My nine to five: Dan Snow

Written by Rachel on January 30th, 2010

From here:

The television presenter and historian on working from home in his PJs, researching a forthcoming book and hitting the road with a film crew

Today I was up at 6am. No two days are the same for me. Some days I’m in my PJs all day, reading and writing and spending too much time on Facebook, and other days I’m up at 4am and taking a flight to Scotland to talk about some Anglo-Saxon treasure or going to help out at the British Museum. ­Depending on what I’m doing – whether it’s research for my book, or something for the One Show, my working days will always be different.

The first three hours of my day are the most productive. So on days like today, where I’m researching for my next book, I’ll bounce out of bed, make myself some porridge and sit down in my dressing gown and start working before doing anything else. Afterwards, at about 10am or 11am I might go the gym.

I don’t do any work in the evenings. After dinner I can barely string a sentence together. I don’t know how people who work night shifts can do it. If I’ve got a slot on the One Show, it’s a little bit different – I’ll cycle down there for 6pm and leave about 8pm but it’s certainly not arduous.

I am such a bachelor. When I’m working at home, I’ll change out of my PJs into something which is decently acceptable and buy a sandwich for lunch. I travel a lot, so even if I do buy food for the fridge, it all goes off by the time I come back.

I’m doing some prep work for my second book. It will probably be something to do with the first world war. It’s great to oscillate between filming and spending time in the archives studying and speaking to specialists. Two weeks in the archives can drive me mad though, and by the end of it all I want to do is get on the road with the camera crew, have a few drinks and have a laugh.

Working from home can be hard. I’ve worked in offices before, and there, even if you’re just spending the day emailing your mates, you still sort of feel like you’re at work just because you’re at your desk. But at home, it’s easier to feel guilty about spending your time on Facebook or whatever. There’s no real safety net.

When I was writing my book last year (Death or Victory), the girl one of my flatmates was seeing got pregnant and moved in with us. So for the final stages of the book, I had a baby sitting on my lap and staring at the screen while I’d type. She was very docile though. Whenever she’d get hungry I’d just take her back upstairs to her mum. It was like Three Men and a Baby for a while.

I spend about a third of my week going to work-related events in the evening. I always slightly dread them before I do, even though I know that when I get there it will be great and the trepidation usually wears off. I recently went to the History Today awards and before going, I thought, “Do I really want to go?” Then I did, and met loads of incredible historians, we all went to the pub afterwards and had a really good time.

I’ll fall asleep between 12.30 and 1am. I don’t watch the television in the evening – if I am staying in, I’m more likely to watch a DVD box set of an American drama such as the Sopranos, the West Wing or 24. I love socialising and I like spending my evenings with my mates down the pub, having a drink, talking about anything and everything.

 

1 Comments so far ↓

  1. Geiza says:

    I HAVE A GREAT ADMIRATION FOR DAN SNOW AS A HISTORIAN. I THINK HE IS DOING A FAB JOB AND CAN NOT WAIT TO WATCH HIS NEXT PROGRAMME. BUT THE THING ABOUT HIM IS THAT HE SEEMS TO BE SUCH A NICE, COOL PERSON.