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United Kingdom

country · in 76 videos (2007–2026)

John also uses it as a comparison for US health spending and social mobility, and in 2025 counted it among countries pulling back health investments.

Videos by year: 2007: 1 · 2008: 2 · 2009: 5 · 2010: 5 · 2011: 5 · 2012: 5 · 2013: 6 · 2014: 7 · 2015: 8 · 2016: 3 · 2017: 1 · 2018: 5 · 2019: 5 · 2020: 1 · 2021: 1 · 2022: 1 · 2024: 5 · 2025: 8 · 2026: 2

Also known as: UK, Britain

Threads

Also named in the threads: Brotherhood 2.0 scavenger hunt (2007) · John invites Nerdfighters to see him in Munich (July 2010) and in London or Edinburgh (August 2010) · John's UK trip for the Paper Towns UK release: London and Edinburgh (2010) · The Fault in Our Stars: writing, title and publication (2011) · John: sign every copy of The Fault in Our Stars (2011) · John asks viewers to watch the YouTuber CGP Grey (2012) · Paper Towns film: production and release (2014) · Paper Towns movie tour (2015): Europe stops and US states chosen by Tumblr vote · John travels to Brazil for the Paper Towns premiere, away from home for 28 days (2015) · Turtles All the Way Down: announcement and publication of John's novel (2017) · Turtles All the Way Down film adaptation (2017) · Hank's appearance on the British panel show QI (2025)

Often together

What comes up in the same parts of the videos; the number is how many parts.

United States (41) · Australia (12) · Canada (12) · England (7) · China (8) · Europe (7) · global health (5) · London (4) · climate change (5) · Paper Towns (6)

What the videos say

The most important statements of each year; all statements.

2007

  • 2007-12-20 · December 20th: HANK SHALL BE PUNISHED! — announcement: John says today's scavenger hunt clue leads to three numbers on three continents, starting in the UK, and that phone calls are now strictly against the rules. — 00:03:29

2008

  • 2008-09-13 · Hank Vlogs (and a String Quartet) — announcement: Hank tells John that Paper Towns is not going to be published in the United Kingdom, which angers many UK Nerdfighters. — 00:02:29
    • Hank asks UK Nerdfighters only to email their name, age and location to a Gmail address, whose login he would give UK publishers to show demand. — 00:03:01
    • Hank thinks no publisher could refuse a big list of ready buyers and that UK Nerdfighters can get Paper Towns published in the UK quickly. (hedged) — 00:03:30

Also named in: America Stands for Awesome

2009

  • 2009-01-04 · Israel. Gaza. PUPPY! — John: In 1947, when Britain still colonized about a fifth of the world, the UN decided British rule of Palestine should end and create Israel and an independent Palestine, with UN-run Jerusalem. — 00:00:32
  • 2009-01-11 · SOMALI PIRATES! France Penetrates Chad! — ask: John asks who is at fault for the piracy and the wars in Chad: the combatants, France, Italy and Britain for disastrous colonization, or us for not paying attention; he really wants answers. — 00:03:25
  • 2009-04-01 (said on 2009-03-31, implied) · A Few Of My Favorite Things — ask: Hank says a young musician, Tom, is trying to fool the UK iTunes chart for April Fool's Day and asks UK viewers to buy his song, but not before April 1. — 00:02:11
  • 2009-08-11 · The Island of Nerdfighteria? — announcement: John announces that Paper Towns will be published in the United Kingdom by Bloomsbury, and thanks Bloomsbury. — 00:01:01
    • John says he is going to do his level best to be in the UK in May of next year (2010). (hedged) — 00:01:01
  • 2009-11-10 · ChartJackers, Chris, Touring and Duckies — Hank says the song is so far in the top 100 of the US iTunes chart and the top 25 of the UK's, but needs many more sales for the top 10. — 00:01:09

