Journalist and broadcaster Jon Snow: ‘Cycling is generally much faster than any four-wheel vehicle’

IT has been a while since I caught up with Jon Snow and I was happy to find him in high spirits following his retirement from Channel 4 in 2021.

A former president of Cycling UK, he recalled the early days on his bike when he started out at ITN in the 1970s.

He told me: “The whole time that I was at ITN, which was 30 years or so, I cycled into work, at work, it often got me scoops: I often got there before anybody else. It was a godsend, and I could never understand why more people didn’t do it.”

Asked whether things have got better for cyclists Mr Snow said: “100 percent. There was quite a lot of hostility in the early days.”

After decades cycling around the London, he reflected that the hostility from angry drivers was not as widespread as people might think.

He said: “I experience very little hostility from drivers, and that’s not because ‘I’ve seen him on the telly, I better behave myself’ – I don’t think they ever spot who it is, because you’ve got your helmet on, you’ve got very untidy clothes on – in my case anyway.

“I’ve never really experienced serious hostility from four-wheeled traffic.”

He added: “Obviously when there are cycle accidents, terrible things happen. But generally speaking, fingers crossed, it’s pretty safe.

He said: “You don’t feel that the authorities in some way are hostile to cycling, in fact, quite the reverse.”

When cycling in the city he suggested, “the temptation to take in a park is pretty strong, so I sometimes cycled slightly further than I needed to in order to do some of it in Regent’s Park”.

And he encouraged people who don’t normally cycle to try it out.

“They’ve got to do it sensibly. They should start in one of the parks and graduate it. They shouldn’t dive straight into a main road.

“Get used to it, and then do it.”

He said: “I’m not sure the message has got through to the wider public that cycling is safer than it was, and cycling is quicker than it was.

“And I have to say that I think cycle manufacture has improved too… accessible, good, bikes. And the locks are more effective.”

“The central issue with a bicycle is it’s independent. The fact is, you’re dependent on nobody, except your own stupidity. But the truth is, as long as you cycle sensibly, cycling is safe.

“It’s efficient, and it’s generally much faster than any four-wheel vehicle in the sense of getting from A to B, rather than the speed you can achieve.”

“It’s the ultimate independence, you don’t even need petrol. All you need is a good pump in case your tyres go down,” he said.

During the broadcaster’s career, Jon Snow covered some of the UK’s most significant political events including the elections of Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair, the release of Nelson Mandela, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the Grenfell Tower fire disaster.

He has been decribed by fellow presenter Krishnan Guru-Murthy as a “national treasure”.