{"id":592095,"date":"2026-05-19T08:19:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T08:19:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/592095\/"},"modified":"2026-05-19T08:19:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T08:19:14","slug":"sharon-came-to-the-opening-and-was-actually-in-tears-how-an-ozzy-osbourne-exhibition-became-one-of-the-biggest-attractions-in-birmingham-and-why-its-nowhere-near-done-yet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/592095\/","title":{"rendered":"“Sharon came to the opening and was actually in tears.” How an Ozzy Osbourne exhibition became one of the biggest attractions in Birmingham – and why it’s nowhere near done yet"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019ve ever been at a gig or festival and seen a dog-eared old t-shirt from tours decades passed and thought, \u2018Christ, that belongs in a museum\u2019\u2026 You might be right. In June 2025, Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery unveiled a special exhibition dedicated to the life and career of Ozzy Osbourne<\/a>. Titled Ozzy Osbourne: Working Class Hero, the pop-up has received over 450,000 visitors since it opened and has now been extended to September 2026.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe knew from previous shows we\u2019ve put on that something like this would attract a big audience,\u201d says Toby Watley, Director of Collections and Estates for Birmingham Museum\u2019s Trust. \u201cThe level of interest has far exceeded what we were expecting. Older generations might bring along their grandkids or children to share that experience. So you can\u2019t assume it\u2019ll be a bunch of old rockers turning up; in August [2025] we had our busiest day in ten years.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Ozzy Osbourne: Working Class Hero traces its roots to Sharon Osbourne\u2019s enthusiastic archiving of Ozzy memorabilia from over the decades. The exhibition covers Ozzy\u2019s solo career and early life in Birmingham, even including a few of his Grammy Awards.<\/p>\n

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\u201cSharon\u2019s seen great importance in keeping everything in good condition for his fans,\u201d explains Steve Hewlitt, of Central BID Birmingham, who worked directly with the Osbourne family to bring the exhibition to life. \u201cShe\u2019s got a huge collection in America, a huge collection in the UK; we had no idea just how much she\u2019d collected. We knew the Back To The Beginning<\/a> concert was coming, so it was like, \u2018The time is now.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The exhibition opened to the public for the first time on June 25 2025, just weeks before Black Sabbath<\/a> and Ozzy\u2019s emotional farewell gig at the city\u2019s Villa Park stadium. Although that gig might\u2019ve had some eye-watering ticket prices, early on it was decided in the Osbourne camp that the Working Class Hero needed to be open to everyone. To that end, the museum\u2019s website even offers visitors a chance to explore the exhibition digitally if they can\u2019t come in person.<\/p>\n

\u201cSharon insisted early on that this exhibition had to be free,\u201d Steve says. \u201cShe thought it was incredible important that this working class hero exhibition is available to every single member of the public.\u201d<\/p>\n

We knew the Back To The Beginning concert was coming, so it was like, \u2018The time is now\u2019<\/p>\n

Steve Hewlitt, Central BID Birmingham<\/p>\n

Working Class Hero marks an important shift in the city of Birmingham\u2019s bid to embrace its musical heritage in recent years, via everything from the Black Sabbath Bridge to a giant mechanical bull named Ozzy sitting in Birmingham New Street Station and even a bid to rename the city\u2019s airport after the great man<\/a>. Toby is keen to point out that Birmingham Museum has hosted similar exhibitions in the past, however \u2013 including the richHome Of Metal pop-up in 2019.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThis project has been very different in focusing on him, his career and his achievements,\u201d Toby explains. \u201cIt\u2019s made it a unique experience for visitors as a lot of this stuff is on public display for the first time; Sharon came to the opening and was actually in tears because she\u2019d never seen it displayed in frames and presented in a formal way as opposed to just clustered on shelves in a warehouse. It\u2019s all beautifully presented and makes it look important because it is important.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBirmingham hasn\u2019t done particularly well in celebrating its heritage over the years,\u201d admits Jez Collins, founder of Birmingham Music Archive \u2013 an organisation dedicated to documenting and celebrating the musical heritage of Birmingham. \u201cWith Ozzy, it\u2019s an odd one: he hasn\u2019t lived in the city for decades, but he\u2019s absolutely beloved here. Sabbath and Ozzy always retained their roots. It\u2019s a global phenomenon but there\u2019s a real club feeling among the audience that you can easily identity if you\u2019re a metalhead.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Ozzy\n<\/p>\n

Ozzy at one of his final live performances in Birmingham in 2022 (Image credit: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

With Ozzy Osbourne: Working Class Hero extended to September 27 2026, the question now becomes, \u2018What comes next?\u2019 Each of the men behind this exhibition shares a different vision for how they can continue the good work.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe know we could do an exhibition five times the size of this one,\u201d Steve says. \u201cWe\u2019re blessed that Sharon allowed us to see part of this collection, but we also know it could still get bigger!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s more than just an exhibition,\u201d Toby adds. \u201cWe have people coming because they want to be part of something, whether that\u2019s signing the condolence book or just being part of a bigger event.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Sabbath might be Birmingham\u2019s favourite sons, they\u2019re by no means the only world-conquering, influential act to emerge from the city.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s amazing; it gives us a sense that there\u2019s a real appetite for this [kind of thing],\u201d Jez enthuses. \u201cSabbath are Sabbath, but there\u2019s maybe another couple of bands from Birmingham who belong on that pedestal with them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Napalm Death<\/a> in a museum? It wouldn\u2019t be the maddest thing to ever happen.<\/p>\n

Ozzy Osbourne: Working Class Hero is open until September 27 2026. Visit www.birminghammuseums.org.uk<\/a> to learn more about the exhibition and opening times<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you\u2019ve ever been at a gig or festival and seen a dog-eared old t-shirt from tours decades…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":592096,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[96,128,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-592095","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592095","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=592095"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592095\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/592096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=592095"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=592095"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=592095"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}