Louis John Cole (born 28 April 1983), better known by his online alias FunforLouis, is an English film-maker and YouTube personality from Epsom, Surrey. He has a following of over 1.9 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.
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. The Boombus project now receives funding from local council wards.
Louis Cole announced his relationship with Raya Encheva with a video titled '1000th vlog w/ my girlfriend'.
Discovery signed Cole to its Digital Seeker Network in 2015.
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. Cole has been named a top travel influencer.
Video Louis Cole
Daily vlogs
Cole started to post daily vlogs on to his channel FunForLouis on 31 December 2012 (2012-12-31) with a video titled 'Pancakes and Bicycles | LA Trip Day 2'. He has released over 1486 vlogs consecutively as of 25 October 2017. Through this, Cole has managed to gain over 1.92 million subscribers as of 28 May 2017.
Maps Louis Cole
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.
The first LTA travel summit was held at the YHA Hostel in South Downs, Lewes, UK on 6-9 January 2017. Sony ran a photography seminar during the summit.
Vehicles
Cole owns a number of vehicles around the world including two double-decker buses, a converted school bus bought to a german couple who converted and make a roadtrip through Alaska named expeditionhapiness, a van, and a plane which he and Juan-Peter Schulze flew around the world in. Their project was called Fly Beyond Borders.
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
Beyond Borders - A Journey Celebrating Global Diversity
Beyond Borders 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. The journey began in Kern Valley, California, USA on August 21, 2017. The journey is expected to conclude on Friday, November 10, 2017.
Solvey
In 2016, Louis with one of his good friends Dave Erasmus, a YouTuber and philanthropist, founded The Solvey Project.
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. Louis and Dave presented on stage at Social Progress - What Works? in Reykjavik, Iceland with then Prime Minister Sigurður Ingi Jóhannsson.
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. The £100,000 goal was reached before the kickstarter ended with a total amont of £111,563 raised by 1,666 backers.
Controversy
2012
In April 2012 he posted a video of himself to his YouTube channel Food For Louis that showed him eating a live goldfish. This caused the RSPCA to prepare a case against him under the Animal Welfare Act 2006. Since he had previously only eaten invertebrates, the fish was the first incident in which he may have broken the law. The RSPCA's handling of the issue was criticised as "heavy-handed" in the way it pursued a "humane prankster". The case was settled: he admitted his "guilt" and received a caution, avoiding a trial and a possible criminal record. He has received death threats from some animal lovers.
In the past, Cole has eaten locusts, a raw heart, maggots, a frog corpse, ragworms, and scorpions.
Cole claims his videos are not cruel and that he kills the animals quickly to avoid any unnecessary suffering. He argues that viewers' disgust is based on ignorance of or bias against other culinary cultures. He has denied that his goldfish-eating stunt caused unnecessary suffering, and claims that the RSPCA is "wasting its time" in pursuing the case.
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'.
2016
At the beginning of 2016 while driving in New Zealand with his girlfriend Raya, he was pulled over for speeding 41 km/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 139 km/h. Since he was registered under 40 km/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.
In August 2016, Cole was criticized for his vlogs from his visit to North Korea. He was accused of promoting North Korea and his videos were described as propaganda for the North Korean regime. He has since stated that he disagrees with the ideology of the regime and that the content was not funded by the North Korean government.
References
External links
- Spangler, Todd (May 5, 2015). "NewFronts 2015: Discovery Taps YouTube Travel Vlogger Louis Cole, TLC Launches Digital-Video Site". Variety.
- James, Richard (December 10, 2013). "Man creates amazing video of his year abroad, internet dreams of packing it all in and joining him". Metro.
Source of article : Wikipedia
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