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Dan Snow
MBE
Dan Snow in 2019
Born
Daniel Robert Snow

(1978-12-03) 3 December 1978 (age 45)
Westminster, London, England
EducationSt Paul's School, London
Alma materUniversity of Oxford (BA)
Occupation(s)Broadcaster, popular historian
Spouse
​
​
(m. 2010)​
Children3
Parent(s)Peter Snow
Ann MacMillan
Relatives
Websitetwitter.com/thehistoryguy

Daniel Robert Snow MBE (born 3 December 1978) is a British popular historian and television presenter.

Early life and education

Born in Westminster,[1] Dan Snow is the youngest son of Peter Snow, BBC television journalist, and Canadian Ann MacMillan, managing editor emerita of CBC's London Bureau; thus he holds dual British-Canadian citizenship.[2] Through his mother, he is the nephew of Canadian historian Margaret MacMillan and also a great-great-grandson of British Prime Minister David Lloyd George.[3]

One of his father's cousins is the Channel 4 news reporter Jon Snow and his paternal great-grandfather (Peter and Jon's grandfather) was Sir Thomas D'Oyly Snow, a British infantry general during World War I.

Snow was educated in London at Westfield Primary School now Barnes Primary and at St Paul's School where he was Captain of School and rowed for its VIII. He then went to Balliol College, Oxford,[4] his father's alma mater, and graduated with first-class honours in Modern History.[3][5] A keen rower since his secondary school days, he won the U-23 men's division at the 2000 British Indoor Rowing Championships[6] and rowed three times in the Boat Race, winning in 2000 and losing the controversial 2001 Boat Race when President.[7][8]

Career

Snow presented his first programme in October 2002 just after graduating from university, co-presenting the BBC's 60th anniversary special on the Battles of El Alamein with his father Peter.[9] Father and son then collaborated to present an eight-part documentary series called Battlefield Britain, which aired in 2004 winning a BAFTA Craft Award for special effects. The same year, Snow won a Sony award as one of the presenters on the LBC Boat Race coverage.

He has made some history programmes for the BBC. He also presents on many of the state occasions such as the 200th anniversary celebration of the Battle of Trafalgar, Beating Retreat 2006, the 60th anniversary of the end of World War Two, the 90th anniversary of the Armistice in November 2008, Trooping the Colour and the Lord Mayor's Show. Snow again collaborated with his father to present BBC 2's 20th Century Battlefields and its print edition, which were both well received.[10] The series covers battles all around the world and is presented in similar fashion to the first Battlefield Britain which was broadcast in various markets in 2006 and is available on DVD. The second series can also be viewed on the Military Channel.

In June 2008, Snow was in a three-part series called Britain's Lost World on BBC One. Along with Kate Humble and Steve Backshall, he stayed on the islands of St Kilda, western Scotland, to find out more about their history and wildlife. In the television programme My Family at War, he explored the role of his great-grandfather General Sir Thomas D'Oyly Snow, who commanded the VII Corps on the first day on the Somme in World War I.

In November 2011, Snow teamed up with the Irish Army to fire a British or Canadian-made Browning Mark II (or a Mk. II* variant) .303" machinegun which had been excavated, by archaeologists searching the Inishowen Peninsula in Donegal, from a Spitfire that had crashed while being flown by Bud Wolfe.[11] Despite having lain in a peat bog for 70 years, the machine gun fired without a hitch after careful cleaning and with fresh ammunition.[12]

On 8 December 2012, Snow co-presented Rome's Lost Empire with Dr Sarah Parcak, a space archaeologist from University of Alabama at Birmingham (U.A.B.).

In late 2012, Snow embarked on a promotional tour for his new book Battle Castles: 500 Years of Knights and Siege Warfare,[13] which was published in conjunction with a 6-part documentary he had presented for the History Channel. In early 2013, he presented a programme on the history of railways on BBC Two, called "Locomotion: Dan Snow's History of Railways".

In the summer of 2013, Snow was part of a team with eight others who journeyed down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon in period-correct boats recreating the epic trip by John Wesley Powell through uncharted territory and rapids in 1869. Other British team members, accompanied by American experts, were Mike Dilger and Sam Willis. The footage, narrated by Dougray Scott, became Operation Grand Canyon with Dan Snow which was broadcast on BBC Two in January 2014.

