Ozzy's anger over sting - Nov 5 2007
Ozzy Osbourne says a North Dakota police chief should apologise for staging a Donal MacIntyre-style sting operation in the rocker's name without his permission.

The former Black Sabbath frontman claims his reputation was tarnished when Cass County Sheriff Paul Laney invited 500 people with outstanding warrants to a phoney party at a Fargo nightclub before the rocker's concert with Rob Zombie at a nearby arena. More than 30 showed up and were arrested.

"Instead of holding a press conference to pat himself on the back, Sheriff Laney should be apologising to me for using my name in connection with these arrests," Osbourne said in a statement.

"It is insulting to me and to my audience and it shows how lazy this particular sheriff is when it comes to doing his job."

But Laney said it was his job to arrest people with outstanding warrants.

"We meant no disrespect towards Mr Osbourne or his show," Laney said. "What we did was a very creative law enforcement technique to lure individuals who had active criminal warrants to come to us."

He said mentioning Osbourne's name in the invitations was no different than a bar advertising a Super Bowl party by mentioning the teams playing in the game.

Laney said Monday's sting was done to let the community know his office was doing its best to serve about 3,000 outstanding warrants it must deal with.

"They get very creative in how they abscond from the law," the sheriff said of the wanted individuals. "We just got real creative in how we reeled them in."



’Ozzy’ joins Corrie? - Sept 28 2007
When Coronation Street cast members heard Ozzy Osbourne was joining the soap they couldn’t believe it - until they heard it was just a puppy named after the legendary hellraiser.

Ozzy the puppy has arrived on set and has palled up with Chesney’s Great Dane, Schmeichel.

The pair have now been labelled "street Doggy-Dog" by the show’s Manchester studios, according to the Daily Star.

In a forthcoming storyline Maria Sutherland (Samia Smith) buys her boyfriend, factory worker Liam Connor (Rob James-Collier), the puppy as a surprise.

She lures him back to her flat and he thinks he is for an afternoon of loving - but is left shocked when he realises the "treat" Maria has promised is a puppy.

However, Liam soon falls in love with the pup and names him Ozzy after the Black Sabbath frontman.

A source told the paper: "Ozzy may get better treatment than Maria over the next few months."


Ozzy honoured on Brum’s ’walk of stars’ - May 18 2007
Hollywood has its Walk of Fame - now Birmingham is to follow suit with Ozzy Osbourne as the first inductee.

The Birmingham Walk of Stars will honour the city’s most famous sons and daughters, and Ozzy will get his own brass star on the pavement of Broad Street, the West Midlands’ answer to Hollywood Boulevard.

The former Black Sabbath singer and all-round rock legend, who grew up in Aston, will attend the induction ceremony on July 6.

He was inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2002.

But being honoured by his home city is a greater honour, according to the 58-year-old.

"I have a star in Hollywood on their Walk of Fame but having a star in my home town means so much more to me," he said.