As I’m sure you’re aware I’ve just hit the big one million subscribers!
I can’t believe I’m actually here, it’s been an amazing journey that I’ll never
forget.
A few weeks ago I asked you on Facebook to ask me questions about myself.
So here’s another Q&A to celebrate this gargantuan milestone.
Mark asked, “What was your favourite video out of all the ones you’ve made.”
I’ve enjoyed making every video, it’s amazing how interesting even the most mundane
of topics can be once you learn a bit about it.
But my favourite was “Can You Live Forever?”, I found researching it absolutely fascinating.
When it comes to technology we live in a very prosperous time.
There’s so many mind-blowing studies going on, seeing how far we can push the human body
and reading about them really interested me.
Jack, Harshit, Nupur, Jordan, Cedar and Alex asked “How long does it take you to make
a video?”
About 3-6 days depending on the complexity of the topic, 70% of that is research, the
other 30% is made up of sourcing media, filming and editing.
Sarah and Christopher asked, “Why do you wear that certain suit in all your videos?”
It might seem like it but I don’t always wear a suit when I’m off-video.
I do however, like to dress smart whenever I can.
If someone goes to the effort of putting a suit on you know they’re fully committed
to the task in hand and it shows they mean business.
Just like if I worked in an office, when I “show up for work” every day and make
videos I want to look my absolute best for you guys.
You’ve gone to the effort of taking ten minutes out of your day to watch me and that
means a lot to me, so my way of saying thank you is looking as good as I possibly can for
you.
It’s not about trying to look intelligent or authoritative, it’s about giving you
the best experience I possibly can when you watch my videos.
Efren, Ross, Demix, and Eric asked “What do you do in your spare time?”.
I have two major hobbies, the first is photography.
I’ve been doing amateur photography for almost ten years now and I even did it professionally
for a short time but the whole business side of it tainted the enjoyment for me, so now
I do it strictly as a hobby.
My second hobby is cooking.
I love experimenting with food and combining simple, fresh ingredients.
For me cooking is almost a game, I like taking an ingredient and seeing what crazy things
I can do to it to really enhance the experience of eating it.
We eat everyday of our lives so we shouldn’t make eating a chore, it should be something
we look forward to and get excited about.
Alfred asked “Do you prefer to have facts around the US or outside the US?”
When it comes to facts I really don’t care what country it’s from.
I choose facts based on how interesting they are and nothing more, it’s as simple as
that, if the majority of my facts are based around the US, that’s only because it’s
an interesting country.
Sure at time I tend to focus my figures and statistics around America, but that’s only
because the majority of my viewers are American.
That’s also why I use dollars as a representative currency, even though I’m British, because
dollars are what the majority of my viewers are use to.
I try my best to make my videos friendly and accessible to people from every country, the
last thing I want to do is ostracize anyone.
Sheikh asked “Why did you decide to become a YouTuber?
And where would you be if you werne’t a YouTuber?”
I already answered why I became a YouTuber in my first Q&A, I’ll link to that in the
description.
But to answer your other question, what I would be doing if I weren’t a YouTuber?
It’s highly likely I would be a web developer.
When I was thirteen I taught myself basic HTML mark-up and CSS.
A few years later and I trained as a graphic designer in college, but I soon realised I
was more interested with the code working behind the scenes of a website than making
the frontend look pretty.
So whilst I was in college I taught myself other programming languages such as Python,
Java and C, mostly out of curiosity to see what I could do with them.
I’ve always found a certain beauty in code.
A few months after I started YouTube I was offered a web development job in Manchester
(a city in the north of England) and I had to make the tough decision between a safe
job in a cushy office or continuing making fascinating videos, which was what I really
wanted to do.
This was when my channel was still starting up and it was very uncertain whether anything
would actually become of it.
So I took a risk and chose YouTube.
Luckily I made the right decision and boy am I glad I did, because this whole experience
has been amazing.
I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
Bomi asked “Do you play video games?
If you do, what’s your favourite game?”
Yes of course, as a teenager I used to play a lot of video games.
Unfortunately, I don’t play any more, simply because it’s hard to find the time.
Very, very occasionally I get to kick back and play but, if I do have spare time, I prefer
to invest it into YouTube because I get a much bigger kick out of making videos than
shooting aliens.
My all time favourite game is Fallout 3, I just love the unnerving, dystopian feel to
it.
Maurice asked “Would you rather fight one horse-sized duck or 100 duck-sized horses?”
I’ve put some thought into this and I think I’d have to go with one horse-sized duck,
because at least I could always keep it within my field of vision.
Try doing that with 100 tiny horses, those sneaky little buggers could be up to anything
behind your back.
Keishla, Genese, Arie, Joris and Lorenzo asked “What music do you listen to?”
When it comes to music I’m very much stuck in the past.
I adore 60s and 70s music, specifically the British rock bands that were so typical of
the era.
The Beatles, The Kinks, Led Zepplin etc.
I’m also a big fan of folk-rock names such as Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Simon and Garfunkel
and Rodriguez.
Katie asked “What are your favourite books, and who are your favourite writers?”
It should come as no surprise that one of my favourite book series is the Hitchhiker’s
Guide series by Douglas Adams.
But I read very little fiction, I love factual books, I will happily read a book on any topic,
but I particularly like reading Physics books about stuff such as black holes, the universe
and relativity.
That being said one of my favourite wordsmiths is actually a fiction author, F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Best known for his novel The Great Gatsby.
The beautiful poetic prose meticulously crafted into each and every paragraph stayed with
me for years after I read it.
Matthew asked “What’s your favourite drink?”
My favourite drink is coffee, there’s quite simply nothing better than the smell of freshly
ground coffee beans in the morning.
But being British I also love tea, I know, so predictable.
In case you were wondering, my favourite alcoholic beverage is wine.
Liam asked “If you could have a superpower, what would it be?
And what would you do with it?”
I would love the power to be able to rapidly flick through a book and absorb all the knowledge
inside in a matter of seconds.
I love learning and that would just be incredible.
Okay I wouldn’t be able to beat up many villains with that superpower but I would
be able to deploy my superior knowledge to create computer learning algorithms that predict
were the villains will strike next then cowardly warn the police.
Yeah, that concept definitely needs some polishing before it’s made into a super-hero flick.
Andrew asked “When I was a child, what did I want to be?”
When I was really young I wanted to be a scientist but as I grew up I saw myself going into either
engineering or computer science, both fields always interested me and still do.
But as is usually the case, I ended up doing neither.
I really can’t thank you enough for helping me to reach such an amazing milestone.
Reaching one million subscribers is by far the most astonishing think I’ve ever accomplished
in my life, I just really can’t believe it’s happened to me, so thank you and here’s
to many more years of Thoughty2.