Tom Davies (born 22 September 1990[2][3][4]), known online as GeoWizard, is a British YouTuber and adventurer known for his skill in playing the internet geography game GeoGuessr and his "straight line mission" adventures, in which he attempts to cross regions on foot in as close to a straight line as possible.
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| GeoWizard | ||||||||||
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 GeoWizard channel logo | ||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||
| Born | 22 September 1990 | |||||||||
| Nationality | British | |||||||||
| Occupation | YouTuber | |||||||||
| Website | officialgeowizardstore | |||||||||
| YouTube information | ||||||||||
| Channel | ||||||||||
| Years active | 2015–present | |||||||||
| Genres |
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| Subscribers | 1.31 million[1] | |||||||||
| Total views | 213 million[1] | |||||||||
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Last updated: 4 June 2024 | ||||||||||
Career
Growing up in Aldridge, West Midlands, Davies held a number of jobs before becoming successful on YouTube, including as a fishmonger, van driver, and bartender.[5]
GeoGuessr
Davies registered his YouTube channel, "GeoWizard", on 15 May 2015,[6] building it around the game GeoGuessr,[7][8] a browser game in which the player must identify locations in Google Street View.[9][10] As of June 2024, Davies has over 1.3 million subscribers and over 213 million views across all his public videos.[6]
Straight line missions
Davies undertakes "straight line missions", in which he uses a GPS device to attempt to cross a geographic area in a straight line. His first attempt, in 2019, was to cross Wales. Bad weather and steeper terrain than expected resulted in failure 9 mi (14 km) from the coast.[11][12][13][14] In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom, Davies and his friend Greg attempted to cross Wales, but the effort was aborted midway for health reasons. Later in 2020, Davies successfully crossed Norway in a straight line.[15] In early 2021, Davies and Greg attempted to cross Scotland but failed when they were caught by police for breaking local COVID-19 guidelines.[16] Their video was criticized for showing them crossing a live railway line, and Davies edited that scene out of the video following a visit from the British Transport Police.[16][17] In October 2021, Davies and his brother Ben attempted to cross Wales for a third time. The pair managed to complete the crossing, but a GPS battery malfunction on day three caused them to temporarily leave the line, making it non-continuous.[18] Davies pursued a fourth crossing of Wales in late January and early February 2023, which proved a success.[19] He later noted that one of his main motivations for attempting it once more was due to competition, notably from Adam and Archie Fieldhouse, fellow straight-line adventurers who had successfully crossed Scotland, a feat that Davies was unable to do.[19][20] The Fieldhouses would also act as a major motivation for Davies' straight-line mission across England in late January to early February 2024.[21]
No roads missions
In April 2022, Davies premiered a new type of adventure, called the "No Roads Mission", where he attempts to cross an urban area without walking down roads. His first mission was across the Black Country and resulted in a success.[22] In June 2023, he embarked on a mission, this time over two episodes, in which he, along with his brother Ben, attempted to cross Birmingham without using roads or the city's canal network, with some help from their uncle Ed (in place of Davies' wife Verity, who had been his assistant during some of his previous missions).[23][24]
Other missions/adventures
In August 2022, Davies and a small support crew including Russ Cook dribbled a football across the width of Britain along Hadrian's Wall Path in a continuous run. Starting on the west coast, they walked and jogged the 73-mile (117 km) route in approximately 23 hours, stopping only for brief periods for food and water. Davies was the only member of the team to touch the football, making no hand contact with it at any point and becoming the first person to achieve this feat. The event was recorded and named "Dribbling Britain"[25] and raised £70,000 for charities supporting efforts to end youth homelessness, improve men's mental health, and reduce youth violence.[26] Later that year, Davies—along with friends Ben Cook and Adam Cook—ran across Wales from the border with England, near Anchor, to the coast at Aberystwyth, in under fourteen hours. Parts of the route were covered by more than one foot (0.30 m) of snow, with temperatures reaching −9 °C (16 °F).[27]
In December 2023, Davies and fellow straight-line mission YouTubers Adam and Archie Fieldhouse raced each other across the Isle of Man, in the channel's first "straight line race", which was won by the Fieldhouse team.[28]
How Not to Travel
In his series How Not to Travel, Davies and Greg embark on long journeys with little planning and the intent of using as many methods of transport as possible, such as hitchhiking, cycling, kayaking, or scootering. This series currently has two seasons: How Not to Travel Europe (2019–2020), documenting a journey from Geneva, Switzerland to Bratislava, Slovakia; and How Not to Travel America (2022–2023), covering a trip down the East Coast of the United States from Boston to Miami.[29][30]
Music
Davies composes music under the name Amynedd, which he uses to underscore his videos. In 2020, he released the album 16-Bit Adventure.[31][32][33]
Personal life
Davies is married to Verity,[34] who has appeared in his videos and acted as support crew for his straight line missions.[35][36] Davies has also said that as of the publication of his straight-line mission across England, he and Verity are expecting a child.[37]
References
External links
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