Tom Scott (YouTuber) explained

Tom Scott
Birth Name:Thomas Scott
Birth Place:Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England
Education:University of York
Occupation:YouTuber
Channel Direct Url:@TomScottGo
Channel Display Name:Tom Scott
Years Active:2006–present
Subscribers:
  • 6.44 million (Tom Scott)
  • 255 thousand (Matt and Tom)
  • 832 thousand (Tom Scott Plus)
  • 159 thousand (The Technical Difficulties)
  • 115 thousand (Lateral with Tom Scott)
Views:
  • 1.7 billion (Tom Scott)
  • 48.8 million (Tom Scott Plus)
  • 45.1 million (Matt and Tom)
  • 3.1 million (The Technical Difficulties)
  • 14.7 million (Lateral with Tom Scott)
Silver Button:yes
Silver Year:2014
Gold Button:yes
Gold Year:2017
Stats Update:3 August 2024

Thomas Scott (born) is an English YouTuber and web developer. On his self-titled YouTube channel, Scott creates educational videos across a range of topics including history, geography, linguistics, science, and technology. his five YouTube channels have collectively gained over million subscribers and billion views.[1]

Born in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, Scott first came to media attention as a student, creating a parody of a governmental website. He created his channel in 2006, but only began to enjoy mainstream popularity after 2014, when he began his education series "Things You Might Not Know". Scott produces and uploads educational videos to the channel across a range of topics including linguistics, technology, geography, history and science. His output has included series such as Language Files (which focuses on linguistics and languages), The Basics (computing and IT), Amazing Places (geographical locations), and Things You Might Not Know. Typically his videos take the form of relatively short videos on interesting items, with many having received external coverage including colours unable to be recorded accurately on video, compact hovercraft, and how bear-resistant infrastructure is tested.

Scott has also collaborated with other YouTubers. He announced that he was taking a break from his YouTube work starting January 2024, after a decade of consistent weekly uploads.

Early life

Thomas Scott[2] was born in [3] in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, and graduated from the University of York with a degree in linguistics and the English language.[4] He later earned a Master of Arts in educational studies.[5]

In 2004, when Scott was 19 and at university, he produced a website parodying the British government's "Preparing for Emergencies" website,[6] including a section explaining what to do in case of a zombie apocalypse. This resulted in the Cabinet Office demanding the site be deleted, to which Scott sent a "polite response declining to take down the site".[7] [8] [9]

In 2009, Scott became the official UK organiser of International Talk Like a Pirate Day,[10] and was subsequently nominated by his friends to run for student president at the University of York Students' Union, under the guise of his Talk Like a Pirate Day persona, "Mad Cap'n Tom Scott". Despite running as a joke, he gained almost 3,000 votes, won the election, and served as the organisation's 48th president.[11] When running for Parliament in the Cities of London and Westminster constituency as a joke candidate in 2010, Scott used the character – at the time, he described his chances of winning in the safe Conservative seat of Westminster as "Somewhere 'twixt a snowball's chance in hell an' zero."[12] He received 84 votes (0.2% of the total), finishing in last place behind Pirate Party UK.[13]

Career

Early career

In 2012 Scott was a presenter in the Sky 1 series Gadget Geeks alongside Colin Furze and Creative Technologist Charles Yarnold, where he was responsible for the creation of software solutions.[14]

Scott received coverage in 2013 for "Actual Facebook Graph Searches", a Tumblr site which exposed a potentially embarrassing and dangerous collection of public Facebook data using Facebook's Graph Search, such as showing men in Tehran who have said that they were "interested in men" or "single women who live nearby and are interested in men and like getting drunk".[15]

YouTube career

Scott produces and uploads educational videos to the channel across a range of topics including linguistics, technology, geography, history and science. His output has included series such as Language Files (which focuses on linguistics and languages), The Basics (which covers issues to do with computing and IT), Amazing Places (which, as the name suggests, focuses on geographical locations), and Things You Might Not Know. Typically his videos take the form of relatively short videos on interesting items, with many having received external coverage including colours unable to be recorded accurately on video,[16] compact hovercraft,[17] and how bear-resistant infrastructure is tested.[18]

Scott has also collaborated with other YouTubers, including challenging YouTuber Jordan Harrod to create a deepfake version of him for $100.[19]

