Literary Lunch: National Service beer helped to bring broadcaster closer to God's own county

He did, however, make up for it later on in life.

"I drank vast quantities of Yorkshire ale when I was stationed at Strensall in York for my National Service," the respected author and journalist told the audience at yesterday's Yorkshire Post Literary Lunch.

Mr Snow, whose arm-waving enthusiasm for election-night graphics on BBC television elevated him to near-cult status, was promoting his latest book, To War with Wellington, which looks at the people and influences responsible for turning the historic hero from a backward, sensitive schoolboy into the brilliant military commander who triumphed at the Battle of Waterloo.

"The Peninsular War is an extraordinary story. It's the first war in history to be written about by people who fought with Wellington," he explained. "There are accounts by young men and from the wives who travelled with them. We hear so much about the First and Second World Wars, but a 100 years earlier something equally important to national survival was going on – I think it's important to remember it."

Also speaking at the lunch was Matthew Hall, the creator of popular television crime dramas including Judge John Deed and Kavanagh QC.

His new novel, The Disappeared, sees the return of provincial coroner Jenny Cooper, as she examines the case of two young Muslim men who are declared legally dead after vanishing seven years earlier.

The former criminal barrister said he became disillusioned with the criminal system after seeing the same people coming through time and time again.

"In particularly it was the younger people, the teenagers," he explained. "Their time inside did nothing to change them."

The third speaker at yesterday's event, which took place at Pavilions of Harrogate, was Christopher Winn.

His book, I Never Knew That About Yorkshire, uncovers the hidden places, legends, secrets and characters from 'God's own county' and the writer, who has worked with the likes of Terry Wogan and Jonathan Ross, shared some of the secrets with 200-strong audience.

"England's most prolific hangman, Albert Pierrepoint, was a Yorkshireman," he said.

"Elastoplast was invented in Hull, and Leeds Bridge was the first place in the world to appear on moving film, back in 1898."