Snow has also travelled through war zones in Congo and Syria to make programmes about the historical context of those conflicts. These were shown on BBC2 in 2013. Snow has released award-winning apps, the Timeline series, which include the Number 1 selling Reference app, TimelineWW2. He attracted criticism for saying in 2012 that 'apps are simply a better vehicle than books'.

On 7 May 2015, Snow presented the online alternative election night broadcast unelection.[14][15]

On 27 November 2015, Snow presented a live-streamed Periscope broadcast from the Mary Rose. Gaining exclusive access to the 'hot-box' conservation structure, Snow and his team were the first people, excluding museum staff, to inspect the hull of the ship. The broadcast was featured by Periscope[citation needed] and at the time of writing has received in excess of one hundred thousand views. Snow's team pioneered the multi-camera live Periscope, inviting viewers to switch between live-streams.

Since hosting Dan Snow's History Hit from 2015 onwards, which won the iTunes "Best of 2016" Award, Snow has created the "History Hit Network".[16] It features the Histories of the Unexpected, Chalke Valley History Hit and Art Detective podcasts. From 2018, it also included a subscription-based video streaming site, HistoryHit.TV, offering a selection of history documentaries, as well as commissioning their own.[17]

In 2020, he presented a 4-part series on Tutankhamun which aired on Channel 5 in the UK.[18]

In December 2020, Snow presented a three-part Channel 5 series titled The Dambusters about the daring exploits of the RAF's famous 617 'Dambusters' squadron.[19]

Television

Year Work Channel Notes
2002 El Alamein BBC Two 60th anniversary special of the Battle of El Alamein.
Co-presented with Peter Snow.[9]
2004 Battlefield Britain BBC Two Won - 2004 BAFTA Craft Awards (Visual Effects).[20]
2005 Trafalgar 200 BBC Two Co-presented with Neil Oliver.[21]
2006 Shipwreck: Ark Royal BBC One
2007 20th Century Battlefields BBC Two Co-presented with Peter Snow.
Edwardian Winners and Losers BBC Four [22]
In Living Memory BBC One [23]
2008 What Britain Earns BBC Two Co-presented with Peter Snow.[24]
Britain's Lost World BBC One Co-presented with Kate Humble and Steve Backshall.[25]
Hadrian BBC Two
BBC Wales		 Won - 2009 BAFTA Cymru (Best Presenter).[26]
50 Things You Need To Know About British History History Channel
My Family at War BBC One [27]
2009 Grouchy Young Men Comedy Central Cameo (pilot only).
Montezuma BBC Two
2010 Empire of the Seas: How the Navy Forged the Modern World BBC Two
Battle for North America BBC Two [28]
Little Ships BBC Two [29]
Dan Snow's Norman Walks BBC Four
BBC Two		 [30]
How the Celts Saved Britain BBC Four [31]
2011 Filthy Cities BBC Two
China's Terracotta Army BBC One [32]
National Treasures Live BBC One
2012 Dig WW2 with Dan Snow BBC One Northern Ireland
History Channel		 Three-part series investigating stories of World War II battlegrounds through excavations and dives.[33]
Battle Castle History Channel
Discovery Channel
Rome's Lost Empire BBC One
2013 Locomotion: Dan Snow's History of Railways BBC Two Three-part series exploring the history of rail transport in Great Britain from its beginnings in the 18th century until the World War II.[34]
A History of Syria with Dan Snow BBC Two This World episode exploring Syria's complex past and the roots of the current crisis.[35]
The Dambusters: 70 Years On BBC Two Episode marking the 70th anniversary of the Dambuster raids, presenting veterans accounts of the events.[36]
D-Day: The Last Heroes BBC One Two-part series exploring the story of the D-Day landings planning and execution through the accounts of surviving veterans.[37]
Dan Snow's History of Congo BBC Two This World episode exploring Congo's history of slavery, colonialism, endemic corruption and war.[38]
Airport Live BBC Two Originally intended to be one of the presenters, but was unable to because of family reasons; involved in pre-recorded clips.
2014 Operation Grand Canyon with Dan Snow BBC Two Two-part series recreating John Wesley Powell's 1869 trip of the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon, where a team of nine men in period-correct boats and equipment navigates the canyon's 280 miles of river.[39]
Dan Snow's History of the Winter Olympics BBC Two Episode exploring the 20th and 21st centuries political upheaval impact at the 90 years of the Winter Olympic Games.[40]
The Birth of Empire: The East India Company BBC Two Two-part series exploring the story of the East India Company and how it changed British lifestyle, creating an empire and today's global trading systems.[41]
2015 Armada: 12 Days to Save England BBC Two Three-part series exploring the story of the Spanish Armada using discovered documents and computer-generated imagery.[42]
World's Busiest Railway 2015 BBC Two Four-part series, exploring the science, systems and staff at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus in Mumbai.
Co-presented with Anita Rani and Robert Llewellyn.[43]
2016 The Vikings Uncovered BBC One 90 minutes episode exploring the Vikings expansion to the west and uncovering new settlements.[44]
New York: America's Busiest City BBC Two 3x60 minutes episode exploring New York City, co-presented with Anita Rani, Ant Anstead and Ade Adepitan
Hunting the Nazi Gold Train BBC Two 60-minute episode exploring Project Riese, Schloss Fürstenstein and the search for the "Nazi gold train".
Operation Gold Rush BBC Two 3x60 minute episodes exploring the Klondike gold rush.
Dan Snow on Lloyd George: My Great-Great-Grandfather BBC Wales 60 minute episode exploring the personal life and political career of David Lloyd George. First broadcast on 7 December 2016.[45]
2017 1066: A Year to Conquer England BBC Two 3x60 minute episodes exploring the events of 1066 in English history
2020 Tutankhamun With Dan Snow Channel Five 4x60 minute episodes about the history of Tutankhamun.[46]
The Dambusters Channel Five 3x60 minute episodes about the RAF's 617 'Dambusters' squadron during WW2.[47]

