Dan Howell

Dan Howell

Howell in 2014
Personal information
Born Daniel James Howell
(1991-06-11) 11 June 1991
Wokingham, Berkshire, England
Nationality British
Occupation
  • YouTube personality
  • radio host
YouTube information
Channel name danisnotonfire
Years active 2009–present
Subscribers 5.7 million (May 2016)
Total views 525.1 million (May 2016)
Associated acts Phil Lester
Subscriber and view counts updated as of 1 May 2016.

Daniel James "Dan" Howell (born 11 June 1991)[1] is a British video blogger and radio personality. He is best known for his YouTube channel danisnotonfire, which has reached over 5 million subscribers. Together with frequent collaborator Phil Lester, Howell presented Sunday night entertainment show Dan and Phil on BBC Radio 1 from January 2013 until August 2014, and since September 2014 has been a monthly host on the station's Internet Takeover slot.

Personal life

Howell was born and raised in Wokingham, Berkshire.[2] He has a younger brother.[2]

Before starting his YouTube channel, he worked in retail chains Focus DIY at the age of 16, and later at supermarket Asda.[3] After attending The Forest School, Howell went to the University of Manchester in 2010 to study law, but dropped out in order to pursue video blogging as a profession.[2]

He currently lives in London with fellow YouTuber, BBC Radio 1 presenter and best friend Phil Lester,[4] and has since August 2011.[5]

During a YouNow live chat with fans in August 2015, in response to a query as to whether he was a feminist, he replied "absolutely" before criticising jokes, misunderstandings and ignorance surrounding feminism. He also described the ignorance surrounding feminism as "honestly terrifying and dangerous" and commented that the way in which feminism is viewed by general society makes him "panic for the future of humanity".[6]

Career

YouTube

Howell uploaded his first YouTube video titled "HELLO INTERNET" on 16 October 2009.[7] Howell was encouraged by "some friends" and Phil Lester to continually upload videos to the site.[2]

He also has a second channel, danisnotinteresting, which has over a million subscribers and 27.8 million views, as of November 2015.

In 2010 and 2011, Howell and Lester took part in the live, annual 24-hour internet broadcast "Stickaid" which is a fundraiser that encourages viewers to donate to the charity UNICEF.[8][9]

In 2012, Howell won the YouTube competition "SuperNote" run by Rhett and Link.[10] Howell also featured in the weekly video series Becoming YouTube created by Benjamin Cook which looked at the different aspects to becoming an internet celebrity.[11] He also wrote a blog for The Huffington Post, in which he wrote about the creative process behind making his videos.[12]

In November 2014, Howell won the Lovie Internet Video Personality of the Year, and accepted his award at the ceremony in London.[13]

Howell and Lester collaborated on a YouTube channel for My Damn Channel, entitled The Super Amazing Project, in which they investigated paranormal events.[14] In October 2014, it was announced that as of that month, the duo would not carry on working on the project, in order to concentrate on their Radio 1 show.[15] It was later announced that the Super Amazing Project would continue production, but hosted by different presenters, scouted by the My Damn Channel network.[15][16]

On 12 September 2014, Phil Lester and Dan Howell posted the first video on their new gaming YouTube channel, DanandPhilGAMES.[17] On 8 March 2015 the channel hit 1 million subscribers.[18] It was officially the fastest growing channel on YouTube.[19]

On 1 April 2015, Howell and Lester launched a spin-off channel, DanAndPhilCRAFTS, as an April Fools joke. It features a single video of them creating square snowflakes out of paper, with an amateur editing style and humour throughout. It reached over 154,000 subscribers and 500,000 total video views in one week.[20]

As of August 2015, his main YouTube channel, danisnotonfire, has 5 million subscribers and 344 million video views.[4][21]

BBC Radio 1

Main article: Dan and Phil

In January 2013, Howell and Lester became the presenters of BBC Radio 1's Sunday evening entertainment and request show.[22] They had occasionally worked with the station before, producing videos for the station's YouTube channel for Edinburgh Festival Fringe and presenting two Christmas broadcasts. The show was designed to be interactive with the audience, featuring amateur music videos from listeners, challenges performed on air by the presenters and song requests.[23] Four months after starting the show, it won the Sony Golden Headphones award.[24]

Howell and Lester presented at the Teen Awards in 2013 and 2014, as part of the BBC online coverage and their Radio 1 show.[25]

In August 2014, it was announced that the last Dan and Phil show would be broadcast on 24 August, with the duo moving to a different show on Monday nights, featuring other popular video bloggers.[26] This new show was titled The Internet Takeover, and featured Howell along with Lester live on the first Monday of every month, before coming to an end in April 2016.[27]

TV and film

Since 2014 Howell and Lester have hosted the worldwide YouTube livestream of the Brit Awards as well as making backstage videos for their channel.[28]

In 2015, Howell, along with Lester, had voice cameo appearances in the UK cinema release of Disney's movie Big Hero 6 as Technician 1 & 2.[29] However, this version is not in the UK home release.

