Jon Snow's 2011

Jon Snow turns his eye and mind back to an extraordinary 12 months of news in Britain and abroad, and reflects on how his own life has changed in the past year. 

This is not a classic compendium of major events but a very personal recollection of the stories which mattered to Jon Snow. Some he witnessed first hand; like the fall of Mubarak or the aftermath of the Japanese Tsunami. Others he covered from the studios of Channel 4 News - but all left their mark on him and millions of others.  

For Jon personally 2011 was the year of the social network and the year of the bicycle. Both have become vital to his work and both seemed to take off in a big way. It's also a year when his  own profession came under intense public scrutiny. And oh yes...  It's the year he appeared on Desert Island Discs and received an honorary degree from Liverpool University 45 years after the same University threw him out for student activism.

In this programme Jon bypasses the usual suspects - the politicians, commentators and diplomats - focussing instead on those directly affected or involved and talking in his own inimitable style to the people whose voices are not always heard when history is written.

Building on his reputation for warm, frank and honest commentary, Jon Snow's 2011 does what it says on the tin and gives Channel 4 viewers a uniquely personal take on an extraordinary 12 months of British and world news.