
Instructions
Preparation
In April 2007, a 16-year-old boy named Charlie McDonnell was studying for his exams. But he was bored, so he turned on his laptop computer. He found a website called YouTube and watched a video of another teenager like him. The teenager was sitting in his bedroom and talking about how bored he was. “I can do better than that!” thought Charlie. So he used his laptop and webcam to make his first video, and posted it on YouTube under the name Charlieissocoollike.
YouTube started in 2005 and is now the world’s largest video website. More than 3 billion videos are watched every day on YouTube and a large number of those are video blogs. These are simply videos of people talking to a camera about their lives or things that interest them.
Two days after Charlie posted his first video, he had 150 subscribers, so he decided to make more videos. He soon became quite popular. A few months later, Oprah Winfrey, the famous American TV host, showed one of his videos called How to be English on her programme. In this video, Charlie wears a suit and tie and talks in a funny accent. He shows viewers how to make a cup of tea. Charlie suddenly became very famous in the United States too.
To say thank you to all his fans he made a video called Challenge Charlie, asking people to suggest funny or difficult things for him to do in his videos. Challenges included drinking tomato ketchup, wearing all of his clothes at once and painting himself purple!
Charlie is also a singer and songwriter. His most popular videos are of him singing and playing the ukelele. In Duet with Myself, he uses special effects to sing a duet with himself about what a boring person he is. This has now been watched over 7 million times!
Charlie’s best friend, Alex Day, is also a musician and video blogger. They met through YouTube and started a band together. The band is called Chameleon Circuit, and they have made two CDs and performed several concerts.
With more than one and a half million subscribers, Charlie is the most popular video blogger in the UK. He has now made enough money to buy a house with his friend Alex. But what is the secret of his success? “I make the kind of videos that I want to watch,” he says. And when asked how fame has affected him, Charlie says, "I still sit in my bedroom talking to my camera, and that's what I want to do."
Oh, and how did Charlie do in his exams back in 2007? Well, he passed with nine A grades and one B! He says that he wants to go to university in the future but decided to try and make a career on YouTube before that. So, far, it’s going very well!
Brendan Dunne
Worksheets and downloads
Discussion
What's your favourite Charlie McDonnell video? Why do you like it?
Comments
This article is very interesting, but i have never heard of charlieissocoollike before, maybe it's because I don't watch vlogs too often but I love watching Maddie Moate's vlogs.
charlie is sooooooo cool <3
i really love his videos ..... especially the one which he tries to say some words in american accent in . i've watched that video over and over for thousend times :)))))
charlie is one of my favourite vloggers and i really wish him good luck in his future vedios <3<3
I've never heard for him.When I read this article I understood that Charlie doesn't like to give up.Even when he's got only 150 subscribers he understood that it is necessary to shoot more videos.To sum up it's a boy who gets the job done.
I don't know anything about Charlie. But this article is not only interesting but also instructive.
He is cool, his videos have good quality
I never see "Charlieissocoollike".... but watch "Hi I'm German"
I have not seen any video of Charlie but my favourite blogger is called Dan_TDM, he makes videos of him playing videogames and I really like it. Sometimes is funny when you do not have anything to do.
that's good story for anyone to be famous
Hi , i want to know what is the best way to learn english ???
Hi Rika,
That's a very good, but difficult, question. There are lots of ways to improve your English. We have a lot of material here on the website as a starting point. Also, there's a lot of good advice in our Exams section. Have a look around the site and do some activities to practise and improve your level and then if you have more specific questions, just ask.
Best wishes, Jo (LearnEnglish Teens Team)
I have never seen his video
.
i haven't seen any of his videos!
i likehis videos and he is very cool
I see the youtube video.It is very funy.
music is my life
I dont see video Charlie McDonnell
Thank you,JoEditor!
I see Charlie McDonnell.
so interresant.... i like :)
I love music...music is my life....i listen to music at night....
Too bad...youtube and google are such good websites for me to pass time
It's been awhile that I follow the channel of Charlie. He is amazing.
I like this story.It is really interesting and easy to understand....!!:)
I don't see video. CHARLIE MCDONNELL
Hi fariz_m! Now you have read about Charlie, you can check out some of his videos! Try this one where he dyes his hair red and this one where he shows you how to make chocolate brownies. There's also this video which gives you a bit more information about Charlie and other vloggers like him.
Jonathan (LearnEnglish Teens Team)
SO interessant
I see video in youtube.It is very famous in the world.
I dont see video Charlie McDonnell
Hi Fatime143,
Sorry! The link to Charlie's video was wrong. I've fixed it now. Let us know if you can watch the video now.
Best wishes, Jo (LearnEnglish Teens Team)
it is a supper musinq
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