The person behind the bizarre and hilarious ‘Angry Beetham’ Twitter account has announced that the page will be retired, after they suffered a stroke that has left them with ‘permanent damage’.
For 10 years, the witty parody account has been shouting and screaming across the Twittersphere, claiming to be the voice of Manchester’s landmark Beetham Tower.
The huge skyscraper, which famously hums when the wind picks up, has recently shared insights such as ‘MATT HANCOCK, BEETHAM SEND YOU MILLION BOULDERS VIA WHATSAPP. GRAAAAAAAAGH’ and ‘STAY HOME THIS WEEK. ANGRY TOWER ON LOOSE.’.
But today marks the end of the much-loved social media account, after its mystery admin revealed themselves and gave a health update.
On Twitter, the comedian, writer and artist known as Fat Roland said: “Hello. My name is @FatRoland and I have been running the Angry Beetham account since, well, forever. It is sadly time to retire the account. All is explained in the link.
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“SERIOUS? Yes, serious, Beethy.
“It has been so much fun running this account over the years. Such great followers and, hidden from you, sooo many laughs from me. You are all an absolute joy.
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“Weird thing is, I don’t have an angry bone in my body. It can be such an impotent emotion, and when mapped onto such an incongruous, singular building, makes for a fun Twitter account.
Hello. My name is @FatRoland and I have been running the Angry Beetham account since, well, forever. It is sadly time to retire the account. All is explained in the link.
“Anyway. So long and thanks for all the laser smashes and boulder bashes. GRRRRRR.”
Fat Roland has shared a lengthy blog post in which he detailed that he has suffered a stroke that has made reading very difficult, forcing the Angry Beetham account into extinction.
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He said that he had been at a gig in Manchester (Plaid, at Gorilla), when he noticed several disorientating symptoms and felt like his ‘head was exploding’.
Three days later, and Fat Roland was diagnosed as having had a stroke, which has left him suffering hallucinations.
He wrote on his blog: “The stroke has destroyed half of my eyesight. In true surrealist Fat Roland style, the missing halves are the right section of each eye. Because eyes dart about and the brain is clever, I don’t have black spots. I can see everything. But if my brain hasn’t received full information about a section of what I’m looking at, it makes things up. This causes hallucinations.
A sample of the Angry Beetham Twitter account. Credit: Twitter, @angrybeetham
“I have looked into the twilight sky and seen a hospital floating mid-air, in full detail. I have seen imaginary crows flapping around the edges of my vision. I have seen a cheerful dog on a lead being walked by a bush because my brain couldn’t register the difference between a dog owner and shrubbery. A quick dart of the eyes, and my visual register filled in the correct information. I think my brain is having far too much fun with this.”
He then went on to explain that he’d ‘lost the ability to laterally scan text’, which has made running Angry Beetham too much of a challenge.
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Fat Roland wrote: “The damage is permanent. The fried part of my brain will never be unfried. But I’m confident about recovery as I begin what feels like Life Part Two.
“I will be slowly integrating back into my role at the brilliant Burgess Foundation. My work with Electronic Sound will continue, although for now will be restrained to a slightly shorter column. I’m sure I will cartoon again, although I may need to learn new techniques. I will likely have to give up running my F1 Losers League because there’s too much detailed spreadsheet and website work.
“And because casual social media browsing is no longer viable, I am retiring the @AngryBeetham Twitter account which I have been secretly running for ten years.”
Dozens of messages of support have been flooding in today, including one person who wrote: “So long and thanks for the lasers. Wishing you best for the future.”
Another person said: “Farewell Manchester’s greatest Twitter account, I’ll never not see the tower as AB now. Who can forget his ill-fated Valentine date with a tent? Or the time he threatened to roll GMex on its back like a beetle? All the best for your recovery @FatRoland and thanks for the laughs.”
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And the reverse parody account of Happy Beetham shared: “Thank you for always being my better half AB.”
So that’s it. The days of Angry Beetham are officially over. Thank you Fat Roland for a decade of silly, delightful, very angry fun.