2010

  • 2010-02-08 · Hypocrisy: All They Want is Money — Hank says Rage Against the Machine got a profanity-laden 1992 song to the top of the UK Christmas charts, beating X Factor winner Joe McElderry by about 50,000 units through an online campaign. — 00:00:29
    • Hank says media companies, owning around 10,000 properties, are worse: Time Warner owned both the UK softcore magazine Nuts and Hanna-Barbera; MTV runs channels for young children and horny men. (playful) (doubtful: 10,000) — 00:01:54
  • 2010-06-11 · Mmmm....PARTS — announcement: John: Paper Towns has just been published in the United Kingdom. — 00:02:17
    • John asks people to buy Paper Towns in the UK, joking that otherwise no other book of his will ever be published there. (playful) — 00:02:17
  • 2010-06-14 · Be The Change - vlogbrothers — Hank says Turing did a lot for the world and especially the British government, which did not do a great job paying him back. — 00:00:41
    • Because one thing about him was a little different, Hank says, Turing's entire country turned its back on him. — 00:01:55
  • 2010-08-16 · Lust and Folly in London and Edinburgh — announcement: The description says John's UK trip was to support Paper Towns, which had just been published there. — video description
  • 2010-09-27 (said on 2010-09-28, implied) · Stop Embarrassing Yourself — Hank says the United Kingdom (of Northern Ireland and Great Britain) contains Great Britain, an island of three autonomous countries: Wales, Scotland and England. — 00:01:34
    • Hank warns that saying 'I sure love it here in England' in a pub in Wales will get you punched: England is not a synonym for the United Kingdom. (playful) — 00:01:50
  • …and 1 statement more in 2010 — all statements of 2010

2011

  • 2011-01-12 · Top Six Conjoined Twin Pairs in History — John: 'Jodie and Mary' (not their real names), born conjoined in the UK in 2000: Jodie's heart pumped for Mary; without separation both would die, with it Mary would; over the parents' objection a court ordered surgery. — 00:01:46
  • 2011-07-22 · Your Yard Is EVIL — John playfully blames the British: the lawn is a British invention that makes more sense in rainy Britain, where it need not be watered with drinking water. (playful) — 00:01:38
  • 2011-07-27 · 150,000 Autographs — announcement: John announces that all pre-orders of The Fault in Our Stars, wherever buyers live (the US, the UK, Canada, Malaysia), will be signed, and promises to get it done. — 00:02:45
  • 2011-10-12 · Coming Out and Sperm Spikes — Hank's message for National Coming Out Day (today in the UK, yesterday in the US): be honest with yourself and the people you love, even if unsure who you are, as most of us are; try to be who you are. — 00:03:28
  • …and 1 statement more in 2011 — all statements of 2011

2012

  • 2012-02-14 · Things I Can Do — recommendation: John says he has become obsessed with the brilliant YouTuber CGP Grey, who hates pennies and loves Britain, 'just like me except smarter', and tells viewers to watch him. — 00:01:27
  • 2012-07-31 · Nerd Olympics — John says there is at least one known Olympian Nerdfighter, British gymnast Jennifer Pinches, who did the Nerdfighter sign in front of the world after her floor exercise. — 00:00:29
  • 2012-10-23 · Understanding the National Debt and Budget Deficit — John: Contrary to the guess 'China', John says the plurality of that debt is owned by American individuals and institutions; China owns about 8%, Japan 7% and the UK 1%. — 00:01:05
  • 2012-11-30 · VidCon 2013! — announcement: Hank tells those who cannot get to Anaheim that maybe gatherings will come to their part of the world soon, especially the United Kingdom, which is all he can say for now. (hedged) — 00:03:15

