Louis Cole

Louis Cole

Cole at VidCon 2014
Personal information
Born Louis John Cole
(1983-04-28) 28 April 1983
Cobham, Surrey, United Kingdom
Nationality British
Occupation YouTube Personality
Religion Christian
YouTube information
Channel FunforLouis
Years active 2011–present
Subscribers 1.9 million
(19 March 2017)
Total views 251.7 million
(20 March 2017)
Subscriber and view counts updated as of 14 August 2016.

Louis John Cole (born 28 April 1983), better known by his online alias FunforLouis, is a British film-maker and YouTube personality from Cobham, Surrey, England. He has a following of over 1.8 million on YouTube and is best known for posting a daily video blog on the channel FunForLouis which documents his life and travels adventuring all over the globe. Cole originally found fame through filming eating stunts on another channel, FoodForLouis but has since taken these videos down to focus on the positive message and trajectory of FunForLouis where he encourages viewers to "Peace out, enjoy life and live the adventure".

Louis appeared on the BBC TV show called 'Homefront' when he was younger.[1]

In 2007 Cole purchased and renovated a double-decker bus, equipping it as a mobile centre to help homeless youth with music and video game facilities.[2] The Boombus project now receives funding from local council wards.[3]

Louis Cole announced his relationship with Raya Encheva with a video titled '1000th vlog w/ my girlfriend'.[4]

Discovery signed Cole to its Digital Seeker Network in 2015.[5]

Cole appeared on stage at The Photography Show talking about The Power of Social Photography on the 18 March 2017. While on stage he talked about being vegan.[6] Cole has been named a top travel influencer.[7][8]

Daily vlogs

Cole started to post daily vlogs on to his channel FunForLouis on 31 December 2012 with a video titled 'Pancakes and Bicycles | LA Trip Day 2'.[9] He has released over 1402 vlogs consecutively as of 28 May 2017. Through this, Cole has managed to gain over 1.92 million subscribers as of 28 May 2017.[10]

Live The Adventure

Louis Cole has a brand based on his slogan called Live The Adventure often referred to as LTA.

During Cole's talk at the 2017 Photography Show, he talked about LTA and explained that it was a social media, travel management agency. Cole indicated that Live The Adventure has seven employees and two offices in London and Cape Town.[6]

The first LTA travel summit was held at the YHA Hostel in South Downs, Lewes, UK on 6-9 January 2017.[11] Sony ran a photography seminar during the summit.[6]

Vehicles

Cole owns a number of vehicles around the world including two double-decker buses, a converted school bus, and a van. In late June 2017, Cole indicated he was going to purchase a plane although its currently unknown if this happened.

Other projects

Cole has a number of other projects beyond his Daily vlogs.

Find The Nomads

Find The Nomads was a clothing company founded by Cole, Steve Booker and Jake Evans. It was started on 9 May 2014 and dissolved on 28 June 2016[12]

Flying the Globe (working title)

Flying the Globe (working title) was announced as part of his signing with Digital Seeker Network. The project involved flying to 22 cities with his friend and pilot Juan-Peter Schulze (JP) over a period of 60 - 90 days. As of 2017 the status of this project is unknown.[5]

Solvey

In 2016, Louis with one of his good friends Dave Erasmus, a YouTuber and philanthropist, founded The Solvey Project.[13] [14]

Louis and Dave travelled to; Addis Ababa, Dubai, New Delhi, Shanghai, Tokyo, Rio and Reykjavik.

While on the trip, Iceland's Prime Minister, Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson stepped aside as PM amid the Panama Paper's scandal, jeopardising their planned meeting at the end of the trip.[15][16][17] Louis and Dave presented on stage at Social Progress - What Works? in Reykjavik, Iceland with then Prime Minister Sigurður Ingi Jóhannsson.[18]

Beyond Borders - A Film Celebrating Unity

On 22 March 2017, Cole announced on his YouTube channel that he is starting a Kick starter campaign to fund a documentary flying around the world called Beyond Borders - A Film Celebrating Unity with JP.[19] The £100,000 goal was reached before the kickstarter ended with a total amont of £111,563 raised by 1,666 backers.[20]

Controversy

2012

In 2012 the RSPCA launched a cruelty probe into Cole after a video on his FoodForLouis YouTube channel showed Louis eating a live goldfish.[21]

