Ozzy Osbourne’s hearse to travel through Birmingham ahead of funeral
Fans will have the chance to say their goodbyes to Ozzy Osbourne when his cortege travels through Birmingham ahead of his funeral on July 30th.
Following his death at his family home in Buckinghamshire on July 22nd, Black Sabbath Bridge on Broad Street has become a shrine to the rock icon, with fans travelling from all over to pay their respects to a one-off figure.
The Lord Mayor of Birmingham, Zafar Iqbal, said in a statement: “We’re going to pay our last respects and homage to one of the greatest living legends of Birmingham.” Iqbal also revealed he queued up with the general public last week to sign a book of condolence in honour of Osbourne at the at the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery.
The Lord Mayor described the Black Sabbath frontman as a “son of Birmingham” and thanked him for his contribution to the city’s cultural history, adding, “He put Birmingham on the map. He put Aston on the map.”
According to Iqbal, the Osbourne family “generously offered to pay to enable this to happen and support the city is giving him the farewell he deserve”.
Due to the funeral cortege, Broad Street will be closed to traffic from 7am and, public transport will be diverted while its closed. The hearse will make its way to Broad Street at 1pm. For those unable to make it to Birmingham, the live stream of Black Sabbath Bridge will continue to be in operation.
In light of his passing, a petition has been launched to rename Birmingham International Airport after Osbourne, which has already gained more than ten thousand signatures.
Additionally, Osbourne’s poignant comments about his funeral have resurfaced following his death. He said in 2011: “I honestly don’t care what they play at my funeral; they can put on a medley of Justin Bieber, Susan Boyle and We Are the Diddymen if it makes ’em happy – but I do want to make sure it’s a celebration, not a mope-fest.”
Osbourne also humorously stated: “I’d also like some pranks: maybe the sound of knocking inside the coffin; or a video of me asking my doctor for a second opinion on his diagnosis of ‘death’. There’ll be no harping on the bad times. So to answer your question, yes, a bit of planning is the right thing to do for the family you leave behind.”
Remarkably, just weeks before Osbourne’s passing, on July 22nd, at the age of 76, the original line-up of Black Sabbath returned for one final concert for the first time in more than 20 years. The performance was part of a star-studded bill, titled Back to the Beginning, at Villa Park in Birmingham, which also included huge acts such as Metallica, Guns N’ Roses, and Tool. It also gave the people of Birmingham an opportunity to show Osbourne how much he meant to them while he was still alive.