Also named in: Open Letter to the Wizards

2013

  • 2013-08-16 · Harry Potter vs. Science! — Hank says the two must-dos of his UK trip blew his mind: the Natural History Museum, where he and Katherine got up early to be first in line, and the Harry Potter Studio Tour in Watford. — 00:00:32
  • 2013-08-20 · Why Are American Health Care Costs So High? — John says that, although free health care elsewhere is said to be paid for by higher taxes, the US spends more tax money per capita on health care than Germany, Australia, the UK or Canada. — 00:00:08
    • John tells Hank that he pays more in health-care taxes than he would as a Briton and, being privately insured, gets no health care for those taxes. (playful) — 00:00:31
    • John says the US has more obesity but fewer smokers and less alcohol consumption, so compared with the British or French it is probably a wash. (hedged) — 00:02:47
    • John says the reason is that the US does not negotiate as aggressively as other countries with providers, drug makers and device makers, as the UK's NHS does when it puts a huge hip contract out to the cheapest safe bidder. — 00:05:11
    • John says that until the US negotiates with health-care providers as effectively as Australians and British people do, its costs will keep rising faster than anywhere else without better outcomes. — 00:06:41
  • 2013-08-23 · Thoughts from Bath: The Legacy of Wealth — Hank says that when he asked Charlie to hang out while they were in the UK, Charlie wanted to take them to Bath. — 00:00:10
    • Hank says Bath's hot spring was a principal resource of Roman Britain; the Romans built probably England's largest structure around it, a resort for wealthy Romans used so long their wooden shoes wore through the stone floors. (hedged) — 00:01:08
  • 2013-09-20 · 42 Amazing Maps — Hank says Africa is very big: bigger than the United States, France, Germany, Spain, the UK, all of Eastern Europe, China and India. — 00:02:46
  • …and 1 statement more in 2013 — all statements of 2013

Also named in: Football For Nerds

2014

  • 2014-01-21 · Are Poor Countries Doomed? — John says the Brazilian edition of The Fault in Our Stars, whose title he butchers in Portuguese, has sold hundreds of thousands of copies in Brazil, more than in Germany or the UK. — 00:03:16
  • 2014-03-04 · Understanding Ukraine: The Problems Today and Some Historical Context — John says Britain, France and the Ottoman Empire defeated Russia; 500,000 people died, and it resolved very little, since Europe had World War I sixty years later. — 00:00:25
  • 2014-03-18 · Is the American Dream Real? — John says 42% of American men raised in the bottom 20% of incomes stay there, against 30% in the UK and 25% in Denmark. — 00:01:10
    • John says Canada's pay gap is worse than the US's, while women make 83 cents per men's dollar in Australia, 84 in the UK, 85 in Sweden and 97.5 in Slovenia. — 00:02:00
  • 2014-08-29 · What's the Difference Between A and Z — Hank explains English means from England, a country inside the United Kingdom, while British covers the whole UK, including Northern Irish, Welsh and Scottish people, who may not like the label. — 00:00:55
  • 2014-10-03 · Hong Kong Protests Explained — Hank says that in 1847 Hong Kong, a sparsely populated island off southern China, was ceded to the United Kingdom after the Opium War. (doubtful: 1847) — 00:00:21
  • 2014-10-24 · #Octothorpe - A Symbolistic Journey — Hank: The # has different names in different countries: in America shifted-three is the 'pound sign', in the UK shifted-three is also the 'pound sign' but a different character. — 00:00:10
    • The symbol was nearly out of use until the end of the 19th century, when the Teletype Corporation was inventing binary codes; the US gave the UK pound-sign code 10111 to the obsolete # instead of £. — 00:00:50
  • 2014-12-30 · Racism in the United States: By the Numbers — In the description John adds that hiring studies like the name-swapped resume study have found similar results in the UK and in Australia. — video description

