Latest YouTube Star: a 79-year-old Englisman called geriatric1927
A little over a week ago an English pensioner calling himself Geriatric1927 set himself up a YouTube and began uploading five minute video blog posts.
Already the video-sharing community's members have taken to him and he has found an enthusiastic audience, notching up over 430,000 views of his videos, approaching 7,000 subscribers and almost 9,000 comments (mostly positive).
A widower who lives alone and whose real name is Peter, Geriatric1927 was taken aback by the positive reaction from the mainly younger users of YouTube, coming close to tears as he said how moved he was to receive over 4,000 emails, subscribers and video "responses" to his work.
Peter started his YouTube videos with a couple of experiments, took some school governors to task about an overreaction to a vicar who kissed a girl on the forehead at a fete, before settling into his stride with a series called "Telling it all", recounting excerpts from his life story.
The man is a technology enthusiast, who proudly tells of making many friends on MSN Messenger and Skype prior to his YouTube experiment. His personal profile says:
I am a widower living alone in the county in the middle of England Uk. My life has been very varied but my love of motorcycles has remained with me all of my life (no, I don't have piercings or tattoo [sic]
His posts are peppered with admiration for the creativity of people on YouTube and optimism for the future of online culture.
It's a striking (and charming) demonstration of the power of the new medium to unleash creativity of individuals, all the more emphatic for geriatric1927's being so very different to the so-far typical YouTube auteur.
What a story. Can't believe he has co many viewers.
Posted by: Drew B | 13/08/2006 at 16:38
Maybe it demonstrates a demand for diversity from video bloggers. It possibly has a lot to do with the man's charm. Doubtless there's some novelty value too, but it is still interesting how far and fast the content has spread.
Posted by: Antony Mayfield | 13/08/2006 at 16:48
Fantastic! This would be a great way of teaching younger generations about older ones and sharing experiences. Age Concern or some other NGO should look into a project focussed on YouTube and other social media.
Posted by: Simon Collister | 13/08/2006 at 16:53
Having watched the first vid... what a great way of keeping people living alone in touch with a wider, international community too!
Posted by: Simon Collister | 13/08/2006 at 16:56
Good idea. Maybe some cross-posting with the BBC's The Time When site? Actually, it's probably in the planning already I would imagine.
Posted by: Antony Mayfield | 13/08/2006 at 17:12
HEY THERE PETER IM RACHEL IN NEW ZEALAND .I HAVE JUST WATCHED THE ONE NEWS HERE AND SEEN YOU ON IT HENCE WHY IM WRITING TO YOU.I HAVE A DAUGHTER WITH HEART DISEASE SO I AM A HOME MUM ,SO I APPRECIATE ACTUALLY HAVING SOMETHING REAL TO WATCH.YOU ROCK ON HAVE FUN AND BE GOOD
Posted by: rachel | 15/08/2006 at 01:35
Rachel
The comment you left on my blog for Peter would be better attached to one of his videos on YouTube. Just go to this link (http://www.youtube.com/profile_comment_post?user=geriatric1927 )and you can comment there.
Thanks
Antony
Posted by: Antony Mayfield | 15/08/2006 at 08:52
This is so touching. Thanks for sharing it!
Posted by: Jackie Danicki | 17/08/2006 at 10:00
hola soy argentina. felicito por la pagina realizada. me gustaria que alguien hiciera la traduccion en castellano asi los de habla hispana la pueden entender.adios
Posted by: silvia | 08/11/2006 at 02:44