Simon Whistler
Simon Whistler is one of the most widely watched voices in educational storytelling, reaching over 50 million viewers monthly across a network of more than a dozen YouTube channels, including Biographics, Highlight History, and Today I Found Out.
About Simon
Born in south-east England and now based in the Czech Republic, Simon built his career on making complex subjects genuinely accessible without sacrificing depth. His approach to storytelling goes beyond surface-level summaries, exploring the strategic logic, historical context, and human consequences that shape how ambitious ideas become real work.
SideProjects is where that curiosity turns toward creative builds, unusual inventions, workshop systems, and the practical business choices behind projects that start small.
The Whistlerverse
MEGAPROJECTS
Deep dives into mankind's largest engineering achievements and infrastructure systems.
INVENTIONS / BUILDSSIDEPROJECTS
Focused explainers on smaller innovations, creative builds, practical tools, and overlooked breakthroughs.
GENERAL KNOWLEDGEBIOGRAPHICS
Biographical storytelling about notable figures, discoveries, and turning points.
DARK / KNOWLEDGEINTO THE SHADOWS
Darker historical stories and controversial episodes from modern history.
MYSTERIES / GEOGRAPHYDECODING THE UNKNOWN
Investigations into mysteries, unexplained claims, and speculative history topics.
MYSTERIES / GEOGRAPHYPLACES
Global geography and place-based storytelling across regions and cultures.
GEOPOLITICS / CONFLICTHOMEFRONTS
Geopolitics, modern conflict, military history, and the civilian and societal dimensions of global events.
ENTERTAINMENT / GENERAL KNOWLEDGETODAY I FOUND OUT
General knowledge explainers spanning history, science, culture, and unusual facts.
ENTERTAINMENT / GENERAL KNOWLEDGEBRAIN BLAZE
Fast-paced comedic commentary on bizarre stories and internet oddities.
Latest from Places
Burkina Faso: The West African Dictatorship That Loves Russia.
How Burkina Faso fell from a stable West African state to a military dictatorship allied with Russia, torn apart by jihadist insurgency and led by a young captain evoking the revolutionary legacy of Thomas Sankara.
Zheleznogorsk/Krasnoyarsk-26: Siberia’s Secret Nuclear City
Explore the hidden history of Krasnoyarsk-26, a Soviet secret city built to produce weapons-grade plutonium, its luxurious gilded cage existence, and the devastating environmental legacy that outlasted the Cold War.
The Most Extreme Prison in Russia
Discover Black Dolphin, Russia's most notorious supermax prison. From its brutal conditions to its depraved inmates, explore what makes this modern-day gulag inescapable.
Afghanistan is Now So Much Worse Than You Think.
Five years after the Taliban's return to power, Afghanistan faces economic collapse, mass hunger, women's rights erasure, ISIS attacks, and rising tensions with Pakistan. Here's how the country descended into its worst crisis yet.
Alnwick Poison Garden: The Deadliest Plants in the World
Explore England's Alnwick Poison Garden, where deadly plants require government permission to grow and visitors risk fainting among nature's most dangerous killers.
The Boötes Void: The Biggest, Emptiest Thing in the Universe
Discover the Boötes Void, a 330 million light-year expanse of near-nothingness that changed our understanding of cosmic structure, and explore the theories behind this mysterious region of space.