2015

  • 2015-02-10 · Understanding Boko Haram — John says the British colonised what is now Nigeria for much of the 20th century, ruling the north indirectly through local emirs who pledged allegiance and paid them part of their money. — 00:00:43
  • 2015-03-24 · Is Obamacare Working? The Affordable Care Act Five Years Later — John says that in 2009 more of his US tax dollars went to health care than would have in Japan, the UK or Australia, yet the US did not get their universal health care. — 00:00:13
    • John rejects the idea that Americans' worse outcomes come from eating, drinking or smoking more than British people. — 00:05:21
  • 2015-05-12 · Becoming Someone Else — ask: John: In a P.S., John says Penguin UK has a Fault in Our Stars-themed project raising money for the Teenage Cancer Trust and asks UK and Ireland viewers to check it out. — 00:03:31
  • 2015-05-26 · Sixteen Parts — announcement: John: The Paper Towns film comes out in about 56 days in the US, at different times elsewhere; John will travel to support the release, at least to Brazil and the UK and probably other places. (hedged) — 00:02:58
  • 2015-08-11 (said on 2015-08-10, implied) · 454 Days: Understanding America's Ridiculous Political Campaigns — John says campaign cycles are getting longer worldwide, but in the UK people only start paying proper attention five weeks before the election, when the Queen dissolves Parliament. — 00:00:35
    • John says the whole US process takes about 23 times longer than the UK's and costs 40 times more ('so that's nice'). — 00:01:18
  • 2015-09-24 · Continents are Dumb — Hank: Indonesia seemed small to Hank, but moved onto Europe it stretches from Northern Ireland to Kazakhstan; it has the land area of the UK, Germany, France, Spain and Italy combined. — 00:02:11
  • 2015-11-24 · Crime and Outrage — John: Even before the price hike, the drug cost 30 times more in the US than in the UK. — 00:02:13
  • …and 1 statement more in 2015 — all statements of 2015

2016

2017

  • 2017-10-10 · Turtles All the Way Down!!! A Reunion Video — announcement: John: On Tuesday, October 10, 2017, from a New York City hotel floor, John announces Turtles All the Way Down is out in the US, UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and several other countries. — 00:00:00

2018

2019

  • 2019-05-31 · Uncomfortable Nuance: Natural Gas Edition — Hank recently had a tweet go viral: a quote tweet of a tweet citing an infographic of UK coal use over the last eight years, responding, more vulgarly, 'we can do this'. — 00:00:00
    • Hank says what really hit UK coal was natural gas, a cleaner fuel that produces less carbon dioxide per megawatt of energy. — 00:00:40
    • Hank says the UK used to be the center of the coal world, and now there are some days when it produces no coal-fired power at all. — 00:00:40
  • 2019-10-01 · Why Are Poor Countries Poor? — John: A community can't spend what it doesn't have: at the UK's share of GDP, Sierra Leone would have about $45 per person yearly for health care; the US spends over $10,000 per person on health and over $12,000 per child on education. — 00:01:56
    • The wealth of the US and UK can't be separated from Sierra Leone's poverty: they industrialized with its resources and built trade on West African slaves. — 00:05:26
  • 2019-10-08 · Looking for Alaska (...with Alaska) — announcement: The description lists further outlets: HBO in Central Europe, the Nordics and Spain, BBC3 in the UK and Stan in Australia (October 19th). — video description
    • The series also comes out on BBC3 in the UK and in Canada, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and many other places; more info in the doobly-doo. — 00:00:29
  • 2019-11-29 · My Most Controversial Opinion — announcement: Hank says Audible in the UK picked his first book, An Absolutely Remarkable Thing, as a Black Friday deal, so it costs only three pounds there this week (week of 25 November 2019). — 00:02:58
  • …and 1 statement more in 2019 — all statements of 2019

2020

  • 2020-04-21 · hey now — John says almost a decade ago Fisher-Price released a set of three sing-a-ma-jigs called The Hits, sold only at Tesco in the UK for a very limited time. — 00:01:06

2021

  • 2021-04-20 · Breaking Ground!!! — announcement: John: Every pre-order of the US and Canadian hardcover will be signed, and some signed copies will be available at UK bookstores. — 00:02:15