2013

After being away on a trip, Cole returned to the United Kingdom in 2013 and was arrested at Heathrow Airport after an arrest warrant had been issued for him. He vlogged as much as he was allowed and then talked about what happened on his vlog 'I got Arrested | Louis Cole Daily Vlogs 77'.[22]

2016

At the beginning of 2016 while driving in New Zealand with his girlfriend Raya, he was pulled over for speeding 41km/h over the speed limit. While the officer caught him travelling at 141 km/h (87 mph), he used discretion to officially register it as 139km/h. Since he was registered under 40km/h over the limit, under New Zealand law Cole received a NZD$400 fine instead of automatic loss of license. The story made national headlines in New Zealand.[23][24]

In August 2016, Cole was criticized for his vlogs from his visit to North Korea.[25] He was accused of promoting North Korea and his videos were described as propaganda for the North Korean regime.[26] He said he disagrees with the ideology of the regime and was not funded by their government.[27]

References

  1. ↑ My Jungle Bedroom | My Memories, 2013-03-09, retrieved 2017-03-24
  2. ↑ Johnathan Stayton. "Louis is on the right route to help youth". Get Surrey. Retrieved 4 May 2012.
  3. ↑ Poppy Bradbury. "Boom Bus offers bored youngsters something to do". Ealing Gazette. Retrieved May 4, 2012.
  4. ↑ 1000th VLOG W/ MY GIRLFRIEND, 2016-01-03, retrieved 2017-03-24
  5. 1 2 "GLOBAL TRAVELER LOUIS COLE BRINGS HIS ‘FUN’ TO DISCOVERY DIGITAL NETWORKS’ SEEKER". Discovery Digital Media. May 4, 2015.
  6. 1 2 3 The Power of Social Photography // Louis Cole, 2017-03-23, retrieved 2017-03-24
  7. ↑ Street, Francesca (June 27, 2017). "World's top 10 travel influencers, according to Forbes". CNN.
  8. ↑ "Top Influencers: Travel". Forbes. June 20, 2017.
  9. ↑ Pancakes and Bicycles | LA Trip Day 2 (video), retrieved 2015-11-19
  10. ↑ "funforlouis YouTube Stats, Channel Statistics - Socialblade.com". socialblade.com. Retrieved 2015-12-01.
  11. ↑ FIRST BUS SLEEP OVER!, 2017-01-08, retrieved 2017-03-24
  12. ↑ "Find The Nomads | UK Companies Register".
  13. ↑ Chhabra, Esha (April 22, 2016). "YouTubers FunForLouis And Dave Erasmus Embark On Global Journey To Fund Social Entrepreneurs". Forbes. Retrieved 2016-08-14.
  14. ↑ "Press Release | The Solvey Project". solvey.com. Retrieved 2017-03-24.
  15. ↑ Henley, Jon (5 April 2016). "Iceland PM steps aside after protests over Panama Papers revelations". The Guardian.
  16. ↑ "Iceland’s Prime Minister Steps Down Amid Panama Papers Scandal". The New York Times. 5 April 2016.
  17. ↑ FLYING TO DUBAI! (Video), 2016-04-08, retrieved 2017-03-24
  18. ↑ "Social Progress - What Works?". www.geothermalconference.is. Retrieved 2017-03-24.
  19. ↑ "Beyond Borders - A Film Celebrating Unity". Retrieved 2017-03-23.
  20. ↑ "Beyond Borders - A Film Celebrating Global Diversity by Louis Cole -- Kickstarter". Kickstarter.
  21. ↑ "RSPCA launch cruelty probe after man eats goldfish alive in shocking YouTube stunt". Daily Mail. 22 April 2012.
  22. ↑ I got Arrested | Louis Cole Daily Vlogs 77 (Video), 2013-03-29, retrieved 2017-03-24
  23. ↑ "'This is why so many Kiwis get killed by tourists' - outrage over YouTube star's speeding on NZ road". 1News. January 13, 2016.
  24. ↑ Walters, Laura (January 12, 2016). "British YouTube star caught going 141kmh in New Zealand". Stuff.co.nz.
  25. ↑ Lawson, Richard. "YouTube Stars Are Now Being Used for North Korean Propaganda". Retrieved 2016-08-18.
  26. ↑ reporter, Amelia Butterly Newsbeat. "Vlogger Louis Cole denies North Korea paid for videos of his trip". Retrieved 2016-08-18.
  27. ↑ Cresci, Elena (2016-08-18). "YouTube star Louis Cole denies making propaganda films for North Korea". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2016-08-18.
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