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Ozzy Osbourne's most shocking moments

Ozzy Osbourne's most shocking moments

The Black Sabbath singer and successful solo artist was known for his controversial live shows.
Drug and alcohol use often fuelled manic behaviour in front of his adoring audiences, and also his most crazed moments in between shows.
These are some of the most memorable and infamous moments from the hell-raising life of the late heavy metal pioneer.
The Alamo
In 1982, Osbourne was wearing one of his wife's dresses for a photoshoot close to The Alamo in Texas, the site of a heroic sacrifice by the Texan troops against the invading Mexicans.
The rock star drunkenly relieved himself on a cenotaph commemorating the dead, later donating thousands to the group which maintains The Alamo.
In the midst of an alcohol and drug haze, Osbourne said that he set about slaughtering 17 cats with a shotgun.
The rocker said he was found by his wife under a piano, armed with a knife in one hand and a shotgun in the other.
Ants
Osbourne toured with Motley Crue in the 1980s, and it was during this time that he is rumoured to have shocked his fellow rockers after 'spotting' a line of ants.
Bassist Nikki Sixx claimed that Osbourne took a straw and, as if snorting cocaine, hoovered the line of ants up his nose.
Bats
In 1982, Osbourne was on stage at a gig in Des Moines, Iowa, during a US tour.
A fan threw a bat on stage, and in the frenzy of performance Osbourne – believing it to be rubber – bit its head off. There remains debate as to whether the bat was alive or dead when it was thrown on stage.
Doves
Osbourne had history with the decapitation of winged creatures, beginning with an incident which stunned CBS Records executives.
Celebrating a new album in 1981, the Black Country-born rock star was intending to release two doves in a symbolic act at the record label. Instead, he grabbed a dove and bit its head off, before being thrown out of the building.
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Jack Osbourne's ex-wife Lisa Stelly pays tribute to 'papa' Ozzy with rare family photos
Jack Osbourne's ex-wife Lisa Stelly pays tribute to 'papa' Ozzy with rare family photos

Daily Mirror

time2 hours ago

  • Daily Mirror

Jack Osbourne's ex-wife Lisa Stelly pays tribute to 'papa' Ozzy with rare family photos

The Prince of Darkness died earlier this week, aged 76, 22 years after being diagnosed with Parkinson's disease and the world has since paid tribute to the iconic musician Ozzy Osbourne's former daughter-in-law has shared a touching tribute to the late rock star after he died on Wednesday, July 22, aged 76. Lisa Stelly was married to Ozzy 's son Jack from 2012 to 2019, and is mother to their children Pearl, Andy and Minnie. ‌ The 39-year-old food decorating business owner shared a heartfelt post on Instagram, in which she posted a number of rare family snaps of her kids with their grandad; The Prince of Darkness. Lisa wrote: "The world got Ozzy. We got Papa. One of one. Larger than life. It hurts to say goodbye, but what a gift it was to have him. We will never stop missing you." ‌ The photos showed a moving glimpse into family life over the years, with one showing one of her children playing with Ozzy and his wife Sharon. Another showed Ozzy laying in bed while one of her young children gives him a sweet kiss, while another saw Lisa pose with Ozzy for the camera. ‌ Lisa shared her heartbreaking post to her Instagram Story, adding: "Love you, Papa. See You on the Other Side." The news of Ozzy's death broke this week, just weeks after the iconic singer performed what would become his final ever gig with the other members of Black Sabbath. The massive show took place at Villa Park, in the band's hometown of Birmingham on Saturday, July 5. ‌ Ozzy, who had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, had been struggling to deal with his health issues in the months leading up to the 42,000 capacity event. But long term friend Steve Jones, of the Sex Pistols, said he was determined to make his farewell appearance a show to remember. He described his pal as a "pioneer", recalling his humour and how important his final gig was to him. Reflecting on his death, he said: 'I knew Oz, he was a legend and he was brilliant. It is sad, but I think he was holding on until he got that Aston Villa last show out of it, and I think he just said, okay, 'I'm ready to go'. ‌ 'So I don't think he was having any quality of life. Ozzy, I think I would've probably wanted to go if my life was physically like his.' Ozzy spoke about his health on his SiriusXM radio show, explaining: "I have made it to 2025. I can't walk, but you know what I was thinking over the holidays? For all my complaining, I'm still alive." ‌ He added: 'I may be moaning that I can't walk but I look down the road and there's people that didn't do half as much as me and didn't make it." Ozzy's wife and manager Sharon told RadioX that he has daily physio to try to preserve his muscle, telling the music station: "He's fine... as fine as you can be with Parkinson's." Ozzy's widow, 72, and four of his children, Kelly, 40, Jack, 39, Aimee, 41, and Louis, 50, shared a statement to confirm the news of his death. It read: "It is with more sadness than mere words can convey that we have to report that our beloved Ozzy Osbourne has passed away this morning. "He was with his family and surrounded by love. We ask everyone to respect our family's privacy at this time."

