Ozzy Osbourne wants to ban Christmas - he's branded the excitement and hype of the festive season "a wind-up".

The former Black Sabbath frontman is adamant most modern festive traditions have little to do with the true meaning of the Christian festival. And he can no longer tolerate Yuletide since he quit booze, because he always treated the seasonal holidays as the "perfect excuse" to get drunk.

In his health column for The Sunday Times Magazine, Osbourne writes, "Christmas should be banned. Full stop. Although when I was drinking, I thought it was great, 'cos it was the perfect excuse to get blasted... Now I can't stand any of it. All this '10 more shopping days to go' b**locks is such a wind-up. I ain't exactly Mr Holy, but what's that got to do with Baby Jesus being born?... The faster we get to New Year's Day 2011, the better." (ZN/WNSTIS/LR)

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