil from Boudicca's struggle with the Romans to the Battle of Britain. Sometimes they point out the hardships that the much smaller soldiers must have faced (Peter is 6'5" and Dan is 6'6"). They reunited to host 20th Century Battlefields for BBC 2 and the Military Channel in 2006. This covers battles all around the world and is presented in similar fashion to the first Battlefield Britain.

On 6 October 2005, the BBC announced that Snow would cease working on election broadcasts to concentrate on nature programmes. Snow himself is quoted as saying "I shall be over 70 at the next general election and that, frankly, is a bit old to be dancing around waving it all about in front of huge graphic displays."

In May 2007, a musical of Snow's turbulent career entitled The Snowman was premiered at the Ifield Barn Theatre in Crawley, West Sussex.

In January 2008, while presenting What Britain Earns, a BBC programme about salaries in the UK alongside his son, he admitted to earning around £100,000 a year.

In August 2008 Snow appeared in the reality TV talent show-themed television series, Maestro on BBC Two.

In July 2009, to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the NASA moon landings, ITN produced five special 10-minute programmes for ITV1 titled Mission to the Moon - News from 1969. Snow participated in these programmes, acting as a correspondent alongside former ITN colleague John Suchet, the presenter of the specials.

He also presented a special on BBC Radio 4 focusing on "Britain's First Day of War in 1939".

On the show Horrible Histories, there is a regular sketch in the section 'HHTV News', where Bob Hale, a character whose personality is similar to that of Peter Snow. He is known for his catchphrases 'But not for long!' and 'Or so we thought!' and usually concludes with a summary but then starts talking more.

Personal life

Snow has been married twice, and has six children from three relationships. His eldest son, French citizen Matthieu, was born before his first marriage. He married Alison Carter in 1964 and the couple had a son (Shane) and a daughter (Shuna) but divorced nine years later. In 1976 he married Ann MacMillan (of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation since 1981) with whom he has a son (Dan, who is married to the daughter of the 6th Duke of Westminster) and two daughters, Rebecca and Kate. His wife and sister-in-law are great-granddaughters of former British Prime Minister David Lloyd George.

Snow was appointed CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) for his services to broadcasting in the 2006 Queen's New Year's Honours List.

His hobbies include model railways, and he has an OO gauge layout installed in his loft.

External links

• Peter Snow Official Website
• Peter Snow talks about his career to David Lawson
• BBC News Online - Peter Snow survives plane crash
• BBC News Online - Peter Snow hangs up swingometer
• BBC News Online (Peter Snow remembers...) - [1]
• RandomHouse article - The World's Greatest 20th Century Battles
• Amazon Link for 20th Century Battlefields
• An Audience with Peter Snow was the highlight of the 2007 Ludlow Festival on July 7.
• [2] For details of "The Snowman" the musical
• BBC Archive - Swingometer