In 1995 Ozzy Osbourne revisited his old school in Birmingham: The kids didn't know who he was

Ozzy Osbourne on Lodge Street, Aston, in 1995 — (Image credit: BBC)

In October 1995, Ozzy Osbourne released his seventh studio album, Ozzmosis, and embarked on as promotional campaign which included a visit to his old stomping ground of Aston, the Birmingham parish where all four members of Black Sabbath were raised.

Ozzy's trip home was to film a segment for the BBC's long-running regional news show Midlands Today, broadcast on November 11. He took reporter Gary Hudson to his old house on Lodge Road, then on to the first school he attended, Prince Albert Junior & Infant School on Albert Street.

"At his old school, the pupils don't know who is is," says Hudson's voiceover. "It's the staff who want the autographs from a 47 year old survivor."

Ozzy also shows Hudson the spot outside 14 Lodge Road where the young Osbourne had carved the phrase 'Iron Void' into the brickwork.

"I was just thinking about band names," says the Prince of Darkness. "I thought, 'Iron Void'. That's a good name for a band!"

Last year ITV News spoke to the current owner of Ozzy's old house, Mohabbat Ali, who grew up next door.

"My dad and his brothers bought houses and we ended up buying a house on Lodge Road," said Ali. "We didn't know next door was a musician's house. My father said there were a lot of instruments in the house and Ozzy must have been a teenager at the time.

"My dad did say the house was very well done up at the time, it was one of those houses that was well maintained with lots of carpet and just a really nice house.

"I now own that house and what we found at this time of year we get a lot of Ozzy Osbourne fans who take photos of the house and leave candles outside! They do all sorts of weird things, the tenants ask 'what's going on here?' and I reply 'don't worry you won't know'."

In 2018, Birmingham Live revealed that Ozzy's first home was not actually in Lodge Road, but four miles to the north in Swains Grove, Kingstanding.

Online Editor at Louder/Classic Rock magazine since 2014. 40 years in music industry, online for 27. Also bylines for: Metal Hammer, Prog Magazine, The Word Magazine, The Guardian, The New Statesman, Saga, Music365. Former Head of Music at Xfm Radio, A&R at Fiction Records, early blogger, ex-roadie, published author. Once appeared in a Cure video dressed as a cowboy, and thinks any situation can be improved by the introduction of cats. Favourite Serbian trumpeter: Dejan Petrović.