Jon Snow, 75, on late fatherhood: Channel 4 News veteran says its ‘not really different from being a grandad’

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The Channel 4 veteran is ‘at complete ease with late fatherhood’

Channel 4’s Jon Snow has spoken out about becoming a father in his 70s following the birth of his boy via surrogate. The former news anchor said: “Is being a grandad different to being a dad? Not really.”

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Snow and his wife, Zimbabwean academic Precious Lunga, welcomed Tafara into the world in March 2021. The pair had previously struggled with “medical setbacks and miscarriages”.

Snow - who was born in Ardingly, Mid Sussex - also has two daughters from his 35-year-relationship with human rights lawyer Madeleine Colvin. The veteran broadcaster told the Saga Exceptional publication: “There are three very small people in my life – two grandsons, aged one and three, and a son, Tafara, who is two going on five.

“Having him (Tafara) was not easy but we persisted because, at 48, my wife is a good deal younger than me, and she very much wanted and deserved a baby. “When he was born, life felt complete.

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“I’m at complete ease with late fatherhood. I don’t feel I’ll drop him, I don’t feel exhausted,” he added. “I haven’t found age relevant to my relationship with my son or grandsons. Is being a grandad different to being a dad? Not really. In the end, it’s all love, isn’t it?”

Snow also spoke about how his relationship with his own father has impacted his parental style. “He was the Bishop of Whitby – 6ft 7in tall and even taller in full regalia,” he said.

“I’m 6ft 4in now, but only 4ft 6in as an eight or nine-year-old child, when it really mattered.

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“I found him pretty scary and remote at that time, and my being sent to public school didn’t bring us any closer.

Channel 4’s Jon Snow has spoken out about becoming a father in his 70s following the birth of his boy via surrogate.Channel 4’s Jon Snow has spoken out about becoming a father in his 70s following the birth of his boy via surrogate.
Channel 4’s Jon Snow has spoken out about becoming a father in his 70s following the birth of his boy via surrogate. | Getty Images

“The idea of taking a child out of the family to educate them strikes me now as bonkers,” he continued. “How wonderful it might have been to sit down to do homework with my father. Never once was I able to say, ‘Dad, two and two are really four?’.”

Snow says his dad only intervened in his education to agree with negative reports from the teachers. “Unlike Precious, who is Cambridge-educated and the boffin in our relationship, I wasn’t bright at school,” he said.

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