Scott announced that he was taking a break from his YouTube work starting 1 January 2024, after a decade of consistent weekly uploads. "I am so tired. There's nothing in my life right now except work" he explained, although it was his "dream job". Scott believed YouTube made it impossible to reduce the quality of his videos. Thus he saw his only other option as expanding further and hiring staff, forcing him to "become a manager", which he deemed beyond his skills. Soon after, he noted that other YouTubers with similar long-form content were also reducing or stepping away as views and ad-revenue fall. Scott predicted "difficult years" ahead given the rise of "junk zero-effort generative AI channels" and competing video options.[20] [21] [22]

The Technical Difficulties

Scott is a member of the four-person comedy troupe, The Technical Difficulties, with whom he hosted a radio show of the same name on University Radio York which won the Kevin Greening award at the Student Radio Awards in 2008.[23] The group consists of Scott, Matthew James Bartholomew Gray (born 2 January 1986),[24] Gary Brannan (born 4 October 1982[25]) and Christopher Joel.[26] The group has created several podcasts and video series over the years including:[27]

!Series!Duration
The Reverse Trivia Podcast2010–2014
Citation Needed2014–2018
Two of These People Are Lying2019–2021
Adventures2022–
In July 2024, Tom announced through his newsletter that filming of a season of a new format is complete, but there is no definitive date for publication announced yet.[28] [29]

Lateral with Tom Scott

A weekly comedy podcast taking the format of a game show where Scott and three contestants take turns asking each other difficult questions that require lateral thinking to answer, which was adapted from a 2018 six-episode game show on Scott's main YouTube channel that was also co-developed with David Bodycombe.[30] [31]

Scott has kept the podcast going into 2024 despite indefinitely pausing his weekly YouTube release schedule.[32]

Other work

In 2014, Scott co-founded Emojli along with Matt Gray. It was a parody emoji-only social network inspired by Yo. Emojli was described by Salon as "an inside joke turned into reality".[33] [34] It closed in July 2015 after it became too expensive to maintain.[35] In September 2015, Scott created a full-size emoji keyboard out of fourteen standard keyboards to type every standard Unicode emoji.[36]

Scott worked for the Daily Mirror's UsVsTh3m creating Flash games,[37] some of which he continues to maintain on his personal website.[38]

Other web apps Scott has created include "Evil", a web app that revealed the phone numbers of Facebook users;[39] [40] "Tweleted", which showed posts deleted from Twitter;[41] "What's Osama bin Watchin?", which mashed together an image of Osama bin Laden with YouTube Internet memes;[42] "Parliament WikiEdits", a Twitter bot that tweets whenever an IP address from the Houses of Parliament edited Wikipedia, which inspired a wave of similar accounts including CongressEdits;[43] and "Klouchebag", a satire of the social media rankings site Klout.[44] [45]

In December 2022, Scott appeared in two episodes of Christmas University Challenge as captain of the University of York team.[46]

Production company

Pad 26 Limited
Type:Private company limited by shares
Founder:Thomas Scott
Hq Location:Amelia House, Crescent Road
Hq Location City:Worthing, West Sussex
Hq Location Country:United Kingdom, BN11 1QR
Key People:Thomas Scott (Founder and Director)
Parent:External Tank Limited

On 6 November 2018, Scott founded Pad 26 Limited,[47] [48] a company offering content production, format development, and YouTube consultancy.[49] Scott also used the company to handle his YouTube channel.[50] The company was a standalone company until 3 January 2020.[51] It is now a wholly owned subsidiary of External Tank Limited,[52] a holding company wholly owned by Scott.[53]

Accolades

In 2022, Scott won the Streamy Award for Learning and Education.[54] He was nominated in the same category in 2023.[55]

