It's lucky for Ozzy Osbourne camera phones weren't on hand in the 80s to capture his maddest moments.

From snorting ants and biting the head off a bat to wearing his wife's dress and going to prison - he took everything to the extreme.

Here we run down the most shocking antics from the Black Sabbath rocker... so far.

10. The life of Oz

He gave permission for MTV cameras to enter his home to film reality show The Osbournes. Viewers were teased with the idea of mayhem and carnage but we're given more chores and dog chasing instead. We saw bizarre moments of rage at his dogs for urinating on the carpet and quotes of gold to his only son Jack. Such as: “Jack, stop telling people you're Ozzy Osbourne's son to get into places, you're a f*cking loser!”

9. Having a bubble

Ozzy is surprisingly particular when it comes to his stage arrangement of his concerts. During filming of the reality show, his wife Sharon was given the power and pressure of organising something evil for his stage entry. Naturally, she opted for a bubble machine. Ozzy told her: "I’m f***ing Ozzy Osbourne, the Prince of f***ing Darkness. Evil! Evil! Whats f***ing evil about a s**tload of bubbles?!"

8. Oz behind bars

Even the biggest rockstars aren't above the law. The longest sentence he served in prison was six weeks for burglary - and you'll be surprised it's not a romantic gag because he stole Sharon's heart. Ozzy reflected on his time locked up: “I’d survived prison without being arse raped or beaten to a pulp.”

7. Riding dirty

In 2003, Ozzy was injured in a quad biking accident. He was 55 at the time and underwent emergency surgery after he broke his collarbone, six ribs and a vertebra in his neck. Surgeons were also trying to stem "some bleeding into his lungs", according to the official statement at the time.

6. Forget me not

In the opening stages of his auto-biography he writes: “They said I would never write this book. Well, f**k ’em – ’cos here it is. All I have to do now is remember something... Bollocks. I can’t remember anything.” During the peak of his craziest days, Ozzy was holding a press conference with bandmates Black Sabbath but when asked a question he couldn't process any words and remained completely silent. His fellow rockers joked and moved his head and jaw as if he were a puppet.

5. Taking the bait

Black Sabbath bandmate Tony Iommi revealed Ozzy dragged a dead shark into their hotel room and decided to give the walls a splash of, er, colour. Tony said: "With drugs always you get bored, so you must do something to one another. Like Ozzy hauling a shark through a window, dismembering it and soaking our room in blood."

4. Snorting ants

While on tour with Motley Crew in 1984, it's alleged Ozzy asked Nikki Sixx for a line of cocaine, naturally. After being told there was none, he used the suitable replacement of a line of ants instead. Ozzy grabbed a straw, and snorted the hapless insects up his nose. Nikki confessed: “From that moment on. We knew there was always someone who was sicker and more disgusting than we were.”

3. Bladdering idiot

When touring in the early 80s, Sharon hid his clothes to stop him sneaking out of the hotel in the middle of the night. Not content on staying in, Ozzy donned his wife’s dresses and found himself knocking about in The Alamo – urinating on the icon of Texan independence. Later he reflected: “I can honestly say, all the bad things that ever happened to me were directly, directly attributed to drugs and alcohol. I mean, I would never urinate at the Alamo at nine o'clock in the morning dressed in a woman's evening dress sober.”

2. Lovey dovey

In 1981, after signing his first solo record deal, his plan was to release the doves into the air to get people to notice him. Unfortunately nobody noticed and it's claimed he grabbed one dove, bit its head off, then spit it onto the ground.

1. Biting the bat

In 1982, he bit the head off an actual bat on stage during a gig thinking it was a fake plastic toy. He was later treated for rabies and described the sensation in fine detail. He said: "Immediately, though, something felt wrong. Very wrong. For a start, my mouth was instantly full of this warm, gloopy liquid, with the worst aftertaste you could ever imagine. I could feel it staining my teeth and running down my chin. Then the head in my mouth twitched."

Watch the moments of madness in this jaw-dropping video special.

WARNING: Contains a lot of swearing and offensive bits, as you would expect.

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[Video: David Tarbox]

Ozzy recently suffered a relapse and has admitted to drinking alcohol and taking drugs in the last 18 months.

The brave rocker confessed he was “in a very dark place” and has apologised to his family for his “insane behaviour.”

He also denied reports he’s divorcing from wife Sharon and proudly revealed he's currently 44 days sober, in a statement posted on his Facebook page.

The 64-year-old said: “For the last year and a half I have been drinking and taking drugs. I was in a very dark place and was an asshole to the people I love most, my family.

“However, I am happy to say that I am now 44 days sober.

“Just to set the record straight, Sharon and I are not divorcing. I’m just trying to be a better person.

“I would like to apologize to Sharon, my family, my friends and my band mates for my insane behavior during this period………and my fans.

"God Bless, Ozzy."

Within hours of writing the honest message to his fans, the post had received more than 150k 'likes' and thousands of messages of support.