My YouTube search history

This is embarrassing

I watch a lot of YouTube. Much of it is not very good, AI slop or extremist content. But every once in a while, you discover something genuinely brilliant. People with a passion, a camera and a tight script. I’ve curated some highlights from the last few weeks. Enjoy.

• This man attempted to walk across Greater London without using a single road.

• It was a pretty epic World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, and yet pole vaulter Mondo Duplantis still somehow stole the show with his 14th world record.

• I learned there was a short-lived US version of Fawlty Towers, starring Bea Arthur as a cross between Basil and Sybil. It’s really quite dreadful but you have to click.

• I know some of you aren’t huge fans of the aviation stuff (you’re missing out!) but for those who are, I’ve discovered this incredible channel about the world of delivering (empty) airliners. Beautifully shot and accompanied by original jazz.

• In preparation for the upcoming Ashes in Australia, I’ve been rewatching the 2001 series in England. Thank goodness the Aussies aren’t putting up that line-up again. Crikey.

• I bet you didn’t know that in 1999, Channel 4 aired a documentary imagining what life would be like in Britain if Labour leader John Smith had lived.

• 1953 can feel like quite a long time ago (sorry to anyone born that year) and yet the game show, What’s My Line?, feels incredibly modern. For the uninitiated, the panel has to guess what a person does for a living. This one featured Eleanor Roosevelt.

• Pretty self-explanatory: Britain’s Most Controversial Road Project - The M4 Bus Lane.

• This one is a little harder to explain, let alone justify, and somehow, 47 minutes on the history of the quest for world records on N64 Mario Kart is my generation’s Citizen Kane.

• For actual history, Alan Clark’s documentary on the Tory Party is still excellent.

• What if I told you there was a gripping documentary about the history of Disney’s Fast Pass system — the thing that allows riders to skip the queue? Would you believe me?

• Everyone loves Kurzgesagt for a reason.

• Genuine question: why can’t Australians drive?

• What happens if you sell multipack items separately?

• This long-running series from Wired, in which experts answer questions from the internet, is terrific. This one features a rollercoaster designer, which is a better job than yours and mine.

• And finally, Taylor Swift’s live performance of Betty in front of an empty auditorium at the 2020 Academy of Country Music Awards at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.