Jon Snow (journalist)
Jonathan George Snow HonFRIBA (born 28 September 1947) is an English journalist and television presenter. He is best known as the longest-running presenter of Channel 4 News, which he presented from 1989 to 2021.[1] On 29 April 2021, Snow announced his retirement from the role; his final programme aired on 23 December 2021. Although Channel 4's news programming is produced by ITN, Snow was employed directly by the broadcaster.[2]
Jon Snow
1973–present
Channel 4 News (1989–2021)
Madeleine Colvin (separated)
3
George Snow (father)
Peter Snow (cousin)
Dan Snow (cousin)
Snow has held numerous honorary appointments, including Chancellor of Oxford Brookes University from 2001 to 2008.[3]
Early life and education[edit]
Snow was born in Ardingly, Sussex, the son of George D'Oyly Snow, Bishop of Whitby, and Joan, a pianist who studied at the Royal College of Music.[4] He is a grandson of First World War General Sir Thomas D'Oyly Snow (about whom he writes in his foreword to Ronald Skirth's war memoir The Reluctant Tommy)[5] and is the cousin of retired BBC television news presenter Peter Snow.[4] He grew up at Ardingly College, where his father was headmaster. In 2013, he recounted how the inquiry into Sir Jimmy Savile had allowed him to re-evaluate his own childhood, having been molested by one of the college's domestic staff when he was aged six.[6]
Snow won a choral scholarship to Winchester Cathedral and spent five years at the Pilgrims' School. He subsequently attended St Edward's School in Oxford.[7] When he was 18, he spent a year as a VSO volunteer teaching in Uganda.[8][1]
After mixed success in his first attempt to pass his A-level qualifications, he moved to the Yorkshire Coast College, Scarborough, where he later obtained the necessary qualifications to gain a place reading Law at the University of Liverpool. However, he did not complete his undergraduate studies, being expelled for his part in a 1970 anti-apartheid socialist student protest, which he later described as "an absolute watershed in my life".[1][9]
Other ventures[edit]
Following his retirement from ITN as the news anchor for Channel 4 in 2021, Snow continued his long association with the state-owned broadcaster by travelling to Greece, Japan and California to research and present his two-part documentary on How to Live to 100,[38][39] broadcast during January 2023. The programme sought to reveal to viewers the secrets of a long, happy and healthy life by examining the lifestyles of the residents of three continents who were approaching 100 years of age.
Awards and honours[edit]
Snow declined an OBE because he believes working journalists should not take honours from those about whom they report.[15][40]
In May 2015, Snow accepted a BAFTA Fellowship at the 2015 BAFTA Awards Ceremony.[41]
Snow was also awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters by the University of Liverpool in 2011,[42]
by Sussex University in 2015[43][44] and by Keele University in 2018.[45] He has an honorary degree from the University of Aberdeen.
Snow is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects.
Personal life[edit]
Snow was once engaged to fellow television newsreader Anna Ford.[46] For 35 years Snow's partner was human rights lawyer Madeleine Colvin, with whom he has two daughters.[1][47] In March 2010 Snow married Precious Lunga, a scientist who was born and raised in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe).[47][1] They had a child together by surrogacy in March 2021.[48]
Known as a keen cyclist and advocate of the activity, Snow served as president of CTC Cycling UK from 2007 onwards, to around 2020.[49] When his beloved Condor, titanium-framed silver hybrid cycle was stolen from his home, he publicised the theft on his blog and offered £250 reward for its safe return.
Snow served as a governor at Brecknock Primary School, Camden, for many years.[50]
He is the cousin of the equally renowned journalist and broadcaster Peter Snow. [51]