Indy Neidell
Neidell smiling against a red curtain, facing right
Neidell in 2018
Born (1967-09-28) 28 September 1967 (age 56)
Pennsylvania, U.S.[1]
Education
Occupations
  • Actor
  • documentarian
  • writer
  • YouTube personality

Indiana Neidell (born 28 September 1967) is an American-Swedish documentarian, historian, actor, voice actor, musician and YouTube personality, best known for presenting the video series, The Great War on The Great War Channel[3][4] which documented World War I in real time using modern research, various secondary sources and archival footage.[5][6] A similar project, World War Two (about World War II), began in September 2018.[7] Neidell is also a writer and actor with credits that include Metropia and numerous commercials in Europe, as well as video game voice-acting.[4]

Early life and education

Neidell was born in Pennsylvania, and moved to Houston when he was nine months old. Neidell attended St. John's School, graduating in 1985.[4] He studied history at Wesleyan University.[2][8] As a teenager, he worked at a grocery store.[9]

During an episode of World War Two, Neidell stated that his mother, Joy, was born in Egypt in 1940 to his grandfather Basil. Basil was originally from the United Kingdom and eventually moved to Egypt working for the Egyptian Ministry of Education. During World War II he joined the Royal Air Force. At some point after the war, he became the Secretary of the International Lawn Tennis Federation.[10]

Career

Early career

During 2021, the TimeGhost History YouTube channel revealed information about Neidell's career prior to hosting Watch Sunday Baseball through posts in the Community section.[11] He met Spartacus Olsson around the year 2000 at a bar on the island of Mallorca and they worked together on several media projects. In addition, Neidell played with Swedish musician Moneybrother for several years.[12]

Mediakraft and The Great War series

Neidell was approached by Mediakraft, the producers of The Great War, to host the series after they saw a series of videos he had produced between May and September 2013 about the history of baseball, entitled Watch Sunday Baseball.[13] The Great War spin-off YouTube channel "It's History" also featured Neidell as a guest host for episodes on famous military campaigns.

The Great War project officially ended on 11 November 2018, exactly 100 years after the signing of the Armistice at Compiègne which formally ended all hostilities in the First World War. Neidell stated in his finale video that the channel will continue to release some episodes about events following the First World War. As for himself, Neidell has moved on to focus on other projects, such as the aforementioned World War II series.

TimeGhost History

Neidell would launch the TimeGhost History YouTube channel in June 2017 with Spartacus Olsson, the creator of The Great War and the producer of it for its first two years. The first feature was day-by-day coverage of the Cuban Missile Crisis, 55 years to the day after the event. In April 2018, they launched the "Between 2 Wars" series to recap the Interwar period. During September 2020, TimeGhost announced in a YouTube video on their channel that a second season of Between 2 Wars would be launched;[14] named "Zeitgeist" with the first episode being released in October 2020.[15]

World War Two

With The Great War project coming to a close in November 2018, Indy Neidell and Spartacus Olsson prepared for an equivalent YouTube project focusing on World War II, which they would produce themselves through their own TimeGhost channel (unlike The Great War) with a projected start date for 1 September 2018. Accounting for the war's longer duration and larger scope for this independent project without the participation of Mediakraft Networks, it is a collaboration of various channels: TimeGhost will focus on a weekly series on the general historical events of the war in the European and Pacific Theatres of the war. To raise the money need for the project, a successful Kickstarter campaign was launched which raised $63,816 (€54,380).[16] With those funds available, a new studio was built from the ground up in its own building and arrangements were made with media providers such as Reuters News Service for archival footage.[17]

The series also has an Instagram account which runs parallel to it and follows the events of World War II on a day-by-day basis.[18] The series also has a Twitter account which follows the events of the World War II, with discussions on relevant parallels drawn between World War II and the present as well as myth-busting common misconceptions. As of 9 February 2024, the YouTube channel has received 174,000,000+ views and has over 866,000 subscribers.[19]

