Indiana "Indy" Neidell (born 28 September 1967) is an American-Swedish documentarian, historian, actor, voice actor, musician and

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

personality, best known for presenting the video series, ''The Great War'' on '' The Great War Channel'' which documented

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

in real time using modern research, various secondary sources and archival footage. A similar project, ''World War Two'' (about

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

) began in September 2018. Neidell is also a writer and actor with credits that include '' Metropia'' and numerous commercials in Europe, as well as video game voice-acting.

Early life and education

Neidell was born in Pennsylvania and moved to

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

when he was nine months old. Neidell attended St. John's School, graduating in 1985. He studied history at

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a Private university, private liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut. Founded in 1831 as a Men's colleges in the United States, men's college under the auspices of the Methodist Epis ...

. As a teenager, he worked at a grocery store. During an episode of ''World War Two,'' Neidell stated that his mother, Joy, was born in

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

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 The Ministry of Education is a ministry responsible for education in Egypt. Ministers * Hilmi Murad 1968–1969 * El Helali el Sherbini from September 2015 * Tarek Shawki from February 2017 * Reda Hegazy From August 2022 See also * Cabinet ...

. During World War II he joined the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

. At some point after the war, he became the Secretary of the

International Lawn Tennis Federation The International Tennis Federation (ITF) is the governing body of world tennis, wheelchair tennis, and beach tennis. It was founded in 1913 as the International Lawn Tennis Federation by twelve national tennis associations. As of 2016, there a ...

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. He met Spartacus Olsson around the year 2000 at a bar on the island of

Mallorca Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest island in the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain and located in the Mediterranean. The capital of the island, Palma, is also the capital of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. The Bal ...

and they worked together on several media projects. In addition, Neidell played with Swedish musician

Moneybrother Anders Olof Wendin (born 16 March 1975, Norrtälje, Sweden) is a Swedish rock musician, best known for his solo project Moneybrother. Career After the split-up of his ska-punk band Monster, Wendin took a new direction and released Moneybrother ...

for several years.

Mediakraft and ''The Great War'' series

Neidell was approached by Mediakraft, the producers of ''

The Great War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

'', 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''. ''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 November 11, 2018, exactly 100 years after the signing of the Armistice at Compiègne which formally ended all hostilities in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. 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 The Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as the October Crisis (of 1962) ( es, Crisis de Octubre) in Cuba, the Caribbean Crisis () in Russia, or the Missile Scare, was a 35-day (16 October – 20 November 1962) confrontation between the United S ...

, 55 years to the day after the event. In April 2018, they launched the "Between 2 Wars" series to recap the

Interwar period In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days), the end of the World War I, First World War to the beginning of the World War II, Second World War. The in ...

. During September 2020, TimeGhost announced in a YouTube video on their channel that a second season of Between 2 Wars would be launched; named "Zeitgeist" with the first episode being released in October 2020.

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 September 1, 2018. Accounting for the war's longer duration and larger scope for this independent project without the participation of

Mediakraft Networks Mediakraft Networks GmbH is a German Multi-channel network based in Munich. The company publishes and markets online video content and operates YouTube creator networks in Germany. Mediakraft Networks maintains offices in Munich, Cologne, Berlin, ...

, 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 seed money for this project, there has been a successful

Kickstarter Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...

campaign which raised €54,380 ($63,816). 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 Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was establ ...

for archival footage. The series also has an

Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...

account which runs parallel to it and follows the events of World War II on a day-by-day basis. As of January 2, 2023, the YouTube channel had received 138,000,000+ views and has over 783,000 subscribers.

Sabaton

In February 2019, Neidell teamed up with Swedish heavy metal band

Sabaton A sabaton or solleret is part of a knight's body armor that covers the foot. History Fourteenth and fifteenth century sabatons typically end in a tapered point well past the actual toes of the wearer's foot, following fashionable shoe shapes o ...

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 Thomas Edward Lawrence (16 August 1888 – 19 May 1935) was a British archaeologist, army officer, diplomat, and writer who became renowned for his role in the Arab Revolt (1916–1918) and the Sinai and Palestine Campaign (1915–1918 ...

in the music video for Sabaton's song "Seven Pillars of Wisdom" and

Adrian Carton de Wiart Lieutenant-General Sir Adrian Paul Ghislain Carton de Wiart, (; 5 May 1880 – 5 June 1963) was a British Army officer born of Belgian and Irish parents. He was awarded the Victoria Cross, the highest military decoration awarded for valour "i ...

in the music video for Sabaton's song "The Unkillable Soldier".

Personal life

Neidell left the United States in January 1993, living in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

prior to moving to Europe. He lived in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

for several years before leaving the city. After leaving Prague, Indy spent time living in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

before eventually moving to

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

in 1996 where he has lived since. He has dual citizenship of the United States and Sweden. Neidell is a member of the European chapter of the

Society for American Baseball Research The Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) is a membership organization dedicated to fostering the research and dissemination of the history and record of baseball primarily through the use of statistics. Established in Cooperstown, New ...

and a supporter of the

Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston, Texas. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division, having moved to the division in 2013 after ...