Left-Hand Hall of Fame

Did you know, we manufacture a wide range of left-handed scissors? We were recently approached to help with the return of the Birmingham Black Sabbath bench by supplying Black Sabbath star Tony Iommi with a pair of our left-handed scissors. The bench has been reinstalled on Birmingham’s Broad Street and Black Sabbath star Tony Iommi features in a documentary dedicated to its reintroduction.

Taken from Rue Morgue Records:

The mini documentary is presented by Christian Martin, the former Argentinian rugby player who is himself a huge Black Sabbath fan, and features rare footage of the band performing in its early days.

The video was commissioned and released by Westside BID to commemorate the rededication of the bench which first appeared in 2018 but had been temporarily removed during the Midland Metro tram extension works.

Iommi, Black Sabbath’s lead guitarist who was born in Aston, talks about his Broad Street links and how apt it is for the bench to be there. He said: “I used to be on Broad Street all the time as a youngster at the Rum Runner nightclub, so this brings back a lot of memories to me.”

He recalls the band’s early days: “We had a tough road as no-one had heard our kind of music and we could only play in small Blues clubs across the city. But we loved and believed in what we did.”

Iommi, who said he still speaks to lead singer Ozzy Osbourne by text most days, said he was “really proud” of the ‘heavy metal’ bench. He added: “We’ve helped put Birmingham on the map. We’re – if you like – the Birmingham Beatles, and it’s good for Birmingham to have these attractions.”

The video also features an interview with Cllr Waseem Zaffar, Birmingham City Council’s cabinet member for Transport and Environment, who originally allowed the bench to be placed on Broad Street.

At the end Mike Olley, the general manager of Westside BID, cuts a huge black ribbon to rededicate the bench, using left-handed scissors specially made for the event by William Whiteley & Sons of Sheffield. The scissors – engraved with Tony Iommi’s name as he is well-known as a left-hander – were then presented to Martin to thank him for presenting the video.

Olley said: “The original unveiling of Black Sabbath’s ‘heavy metal’ bench was a huge event back in 2018 and we wanted to celebrate its return now the Metro works have moved along. We’re grateful to Christian Martin for helping us make this video and we hope Sabbath fans in Birmingham and across the world enjoy it.”

The video was produced by Jim Simpson, the original manager of Black Sabbath, and all archive film and pictures used in it are his copyright which he has waived. The video was filmed by Greg Gdowski and Margaret Maslanka of 57 Studio, directed by Mike Olley and technical facilities were provided by Al Dawkins of Cannock Sound.

Fancy a pair of your own left-handed scissors? We manufacture them in 8″ and 10″ varieties including our Classic Sidebents, Xtra Sharp Sidebents and Black Sidebents.