Kelly Osbourne's London Birthday Parties, 2005 to 2007

Mayfair, Shoreditch and Soho, London · October 2005 to 2007

Taken on the nights of 27 October 2005, 2006 and 2007 (camera clock), at Sketch, Found and Maya, London

I am Charles Pycraft, a London photographer. Kelly Osbourne was born in London on 27 October 1984, so she turned 42 yesterday. Three years running, her birthday night was one of the London pavements I worked. In 2005 she marked her 21st at Sketch on Conduit Street in Mayfair. In 2006 her 22nd was a fancy dress party at Found in Shoreditch. In 2007 her 23rd was at Maya on Dean Street in Soho. This piece keeps to what the files show and what the papers reported at the time.

2005: a tiara at Sketch

My camera has her leaving Sketch at 02:13 in the early hours of 28 October 2005, laughing, in a floor-length black gown and a sparkly tiara. The Mirror's 3am column reported that the birthday bash came with a karaoke machine and a crowd of X Factor hopefuls, that Kelly sang Papa Don't Preach, and that the classical crossover group G4 made a surprise appearance carrying in the cake and serenading her with an operatic Happy Birthday. McFly's Danny Jones and her sister Aimee were there too, and so were her mum and dad. Ozzy, who died in July 2025 and is warmly remembered, appears in one frame from that night, standing on the Mayfair pavement in his round glasses, a lovely one to have in the archive.

That week the singles chart had a changing of the guard. Sugababes' Push the Button had been at number one for three weeks, and in the chart week of her birthday it was replaced by a new band from Sheffield: Arctic Monkeys, with their debut single I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor. Kelly had released her second album, Sleeping in the Nothing, that year, and in late 2005 she said she had just recorded a version of Girls Just Want to Have Fun with Cyndi Lauper.

2006: fancy dress at Found

A year later the party moved east. The Sunday People reported that Kelly celebrated her 22nd with a themed party at Found, then a hot new restaurant in Shoreditch, and that her brother Jack, ten days off his own 21st, shared the festivities. The dress code was tracksuits, trucker caps and plenty of bling, and the guests went for it.

Holly Willoughby came in a pink tracksuit top, a trucker cap and a comedy bump. 2006 was a big year for her: she started co-presenting Dancing on Ice with Phillip Schofield and won a BAFTA Children's Award. Jack came in a tracksuit and an orange cap. Best of all, Leigh Francis turned up in head to toe check as his Bo' Selecta! character Avid Merrion. Bo' Selecta! had made its own rubber-masked Kelly, played by Francis and forever being bleeped for swearing, so his arrival at her actual birthday party is a lovely full circle. Kelly herself left at about ten to two in the morning, mid-whoop, in a black party dress, gold chains and trainers.

The number one that week was My Chemical Romance's Welcome to the Black Parade, and on Saturday nights her mum was on ITV judging the third series of The X Factor with Simon Cowell and Louis Walsh. Kelly was busy too: that year she became the face of the high street chain Accessorize, and she co-hosted the 2006 edition of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! NOW!

2007: Soho at Maya

For her 23rd, on Saturday 27 October 2007, the party was at Maya on Dean Street in Soho. My camera has Sharon arriving at 18:01, all smiles at the car door, and Kelly outside at 22:13, with a sleek black bob and a black satin dress. Metro's party column reported that the highlight of the night was Louis Walsh dancing on a seat.

It had been a busy year for her. In July 2007 she played the prison matron Mama Morton in Chicago for seven weeks at the Cambridge Theatre in the West End, she hosted Project Catwalk, and on 7 October 2007 she began presenting a Sunday night show on BBC Radio 1, The Surgery. In the charts, Sugababes were back at number one with About You Now, in its fourth and final week at the top, with Leona Lewis's Bleeding Love about to take over for seven weeks.

Where she is now

Kelly turned 42 this week, and since August 2025 she has been hosting Lego Masters Jr., which feels about right for someone who once had G4 sing her Happy Birthday.

My own work has moved a long way from those pavements. My photography years ran from 1999 to 2014, and that archive is now licensed through Backgrid UK. I work on business development and communications for Partisan. Partisan records a file's fingerprint without seeing or keeping the document, gives a dated receipt, and shows a file is unchanged since it was recorded.

The pictures

Eight frames from a body of work I made in London between 1999 and 2014, from three birthday nights in a row. Where people who are not public figures appeared in the background, they have been cropped out or blurred.

Credit: Charlie Pycraft / BACKGRID. Licensing: Backgrid UK Sales, backgrid_uksales@shutterstock.com

Kelly Osbourne laughing in a long black satin gown and a sparkly tiara, standing by the white columned doorway of Sketch at n — SKETCH, MAYFAIR, OCTOBER 2005. Kelly Osbourne, in a black gown and tiara, leaves her 21st birthday party at Sketch on Conduit Street, Mayfair, London, in the early hours of 28 October 2005.

Ozzy Osbourne with long dark hair and round glasses, in a long black coat with a gold cross, standing on a Mayfair pavement a — Ozzy Osbourne outside Sketch, Mayfair, at his daughter Kelly's 21st birthday party, October 2005.

Kelly Osbourne in a black party dress, gold chains and trainers, stepping down from a tiled doorway at night. — FOUND, SHOREDITCH, OCTOBER 2006. Kelly Osbourne leaves her 22nd birthday party at Found, Shoreditch, east London, in the early hours of 28 October 2006.

Holly Willoughby smiling in a blue trucker cap, pink tracksuit top and navy tracksuit bottoms, with a comedy bump, on the pav — Holly Willoughby, in fancy dress, at Kelly Osbourne's 22nd birthday party at Found, Shoreditch, October 2006.

Jack Osbourne in an orange cap, black tracksuit top and orange shirt walking down the steps of a club at night. — Jack Osbourne, in fancy dress, at his sister Kelly's 22nd birthday party at Found, Shoreditch, October 2006.

Leigh Francis as Avid Merrion in a beige check jacket, matching trousers and cap, both arms raised with thumbs up, outside a — Leigh Francis, in character as Avid Merrion from Bo' Selecta!, at Kelly Osbourne's 22nd birthday party at Found, Shoreditch, October 2006.

MAYA, SOHO, OCTOBER 2007. Kelly Osbourne outside Maya on Dean Street, Soho, London, at her 23rd birthday party on 27 October 2007.

Sharon Osbourne with short red hair, smiling and holding open a silver car door, with photographers behind her. — Sharon Osbourne arrives at Maya on Dean Street, Soho, for her daughter Kelly's 23rd birthday party, 27 October 2007.