Radio

  • Art in the Trenches, Radio 4
  • At War with Wellington, Radio 4
  • Prince of Wales, Radio 4, a look at the history of the office of Prince of Wales and the current occupant

Online

  • Dan Snow’s History Hit, History Hit Network[48]

Books

  • Snow, Dan; Snow, Peter (2004). Battlefield Britain. London: Random House (BBC Books). ISBN 0-563-48789-5.
  • Snow, Dan; Snow, Peter (2008). 20th Century Battlefields. Random House (BBC Books). ISBN 978-144-8140-596.
  • Snow, Dan (2009). Death or Victory: the Battle of Quebec and the birth of Empire. London: Harper Press. ISBN 978-0-00-728620-1.
  • Snow, Dan; Pottle, Mark (2011). The Confusion of Command: The Memoirs of Lieutenant-General Sir Thomas D'Oyly 'Snowball' Snow 1914 -1918. Frontline Books. ISBN 978-1848325753.
  • Snow, Dan (2012). Battle Castles: 500 Years of Knights and Siege Warfare. London: Harper Press. ISBN 978-0-00-745558-4.
  • Snow, Dan; Snow, Peter (2015). The Battle of Waterloo Experience. Andre Deutsch Ltd. ISBN 978-0233004471.

Awards and honours

Snow was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2019 Birthday Honours for services to history.[49] In 2019 Snow was awarded a Doctor of Letters (DLitt) honoris causa from Lancaster University.[50] Other awards and honours include:

  • BAFTA (Visual Effects) for 'Battlefield Britain'
  • Sony Award (Best Live Coverage) for Boat Race Day
  • BAFTA Cymru (Best Presenter) for 'Hadrian'
  • Maritime Media Award for best television, film or radio for 'Empire of the Seas'
  • 2011 History Makers Award (Most Innovative Production) for 'Battle for North America' a 1-hour special on Snow's book 'Death or Victory.' Produced by Snow's production company Ballista
  • Voice of the Listener & Viewer Special Award 2013

