Meet the Ozzy Osbourne superfan with a £250k Black Sabbath collection
An Ozzy Osbourne mega fan has spent 50 years amassing the world's largest collection of Black Sabbath memorabilia - worth a quarter of a million pounds
Stephen Knowles, 59, has splashed out around £35,000 on thousands of items since falling in love with the heavy metal icons as a 10-year-old boy in 1975.
Over five decades he has amassed an incredible hoard of memorabilia - including rare vinyls, t-shirts, ticket stubs, backstage passes, posters, old cassette tapes and tour programmes.
The collection is crammed into three rooms as well as the attic of Stephen's home in Dudley, West Mids., and is estimated to be worth around £250,000.
He has seen the rock legends perform hundreds of times around the world and is now gearing up for their final concert in their hometown this weekend. Stephen said the farewell gig, which he has forked out £1,500 to attended, will be a bittersweet moment having dedicated most of his life his obsession with the band.
His collection first began with a t-shirt bought from Birmingham's Bull Ring after he first watched Sabbath at Stafford's Bingley Hall for just £1.50 in 1977.
Stephen, who has roadied for the band, now has over 1,000 t-shirts and 3,000 vinyl records among his massive hoard of other Sabbath-related items. His living room, which is adorned with pictures of him and the Prince of Darkness, was even recreated as part of a museum exhibition to celebrate the band's 50th anniversary.
The former heating engineer added: "To have my front room recreated at Birmingham Museum was very strange and bizarre to say the least."
“I never set out to try for the biggest collection or anything like that, I just loved Sabbath and kept on going to watch them. I've been to Belgium, Germany, America, Australia, Japan and probably every UK venue going. I must have seen them hundreds of times over the years, I've lost count. I've roadied for them too, they're all nice guys, down to earth and haven't lost their routes or their sense of humour."
The band will take to the stage to headline 'Back to the Beginning', on Saturday, July 5, at Villa Park.