York is ‘the city with the greatest history in Europe’ says TV’s Dan Snow
He has travelled the world to document history, often for his popular TV programmes.
But one place stands above all others, in the view of historian Dan Snow.
“I am coming to York – the city with the greatest history in Europe,” Dan said today.
He’s been in the city recently, he told Victoria Charles on YorkMix Radio.
“It’s an amazing city to walk through during lockdown. Just walking those streets when they’re completely empty – I’d never seen them like that before. It’s kind of magical.”
Dan said York is fortunate to have held on to so much of its history.
“There’s something about the shape of York – its Roman foundations, Viking York, and then medieval York which is obviously so visible today with a little streets.”
‘A precious national treasure’
The man whose recent shows include one about 1066 for the BBC, and another on the Dambusters for Channel 5, also revealed why he gets a little melancholy on his trips here.
“I get a bit sad sometimes when I’m in York. Because that’s how beautiful most cities in Britain should look if it hadn’t been for the Luftwaffe in the Second World War. And then the planning which just smashed all the cities up.
“York is an absolute glimpse of our past. And you guys are so lucky up there to have it – because that’s what my local city, Southampton, should look like. Plymouth should look like that, Exeter, Coventry…
“But they’re gone now. And York’s the best we’ve got. And it’s a precious national treasure.”
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He is bringing his stage show, Dan Snow’s History Hit, to the Barbican on 20 October.
“York is the gig that I’m worried about the least because there’s so much history in York,” he told Victoria.
“I’ve crawled through Roman sewers in York, I’ve excavated cemeteries in York, I’ve spent some time working in York over the years.”
The gig will see him chat with a famous historian, and then talk about the history of York. He’ll be shooting some video footage about the city to share with the audience too.