Before Rebus, McWatters was Scotland's original detective
Before Rebus, McWatters was Scotland's original detective

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time2 hours ago

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Before Rebus, McWatters was Scotland's original detective

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But the tale of The Gambler's Wax Finger didn't play out in the brooding dank closes of Edinburgh's Old Town. And it wasn't fiction. An illustration of a fraudster's capture, taken from Kilmarnock-born detective George McWatters' book (Image: The Project Gutenberg) Rather, this was almost 150 years ago, and the incident on board a Mississippi riverboat was just one of many detailed by Kilmarnock-born real-life detective George S. McWatters in a gripping memoir that kept readers on both sides of the Atlantic, at the time, engrossed. Long before the latest reinvention of Rebus, McWatters' tangled tales of how he brought Victorian criminals to justice was every bit as anticipated by readers as today's fans of Ian Rankin's gruff and rule-breaking DI. Meanwhile, his cases, drawn from his true experiences as a real-life detective in mid-19th century New York, show little has really changed down the years: money, greed and power motivated criminals then, just as they do now. Rebus and McWatters encountered the same drugs, guns, violence and human misery, while the Victorians memoir – clumsily titled Knots Untied: Or, Ways and By-Ways in the Hidden Life of American Detectives – contains as many twists and turns as any modern detective thriller. Penned in 1871, by which time McWatters was in his late fifties, its dramatic retelling of cases read like fanciful crime fiction: there are fraudsters masquerading as spiritualists, big money forgery rings stretching across state lines, and deadly poisoners hiding in plain sight. Jail awaited many criminals captured by Kilmarnock-born detective George McWatters (Image: The Project Gutenberg) Yet despite being a bestseller of its times and McWatters described among New York journals as "the Literary Policeman', few today will have heard of the Scottish-born crime buster. Born in Kilmarnock in around 1814, his family moved to Northern Ireland where he became a mechanic. It was a short-lived career. McWatters, said to be 'full of the spirit of adventure', soon left for London, where he met and married his wife. His memoir tells how the bustling streets and the diverse population – rich and well-heeled on one hand, desperately hard-up on the other – offered an education in human behaviour that laid the foundations for his future career as a New York detective. (Image: BBC) Richard Rankin stars as Rebus.'London is a world-school in itself,' he wrote. 'What a man cannot learn there of arts, sciences, and literature and of all the various phases of humanity, from the worse or lower than the barbarian, up to the highest type … he would be unable to learn in any other spot of Earth.' Before long though, he'd be tempted by the 'Land of Promise' and head for a new life on the other side of the Atlantic. In Philadelphia, he studied law only for his boss to give him the task of collecting debts – too much for his 'soft heart'. Having found himself required to deceive his way into a poor shoemaker's home to seize his only furniture – his bed – as payment for outstanding debts, he decided his future lay elsewhere. It set him on course to become one of America's early detectives, cracking crime in an era just as policing was finding its feet, led by another Scot, Glasgow-born Allan Pinkerton and his detective agency. Read more by Sandra Dick: They were also days when detectives worked by instinct, grit, and bravado, often stepping into roles that blurred the lines between enforcer and actor, all of it documented in fine detail in a memoir which had readers gripped. The cases McWatters encountered dealt with timeless topics that fascinated and intrigued readers then and still do now. One involved snaring a deceptive so-called spiritualist who claimed superpowers to summon the dead. The schemer targeted bereaved families, charging for supposed messages from deceased loved ones. Spiritualists and mediums who preyed on vulnerable victims appear in McWatters' book of crimes (Image: The Project Gutenberg) When the spiritualist encountered a timid young woman, fearful that her lack of personal wealth and the age gap between her and her rich husband-to-be might lead to to the marriage being short-lived, she offered to perform an elaborate charm to secure his affection forever. If the worried young woman could gather precious items – an expensive watch, gold cutlery and other expensive personal items – place them in a box and deliver them to her, then she could bewitch the marriage and ensure it would be forever happy. The charmed box and valuables would be returned to the anxious bride-to-be on condition that it be opened only when the mystic Mrs Seymour – the spiritualist – was many miles away. Naturally, once opened, it was found to contain not the precious items but stones and bits of junk. McWatters had doubts he would ever be able to track down the cunning Mrs Seymour. And yet, working undercover and using patient surveillance, he traced her from Brooklyn to Boston, where she was found continuing her cruel scams among upper‑class clients. Posing as a grieving husband, McWatters infiltrated her parlour and allowed her to proceed with her attempt at yet another scam. Read more by Sandra Dick Having watched her make contact with the spirit of his 'dead' wife – knowing she was perfectly healthy at home, looking after their family – McWatters revealed his identity. With the stolen goods recovered, he mused at how susceptible the well-to-do often were to sometimes ludicrous cons and scams aimed at depriving them of their wealth. '(I) came to a knowledge of the great extent to which mediums are consulted by people of the first classes; and was astonished to find how readily they fall through the superstitious element in their composition, victims to the sorcerer's arts,' he wrote. Rebus creator, Ian Rankin But McWatters didn't only unmask con artists and fraudsters. His book notes his various acts of selfless heroism: protecting the vulnerable public from harm was just another part of the police officer's role. One March day in 1861, he 'immersed" himself in the Hudson River to rescue a six-year-old boy who had fallen off the dock. Five weeks later, he was back, aiding in the rescue of another boy from a watery grave, and another time he plucked a grown man at risk of drowning, to safety. An illustration from George McWatters' memoirs showing the rescue of a drowning woman (Image: The Project Gutenberg) And when not cracking crime or carrying out daring rescues, readers learned of his acts of immense generosity: he helped provide aid for suffering and starving people of Kansas, supported injured soldiers and was outspoken against slavery. But it was his detective skills that gripped readers on both sides of the Atlantic: there was the case of a gang of forgers who passed counterfeit bank drafts, a triple murderer caught only after McWatters risked his own life to disarm him, bogus lottery scams and stolen diamonds. His knack for observation meant each account is packed with tension, high stakes and larger than life characters. While, unusual for the time, his exploits were brought to life in his book by illustrations showing him in full crime-fighting mode - including one showing him fighting off would-be robbers by brandishing his silver spectacle case like a knife. Read more: Although Knots Untied sold well in its day, McWatters' name was overshadowed by the likes of Pinkerton, whose famous detective agency spanned the country and snared some of the most famous criminal gangsters of the day, such as Jesse James. McWatters eventually faded into obscurity, and his crime tales were overtaken by the rise of fictional detectives such as Sherlock Holmes. He died in 1886 of pneumonia, aged 74. An obituary in the New York Times sang his praises as Chief of the Lost Children's Bureau, and one of a handful of policemen who defended the newspaper's offices during draft riots, sustaining wounds in the process. He was, it noted, a key figure who supported aid for destitute ex-Union soldiers, their widows and orphans. An illustration from George McWatters' book shows him fighting off would-be robbers using a spectacle case (Image: The Project Gutenberg) The Rebus of his day, his book, which can be read for free on The Gutenberg Project website, shares a common denominator with the crime books and characters of today – readers love a crime mystery. 'Detective stories speak to readers' hearts and minds,' says Jess Faraday, author of the award-winning Ira Adler historical mysteries and a spokesperson for the Crime Writers Association. 'We love to challenge ourselves to find the clues and see if we can beat the sleuth to the solution. Richard Rankin stars in the latest reboot of Edinburgh detective, Rebus (Image: free) 'And seeing justice served helps us to bring order to a sometimes chaotic world.' From McWatters' crime tales of 1871 to new versions of Rebus today some might wonder if there are any crime stories left to tell? 'It's true that the types of crime are finite, and most mysteries focus on only one — murder,' she adds. 'At the same time, within these limitations, the combinations of means, motive, opportunity, and character are limitless.'

