Strongest man heads to town

Eddie Hall, nicknamed The Beast, made history last year by becoming the first Brit in almost a quarter of a century to win the world’s most famous strength competition.

The Stoke-based giant, who weighs more than 30 stone, is appearing at the DW Stadium in June and will speak about developing his awesome physical power and his path to the top.

The night is being organised by rugby league player turned compere and comedian John Lebbon and tickets for the event are flying out the door, with around 150 sold already.

John is hoping to pack several hundred people into the venue on the night to meet Eddie, who has already said he is greatly looking forward to coming to Wigan.

He said: “I’ve done two events with Eddie before and he’s brilliant, he’s got so much time for everyone.

“He talks about his insane training regime and what he eats, how he gets through 12,000 calories a day.

“I think lots of rugby people will be interested in this because they go to the gym and the Strongest Man goes with that quite well.”

TV viewers watched Eddie take the title in the World’s Strongest Man in Botswana over Christmas, having come third the previous year.

Previously a bodybuilder, Eddie joined the strongman circuit in 2010 and enjoyed immediate success.

He has won the Britain’s Strongest Man and UK Strongest Man titles every year since 2014 and 2011 respectively and also holds the world deadlift record of 500kg.

In the 2017 global competition he defeated Iceland’s Hafthor Julius Bjornsson, better known as Ser Gregor Clegane in the TV smash hit show Game of Thrones.

However, he also announced that for health reasons he would not be defending his world title and would return to lower-weight competitions.

Eddie has also become something of a people’s champion with more than a million followers on social media and a documentary on Netflix about him.

The event is on June 9. For tickets visit www.dwstadium.com/event/an-evening-with-eddie-hall/