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

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

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

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

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 (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

), began in September 2018 and another one, called ''The Korean War'', in June 2024. 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 Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

to Norman Neidell and Joy Ray. His family moved to

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

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, United States. It was founded in 1831 as a Men's colleges in the United States, men's college under the Methodi ...

for four years. 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 ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

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. He later became the Superintendent of schools for the British Dominion of Egypt. During World War II he joined the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

. 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. there are 211 nati ...

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 of the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain, and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, seventh largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. The capital of the island, Palma, Majorca, Palma, i ...

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

Mediakraft and ''The Great War'' series

Neidell was approached by Mediakraft, the producers of '' The Great War'', to host the series after they saw a series of videos he had produced between May and September 2013 about the history of

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

, 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 11 November 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 or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. 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 () in Cuba, or the Caribbean Crisis (), was a 13-day confrontation between the governments of the United States and the Soviet Union, when American deployments of Nuclear weapons d ...

, 55 years to the day after the event. The group returned to cover the event in more detail beginning in June 2020 in thei
The Cuban Missile Crisis Day by Day series
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, also known as the interbellum (), lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days) – from the end of World War I (WWI) to the beginning of World War II ( ...

. 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 1 September 2018. Accounting for the war's longer duration and larger scope for this independent project without the participation of Mediakraft Networks, 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 money need for the project, a successful

Kickstarter Kickstarter, PBC is an American Benefit corporation, public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York City, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative project ...

campaign was launched which raised $63,816 (€54,380). 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. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency ...

for archival footage. The series also has an

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

account which runs parallel to it and follows the events of World War II on a day-by-day basis. The series also has a

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

account which follows the events of the World War II, with discussions on relevant parallels drawn between World War II and the present as well as myth-busting common misconceptions. As of 15 August 2024, the YouTube channel has received 209,000,000+ views and has over 969,000 subscribers. The World War II project officially ended on September 2 2024, 79 years after the signing of the

Japanese Instrument of Surrender The Japanese Instrument of Surrender was the written agreement that formalized the surrender of the Empire of Japan, marking the end of hostilities in World War II. It was signed by representatives from the Empire of Japan and from the Allied n ...

which ended World War II.

Sabaton

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

Sabaton A sabaton or solleret is part of a knight's body armour, body armor that covers the foot. History Sabatons from the 14th and 15th centuries typically end in a tapered point well past the actual toes of the wearer's foot, following poulaines, f ...

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 in the music video for Sabaton's song, "Seven Pillars of Wisdom" and Adrian Carton de Wiart in the music video for their song, "The Unkillable Soldier".

The Korean War

On June 25th, 2024, Neidell launched the third real time series, covering the

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

Personal life

Neidell left the United States in January 1993, living in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

prior to moving to Europe. He lived in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

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

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

and

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

before eventually moving to

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

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 statistical record of baseball. The organization was founded in Cooperstown, New York, on Au ...

and a supporter of the

Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. They are one of two major leag ...