Discography

Singles

List of singles, with selected details!Title!Artist(s)!Year!
"On a Pirate Ship"Jay Foreman featuring Mad Cap'n Tom2007[56]
"Shelter Me from the Rain"Beardyman featuring MC HyperScott2022[57] [58]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Tom Scott's YouTube Stats (Summary Profile) – Social Blade Stats . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20230609094547/https://socialblade.com/youtube/c/tomscottgo . 2023-06-09 . 2022-12-30 . Social Blade.
    Web site: Matt and Tom's YouTube Stats (Summary Profile) – Social Blade Stats . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20230308125558/https://socialblade.com/youtube/c/mattandtom . 2023-03-08 . 2022-12-30 . Social Blade.
    Web site: Tom Scott plus's YouTube Stats (Summary Profile) – Social Blade Stats . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20221230154933/https://socialblade.com/youtube/c/tomscottplus . 30 December 2022 . 30 December 2022 . Social Blade.
    Web site: The Technical Difficulties's YouTube Stats (Summary Profile) – Social Blade Stats . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20221230154932/https://socialblade.com/youtube/c/techdif . 2022-12-30 . 2022-12-30 . Social Blade.
    Web site: Lateral with Tom Scott's YouTube Stats (Summary Profile) – Social Blade Stats . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20221230154933/https://socialblade.com/youtube/c/lateralcast . 2022-12-30 . 2022-12-30 . Social Blade.
  2. News: Press Association . 2004-07-28 . Student battles government over spoof site . en-GB . . 2023-09-04 . 0261-3077 . 4 September 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230904162418/https://www.theguardian.com/education/2004/jul/28/highereducation.uk3 . live .
  3. That Time I Got In Trouble With The Government . 2018-08-27 . Scott . Thomas . Video . 1:12–1:47 . 2024-06-15 . When I was 19, the British government mailed a leaflet out to every home in the country. [...] That sort of joke was still new and exciting in 2004..
  4. News: 2004-07-29 . Spoof website will stay online . en-GB . . 2023-09-04 . 27 August 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180827210122/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/3936497.stm . live .
  5. BBC Two – Christmas University Challenge, Christmas 2022, Durham University v University of York . 21 December 2022 . . 4:55 . 4 December 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20221204233722/https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001gdx8 . 4 December 2022 . live . I graduated in English language and linguistics, and then an MA in educational studies in the early 2000s..
  6. Web site: Preparing for Emergencies – Homepage . preparingforemergencies.co.uk . 25 May 2021 . 15 May 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210515055834/http://preparingforemergencies.co.uk/ . live.
  7. News: 29 July 2004 . Spoof website will stay online . en . . live . 27 August 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180827210122/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/3936497.stm . 27 August 2018.
  8. News: Emergency advice parody misses Gov UK funny bone . The Register . Lucy . Sherriff . 27 July 2004 . 16 January 2012 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20111105184618/http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/07/27/parody_not_funny_gov/ . 5 November 2011.
  9. News: When zombies attack . Tom . Scott . The Guardian . 30 July 2004 . 16 January 2012 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20140914184357/http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2004/jul/30/digitalmedia.egovernment . 14 September 2014.
  10. Web site: Talk Like A Pirate Day UK Headquarters . yarr.org.uk . 18 September 2018 . 21 December 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20201221081752/http://www.yarr.org.uk/ . live.
  11. News: 'Pirate' becomes new student union president . York Press . 10 March 2008 . 16 January 2012 . Gerran . Grimshaw . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20121005185148/http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/2106024.pirate_becomes_new_student_union_president/ . 5 October 2012.
  12. Web site: McDermott . Kerry . 29 April 2010 . England's fringe candidates fight for votes . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20170826150630/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/election_2010/england/8640794.stm . 26 August 2017 . 16 January 2012 . BBC News.
  13. Web site: Election Results 2010: Cities of London and Westminster . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20170823081938/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/election2010/results/constituency/b11.stm . 23 August 2017 . 16 January 2012 . BBC News.
  14. News: My life as one of Sky 1's Gadget Geeks . Emma . Barnett . The Sunday Telegraph . 0307-1235 . 49632006 . 15 January 2012 . 16 January 2012 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20120115234536/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/9014060/My-life-as-one-of-Sky-1s-Gadget-Geeks.html . 15 January 2012.
