upright=1.35|thumb|start=1:16|end=1:45|Snagge (right) with [[Frits Thors during a conference in the Netherlands with Radio Oranje in 1946]]
John Derrick Mordaunt Snagge (8 May 190425 March 1996) was a British newsreader and commentator on BBC Radio. He began his radio career at Stoke-on-Trent's new relay station 6ST as assistant director and became one of the BBC's primary radio announcers in 1928. Snagge was the voice of the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race from 1931 to 1980 and was the announcer of important events of the Second World War and major British state occasions.
Early life and education
Born on 8 May 1904 in Chelsea, London, Snagge was the second son of the judge Mourdant Snagge and his wife Gwendaline Rose Emily Colomb. His paternal grandfather was Sir Thomas William Snagge, KCMG (1837–1914). His maternal grandfather was the British naval strategist, Sir John Colomb, KCMG (1838–1909). Snagge had a brother.
Career
Snagge then joined the British Broadcasting Company (BBC) from Oxford in December 1924, taking up the position of assistant director at Stoke-on-Trent's new relay station 6ST, that relayed programmes from London. His job at the station was to read news bulletins, ran a weekly programme using the Staffordshire Potteries and perform duets with the station's producer during the live children's programming strand Children's Hour.
In 1928, after the company became a chartered corporation, Snagge's voice and aptitude meant he was transferred to Savoy Hill, London by John Reith, the director-general of the BBC, to work as one of the corporation's main announcers alongside Stuart Hibberd, Starting from 1931, he commentated on the annual Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race on radio, Snagge also broadcast from a large bucket as he was lowered down an access shaft and into a drainage culvert by a crane at the Derwent Hills, Derby, providing commentary on the Derby Drainage Scheme. He broadcast from a bareback circus and from mid-air while jumping through a window. He was promoted to assistant director of the outside broadcast department in 1939.
At the start of the Second World War, Snagge was made the BBC's presentation director responsible for the corporation's announcing staff and delivered important radio announcements as the war unfolded. Patrick Newley of The Stage wrote Snagge made it possible for others such as Alvar Lidell to identify themselves on air. Snagge and his staff were responsible for studio continuity and dealing with wartime attacks. The year later, Snagge provided commentary for the film XIVth Olympiad–The Glory of Sport about the 1948 Summer Olympics in London. During the 1949 University Boat Race Snagge's voice filled with excitement and he reported: "I can't see who's in the lead but it's either Oxford or Cambridge".
In the early 1950s, Snagge played a role in negotiations that led to the radio comedy series The Goon Show being commissioned by the BBC. He was also the subject of many running gags during the show, and provided many self-parodying announcements, usually recorded. He also featured as himself in the episode The Greenslade Story, alongside regular announcer Wallace Greenslade. That October, he was allowed by the BBC to appear in the ITV documentary Home Front about the Second World War. He appeared as himself in an episode of the television series Hancock's Half Hour called The East Cheam Centenary in 1960 and also played himself in a 1961 episode of Here's Harry called The Request. Snagge retired from the BBC staff on 7 May 1965, but continued to provide commentaries for the Boat Race as a freelancer until 1980, read The Epilogue on BBC Radio 4 and ran a radio series called John Snagge's London that ran for more than 100 episodes on BBC Radio London from 1974 to 1981. Snagge also focused on charity work. He voiced the commentary on the Sex Pistols track, Pistols Propaganda, which appeared on the B-side of their single (I'm Not Your) Stepping Stone. Snagge was a three-time chairman of the Lord's Taverners (which he co-founded), its president on two separate occasions and its secretary from 1965 to 1967. Snagge was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1944 New Year Honours. He was married twice. She died in 1980. Snagge married, secondly, to former BBC colleague Joan Wilson on 6 January 1983. Snagge had no children from both of his marriages.