2022

2024

  • 2024-04-09 · Hank and John Reunited WITH RAX — announcement: John: Answering viewers, John says the Turtles All the Way Down film will stream on Max in the UK, the Netherlands and other listed places, out May 2 in most places including the US. — 00:04:57
  • 2024-05-03 · Everything Wrong with Turtles All the Way Down — announcement: The description lists where to stream the film by region and complains that the UK and Ireland get it 24 days after everyone else, for no known reason. — video description
  • 2024-05-20 · Hang on tight, spider monkey, it's the P4A 2024 MEME REVIEW!! — Hank recalls they decided the UK is pronounced 'ook', with 'loondoon', 'ingloond' and 'scotloond'. (playful) — 00:18:38
  • 2024-06-11 · BEEF DAYS — John says Americans still eat about twice as much beef as people in Germany or the United Kingdom. — 00:00:29
  • 2024-10-04 · Trees are Destroying the Earth (Again) — In the description Hank adds, not fully sure, that the UK was so good for coal formation partly because it was very wet: swamps prevent the fires that release trees' carbon. (hedged) — video description
    • Hank says that 300 million years ago, on the warm swampy land that would become the UK, land plants went within about 50 million years from about 30 cm to about 30 m maximum height. — 00:00:29
    • Hank says the UK's ancient history, the tectonic luck that kept coal near the surface, and its people's history and culture made it start an ever-rising process of digging up and burning coal. — 00:02:26
    • Hank says coal produced 76% of the UK's power at its peak, around 40 years ago. — 00:02:49
    • Hank shows a video of the UK's power mix from this week (week of 30 September 2024): the UK's last coal-fired power plant has shut down, ending a 300-million-year-old story. — 00:03:04
    • Hank says the rise of natural gas as a cleaner, cheaper fuel drove much of coal's decline from the 1990s, as did the UK's Climate Change Act. — 00:03:10
    • Hank says that in 2015 the UK said it would phase out coal over the next 10 years, and then it did. — 00:03:26
    • Hank says a big part of coal's end was the UK's geographic luck of a relatively fantastic position for wind resources. — 00:03:33
  • …and 2 statements more in 2024 — all statements of 2024

2025

  • 2025-03-04 · The ANXIETY IS PALPABLE — John is anxious because he cares about human health, which he says is entering a bad period as the US especially, and also countries like the UK, dramatically pull back health investments. — 00:00:39
  • 2025-04-11 (said on 2025-04-10, implied) · How Actually Crazy is This Mess? — Hank says the UK got half the EU's tariff, and since Northern Ireland trades as part of both, it has both a 10% and a 20% tariff, an A-tier loophole. — 00:04:00
  • 2025-06-10 · 90,000,000 Lives for $20 — John says the new match would gut the Global Fund, because the UK and EU are also cutting global health spending and will use it as an excuse to cut further. — 00:02:26
    • John says the US is not the only challenge: about 43% of the Global Fund's money comes from the UK and the EU, which are also pulling back on global health spending. — 00:04:22
    • John asks viewers in the UK and EU to contact their representatives too. — 00:04:22
  • 2025-07-25 · The Molecule that Changed Everything — Hank says coal use is finally declining: the UK, where coal largely kicked off the Industrial Revolution, no longer burns coal at all, having burned its last. — 00:06:13
  • 2025-10-09 · I Like Being Alive — John says the Broccoli Tree in Sweden and the Sycamore Gap tree in Britain were cut down, but both have since sprouted new life from their felled trunks. — 00:03:06
  • 2025-10-24 · What Will Books Become? — announcement: Hank announces he will appear on QI in the UK on Tuesday with Sandi, Alan, Desiree Burch and Aisling Bea; he is terrified. — 00:05:47
  • 2025-11-28 · Three Things! (Wait, no, actually four...) — announcement: Hank: On the day after Thanksgiving, Hank says the opening was him at QI and points viewers who can watch QI, for example in the UK, to his episode. — 00:00:52

Also named in: Fighting TB in Kids: A Discussion with Doctors without Borders

2026

  • 2026-03-31 · I've Been Keeping a Secret… — announcement: The description says the book will be published internationally, including the UK and Brazil, but John doesn't yet know if or where signed copies will be available there. (unsure) — video description
  • 2026-08-14 · Pain in the _____ — Hank says in British books 'pain in the arse' led 'pain in the ass' for a while, but America appears to have won. (hedged) — 00:05:50