Of all the figures who have used TikTok to propel themselves into the limelight, none are quite as fascinating as Francis Bourgeois. A polite, winsome English boy, his videos on the platform are charmingly sincere and deeply odd.
Bourgeois is a trainspotter who films himself brimming with excitement as rolling stock buzzes past him in the British countryside. However, he films himself by attaching a GoPro to his forehead; if you have seen any of his videos, you will know that this has the effect of distorting his face beyond all comprehension. Watching him convulse with happiness as a British Rail Class 390 Pendolino screams past him is – and I mean this with all the respect in the world – exactly the same as watching the Roswell alien undergo several bouts of electroshock therapy.
