Osbourne was in Britain to promote his latest single, Changes - a duet with his daughter Kelly. Security staff were placed at the hospital's entrances overnight to keep away over-enthusiastic fans. But at least one bunch of flowers was placed at the entrance to the Accident & Emergency ward with a card reading "Only one Ozzy". The quad bike accident is the latest dramatic twist in a turbulent life lived firmly in the public eye. After growing up in a working class family of eight in a two-bedroom house in Birmingham, Osbourne shot to fame in the 1970s as the frontman of heavy metal group Black Sabbath. There were wild stunts, images of death and evil and furious lyrics. After launching a solo career, his notoriety soared further when he bit the head off a bat on stage in Des Moines, Iowa. Osbourne claimed he thought it was a toy, but it was a living bat and because the creatures can carry rabies he had to have a series of painful injections. A few months earlier, he bit the head off a dove in front of record executives at a meeting in Los Angeles. Besides earning a reputation as one of the world's wildest rock stars, the self-proclaimed Prince of Darkness had to face his own demons through an ongoing battle against addiction to drink and drugs. His fame found a new lease of life two years ago as the star of the fly-on-the-wall reality TV show The Osbournes, which turned his dysfunctional family into international household names. However, he was devastated when his wife Sharon was diagnosed as having colon cancer last year. The rocker, who has battled drink and drugs, also had health problems of his own and underwent treatment for a tremor earlier this year. On Saturday, a story on the Los Angeles Times website reported Osbourne's claim that he was overprescribed a variety of powerful anti-psychotic and tranquillising drugs by a Beverly Hills physician. Osbourne said he developed a 42-pill per day habit that accounted for his odd behaviour on the hit MTV show, including scenes in which he was seen mumbling, falling and appearing disoriented. And in a recent interview, he revealed he had been a victim of abuse as a child. The Osbournes, the MTV reality show featuring the rocker, Sharon and their children, started production about a month ago on its third season, scheduled to begin on January 13. It was not immediately known how the accident would affect production or how or whether it might be included in the series, an MTV spokeswoman said. In 1998, comedy star Rik Mayall was involved in a quad bike accident at his Devon home leaving him with serious injuries and putting him in a coma for several days.
Maybe he was sober.
In 1998, comedy star Rik Mayall was involved in a quad bike accident at his Devon home leaving him with serious injuries and putting him in a coma for several days.
Rik!! How come none of you lavatory bowls ever told me.