JOHN SNOW Biography - Polititians

 
 

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JOHN SNOW

Name: Jon Snow                                                                           
Born: 28 September 1947 Ardingly, Sussex, England                                       
                                                                                         
Jon Snow (born 28 September 1947) is a British television newscaster on Channel         
4 News, produced by ITN. He is the grandson of First World War general Thomas D'Oyly     
Snow and cousin of now-retired BBC television news presenter Peter Snow.                 
                                                                                         
Snow was born in Ardingly, Sussex. His father was an Anglican clergyman and             
schoolteacher, and he was brought up at Ardingly College, a public school, where         
his father was headmaster. He later attended St Edward's School in Oxford,               
another public school. His father would later become Bishop of Whitby.                   
                                                                                         
After mixed success in his first attempt to pass his A level qualifications he           
moved to Yorkshire Coast College, Scarborough later where he obtained the               
necessary qualifications to gain a place studying law at University of Liverpool.       
However, he did not complete the degree, being rusticated for his part in a             
student protest, in which he threw paint over the statue of Queen Victoria in           
Scarborough, then opting not to return.                                                 
                                                                                         
After leaving Liverpool he worked for New Horizon Youth Centre, a day centre for         
young drug addicts in central London - an organisation with which he has                 
remained involved and of which he subsequently became chairman. Snow was an             
assistant to Lord Longford and for a year was a VSO volunteer in Northern Uganda,       
East Africa.                                                                             
                                                                                         
Without any journalistic experience he joined the radio station LBC as a                 
journalist, and happened to be in the right place at the right time when he was         
sent by IRN News Editor Derek Grant to report live on commecial radio throughout         
the Balcombe Street siege in London. As a result of his reporting and an inside         
tip from his cousin and ITN employee Peter Snow, Jon moved on to television news         
organisation ITN in 1976.                                                               
                                                                                         
He served as ITN's Washington correspondent (1983-1986) and as diplomatic editor         
(1986-1989) before becoming the main presenter of Channel 4 News in 1989. In             
1992 he was the main anchor for ITN's Election Night programme, broadcast on ITV;       
he presented the programme alongside Sir Robin Day, Alastair Stewart, and Julia         
Somerville. (Previously ITN's programme had typically been presented by Sir             
Alastair Burnet, who left ITN in 1991. The 1992 election night programme was the         
only one hosted by Snow, he was replaced by Jonathan Dimbleby from 1997 onwards.)       
He has won several RTS Awards - two for reports from El Salvador, one for his           
reporting of the Kegworth air disaster, and two as "Presenter of the Year".             
                                                                                         
In 2002 he returned to radio, presenting Jon Snow Reports on Oneword Radio, a           
weekly show and podcast. He writes regular articles for the Channel 4 News               
website, and writes 'Snowmail' - a daily email newsletter on the big stories             
coming up on the evening edition of Channel 4 News.                                     
                                                                                         
With the aid of a Channel 4 News outside broadcast team in late 1992, Snow               
mistakenly interviewed Patrick Haseldine – at the Clock Tower Café which he           
owned in Ongar, Essex – anticipating that Haseldine could throw some light on         
the day's breaking news concerning the Coventry-based firm Matrix Churchill and         
the Arms-to-Iraq affair. However, Haseldine's specialist knowledge related more         
to apartheid South Africa and the Coventry Four affair of 1984, rather than to           
the burgeoning Matrix Churchill story. In the event, the interview was overtaken         
by PM John Major's announcement that evening of the setting up of the Scott             
Inquiry, and was not therefore broadcast on Channel 4 News that night.                   
                                                                                         
One of the most memorable moments of Snow's presentation of the Channel 4 News           
came in 2003 when, at the height of the "dodgy dossier" affair, Alastair                 
Campbell walked into the studio to rebut statements by the BBC. With no notes or         
preparation Snow questioned Campbell about the affair.                                   
                                                                                         
He refuses to wear any symbol which may represent his views on air; in the run           
up to Remembrance Day he condemned "Poppy Fascism" because "in the end there             
really must be more important things in life than whether a news presenter wears         
symbols on his lapels."                                                                 
                                                                                         
On 28th February 2008 Jon Snow courted controversy by claiming that the British         
Media silence on the decision to allow Prince Harry to fight in Afghanistan was         
unacceptable with the following statement.                                               
                                                                                         
"I never thought I'd find myself saying thank God for Drudge. The infamous US           
blogger has broken the best kept editorial secret of recent times. Editors have         
been sworn to secrecy over Prince Harry being sent to fight in Afghanistan three         
months ago. "                                                                           
                                                                                         
These remarks provoked widespread criticism from the public and other media             
outlets with many feeling that Jon Snow had wished to undermine the safety of           
the Prince and his troops with one Captain in the armed forces calling it               
treason.