The idea for a Walk of Fame style tribute was first thought of by a local Birmingham man Garry Raybould, who then approached the Broad Street Business Improvement District who developed the idea and created the name Broad Street Walk of Stars together with a brand and registration of the original website, www.walkofstars.co.uk which quickly became very popular and was chosen by Radio 2 as 'Website of the Day'. The first star to be honoured was
Ozzy Osbourne on 6 July 2007. The event was held in
Centenary Square and introduced by
Elliott Webb from Birmingham's commercial radio station BRMB and the star was presented to Ozzy by Lord Mayor of Birmingham Randal Brew. The Ozzy Osbourne presentation created £1.7M worth of worldwide publicity for the area. Comedian
Jasper Carrott was the second person to have a star installed on Broad Street on 15 September 2007. The star was presented to him by the Lord Mayor of Birmingham during
ArtsFest in front of a 10,000 strong crowd. In December 2007,
Noddy Holder became the third inductee on the Walk of Stars which was presented to him on a canal boat, during the Broad Street Christmas Canal Boat Light Parade. The stars were briefly fenced off following safety concerns about their polished surfaces.
Leicestershire-based Charcon Specialist Products, who produced the stars, was consulted over the situation.
Murray Walker was inducted into the Walk of Stars. A joint induction took place on 12 September 2008 for
BBC Radio 4 series
The Archers and cast member
Norman Painting. On 7 October 2008, the
BBC announced that
Julie Walters would be inducted. The following month founder member of
Black Sabbath Tony Iommi was inducted. On 26 March 2009, it was announced that each of five local football clubs (
Aston Villa,
Birmingham City,
Walsall,
West Bromwich Albion and
Wolverhampton Wanderers) would have a star commemorating their teams, a player, or a specific era. The presentation ceremonies were staggered between May and August. ==Stars honoured==