Peter Oakley

Peter Oakley
Born (1927-08-20)20 August 1927
Norwich, Norfolk, England
Died 23 March 2014(2014-03-23) (aged 86)
Bakewell, Derbyshire, England
Nationality British
Years active 2006–2014
Known for Vlogging, autobiography
Website http://askgeriatric.com

Internet information

Web alias(es) geriatric1927
Web hosting service(s) YouTube
Signature phrase "Hello, YouTubers" or "Good evening, YouTubers"

Peter Oakley (20 August 1927 – 23 March 2014) was a pensioner from Bakewell, Derbyshire, England. He was better known by his pseudonym geriatric1927 on the 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 that he served as a radar mechanic during World War II, that he had a lifelong love of motorcycles, and that he lived alone as a widower and pensioner.

His unforeseen rise has been widely reported by international media outlets and online news sources and blogs.[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, Oakley 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. In November that year he had 30,000 subscribers. By June 2012, Oakley had recorded over 350 videos.

Oakley was later diagnosed with cancer which was too far advanced for treatment. He posted his final video on 12 February 2014, and died a month later on the morning of 23 March 2014.[4]

Telling It All

After Oakley's introductory video, "first try" on YouTube, which has been viewed over 3 million times, he began producing his very successful autobiographical series, Telling It All. These pushed him into Internet celebrity almost overnight, gaining mention in various media, such as BBC News and GMTV, as well as prompting the creation of websites bearing his user name. In "Telling it all 7" on YouTube, 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

In early 2010, entertainer Al Chantrey - a friend of Oakley's and a fellow YouTube user - wrote and recorded a song for him which Oakley featured in several videos. The song, entitled 'Telling It All'[6] (based on Oakley's video series) talks about Oakley's life. On 5 March 2014 Chantrey posted the song on his own channel on YouTube, accompanied by video footage of Peter as a tribute following the announcement of his illness.[7]

The videos all begin with what has become his catchphrase, "Hello, YouTubers", or "Good evening, YouTubers", and end with his thanking 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".[8]

Influence

Oakley's YouTube success inspired other older people, particularly men with vast life experiences to share, to begin posting vlogs on it. Jonathan King credits him for starting his YouTube videos in 2006. 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. Another older person is Bernhard von Schwerin, who appears under the name bernie1927. He too was a World War II veteran, but on the German side. He was encouraged by Peter, and has talked about his youth and his many travels, and his emigration to the U.S. in 1951.

Oakley's influence has not just inspired the older generation. Artist Annemarie Wright, 31, was so inspired by Oakley's story that she dedicated a piece of artwork to him. The image is of Oakley to the lyrics of The Zimmers' version of 'My Generation'.

Media

On 17 August 2006, Oakley uploaded an 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 previous days. Unlike earlier 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 to the media because somebody reportedly intended to publish these videos—without permission from Oakley—for personal benefit. The upload included a clarification that any web sites using his username (geriatric1927) were in no way affiliated with him.[9] 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.

On 16 February 2007, Oakley made his first television appearance, on a special episode of the BBC's The Money Programme called "Coming to Your Screen: DIY TV". The program was taped in the autumn of 2006. He also featured in a radio interview for the BBC World Service.[10] In March 2007, Oakley announced that he was working on some television programmes about silver surfing.[11]

Oakley 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 pensioners in modern Britain. The single was released in May 2007 to raise money for the charity Age Concern. As part of The Zimmers, Oakley recorded a version of the Alan Parsons Project's song "Old and Wise".[12] His work with the band took him to Washington, D.C. in September 2007, as a guest of the American Association of Retired Persons.

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".

He 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.

Notes and references

  1. ↑ What to watch on the web: Video Blogs, BBC News, 27 November 2006 . Retrieved 29 December 2006.
  2. ↑ "geriatric1927's Youtube profile". Youtube.com. 24 July 2010. Retrieved 3 August 2010.
  3. ↑ Pensioner tops web video clips Alex Kumi, The Guardian, 14 August 2006
  4. ↑ "'Internet Grandad' Peter Oakley passes away aged 86 - ITV News". Itv.com. Retrieved 25 March 2014.
  5. ↑ Telling it All Series 2 - The Early War Years on YouTube posting 29 November 2013
  6. ↑ "" (8 November 2009). "Friends". YouTube. Retrieved 3 August 2010.
  7. ↑ "A tribute to Peter (Geriatric1927) - Telling It All". YouTube. 5 March 2014.
  8. ↑ "video.yahoo.com". video.yahoo.com. Retrieved 3 August 2010.
  9. ↑ Telling it all 7 - Something important to say youtube posting 17 August 2006
  10. ↑ "". "youtube.com". youtube.com. Retrieved 3 August 2010.
  11. ↑ "". "youtube.com". youtube.com. Retrieved 3 August 2010.
  12. ↑ "https://www.myspace.com/thezimmersband The Zimmers". Myspace.com. Retrieved 25 March 2014. External link in |title= (help)
Honorary titles
Preceded by
Brookers		 Most Subscribed Channel on Youtube Succeeded by
lonelygirl15
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