  15. News: Facebook's Graph Search tool causes increasing privacy concerns . Juliette . Garside . The Guardian . 23 January 2013 . 25 January 2013 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20140208150416/http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/jan/23/facebook-graph-search-privacy-concerns . 8 February 2014.
  16. News: 19 July 2017 . Here's why you can't see what the world's 'pinkest pink' looks like on-screen . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20171213161651/http://www.irishnews.com/magazine/science/2017/07/19/news/here-s-why-you-can-t-see-what-the-world-s-pinkest-pink-looks-like-on-screen-1088524/ . 13 December 2017 . 18 May 2020 . The Irish News.
  17. Web site: 2023-04-18 . Inventor's Hovercraft Goes Viral After YouTuber Takes a Ride . 2024-01-01 . Yahoo News . en-GB.
  18. Web site: Baitinger . Brooke . 2023-07-25 . Grizzly bear takes 'selfie' — inside its mouth — while playing with GoPro in Montana . 2024-01-01 . Idaho Statesman.
  19. Web site: Haysom . Sam . YouTuber challenges scientist to create an AI version of him for $100 . 7 March 2021 . Mashable . 19 January 2021 . en . 12 January 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220112181621/https://mashable.com/video/tom-scott-ai-version . live.
  20. News: Hern . Alex . 2024-01-05 . 'I am so tired': YouTuber Tom Scott ends Things You Might Not Know . 2024-01-05 . The Guardian . en-GB . 0261-3077.
  21. Web site: Shaukat . Rahman . 2024-01-04 . Tom Scott Is Done Releasing Weekly YouTube Videos . 2024-06-16 . . en.
  22. Web site: Mather . Katie . 2024-01-03 . Who is Tom Scott? YouTuber's 'retirement' announcement raises concerns about creator burnout . 2024-06-16 . . en-GB.
  23. Web site: Barnard . Mike . Student radio talent celebrated at the Student Radio Awards 2008 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120502231606/http://www.forbes.com/sites/anthonykosner/2012/04/30/hate-klout-tom-scott-mixes-meaningless-metrics-with-feminine-hygiene-in-response/ . 2 May 2012 . 21 November 2012 . Milkround.
  24. Web site: Matt Gray About . 2024-07-06 . mattg.co.uk.
  25. 518073940498219009 . gbrannanarchive . ID'd buying booze in a campus supermarket on the eve of my 32nd birthday #winning . Gary . Brannan . 2014-10-03 . 2024-07-06.
  26. Tech Dif Make Ice Cream - Will It Soft Serve? . 2020-03-21 . Scott . Thomas . Gray . Matthew James Bartholomew . Brannan . Gary . Joel . Christopher . Video . Matt and Tom . 0:29 . 2024-07-10 . Mr Christopher Joel . YouTube.
  27. Web site: The Technical Difficulties . 2024-01-01 . techdif.co.uk.
  28. Web site: Sunscreen, weird picture experiments, and an unimpressed cat. Newsletter for 15th July 2024 « Tom Scott . 2024-08-20 . www.tomscott.com.
  29. Web site: Post from The Technical Difficulties . 2024-08-20 . YouTube . en.
  30. Web site: 11 August 2023 . Lateral with Tom Scott on Apple Podcasts . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20230814212056/https://podcasts.apple.com/il/podcast/lateral-with-tom-scott/id1648140033 . 14 August 2023 . 14 August 2023 . Apple Podcasts . en-GB.
  31. Web site: Gutelle . Sam . 25 May 2018 . YouTuber Tom Scott Pits Creators Against One Another In Game Show Based Around Lateral Thinking . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20200306225533/https://www.tubefilter.com/2018/05/25/htom-scott-lateral-quiz-show/ . 6 March 2020 . 14 August 2023 . Tubefilter . en-US.
  32. Web site: Trahan . Philip . 1 July 2023 . Tom Scott announces indefinite YouTube break after 10 years of uploads . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20230814210734/https://www.dexerto.com/youtube/tom-scott-announces-indefinite-youtube-break-after-10-years-of-uploads-2196370/ . 14 August 2023 . 14 August 2023 . Dexerto . en.
  33. Web site: An emoji-only social network: Ridiculous ... or brilliant? . Gray . Sarah . 2 July 2014 . Salon . 28 July 2014 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20140730020123/http://www.salon.com/2014/07/02/an_emoji_only_social_network_ridiculous_or_brilliant/ . 30 July 2014.
  34. Emoji-only social network Emojli is the new Yo . Solon . Olivia . 30 June 2014 . Wired UK . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20140831181638/http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2014-06/30/emoji-network . 31 August 2014 . 17 September 2017.
  35. Web site: Investors tried to throw cash at this startup that was actually just a joke . . 29 August 2016 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20120502231606/http://www.forbes.com/sites/anthonykosner/2012/04/30/hate-klout-tom-scott-mixes-meaningless-metrics-with-feminine-hygiene-in-response/ . 2 May 2012.
  36. Web site: Guy creates emoji keyboard so we may never use words again . Kentish . Francesca . 21 September 2015 . Metro . 4 April 2020 . 8 July 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200708102354/https://metro.co.uk/2015/09/21/guy-creates-emoji-keyboard-so-we-may-never-use-words-again-5401832/ . live.
  37. Web site: Burrell . Ian . 2021-05-30 . How to heat hamsters humanely while setting the web alight thanks to the power of YouTube . 2024-07-08 . inews.co.uk . en.
