| Peter Oakley | |
| Background information | |
|---|---|
| Born | August 20, 1927 Leicester, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Spouse(s) | Widower |
| Internet activity | |
| Web alias(es) | geriatric1927 |
| Period active | 2006- |
| Host service(s) | YouTube |
| Genre(s) | Vlogging, autobiography |
| Signature phrase | "Hello, YouTubers" or "Good evening, YouTubers" |
| Official site | www.askgeriatric.com |
Peter Oakley (born 20 August 1927) is a pensioner from Leicester, England. He is better known by his pseudonym geriatric1927 on the popular video sharing website YouTube.[1]
Making his YouTube debut in August 2006 with Telling it all, a series of five- to ten-minute autobiographical videos, Oakley gained immediate popularity with a wide section of the YouTube community.[2] Amongst the autobiographical details revealed in his videos are the fact that he served as a radar mechanic during World War II, that he has had a lifelong love of motorcycles, and that he lives alone as a widower and pensioner in England.
His unforeseen rise has been widely reported by international media outlets and online news sources and blogs, gaining YouTube much publicity along the way.[3] After resisting all media attention for a long time (including requests for interviews, photographs, and attempts to identify him), insisting that he only wished to converse with the YouTube community in an informal and personal way, Oakley finally gave his first interview, for the BBC's The Money Programme, which was aired on BBC Two on 16 February 2007.
By mid 2006, geriatric1927 was the most subscribed user on YouTube. His rise to the #1 position took place in just over a week. In the process, he displaced users who had been around since the site's launch over a year before, including NBC-signed Brooke Brodack.
Oakley had 30,000 subscribers as of November 25, 2006, and over 47,000 subscribers as of April 19, 2008. He ranks 48th most subscribed and is the 26th most subscribed "Director" on YouTube. As of October 22, 2009, Oakley has over 200 videos on YouTube under the pseudonym geriatric1927.
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After Oakley's introductory video, "first try", which has been viewed 2,828,095 times as of November 29, 2009, he began producing his very successful autobiographical series, Telling it all. These pushed him 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 7", Oakley repudiated those sites, saying he was in no way affiliated with them and had no say or control over their content.
In the series, Oakley describes some of the major events and periods of his life, including
Oakley'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. Oakley has been called "the coolest old dude alive" because 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 warm, "grandpa-like" style of storytelling, which many viewers consider refreshing.
The videos all begin with what has become his catchphrase, "Hello, YouTubers", or "Good evening, YouTubers", and end with his thanking the viewers for watching and saying "Good-bye" in his soft voice.
Oakley was featured in a recent installment Yahoo! Current Buzz (which chronicles the top searches on the Internet), entitled "Retired and Wired".[4]
On August 17, 2006, Oakley uploaded the next installment of his series, "Telling it all 7", in which he made an important statement about how much attention he had 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 Oakley—for personal benefit. Also included in this upload was a clarification that any web sites using his username (geriatric1927) were in no way affiliated with him.[5]
In "Telling it all 7", he stated that he had received many messages from advertising companies, telephone companies, and newspaper companies that wanted to interview him. Oakley, however, was not interested, preferring to speak only to his fellow YouTubers, whom he considered his friends.
Oakley's YouTube success inspired other older people, particularly men with vast life experiences to share, to begin posting vlogs on it. A notable user influenced by Oakley was a World War II veteran, Martin H Slobodkin (1920–2006), who under the name MHarris1920 started to post his own blogs. Martin died in October 2006, and received an outpouring of tributes from other YouTube users after his wife, Teresa posted a video announcing his death. His widow temporarily took over his blogs, but later closed this account.
On 16 February 2007, geriatric1927 made his first television appearance, on a special episode of The Money Programme called "Coming to Your Screen: DIY TV". It was produced by the BBC, who coincidentally became incorporated in the same year as Oakley's birth, 1927. The program was taped in the autumn of 2006.
He has also featured in a radio interview for the BBC World Service.[6]
On 14 March 2007, Oakley announced that he was working on some television programmes about silver surfing.[7]
Oakley also was part of a BBC documentary in which he was recruited as one of The Zimmers, a group of pensioners whom the documentary maker Tim Samuels brought together to sing The Who's classic "My Generation" to highlight the plight of old-age pensioners in modern Britain. The single was released in May 2007 to raise money for the charity Age Concern.
The Zimmers MySpace page has revealed that Oakley will be recording a version of the Alan Parson's Project's song "Old and Wise", further information to be provided as the date of recording draws near.
Oakley's work with The Zimmers took him to Washington, D.C., in September 2007 as a guest of the American Association of Retired Persons. Details are at his website.
Oakley may have attended the 2008 World Economic Forum, in Davos, Switzerland, 23–27 January 2008, where the topic was "The Power of Collaborative Innovation".
Oakley appeared in a simulated vlog used as a TV advertisement for Telecom New Zealand starting in August 2008, talking about that company's Internet protection suite.
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