Sabaton

In February 2019, Neidell teamed up with Swedish heavy metal band Sabaton for a project called Sabaton History, for which he is the host and writer. The series documents the historical events surrounding the band's songs. He also portrayed T. E. Lawrence in the music video for Sabaton's song "Seven Pillars of Wisdom"[20] and Adrian Carton de Wiart in the music video for Sabaton's song "The Unkillable Soldier".[21]

Personal life

Neidell left the United States in January 1993, living in New York City prior to moving to Europe. He lived in Prague for several years before leaving the city. After leaving Prague, Indy spent time living in Budapest, Istanbul, London and Edinburgh before eventually moving to Stockholm in 1996 where he has lived since.[1][22] He has dual citizenship of the United States and Sweden.[23] Neidell is a member of the European chapter of the Society for American Baseball Research and a supporter of the Houston Astros.[24]

References

  1. ^ a b "Interview with Indy Neidell I The Great War - Special". YouTube. September 19, 2015. Retrieved January 1, 2021.
  2. ^ a b "100 Notable Alumni of Wesleyan University [Sorted List]". EduRank.org - Discover university rankings by location. August 11, 2021. Retrieved March 7, 2024.
  3. ^ "The Great War". YouTube.
  4. ^ a b c Brown, Steven (September 4, 2014). "Houstonian hosted 'The Great War' series on Youtube". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved August 11, 2019.
  5. ^ "This Documentary Is Telling the Story of World War I in Real Time - VICE - United States". VICE. August 30, 2016.
  6. ^ "WWI YouTube Series Builds A Week-By-Week Horror Story". NPR.
  7. ^ "World War Two". YouTube.
  8. ^ Brown, Steven (September 4, 2014). "Houstonian hosts 'Great War' series on Youtube". Houston Chronicle. Archived from the original on October 14, 2023. Retrieved March 13, 2024.
  9. ^ "What Happens after WW2, and get Collectibles!". YouTube. April 17, 2021.
  10. ^ "The Enigma of Germany's Wartime Economy - WW2 - 022 - January 26 1940". YouTube. World War Two. January 26, 2020.
  11. ^ "TimeGhost History - YouTube". YouTube. Retrieved March 19, 2021.
  12. ^ "TimeGhost History - YouTube". YouTube. Retrieved March 19, 2021.
  13. ^ Neidell, Indiana. "Watch Sunday Baseball". YouTube. Retrieved May 17, 2018.
  14. ^ "Between 2 Wars is Back!". YouTube. September 30, 2020. Retrieved March 21, 2021.
  15. ^ "War, Cinema, and Cheese! | B2W: Zeitgeist! | E.01 - Harvest 1918". YouTube (video). October 28, 2020.
  16. ^ "TimeGhost – Online Historical Documentaries & WWII Coop". Kickstarter. Retrieved February 25, 2019.
  17. ^ TimeGhost History (August 31, 2018), World War 2 in Real Time w. Indy Neidell started on Sep 1 2018, retrieved February 25, 2019
  18. ^ "World War Two – Online Series (@ww2_day_by_day) • Instagram photos and videos". instagram.com. Retrieved January 9, 2022.
  19. ^ "World War Two - YouTube". YouTube.
  20. ^ "Sabaton - Seven Pillars of Wisdom (Official Music Video)". YouTube. December 21, 2019. Retrieved December 22, 2019.
  21. ^ "SABATON - The Unkillable Soldier (Official Music Video)". YouTube. February 11, 2022. Retrieved February 11, 2022.
  22. ^ "This Documentary Is Telling the Story of World War I in Real Time". Vice. August 30, 2016.
  23. ^ "Carolus Rex - Charles XII of Sweden - Sabaton History 084 [Official]". YouTube. September 10, 2020. Retrieved September 10, 2020.
  24. ^ admin. "Bert Blyleven Chapter – Society for American Baseball Research". Retrieved April 22, 2022.

External links

  • The Great War
  • World War Two
  • TimeGhost History