Local Olympian Keely Hodgkinson named as official starter of the 2025 Great Manchester Run
Danny Jones
One of our very own is getting ready to get thousands of racers underway as local Olympian, Keely Hodgkinson MBE, has been named as the official starter for the 2025 Great Manchester Run.
Atherton’s very own generational trackstar, who picked up gold at Paris 2024 and has earned several other medals, not to mention smashing multiple British records, will be leading the hordes of runners taking on the annual AJ Bell challenge through central Manchester next month.
We couldn’t think of anyone better suited to fly the flag for Greater Manchester.
HUGE NEWS incoming… 👀🔥
We’re super excited to announce that Olympic champion @keelyhodgkinson will be the official race starter for this year’s AJ Bell Great Manchester Run! 🏃♀️💥👏🐝 pic.twitter.com/aHHxeaMQ9p
Hyping up the news on social media, the Great Run company went on to add: “A true hometown hero, an Olympic champion, and now, kicking off Manchester’s best running party of the year – the BIGGEST in a decade! We’re proper BUZZZZZING! Let’s have it, Manchester!”
Safe to say they’re pretty ecstatic with the news, and so are we, as Keely Hodgkinson becomes the latest Team GB member to bring their pedigree to the event, following in the very fast footsteps of Sir Mo Farah, Kelly Holmes, Amir Khan and many more.
Although the 800m specialist is yet to comment on the announcement directly, the magic of getting to put the hard yards in front of a home crowd won’t be lost on her, and it goes without saying that she’ll get an unreal reception from the Manc spectators – of which there are expected to be more than 100,000.
Better yet, over 35,000 participants are set to take on the Great Manchester Run this year, therefore teeing potentially record-breaking crowds for the event.
2025 marks the 22nd edition of the event, and the atmosphere throughout the city centre, as well as out into East Manchester and Trafford, is always spectacular. There are still places left if you’re tempted…
Undoubtedly one of the very best athletes to ever come out of the underdog borough that is Wigan, whether you argue the case for old Lancashire or not, surely we can all be proud to call her a Greater Mancunian this spring, just as we did back in the summer?
Once again, it isn’t long before the annual race day kicks off as the Great Manchester Run arrives on Sunday, 18 May, with Keely Hodgkinson beckoning everyone towards their own hero moments.
There are still places left for both the 10k and half marathon distances, and now we’ve seen the medal design for this year, we might just have to sign up again ourselves.
You can find out more and decide for yourself HERE.
Insomnia Cookies is giving away FREE cookies to anyone with these two names
Emily Sergeant
Manchester’s late-night sweet treat spot Insomnia Cookies is dishing out freebies this week… but there’s a catch.
You have to be called one of two specific names to get one.
With the long bank holiday weekend upon us, those in-the-know will also have noticed that this Sunday isn’t just Easter Sunday, it also happens to be 4/20… and that means Insomnia Cookies is back with its ‘blazing’ £4.20 deal, giving you the chance to bag a box of four warm cookies while saving nearly £7 at the same time.
But even better still, if you happen to have either the first or middle name ‘Mary’ or ‘Jane’, then you can also get yourself a warm tasty cookie for free.
To mark both 4/20, and celebrate the launch of its newest strain of mouthwatering cookie, the Mary Jane, anyone called Mary or Jane can pop into either of Insomnia Cookies’ two Manchester city centre sites – Cross Street and University Green – show their valid ID with their name on, and walk alway with a cookie free of charge.
If you want to try the new Mary Jane cookie, then this limited-edition special is made up of a cookies n cream dough base, packed with rainbow sprinkles.
The freebie deal has been running all week, and you have up until 3am on Monday 21 April to take advantage of it.
Customers will be limited to one free cookie per day.
Insomnia Cookies is giving away free cookies to anyone with these two names / Credit: Insomnia Cookies UK
If you aren’t lucky enough to be called one of those two names though, then thankfully you can still make some great savings on a classic four-pack of cookies over the spring bank holiday weekend, and for every four-pack sold, £1 will be donated to Groundwork – a charity helping make Manchester greener for nature and for local people.
“We’re calling for Marys and Janes to join us to live the high life with free cookies all week,” commented Millie Ralston, Head of Marketing at Insomnia Cookies.
Daisy Jackson -
3rd May 2023 
