Charles Veitch

Veitch was born on 5 August 1980^[3] in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to a Brazilian mother and a Scottish merchant seaman. He later migrated to the UK. His father later became a wealthy oil worker.^[4] He attended Edinburgh Academy and received a Master of Arts with honours in philosophy from the University of Edinburgh.^[2][1]

Following university, Veitch joined the Territorial Army and worked at HBOS in wealth management.^[2][4]

In 2006, he became interested in 9/11 conspiracy theories, and was eventually occasionally posting videos on YouTube of himself and friends protesting.^[5] He was laid off from HBOS in 2009 due to the 2008 financial crisis, and dedicated himself to making guerilla videos and protesting on a full-time basis.^[2][5][6] In June 2010, Veitch—who then described himself as an absurdist filmmaker and part of the "Love Police" movement—was charged with impersonating a peace officer at Toronto airport during the G20 summit period.^[7] Circa 2011 he was an anarchist.^[8][9][10] He became a 9/11 "truther" and in 2011 was included in the BBC's 9/11: Conspiracy Road Trip.^[11] According to an article in Slate, "by the third day of actually speaking with people he had believed responsible for covering up mass murder, Veitch was starting to believe he was wrong about 9/11."^[5] Veitch later confessed he no longer believed 9/11 was faked by the United States government.^[2] His decision to denounce the 9/11 conspiracy theories drew backlash from Alex Jones and David Icke, as well as death threats and unfounded criminal allegations.^[4][11][12]

In recent years, he has made walking YouTube videos set in north-western English towns commenting on and interacting with people on the streets.^[13][14][15]

In 2012, his girlfriend was fellow activist Silkie Carlo.^[2] He has one child as of 2013.^{[4][needs update]}