Personal life

On 27 November 2010, Snow married the criminologist and philanthropist Lady Edwina Louise Grosvenor,[citation needed][51] second daughter of The 6th Duke of Westminster.[52] Their daughter Zia (named after Zia Wernher) was born in 2011[citation needed] and their son Wolf Robert in 2014;[53] and another daughter Orla, born after Wolf.[citation needed]

On 18 April 2010, Snow and a few friends took three rigid-hulled inflatable boats from Dover to Calais to help people return to Britain, after they had been stranded in France by the air travel disruption after the Icelandic eruption. When they arrived at Calais they were told by the French authorities to foutez le camp ("get lost"). He did manage to get 25 people back but was unable to return for more.[54]

In August 2011, he chased a group of rioters through Notting Hill in west London before tackling and performing a citizen's arrest on a looter who was fleeing from a shoe shop.[55][56]

Snow serves as President of the Council for British Archaeology and is a member of the Royal Historical Society.[57] As an atheist and a humanist, he is a Patron of Humanists UK[58] and an Honorary Associate of the National Secular Society.[59] He is also an advocate for political reform, being the Electoral Reform Society's first ambassador. He played a prominent part in the 2011 Alternative Vote referendum in the UK; after he released a successful viral video, the campaign used a version of it, featuring him, as their final Referendum Broadcast.

In August 2014, Snow was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to The Guardian expressing their hope that Scotland would vote to remain part of the United Kingdom in September's referendum on that issue.[60] In June 2019, Snow wrote in a Twitter thread [61] if Brexit happened and if the Scottish National Party won a majority of votes in Scotland, he would "get" why Scottish people would want to have a second referendum, as leaving the European Union could "put up barriers" for Scotland. He was then asked if this meant he now advise Scots to vote for independence, and he replied "No way. One thing Brexit has taught me is the utter insanity of trying to rip countries apart".[62]

Snow is one of sixteen conveners of More United, which plans to support candidates in parliamentary elections that support their values. The movement was set-up "to stand up for our values of opportunity, tolerance, the environment, democracy, and openness" in Summer 2016.[63]


