A DERBYSHIRE grandfather who became an internet sensation after posting YouTube video diaries has died at the age of 86.
Peter Oakley first discovered YouTube accidentally after searching on the internet for more information about videos.
And his first blog in 2006, called First Try, received more than two million hits.
Speaking to the Derby Telegraph in 2007, Mr Oakley said: "It was pretty amateurish, my first try. I don't rehearse or edit anything, I just sit there and talk."
The pensioner, of Bakewell, took to the internet under the pseudonym Geriatric1927.
He posted more than 400 videos and had more than 43,000 subscribers worldwide to his channel.
After his first video, he received more than 4,000 e-mails – with celebrity fans, including Star Trek's William Shatner, later e-mailing the pensioner to find out more.
Mr Oakley also produced his autobiographical series, Telling It All, which gained worldwide recognition.
The topics he spoke about in his video diaries revealed that he served as a radar mechanic during the Second World War, was a fan of motorcycles and he was a widower.
By mid-2006, he was the most subscribed user on YouTube.
Unable to answer every message, he posted another video, which showed him tearfully thanking people for their messages of support.
In an interview in the Derby Telegraph, he said: "That video of me crying is always the one shown on telly if they do a piece about me now. People say I am a celebrity now."
But, despite Mr Oakley's internet success, one of his greatest moments was singing with the pensioners group, The Zimmers.
Their cover The Who's My Generation – to highlight the isolation of older people – reached number 26 in the UK singles chart in 2007.
The group also performed across the globe, including a show in Munich which attracted 12 million TV viewers.
The news of Mr Oakley's death was posted on his website, www.askgeriatric.com.
It stated that he had cancer "too advanced for treatment" and had been taken to a nursing home.
His final video, posted on February 12, ended with the words: "In conclusion, I would say my possibly final goodbye. So goodbye."
He died on March 23.
