Danny Wallace (writer)
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Daniel Frederick Wallace (born 16 November, 1976; also referred to as Leader and King Danny I of Lovely) is a British writer, living in London, best known for his work with the comedian Dave Gorman and for starting both the collective, Join Me and the micronation Lovely.
Wallace was born in Dundee, Scotland, but grew up in Loughborough, England. He began writing at 13, writing reviews for videogames magazines like Sega Power and Super Play. At 17 he appears to have attempted to begin his radio career by writing a letter to 1449AM URB#redirect .
At 18 he then began writing about entertainment and comedy, mainly through the magazine Comedy Review. He specialised in radio production at university, but has also penned various scripts and pilots for the BBC. As a journalist, Wallace has worked for; The Guardian, The Independent, The Daily Star, Melody Maker, Total Film, Total Football, T3, .net, and dozens of others.
He was part of the original team behind the British Comedy Award-winning Dead Ringers, writes for the Sony Radio Academy Award-winning Sunday Format, and produced the critically acclaimed cult radio hit The Mighty Boosh, for Radio 4. He has worked with British comedians Ross Noble and Tony Hawks.
Are You Dave Gorman?
It was Wallace who challenged Dave Gorman (his then flatmate) to find 54 other people called Dave Gorman ("one for every card in the deck, including the Jokers") and then accompanied Dave on his quest. Dave and Danny then co-wrote the cult book Are You Dave Gorman? about their adventures.Join Me
In 2003, he wrote the book Join Me, about how he started the 'cult' of that name. The movement is now generally referred to as the Karma Army, although members are still typically joinees. He became a minor celebrity in Belgium whilst on his quest for joinees. The popular quote "it's not a cult, it's a collective" stems from the fact that Wallace did not want to encourage a sinister image. However, he has begrudgingly admitted that it is in fact a cult, hence the book's cover blurb: "The true story of a man who started a cult by accident." Qwerty Films are currently developing a film version with writer Frank Cottrell Boyce.As a follow-up Wallace wrote a small book called 365 Ways To Make the World A Better Place, with the help of submissions from Joinees. It includes many humorous Random Acts of Kindness (RAoK) ideas, such as 'Hide a surprise under someone's pillow. (Horses' heads are discouraged.)'
How to Start Your Own Country
In 2005, Wallace started his own micronation called "Lovely" in his flat in Bow, London. A TV series documenting the conception of the country was filmed for the TV series How to Start Your Own Country, which aired on BBC Two in the summer of 2005. New episodes of Citizen TV, a half hour phone-in show that was available after the main show via BBCi, can now be viewed online at [Citizens Required.com]Yes Man
Wallace's second solo book, Yes Man was published in July 2005. In it, he describes how he spent one year "saying Yes where once would have said No", to make his life more interesting and positive. In this book he shows the tribulations and mischief that Danny got up to while he said yes, to any question or proposal, for numerous months. The book according to some can be seen as a self-help book as well as humour. A film version is currently in development, set to star Jack Black.Wag, of the band The Infadels, is a close friend of Wallace (having assisted him in promoting the Karma Army) and features heavily in Yes Man. It is unknown whether Wag will appear in the film version, or who will play him.
Other television appearances
Beginning late August 2005 he made several appearances as a guest presenter on BBC One's Saturday night show He's Having A Baby. On December 19,Wallace contributed ideas to and appeared in the hidden camera show World Shut Your Mouth.
He has presented a few shows for Sky including the first series of Conspiracies... and Danny Wallace's Hoax Files.
He also took part in Carol Vorderman's Big Brain Game, shown on Sky One on December 22. He once came second on an episode of The Weakest Link and came third out of the celebrity guests on an episode of Test the Nation in 2005.
In 2006 he made a short foray into acting with a small non-speaking role in The IT Crowd, a Channel 4 sitcom.
His latest series is a new entertainment quiz for the BBC called School's Out, in which celebrities are quizzed on topics they learned at school. It first aired on BBC One on 5 April 2006.
Danny Wallace and the Centre of the Universe
Danny Wallace and the Centre of the Universe was published in 2006 and is linked with World Book Day which in 2006 was on Thursday 2nd March. It tells the story of Wallace's trip to Idaho, to visit a manhole cover in a small town, whose residents have proclaimed it the centre of the universe. The cover identifies it as a "Quick Read", and both the price and length of the book have been purposefully curbed in order to encourage people to read who might not ordinarily do so.Trivia
- Danny is the one-time voice of Polish butter.
- Danny appears on the Ross Noble Unrealtime DVD - on Noble's mobile phone, mid commentary.
- It is a running joke in his work that he looks like one/both of The Proclaimers.
- Danny is the Royal Patron of the Bristol University Tea Society.
- He is irritated by people making jokes about him not being the footballer Danny Wallace.
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External links
- [Danny Wallace homepage] - further details about BBC projects and books.
- [Citizens required] - a request for citizens for the new country.
- [Join Me] - the website of his collective, Join Me.
- [Join Me Wiki] - Wiki site maintained by joinees.
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