Yani Ingiliz, Johny English, Ovanes Efendi (equivalents of the name Ivan), Denkooglu (after Deniu, Danail), was born in Razgrad, Ottoman Empire in 1827.

During Danail's early years, his father, the architect Karastoyan, was requested to build a house for a local Turk, an important person.

An even more colourful lifestyle followed — he worked on the first Bulgarian railway Rousse–Varna, then as a trade representative in Manchester, he married the daughter of a respected architect from Rousse, he taught at Robert College, he was a correspondent for different European newspapers.

The bones of Ivan Vedar were moved to the Pantheon of National Revival Heroes,[3] and a monument in his honour was put nearby.

That enraged the Turkish governors, wnho decided to massacre the whole Bulgarian population in Rousse — all of them were taken out in the field near the Vladikova Bahcha (the present Youth's Park), where they spent several days and nights.

He dropped in at the Italian consul Enrique de Gubernatis, together with whom they invited the influential Turk hajji Mehmed Alia to ascend with them to the Leventa hill, in order to lobby with Delaver Pasha, the commander of the Egyptian forces positioned around the city.