Fred goes viral for his birthday
Millions of people shared a Cannock pensioner's birthday with him after a photo of him celebrating went viral.
Fred Wright, from Burntwood, turned 91 on Monday and was snapped enjoying his birthday cake at the St Giles Computer Social Group, which meets at Lichfield hospice.
Twitter analytics show that Fred’s picture has reached more than 5 million people and has been retweeted more than 43,000 times and on Facebook has been liked 2700 times and shared more than 2000 times.
Messages have come from across the globe and he’s had birthday messages from Boy George, Janice Long and Barbara Dickinson, plus a host of others.
He’s even got his own hashtag #MakeFredFamous which has been picked up by hundreds of Tweeters.
Scroll down to see the best of #MakeFredFamous
St Giles community engagement manager Ian Leech said: “Fred’s a fantastic example of someone who is still learning in their tenth decade so it seems a brilliant opportunity to show that on social media.
“We expected maybe a hundred likes on Facebook and some retweets but we really didn’t expect the response we got.
“It’s been absolutely wonderful to see such an amazing wave of lovely messages, pictures and videos from across the internet.”
Fred’s technology journey started when a family member bought him a tablet and he joined the computer group to get online.
He said: “I spotted a story about the group and decided to go along and it’s been lovely to learn so much and to be part of the group, which is really friendly.
“I use the internet for things like YouTube – I love opera and follow singers on there and as an artist, I enjoy watching other artists paint.
“I’ve had a look on Facebook and I’m thinking about Twitter, although I might need a bit of help setting it up!”
St Giles CEO Emma Hodges said the response to #makefredfamous was phenomenal and really demonstrated the positive impact of social media.
She said: “Our volunteer led computer group encourages local people to come together, chat, learn and make new friends.
“Fred’s story really shows that it’s never too late to start learning and we’ve seen so many positive stories shared about older people engaging with technology.
“It’s also been great for us as it shows that hospices aren’t places where people go to die, they are part of a vibrant community which help people live full lives.”
