Bill Murray heaps praise on 'pretty' Birmingham

Hollywood's Bill Murray has described Birmingham as a "pretty city" ahead of a performance at Symphony Hall.

The actor, famous for Ghostbusters and Groundhog Day, is to perform his New Worlds tour which will see classically trained musicians play while he sings and reads American classics.

Speaking to BBC WM ahead of the show, he said: "It really is a pretty city to drive into and it's been fun marching around."

He also complimented Birmingham's "handsome" buildings and "beautiful" churches, before joking its statues were not "graffitied too horribly".

Discussing the Brummies he had met, he said: "It's nice to be here, we've been marching around, it's a sunny day and there's a lot of people moving around out there.

"It's an interesting town to look at and when you come to a different country it's great to just look at people.

"People seem to be very bubbly, happy moving around and no-one is crabby or cranky - I like it here."

Murray said those with tickets to Wednesday night's performance could expect him to do a "bunch of things".

"I read some poetry, I read some literature, I sing some songs," he said.

"We have a great violinist, Mira Wang, and a great pianist, Vanessa Perez, and Jan Vogler on cello.

"We kill people every night, they don't see it coming and every night we knock them dead."

Murray even had time to discuss Birmingham icon Ozzy Osbourne after an exhibition about the rock star was opened in the city on Wednesday.

He said: "He's his own kinda phantasm, he's his own spirit who flies over the universe and he touches a lot of people.

"It's exciting to be here and walk among all these photographs of him everywhere, he's everywhere in town."

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