Peter Oakley

File:Geriatric1927.png

geriatric1927 from his Geriatric Gripes and Grumbles video

geriatric1927 is the pseudonym of Peter Oakley from Leicester, England, a pensioner born in 1927 who is known for his popularity on the video sharing website YouTube.

Making his YouTube debut in August, 2006 with a series of five-to-ten minute autobiographical videos entitled Telling it all, his posts gained immediate popularity with a wide section of the YouTube community, a leading member of the much-heralded Web 2.0 generation of web sites.

Amongs the autobiographical details revealed in his videos are the fact that he served as a radar mechanic during World War II, has had a lifelong love of motorcycles, and that he currently lives alone as a widower and pensioner in England.

His unforeseen and meteoric rise has been widely reported by international media outlets and online news sources and blogs, gaining YouTube much publicity along the way. Peter himself has so-far resisted all media attention (including requests for interviews, photographs, and attempts to identify him), insisting that he only wishes to converse with the YouTube community in an informal and personal way.

As of August 16, 2006, geriatric1927 was the most subscribed user on YouTube. His rise to the #1 position took place in just over a week. It is noteworthy that in the process he displaced users who had been around since the site's launch over a year prior, including the recently NBC-signed Brooke Brodack.

As of November 25, 2006 Peter has reached 30,000 Subscribers. He is currently 3rd overall on the 'Most Subscribed List' (third only to lonelygirl15 and smosh) while he is the second most subscribed director.

Telling it all

After Peter's introductory first try video (which has been viewed over 1.9 million times), he began producing his very successful autobiographical series, Telling it all. These pushed Peter into Internet celebrity almost overnight, gaining mention in various newsmedia, such as BBC News and GMTV, as well as prompting the creation of web sites bearing his user name. In 'Telling It All Part 7' Peter repudiated those sites, saying he was in no way affliated with them and had no say or control over the content.

In the series, Peter describes some of the major events and periods of his life, including:

• Growing up during World War II, and living as a young teen in a city that was bombed by the Luftwaffe
• His experience in the primary and secondary education system of England in the 1930s, and his fortunate (in his eyes) selection to have his education 'extended' past the age of 14, a privilege during the period reserved for children deemed to be intelligent.
• His conscription into the British Army, and again his fortunate selection to be a Radar technician, occurred as a consequence of the aptitudes his superiors detected in him. This role kept him out of combat, for which he is grateful, as he did not have to witness "the horrors of war", yet was nonetheless imperative for the war effort.
• His return to civilian life and the job he had left behind.
• A period of tertiary education in Leicester, England, where he met his future wife, and developed his passion for motorcycling.
• His employment in Leicester as a public health inspector.

Response from the public

Peter's videos have received mostly positive public response, with such replies as "I wish you were my grandfather" and "Your stories are interesting and enriching. Keep at it!". Negative and rude responses have generally been frowned upon by the YouTube community. Peter has been called "the coolest old dude alive" due to the fact that he is very computer literate for someone his age, and because of his use of personal Internet videocasting, which is fairly new and popular among the young. He is also praised on his grandpa-like style of storytelling which many viewers consider refreshing.

Peter's videos all begin with what has become his catchphrase, "Hello YouTubers..." or "Good Evening YouTubers..." and ends each video by thanking the viewer for watching and saying "goodbye" in his soft spoken voice.

As of 2006 September Peter had more than twenty thousand subscribers to his videocasts (the most subscribed that month and the second most subscribed of all time on YouTube).

Peter was featured in a recent Yahoo! Current Buzz (which chronicles the top searches on the Internet) installment titled "Retired and Wired."[1]

Involving the media worldwide

On August 17, 2006, Peter uploaded the next installment of his series, entitled "Telling it all 7", in which he made an important statement about how much attention he received from the media over the past couple of days. Unlike previous videos in the series, "Telling It All 7" was not an anecdote of his life, but focused solely on the media response he had gained. He mentioned that this is not what he sought or wanted. This video was leaked out to the media because somebody reportedly intended to publish these videos - without permission from Peter - for their own benefit. Also included in this upload was a clarification that any web sites using his username (geriatric1927) are in no way affiliated with him.

During the "Telling it all 7" video, he stated that he received many messages from advertising companies, telephone companies and newspaper companies that wanted to interview him. Peter, however, was not interested, preferring to speak only to his fellow Youtubers, whom he considers to be his friends.

A reluctant farewell

On August 22, 2006, Peter uploaded a video entitled "Telling it all 11" which began with the words "A reluctant farewell" on the screen. Unlike the previous 10 videos, Peter did not appear in this 11th installment, instead showing a still shot of the now-empty black office chair from which he created his videos each day. In this audio-only creation, Peter explained that he would be "quite busy in the near future," and would not be creating any more videos for upload to YouTube. Although specific reasons were not stated for his sudden departure, Peter did mention an incident earlier in his life in which he suffered a heart attack. In Peter's words, "...loads of old people have had heart attacks, and uh, we survive...we take our pills, and it's not the end of the world," but continuing that he became fatigued easily and felt it was time to take a break. In his final sign off, Peter assured his loyal viewers that he would still be around, watching their videos, reading their thousands of comments and messages, and watching their video responses to his. The video ends with his signature "Goodbye," and "The Great Pretender" playing in the background as the following message crosses the screen: "PLEASE UNDERSTAND THAT ANY WEBSITES THAT EXIST OR ANY THAT MAY BE POSTED ARE NOT MINE AND DO NOT HAVE MY APPROVAL." Although it was a reluctant farewell, Peter returned again when he posted "Telling it all part 12" in which he gave a quick hello to all his fans around Youtube and told them that he was still with them and reading all of their mostly positive comments. Peter did say that he will make videos in the future according to the suggestions his fans gave him.

Returning to YouTube

Peter returned on 30 August 2006 with Part 13 of the Telling It All series.

In Part 13, Peter mentions his experience of World War II and says that a chill still runs down his spine whenever he hears the siren which was prevalent in those times to signal an air raid.

In Part 14, he mentions about the attention the media is giving him and said again that he does not want all the publicity and would simply like to make videos to his beloved fans or "YouTubers". He said that he will continue with making more videos.

In Part 15 and 16, he talks more about his life and in 16, particularly, says thanks all of his fans and all of their support.

Geriatric1927 to appear on BBC programme

Airing on 16 Feburary, Geriatric1927 will make his first ever appearance on a television program, Peter was interviewed by the BBC this past Fall for an upcoming programme that will air on Februrary 16th on BBC2. Peter has a few other things that he's considering doing but still mostly shies away from the public attention.

See also

• Fame beyond YouTube

External links

• All videos by geriatric1927 can be found here.
• The official site of Peter (geriatric1927)
• Reuters UK
• Washington Post
• CNET News
• The Daily Mail