TV historian Dan Snow proved a big hit when he gave a talk at Chester’s prestigious King’s School – just down the road from the home of his rather wealthy parents-in-law who happen to be the Duke and Duchess of Westminster.
The extra tall presenter, a regular on BBC1’s One Show, married their daughter, Lady Edwina Grosvenor, back in 2010 and the couple have a son and daughter.
But on this occasion Dan was unaccompanied when he visited King’s where he chatted informally with students before delivering a free talk entitled The Centenary of World War, which was open to the public and fully booked.
Dan explained his presence in the city on Wednesday: “Any excuse to come to Chester is great. It’s the best city in Britain and so now I’ve got this family connection so I love coming up. This is where my wife, when we were girlfriend and boyfriend, used to go out and have a drink in Oddfellows or wherever and it’s always great coming back. It’s a trip down memory lane.
“Because King’s Chester is one of the best schools in the country it was a great honour to come and be asked to give a talk. The subject, this is a weird year, 2015 is a weird year, because it’s the most amazing anniversary ever. It’s 100 years since the First World War, 70 years since the end of the Second World War, Hiroshima – 70 years since the nuclear bomb, 70 years since Auschwitz was liberated and 200 years since the Battle of Waterloo, one of the most important battles in British history, [and the] Magna Carta, this foundation document of the British state.
“So in a way it’s a fascinating year to be involved in doing what I do, which is history for the BBC and stuff because there’s so much going on. So I wanted to share that with some of the kids. It’s these things in the past that have made us the people we are today.”
Dan agreed it was quite ‘daunting’ when he met his father-in-law, the Duke of Westminster, for the first time but he needn’t have worried.
“He’s not just rich and successful, he’s a General right, so he’s a general in the army, now that on its own would be quite scary but they are an extremely down-to-earth family and he treated me like everybody else. I was very lucky, because girlfriends' dads can be a bit of a nightmare. He was great and they all welcomed me and I’m very blessed with my mother-in-law. It’s not every man that can say they look forward to their mother-in-law coming to stay.”
He continued: “You have kids and before you know it, you are part of the furniture. It’s all so weird at first, you know, driving up to Eaton Hall and thinking ‘Oh my God, what is going on around here?’ and before you know it, it’s like, oh well, that’s normal now. So that’s granny and whatever. But that’s human nature, that’s what we’re all like. We just adapt, things become so familiar so quickly.”
Dan knows his wife Lady Edwina could just ‘put her feet up’ and enjoy the privileges that go with her background. But he proud that she has instead decided to champion the unfashionable cause of working in the interests of prisoners.
“It was one of the reasons I was first attracted to her. She is going from strength to strength with her prison work and is rapidly becoming one of Britain’s foremost prison reformers and works seven-days-a-week to look after people who the rest of society has chosen to ignore or chosen to penalise.
“And now the prison restaurant that she helped to found, called The Clink, is the top restaurant in Cardiff on Trip Advisor. That is amazing – staffed entirely by serving prisoners. She’s very straight-forward, my wife, and she realises that if you want less crime, you need less criminals and what you’ve got to do is take the criminals you have and stop them committing crime by giving them training and jobs and opportunities and then you’ll have less victims.”
Dan, who lives with his family on the edge of the New Forest, Hampshire, nevertheless feels at home in Chester and loves its history – he’s been known to pop down to the archeological dig at Poulton on the Eaton Estate – as well as its culinary and beverage offering.
“What a joy to come back because it is one of the great cities of Britain. It’s got amazing, amazing history. I always think it’s got the best pubs. You know, going for a walk and having a Sunday dinner in a pub is the best, I think in Cheshire and around Chester, Beeston Castle or whatever it is. It’s always a great privilege to come up here. You’re visiting the in-laws and they could live somewhere awful so it’s great to get on that train to Chester. It does feel like coming home now actually.”
One of Dan’s jobs is presenting history slots on the One Show where he bumps into fellow One Show regular Gyles Brandreth, Chester’s former MP. “He’s a real character, isn’t he?”
Talking of characters, Dan says his dad Peter Snow, the much-loved former Newsnight presenter, known for his Swing-o-meter at election time, can’t wait for this year’s general election on May 7.
“He cannot wait for the election. It is going to be an absolute ripsnorter. It’s anyone’s game and he’s going to be up all night. He will not be able to take his eyes off the telly.”