On 2 February 2016 his BBC Three esports documentary The Supergamers aired.[30]

The Amazing Book Is Not On Fire and The Amazing Tour Is Not On Fire

On 26 March 2015, Howell and Lester announced they had written a book through a trailer on his channel called The Amazing Book Is Not on Fire.[31] It was released in the UK on 8 October 2015 and worldwide on 15 October 2015, published by Ebury Press and Random House Children's Books.[32] In relation to this, the pair embarked on a virtually sold out tour travelling around the UK during October and November 2015, named "The Amazing Tour Is Not on Fire".[33] On 22 April 2016 they are taking the tour to the US beginning at Playlist Live in Orlando, Florida.[34]

The book topped the General Hardbacks Sunday Times Bestsellers list having sold 26,745 copies in the UK in the first week of its release.[35] It also became a #1 New York Times Bestseller in the young adult hardcover list.[36][37]

Awards and nominations

Year Award Nominee Result
2013Sony Golden Headphones AwardDan and Phil on BBC Radio 1Won[38]
2014Teen Choice Award - Web CollaborationThe Photo Booth ChallengeNominated[39]
2014Lovie Internet Video Person of the Year AwardDan HowellWon[40]

References

  1. ↑ Howell, Dan. "@danisnotonfire". Twitter. Archived from the original on 1 October 2013. Retrieved 9 August 2015. thanks to everyone celebrating my 22nd year into the countdown of death!
  2. 1 2 3 4 Howell, Daniel. "Draw My Life - Dan Howell". YouTube. YouTube. Retrieved 29 April 2013.
  3. ↑ Dan Howell (29 February 2012). How I got fired (video) (YouTube). Retrieved 7 July 2015.
  4. 1 2 Perry, Alex (23 January 2013). "The Next Big Thing? Interview: Dan Howell (danisnotonfire)". The Huffington Post UK. Retrieved January 2013.
  5. ↑ Dan Howell (11 August 2011). HOT BOYS on Teen Cribz (video) (YouTube). Retrieved 9 August 2015.
  6. ↑ Dan Howell (18 August 2015). cheeky knee. YouTube.
  7. ↑ HELLO INTERNET. YouTube. 16 October 2009. Retrieved 7 July 2015.
  8. ↑ Danisnotonfire Interview: Stickaid 2011. YouTube. 2 October 2011.
  9. ↑ Phil and Dan love Stickaid!. YouTube. 4 September 2010.
  10. ↑ Howell, Daniel. "LLAMARMY ULTIMATE GALACTIC VICTORY". YouTube. YouTube. Retrieved 15 January 2013.
  11. ↑ Cook, Benjamin. "Anatomy of a YouTuber BECOMING YOUTUBE Video #1". YouTube. YouTube. Retrieved 15 January 2013.
  12. ↑ "Daniel Howell's Huffington Post blog". Huffingtonpost.co.uk. 12 December 2012. Retrieved 13 October 2013.
  13. ↑ "Dan Howell (Danisnotonfire)- Lovie Internet Video Person of the Year". The Lovie Awards.
  14. ↑ The Super Amazing Project (26 September 2011). "The Super Amazing Project". YouTube. Retrieved 27 February 2013.
  15. 1 2 Howell, Dan (1 October 2014). "Danisnotonfire on Facebook". Facebook. Retrieved 27 August 2015.
  16. ↑ Lester, Phil (1 October 2014). "@amazingphil on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved 27 August 2015.
  17. ↑ DanAndPhilGAMES. YouTube. Retrieved 7 July 2015.
  18. ↑ "Dan Howell on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved 7 July 2015.
  19. ↑ "SITC 2015". Retrieved 2015-11-04.
  20. ↑ "DanAndPhilCRAFTS". Retrieved 7 April 2015.
  21. ↑ "YouTube Stats". danisonfire. Youtube.com. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
  22. ↑ Lazarus, Susanna (9 November 2012). "Vernon Kay and Reggie Yates to leave Radio 1". Radiotimes.com. Retrieved 13 October 2013.
  23. ↑ Cooper, Ben (11 September 2012). "Radio 1 announces changes to its weekend schedule". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 13 October 2013.
  24. ↑ "The Sony Golden Headphones Award - winner announced!". Sony Golden Headphones Awards. Archived from the original on 20 December 2014.
  25. ↑ "BBC Radio 1 - Dan and Phil - Dan and Phil at the Teen Awards!". BBC. Retrieved 8 September 2015.
  26. ↑ Cooper, Ben. "New youth presenters for Radio 1". BBC. Retrieved 30 August 2014.
  27. ↑ "BBC - Radio 1 announces new student radio curated playlist show - Media Centre". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-05-02.
  28. ↑ "Dan & Phil at the BRITs | BRIT Awards 2014". BRIT Awards. Retrieved 8 September 2015.
  29. ↑ Sutton, Chris (6 January 2015). "Dan and Phil to appear in Big Hero 6". Retrieved 27 March 2015.
  30. ↑ "The Supergamers - BBC Three". BBC. Retrieved 2016-02-02.
  31. ↑ The Amazing Book Is Not On Fire – Reveal Trailer. YouTube. 26 March 2015. Retrieved 7 July 2015.
  32. ↑ Lester, Phil; Howell, Dan (13 October 2015). The Amazing Book Is Not On Fire. Random House Children's Books. ISBN 9781101939840. Retrieved 25 August 2015.
  33. ↑ The Dan and Phil BOOK & TOUR!. YouTube. 27 March 2015. Retrieved 8 September 2015.
  34. ↑ "Dan & Phil - The Amazing Tour Is Not On Fire". danandphiltour.com. Retrieved 2016-02-27.
  35. ↑ "dan hOGREwell on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved 2015-11-04.
  36. ↑ "Phil Lester on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved 2015-11-04.
  37. ↑ "Best Sellers - The New York Times". www.nytimes.com. Retrieved 2015-11-04.
  38. ↑ Lucey, Kate (13 May 2013). "Dan and Phil win a Sony Radio Academy Award all suited up". Sugar Scrape. Retrieved 9 October 2013.
  39. ↑ "Teen Choice Awards News". Retrieved 7 April 2015.
  40. ↑ "LOVIE INTERNET VIDEO PERSON OF THE YEAR". Lovie. Retrieved 7 April 2015.

External links

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