It was one of the more memorable celebrations of England's run to the 2018 World Cup semi-finals – in South Yorkshire, at least: a man dressed as St George hurling himself off a bus shelter in Doncaster and into the arms of the crowd below. Eight years on, that man – Balby roofer Terry Hill – has turned the nickname it earned him, Donny Knight, into an online following he puts at around half a million, built largely on videos about holidays in Turkey.
The day Silver Street partied
On 7 July 2018, goals from Harry Maguire and Dele Alli gave Gareth Southgate's side a 2-0 quarter-final win over Sweden in Samara, sending England into their first World Cup semi-final since 1990. Back home, hundreds of supporters flooded Doncaster's Silver Street, and Hill, then 53, clambered on to a bus shelter in his St George costume.
"To be honest, it was a total spur of the moment thing but I decided to go with it and the response has been incredible," he told the Doncaster Free Press two days later. "All the fans below were shouting 'jump!' and I was a bit worried they wouldn't catch me but they did and it was brilliant."
Clips of the leap were viewed more than 120,000 times within days. Hill, who had taken to painting the flags of England's opponents on his garden wall, added: "The atmosphere was incredible. Everyone was partying and having a great time and there wasn't an ounce of trouble."
On horseback in Corfu, parasailing for the final
The celebrations did not stop there. When England reached their first major final in 55 years at Euro 2020, Hill – by then styling himself the Donny Knight – marked the semi-final win over Denmark with a horseback parade around Corfu, where he was on holiday, and took to the skies on a parasailing trip on the day of the final, the paper reported.
"My proper name's Terry," he explained in an interview filmed in Marmaris last October. "The media named me Donny Knight. So, Donny, Doncaster for short, and I was dressed as a knight."
A second career on TikTok
When Hill joined TikTok, he kept the name. A video of him surprising his daughter went viral and took him to 11,000 followers, and he set out to become a travel creator – first in Thailand, in April 2024, and later in Egypt, Dubai and Turkey.
His momentum was almost halted at the start of 2025, when he was diagnosed with blocked arteries in his abdomen and needed urgent surgery to save his left foot. The operation forced him to put his roofing business on hold. But by late May he was back on the Turkish coast, posting a clip captioned "from the hospital bed to back solo travelling".
Turkey's unofficial holiday guide
Using Marmaris and neighbouring İçmeler as his base, he returned every month until October, filming hotel reviews, restaurant visits, boat trips, excursions and shopping hauls – and gaining more than 60,000 followers in the process. He says he wanted to counter creators who had criticised Turkey without visiting. "Turkey got a lot of slating off a lot of content creators that have never come here," he said. "So when I come here and saw things, I thought I'm going to vlog my journey in Turkey."
Prices are central to his appeal. He has filmed bed and breakfast in a family-run Marmaris hotel for £26 a night, and priced a ten-minute dolmuş minibus ride along the bay at 40 lira – about 70p – last season. "Back at home that trip will cost you a fiver," he said.
In a message shared with The Sports Pulse, Hill said his aim was to help "the Turkish tourist industry in many ways", covering travel, transport and hotels, and showcasing the small businesses he meets along the way, from cafés and restaurants to shops – with content that is as funny as it is useful. His followers are spread around the world, he says, and some have come to Turkey because of his videos.
For all the numbers, he insists he is still an ordinary person. "They've turned me into a celebrity when I'm a normal person," he said. "To them, I'm helping everyone have a very good holiday when they come here."
"You should always come here"
The man who once leapt off a bus shelter for England now describes his content as a mix of everything. "He does crazy, serious, helpful, dangerous," he said of his alter ego. "I do everything."
Asked to sum up Turkey after a season of monthly visits, he said: "The people I have met are lovely ... That is why I love Turkey, and you should always come here." Donny Knight posts on TikTok as @donny_knight.