  38. Web site: Scott . Thomas . Six Old UsVsTh3m Games . 13 November 2022 . tomscott.com . 3 November 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20221103171055/https://www.tomscott.com/usvsth3m/ . live.
  39. Web site: "Evil" app shows how Facebook users make their mobile numbers public . Mike . Butcher . TechCrunch . 24 May 2010 . 16 January 2012 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20120119003424/http://eu.techcrunch.com/2010/05/24/evil-app-shows-how-facebook-users-make-their-mobile-numbers-public/ . 19 January 2012.
  40. Web site: Is your private phone number on Facebook? Probably. And so are your friends' . Arthur . Charles . 6 October 2010 . . 16 January 2012 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20140215075839/http://www.theguardian.com/technology/blog/2010/oct/06/facebook-privacy-phone-numbers-upload . 15 February 2014.
  41. Tweleted: Making Mischief on Twitter . Fletcher . Dan . 20 July 2009 . . 16 January 2012 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120115121811/http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0%2C8599%2C1911574%2C00.html . 15 January 2012.
  42. Web site: Make Osama watch 'Friday,' suffer other indignities . CNN Tech . Doug . Gross . 9 May 2011 . 16 January 2012 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20120118052107/http://articles.cnn.com/2011-05-09/tech/osama.watching.television_1_bin-terrorist-leader-youtube-video . 18 January 2012.
  43. Web site: Here's How to Know What Edits Governments Are Making on Wikipedia . Newman . Lily Hay . 14 July 2014 . Slate . 13 April 2020 . 7 July 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200707223850/https://slate.com/technology/2014/07/twitterbots-scan-government-ip-addresses-and-tweet-their-wikipedia-edits.html . live.
  44. Web site: Who Are the Real Klouchebags? . Pagels . Jim . 27 April 2012 . . 2 May 2012 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20120502030612/http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2012/04/27/klouchebag_the_site_that_calculates_how_obnoxious_you_are_on_twitter.html . 2 May 2012.
  45. Web site: Hate Klout? Tom Scott Mixes Meaningless Metrics with Feminine Hygiene in Response . Kosner . Anthony . 30 April 2012 . . 2 May 2012 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20120502231606/http://www.forbes.com/sites/anthonykosner/2012/04/30/hate-klout-tom-scott-mixes-meaningless-metrics-with-feminine-hygiene-in-response/ . 2 May 2012.
  46. Web site: Nunn . Catriona . 12 January 2023 . Meeting the Challenge of 'Christmas University Challenge' . 18 January 2023 . Alumni Voices . en-GB . 17 January 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230117170548/https://alumnivoices.co.uk/2023/01/12/meeting-the-challenge-of-christmas-university-challenge/ . live.
  47. Web site: 2018-11-06 . Pad 26 Limited overview - Find and update company information - GOV.UK . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20210114013119/https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/11662641 . 2021-01-14 . 2021-02-12 . Companies House.
  48. Web site: 2018-11-06 . Incorporation . 2024-07-14 . Companies House.
  49. Web site: Pad 26 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20210209075326/https://www.pad26.com/ . 9 February 2021 . 12 February 2021.
  50. Web site: Tom Scott - YouTube . 2024-07-14 . . This channel is a production of Pad 26 Limited.
  51. Web site: 2020-01-03 . Notification of External Tank Limited as a person with significant control on 27 December 2019 . 2024-07-14 . Companies House.
  52. Web site: 2020-11-18 . Confirmation statement made on 5 November 2020 with updates . 2024-07-14 . Companies House.
  53. Web site: 2020-11-19 . Confirmation statement made on 18 November 2020 with updates . 2024-07-14 . Companies House.
  54. Web site: Chan . J. Clara . YouTube Streamy Awards: MrBeast Takes Top Creator; Full List of Winners . . 30 December 2022 . 5 December 2022 . 6 December 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20221206005336/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/digital/2022-youtube-streamy-awards-winners-1235274871/ . live.
  55. Web site: Streamy Awards 2023: Complete Winners List . 27 August 2023 . 28 August 2023 . . Brant . Brian . 5 September 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230905092157/https://people.com/streamy-awards-2023-complete-winners-list-7852449 . live .
  56. Foreman . Jay . Jay Foreman (comedian) . Scott . Thomas . 3 September 2007 . On a Pirate Ship . 14 June 2023 . . 3 July 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230703094809/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dK-pMy_jOKI&ab_channel=TomScott . live .
  57. Web site: Foreman . Darren Alexander . Beardyman . Scott . Thomas . 5 March 2022 . Shelter Me From the Rain . 14 June 2023 . . 14 June 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230614111430/https://tidal.com/browse/track/219337330 . live .
  58. Foreman . Darren Alexander . Beardyman . Scott . Thomas . 4 March 2022 . Shelter me from the rain . 14 June 2023 . . 1 July 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230701140559/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x10JTuL9crQ . live .

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