Dan Snow and BBC blasted for ‘dumbing down Somme’

DAN SNOW, historian and heart-throb (below), is no stranger to the camera. It’s in the blood — his father is veteran broadcaster Peter Snow, and his cousin Jon presents Channel 4 News.

But he has just been roundly denounced by a rival academic for dumbing down the BBC.

Esteemed military historian Professor Gary Sheffield made the outspoken attack at yesterday’s Oldie literary lunch at Simpson’s- in-the-Strand.

It was prompted by Dan’s documentary last week on the Battle of the Somme, to mark the anniversary of the biggest disaster in British military history

‘His progamme on the Somme was terrible and is a classic case of dumbing down by the BBC,’ says Sheffield, who is Professor of War Studies, University of Wolverhampton. ‘I’m sure he’s a nice chap but it was lightweight and superficial.’ Sheffield’s criticism is not reserved just for Snow. ‘I found all the BBC coverage of the centenary very strange. Why didn’t they ask me to get involved? ‘In the past few weeks I’ve given nine talks and attended the official Somme commemorations with the Queen at Westminster Abbey and also the service at Manchester. ‘Dan didn’t have the gravitas or knowledge for such an important programme. ‘The BBC does tend these days to underestimate the public,’ adds the professor . Snow, 37, who is married to Lady Edwina Grosvenor, daughter of the Duke of Westminster, once disclosed his big television break came about after a telephone call to his father. He recalled: ‘Someone rang up my father and said, “Why don’t we get you doing a programme with your son?” His response was, initially, “No, it’s a silly idea — I’m a serious broadcaster.” ‘But they asked again, and both of us thought: “Actually, this is quite cool.” ’