References

  1. ^ "Index entry". FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
  2. ^ Debrett's People of Today
  3. ^ a b "Dan Snow: History Boy". The Independent. 26 July 2008.
  4. ^ "Balliol College Annual Record 2001". University of Oxford.
  5. ^ "Dan Snow: The historian who's not attached to the past". The Independent. 2 May 2011.
  6. ^ "Rowing: Cracknell refuses to crack indoors". The Daily Telegraph. 27 November 2000.
  7. ^ "Boat Race crews evenly matched". BBC Sport. 21 March 2001.
  8. ^ "Cambridge win dramatic Boat Race". BBC Sport. 24 March 2001.
  9. ^ a b "Battleplan: El Alamein". BBC. 17 October 2002.
  10. ^ "An audience with Peter and Dan Snow". BBC. 12 November 2007.
  11. ^ "Spitfire pulled from Irish peat bog". Independent News and Media. 28 June 2011.
  12. ^ "Spitfire redux: The WWII guns firing after 70 years buried in peat". BBC News. 10 November 2011.
  13. ^ "Battle Castles Book". Discovery UK.
  14. ^ "Unelection Web Site".
  15. ^ "Lots of Snow Forecast for a special mobile broadcast". The i newspaper. 5 May 2015. p. 10. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |url= (help)
  16. ^ "History Hit Podcasts". Retrieved 25 February 2018.
  17. ^ "HistoryHit.TV". Retrieved 25 February 2018.
  18. ^ "Tutankhamun With Dan Snow". Channel 5. Retrieved 10 August 2020.
  19. ^ "The Dambusters". radiotimes.com. Retrieved 28 November 2020.
  20. ^ "CRAFT NOMINATIONS 2004". BAFTA. Archived from the original on 13 May 2008.
  21. ^ "BBC TV commemorates Trafalgar 200 with a bang". BBC. 5 October 2005.
  22. ^ Edwardian Winners and Losers. BBC Four.
  23. ^ In Living Memory. BBC One.
  24. ^ "Telegraph pick: What Britain Earns (BBC2)". The Daily Telegraph. 10 January 2008.
  25. ^ Britain's Lost World. BBC One.
  26. ^ "BBC Wales' 11 Bafta Cymru winners". BBC News. 11 May 2009.
  27. ^ "My Family at War, Episode 1". BBC One. 2008.
  28. ^ Battle for North America. BBC Two.
  29. ^ "Last Night's TV: Little Ships, BBC2 / Pulse, BBC3". The Independent. 4 June 2010.
  30. ^ Dan Snow's Norman Walks. BBC Four
  31. ^ How the Celts Saved Britain. BBC Four
  32. ^ China's Terracotta Army. BBC One.
  33. ^ "Dig WW2 with Dan Snow". BBC. Retrieved 5 April 2016.
  34. ^ "Locomotion: Dan Snow's History of Railways". BBC. Retrieved 5 April 2016.
  35. ^ "A History of Syria with Dan Snow". BBC. Retrieved 5 April 2016.
  36. ^ "The Dambusters: 70 Years On". BBC. Retrieved 5 April 2016.
  37. ^ "D-Day: The Last Heroes". BBC. Retrieved 5 April 2016.
  38. ^ "Dan Snow's History of Congo". BBC. Retrieved 5 April 2016.
  39. ^ "Operation Grand Canyon with Dan Snow". BBC. Retrieved 5 April 2016.
  40. ^ "Dan Snow's History of the Winter Olympics". BBC. Retrieved 5 April 2016.
  41. ^ "The Birth of Empire: The East India Company". BBC. Retrieved 5 April 2016.
  42. ^ "Armada: 12 Days to Save England". BBC. Retrieved 5 April 2016.
  43. ^ "World's Busiest Railway 2015". BBC. Retrieved 5 April 2016.
  44. ^ "The Vikings Uncovered". BBC. Retrieved 5 April 2016.
  45. ^ "BBC - Dan Snow uncovers the secrets of his great-great-grandfather, David Lloyd George - Media Centre". Retrieved 28 February 2017.
  46. ^ "Tutankhamun With Dan Snow". channel5.com. Retrieved 28 November 2020.
  47. ^ "The Dambusters". channel5.com. Retrieved 28 November 2020.
  48. ^ acast. "Dan Snow's History Hit on acast". acast. Retrieved 25 May 2019.
  49. ^ "No. 62666". The London Gazette (Supplement). 8 June 2019. p. B21.
  50. ^ Honorary award - Dan Snow, retrieved 12 December 2019
  51. ^ "Flintshire". Flintshirechronicle.co.uk. 1 January 2012. Retrieved 3 April 2016.
  52. ^ Mosley, Charles (ed.) (2003). Burke's Peerage & Baronetage, 107th edn. London: Burke's Peerage & Gentry Ltd. p. 4131 (WESTMINSTER, D). ISBN 0-9711966-2-1. {{cite book}}: |first= has generic name (help)
  53. ^ "Lady Edwina Grosvenor". Chester Chronicle. Retrieved 27 November 2016.
  54. ^ "Presenter Dan Snow's bid to rescue tourists halted". BBC. 18 April 2010.
  55. ^ Myers, Rupert (9 August 2011). "A legal guide to citizen's arrest". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 February 2013.
  56. ^ "TV presenter Dan Snow 'sat on a looter' in London riot". BBC News UK. 10 August 2011. Retrieved 3 March 2014.
  57. ^ Jepson, Ledgard. "Council for British Archaeology - President and Trustees". Retrieved 28 February 2017.
  58. ^ https://www.eveningexpress.co.uk/lifestyle/entertainment/highbrow-heart-throb-dan-snow-honoured-for-services-to-history/
  59. ^ "National Secular Society Honorary Associates". National Secular Society. Retrieved 27 July 2019
  60. ^ "Celebrities' open letter to Scotland – full text and list of signatories". The Guardian. London. 7 August 2014. Retrieved 26 August 2014.
  61. ^ "Twitter thread about Brexit and a Scottish Independence Referendum". Twitter. 7 June 2019. Retrieved 7 June 2019.
  62. ^ "Tweet: No Way". Twitter. 7 June 2019. Retrieved 7 June 2019.
  63. ^ "The team". Retrieved 3 May 2017.
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