During his youth, once had a near-death experience that he believes involved the help of three supernatural entities. In a 2019 interview with Classic Rock, the guitarist revisited the time he got into a serious car accident as a teenager, and was allegedly "saved" by a trio of angels. "Three of them saved my life when I was in my late teens", he explains.
"I’d just passed my driving test and was in my sports car driving on a dual carriageway. I had just overtaken another car when two tyres blew out”. He continues, "So I went off the road, the MG flipped over and I hit a tree.
I passed out, and when I awoke I smelled petrol, but I managed to get out. As I did so, I saw those angels. To this day, I really believe they were there; I wasn’t stoned.
It’s been said that they saved me for a purpose, because I went on to invent heavy metal. And you know what? I quite like that idea”. Iommi previously recalled the incident in more detail in his 2011 memoire , explaining how he was only just 18 or 19 at the time, and had recently earned his driving licence.
"After I passed my driving test I bought an MGB sports car...
My mother never wanted me to have it, because I was a bit frantic in the thing. And I actually had a serious accident in it. "Driving along the dual carriageway I overtook this other car.
I looked over and it was a girl driving. And suddenly..
.bang! I'd driven over something and two tyres went and it pulled me straight off the road. I went flying over into some .