Ozzy Osbourne fans will see Black Sabbath star's final months in new documentary
Ozzy Osbourne fans will see Black Sabbath star's final months in new documentary

Daily Mirror

time3 hours ago

  • Daily Mirror

Ozzy Osbourne fans will see Black Sabbath star's final months in new documentary

Ozzy Osbourne's final months were captured for a new BBC documentary, his son Jack revealed before the Black Sabbath frontman's tragic death at the age of 76 The Osbournes were the pioneers for reality TV - and it's now been revealed that Ozzy Osbourne 's final months were being filmed for a new TV documentary. ‌ The Black Sabbath frontman died, aged 76, surrounded by loved ones on Tuesday morning. His wife Sharon Osbourne, 72, and four of his children issued a joint statement, which read: "It is with more sadness than mere words can convey that we have to report that our beloved Ozzy Osbourne has passed away this morning. ‌ "He was with his family and surrounded by love. We ask everyone to respect our family privacy at this time. Sharon, Jack, Kelly, Aimee and Louis." ‌ Days after his death, an interview with his son Jack has resurfaced, in which he revealed his dad's final moments were filmed for a BBC TV documentary. The 10 part series, Home To Roost, originally planned to follow Ozzy and Sharon as they returned to their home in Buckinghamshire after 20 years of living in America. However, it's now said to be pivoted towards more of a tribute for the star. ‌ "Right now it'll take place over the Sabbath era and early 1980s. We're definitely going for a more adult rating for the film," Jack told the Mail's Weekend Magazine. "This is by no means going to be a fluff piece." Jack worked as co-producer on the biopic and promised all the chaos and mayhem we all know and love, as well as a focus on Ozzy and Sharon's love story, which began in the 1970s. ‌ Ozzy's youngest son Jack also confirmed that his father was working on an autobiography titled Last Rites before he died - which is expected to be released in autumn this year. Just weeks before his tragic death, Ozzy performed for the final time at his hometown in Birmingham, taking to the stage with his Black Sabbath bandmates at Villa Park. In a day that celebrated his five decades in the industry, some of the biggest names in the industry joined together to give him the send off he deserved. ‌ At the end of the celebration, the group presented Ozzy with a cake, which featured a detailed portrait of the star to honour him and celebrate the end of their run together as a band. The band's co-founder Tony Iommi told BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Wednesday: "He loved what he did, he loved music, he loved playing together, and I'm so glad we had the opportunity of getting together again to do the [farewell] show." He added:"It was brilliant being with all the guys again, and the atmosphere, and it was brilliant for Ozzy because he really wanted to do that, he felt at home there and it was good for all of us."

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