| Dan Snow | |
| Birth Name: | Daniel Robert Snow |
| Birth Date: | 3 December 1978 |
| Birth Place: | Westminster, London, England |
| Education: | St Paul's School, London |
| Alma Mater: | Balliol College, Oxford |
| Occupation: | Broadcaster, popular historian |
| Children: | 3 |
| Father: | Peter Snow |
| Mother: | Ann MacMillan |
| Organisation: | Electoral Reform Society (ambassador) |
Daniel Robert Snow (born 3 December 1978) is a British popular historian and television presenter. He is an ambassador of the Electoral Reform Society (ERS).
Born in Westminster, London[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]
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.[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 club President.[7] [8]
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. The two then collaborated to present an eight-part documentary series called Battlefield Britain, which aired in 2004, and won 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. Snow presented on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's specials, with his mother Ann MacMillan, for Queen Elizabeth II's funeral and King Charles III's coronation.
Snow has presented on many 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.[9] The series covers battles all around the world and is presented in similar fashion to the first Battlefield Britain.
In early 2022, Snow was part of the Endurance22 expedition that found Antarctic explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton's lost vessel, Endurance, 107 years after it sank in the Weddell Sea.[10] It was announced he would dance with Nadiya Bychkova for the 2023 Strictly Come Dancing Christmas Special.
| Year | Work | Channel | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | El Alamein | 60th anniversary special of the Battle of El Alamein. Co-presented with Peter Snow.[11] | ||
| 2004 | Battlefield Britain | BBC Two | Won – 2004 BAFTA Craft Awards (Visual Effects).[12] | |
| 2005 | Trafalgar 200 | BBC Two | Co-presented with Neil Oliver.[13] | |
| 2006 | Shipwreck: Ark Royal | |||
| 2007 | 20th Century Battlefields | BBC Two | Co-presented with Peter Snow. | |
| Edwardian Winners and Losers | [14] | |||
| In Living Memory | BBC One | [15] | ||
| 2008 | What Britain Earns | BBC Two | Co-presented with Peter Snow.[16] | |
| Britain's Lost World | BBC One | Co-presented with Kate Humble and Steve Backshall.[17] | ||
| Hadrian | Won – 2009 BAFTA Cymru (Best Presenter).[18] | |||
| 50 Things You Need To Know About British History | ||||
| My Family at War | BBC One | [19] | ||
| 2009 | Grouchy Young Men | 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 | [20] | ||
| Little Ships | BBC Two | [21] | ||
| Dan Snow's Norman Walks | BBC Four BBC Two | [22] | ||
| How the Celts Saved Britain | BBC Four | [23] | ||
| 2011 | Filthy Cities | BBC Two | ||
| China's Terracotta Army | BBC One | [24] | ||
| National Treasures Live | BBC One | |||
| 2012 | Dig WW2 with Dan Snow | Three-part series investigating stories of World War II battlegrounds through excavations and dives.[25] | ||
| 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.[26] | |
| A History of Syria with Dan Snow | BBC Two | This World episode exploring Syria's complex past and the roots of the current crisis.[27] | ||
| The Dambusters: 70 Years On | BBC Two | Episode marking the 70th anniversary of the Dambuster raids, presenting veterans accounts of the events.[28] | ||
| 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.[29] | ||
| Dan Snow's History of Congo | BBC Two | This World episode exploring Congo's history of slavery, colonialism, endemic corruption and war.[30] | ||
| 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. | ||
| Have I Got News For You | BBC One | |||
| 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.[31] | |
| 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.[32] | ||
| 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.[33] | ||
| 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.[34] | |
| 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.[35] | ||
| 2016 | The Vikings Uncovered | BBC One | 90 minute episode exploring the Vikings expansion to the west and uncovering new settlements.[36] | |
| New York: America's Busiest City | BBC Two | 3x60 minute episodes 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.[37] | ||
| 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.[38] | |
| The Dambusters | Channel Five | 3x60 minute episodes about the RAF's 617 'Dambusters' squadron during WW2.[39] | ||
| 2022 | Dan Snow: Into the Valley of the Kings | Channel Five | Documentary exploring the history of the Valley of the Kings.[40] | |
| Into Dinosaur Valley with Dan Snow | Channel Five | Documentary about America's most significant dinosaur fossil discoveries.[41] | ||
| 2023 | The Black Death | Channel Five | Two-part documentary series.[42] | |
| Pompeii: The Discovery with Dan Snow | Channel Five | Documentary about the ancient Roman city of Pompeii.[43] | ||
| 2024 | Atlantis: The Discovery with Dan Snow | Channel Five | Documentary about the lost city of Atlantis[44] | |
| Stonehenge: The Discovery with Dan Snow | Channel Five | Documentary about the prehistoric megalithic Stonehenge[45] | ||
| The Terracotta Army with Dan Snow | Channel Five | Documentary about the mausoleum complex of the First Qin Emperor of China and its Terracotta Army[46] | ||
Snow was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2019 Birthday Honours for services to history. In 2019 Snow was awarded a Doctor of Letters (DLitt) honoris causa from Lancaster University. Other awards and honours include:
On 27 November 2010, Snow married the criminologist and philanthropist Lady Edwina Louise Grosvenor,[49] second daughter of The 6th Duke of Westminster.[50]
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 that they could not return to collect any more people. He did manage to get 25 people back but was unable to return for more.[51]
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.[52] [53]
Snow serves as President of the Council for British Archaeology and is a member of the Royal Historical Society.[54] As an atheist and a humanist, he is a Patron of Humanists UK[55] and an Honorary Associate of the National Secular Society.[56] 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 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.[57] In June 2019, Snow wrote in a Twitter thread [58] 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".[59]
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.[60]
Snow is an Honorary Captain in the Royal Naval Reserve.