Dan Howell

Dan Howell

Howell in 2014.
Born Daniel James Howell
11 June 1991[1]
Nationality British
Years active 2009–present
Notable work The Photo Booth Challenge, I Will Go Down with This Ship, The Super Amazing Project, Reasons Why Dan's A Fail
Home town Wokingham, Berkshire, England, United Kingdom

Internet information

Web alias(es) danisnotonfire
danisnotinteresting
Signature phrase "Hello internet!"
Website
www.youtube.com/user/danisnotonfire

Daniel James "Dan" Howell (born 11 June 1991) is an English video blogger and radio personality. He is best known for his YouTube channel danisnotonfire, which reached 4 million subscribers. Together with Phil Lester, Howell presented Dan and Phil on BBC Radio 1 from January 2013 until August 2014, and since September 2014 has been one of the presenters on the station's The Internet Takeover slot.

Personal life

Howell was born and raised in Wokingham, Berkshire.[2] Before starting his YouTube channel, he worked in retail chains Focus DIY and Asda. 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 friend Phil Lester.[3]

Career

YouTube

Howell uploaded his first YouTube video titled "HELLO INTERNET" on 16 October 2009.[4] Howell was encouraged by friends such as Phil Lester to upload videos to the site.

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

In 2012, Howell won the YouTube competition "SuperNote" run by Rhett and Link.[5] 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.[6] He also wrote a blog for The Huffington Post in which he wrote about the creative process behind making his YouTube videos.[7]

In November 2014, Howell won the Lovie Internet Video Personality of the Year, and accepted his award at the ceremony in London.[8]

Howell and Lester collaborated on a YouTube channel for My Damn Channel, The Super Amazing Project,[9] in which they investigated paranormal events. Howell announced his and Lester’s departure from The Super Amazing Project on 1 October 2014.

On September 12th 2014, Phil Lester and Dan Howell posted the first video on their new gaming YouTube channel, DanandPhilGAMES .[10] On March 8th 2015 the channel hit 1 million subscribers.[11]

On 1 April 2015, Howell launched a spin-off channel, DanAndPhilCRAFTS, as an April Fools joke. It features a single video of him and Lester creating square snowflakes out of paper (called "squareflakes" by the duo), with an amateur editing style and humour throughout. It reached over 154,000 subscribers and 500,000 total video views in one week.[12]

As of 7 April 2015, his main YouTube channel, danisnotonfire, has more than 4.59 million subscribers and 333 million video views.[3][13]

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.[14] 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.[15] Four months after starting the show, it won the Sony Golden Headphones award.[16]

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

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.[17] This new show is entitled The Internet Takeover, and features Howell along with Lester on the first Monday of every month.

TV and film

In 2013 and 2014, Howell and Lester presented backstage coverage at the Brit Awards.

In 2015, Howell, along with Lester, had voice cameo appearances in Disney's movie Big Hero 6 as Technician 1 & 2[18]

The Amazing Book Is Not On Fire

On 26 March 2015, Dan and Phil announced they had written a book [19] [20] to be released on 8 October 2015. As the official Amazon page[21] for the book says, " We are Dan and Phil and we invite you on a journey inside our minds! From the stories of our actual births, to exploring Phil’s teenage diary and all the reasons why Dan’s a fail. Learn how to draw the perfect cat whiskers, get advice on what to do in an awkward situation and discover which of our dining chairs represents you emotionally. With everything from what we text each other, to the time we met One Direction and what really happened in Vegas...".

In relation to this, the pair have also announced a tour travelling all over the UK during October and November 2015- "The Amazing Tour Is Not On Fire".

Awards and nominations

Year Award Nominee Result
2013Sony Golden Headphones AwardDan and Phil on BBC Radio 1Won[22]
2014Teen Choice Award - Web CollaborationThe Photo Booth ChallengeNominated[23]
2014Lovie Internet Video Person of the Year AwardDan HowellWon[24]

References

  1. ↑ Howell, Dan (11 June 2013). "thanks to everyone celebrating my 22nd year into the countdown of death! ...". Twitter. Retrieved 13 June 2013
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Howell, Daniel. "Draw My Life - Dan Howell". YouTube. YouTube. Retrieved 29 April 2013.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Perry, Alex (23 January 2013). "The Next Big Thing? Interview: Dan Howell (danisnotonfire)". The Huffington Post UK. Retrieved January 2013.
  4. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3q26mIsk1M&list=UUGjylN-4QCpn8XJ1uY-UOgA
  5. ↑ Howell, Daniel. "LLAMARMY ULTIMATE GALACTIC VICTORY". YouTube. YouTube. Retrieved 15 January 2013.
  6. ↑ Cook, Benjamin. "Anatomy of a YouTuber BECOMING YOUTUBE Video #1". YouTube. YouTube. Retrieved 15 January 2013.
  7. ↑ "Daniel Howell's Huffington Post blog". Huffingtonpost.co.uk. 12 December 2012. Retrieved 13 October 2013.
  8. ↑ "Dan Howell (Danisnotonfire)- Lovie Internet Video Person of the Year". The Lovie Awards.
  9. ↑ The Super Amazing Project (26 September 2011). "The Super Amazing Project". YouTube. Retrieved 27 February 2013.
  10. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/user/DanAndPhilGAMES
  11. ↑ https://twitter.com/danisnotonfire/status/574591780903108608
  12. ↑ "DanAndPhilCRAFTS". Retrieved 7 April 2015.
  13. ↑ "YouTube Stats". danisonfire. Youtube.com. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
  14. ↑ Lazarus, Susanna (9 November 2012). "Vernon Kay and Reggie Yates to leave Radio 1". Radiotimes.com. Retrieved 13 October 2013.
  15. ↑ Cooper, Ben (11 September 2012). "Radio 1 announces changes to its weekend schedule". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 13 October 2013.
  16. ↑ "The Sony Golden Headphones Award - winner announced!". Sony Golden Headphones Awards. Archived from the original on 20 December 2014.
  17. ↑ Cooper, Ben. "New youth presenters for Radio 1". BBC. Retrieved 30 August 2014.
  18. ↑ Sutton, Chris (6 January 2015). "Dan and Phil to appear in Big Hero 6". Retrieved 27 March 2015.
  19. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lN-QBnrdGUA
  20. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huAYjF2FY9c
  21. ↑ http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Amazing-Book-Not-Fire/dp/1785031090/ref=zg_bs_books_2
  22. ↑ Lucey, Kate (13 May 2013). "Dan and Phil win a Sony Radio Academy Award all suited up". Sugar Scrape. Retrieved 9 October 2013.
  23. ↑ "Teen Choice Awards News". Retrieved 7 April 2015.
  24. ↑ "LOVIE INTERNET VIDEO PERSON OF THE YEAR". Lovie. Retrieved 7 April 2015.

External links