Bill Oddie

William Edgar Oddie (born 7 July 1941) is an English writer, comedian, songwriter, musician, artist, birder, conservationist, television presenter and actor. He was a member of comedy trio The Goodies.

A birder since his childhood in Quinton, Birmingham, Oddie has established a reputation as a naturalist, conservationist, and television presenter on wildlife issues. Some of his books are illustrated with his own paintings and drawings. His wildlife programmes for the BBC include '' Springwatch'' and ''Autumnwatch'', '' How to Watch Wildlife'', ''Wild in Your Garden'', '' Birding with Bill Oddie'', ''Britain Goes Wild with Bill Oddie'' and '' Bill Oddie Goes Wild''.

Early life

Oddie was born in Rochdale, Lancashire, but moved to Birmingham at a young age; his father was assistant chief accountant at the Midlands Electricity Board. His mother was diagnosed with schizophrenia and, during most of his youth, lived in a hospital. He was educated at Lapal Primary School, Halesowen Grammar School (now The Earls High School, Halesowen) and King Edward's School, Birmingham, an all-boys direct grant school, where he captained the school's rugby union team. He then studied English literature at Pembroke College, Cambridge.

Career

Comedy

While at Cambridge University Oddie appeared in several Footlights Club productions. One of these, a revue called ''A Clump of Plinths'', was so successful at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe that it was renamed '' Cambridge Circus'' and transferred to the West End in London, then New Zealand and Broadway in September 1964. Meanwhile, still at Cambridge, Oddie wrote scripts for and appeared briefly in TV's '' That Was the Week That Was''.

He appeared in Bernard Braden's television series ''On The Braden Beat'' in 1964. Subsequently he was a key member of the performers in the BBC radio series ''I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again'', where many of his musical compositions were featured. Some were released on the album ''Distinctly Oddie'' (Polydor, 1967). He was one of the first performers to parody a rock song, arranging the traditional Yorkshire folk song " On Ilkla Moor Baht'at" in the style of Joe Cocker's hit rendition of the Beatles' "With a Little Help from My Friends" (released on John Peel's Dandelion Records in 1970 and featured in Peel's special box of most-treasured singles), and singing "Andy Pandy" in the style of a brassy soul number such as Wilson Pickett or Geno Washington might perform. In many shows he would do short impressions of Hughie Green.

On television Oddie was co-writer and performer in the comedy series '' Twice a Fortnight'' with Graeme Garden, Terry Jones, Michael Palin and Jonathan Lynn. Later he was co-writer and performer in the comedy series ''Broaden Your Mind'' with Tim Brooke-Taylor and Graeme Garden, for which he became a cast member for the second series.

Oddie, Brooke-Taylor and Garden then co-wrote and appeared in their television comedy series '' The Goodies'' (1970–1982). The Goodies also released records, including "Father Christmas Do Not Touch Me"/"The In-Betweenies", " The Funky Gibbon" (co-written by Oddie with Dave MacRae) and "Black Pudding Bertha", which were hit singles in 1974–75. They reformed, briefly, in 2005 for a successful 13-date tour of Australia.

Oddie, Brooke-Taylor and Garden voiced characters on the 1983 animated children's programme ''Bananaman''.

In the Amnesty International show ''A Poke in the Eye (With a Sharp Stick)'', Oddie, Brooke-Taylor and Garden sang their hit song "Funky Gibbon". They also appeared on ''Top of the Pops'' with the song. Together with Garden (who is a qualified medical doctor), Oddie co-wrote many episodes of the television comedy series '' Doctor in the House'', including most of the first season and all of the second season. He has occasionally appeared on the BBC Radio 4 panel game ''I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue'', on which Garden is and Brooke-Taylor was a regular panellist. In 1982 Garden and Oddie wrote, but did not perform in, a six-part science-fiction sitcom called ''Astronauts'' for Central and ITV. The show was set in an international space station in the near future.

Natural history

Oddie's first published work was an article about the birdlife of Birmingham's Bartley Reservoir in the West Midland Bird Club's 1962 Annual Report. (He is first credited in the 1956 report, in which reports of his bird observations are tagged with his initials "WEO"). He has since written a number of books about birds and birdwatching as well as articles for many specialist publications including '' British Birds'', ''Birdwatching Magazine'' and '' Birdwatch''.

He discussed bird-song recordings with Derek Jones in an August 1973 BBC Radio 4 programme called ''Sounds Natural''.''Radio Times'' entry for

In the autumn of 1976 Oddie was involved in the successful identification of Britain's first-ever record of Pallas's reed bunting on Fair Isle, Shetland.

One of Oddie's first forays into the world of television natural history was as a guest on '' Animal Magic'' in December 1977.''Radio Times'' entry for Another early natural-history radio appearance was in October, as the guest on Radio 4's ''Through My Window'', discussing the birds of Hampstead Heath.''Radio Times'' entry for

On 30 July 1985 he was the subject of a 50-minute ''Nature Watch Special: Bill Oddie – Bird Watcher'', in which he was interviewed by Julian Pettifer at places where he had spent time birding, including Bartley Reservoir, the Christopher Cadbury Wetland Reserve at Upton Warren, RSPB Titchwell Marsh and Blakeney Point.

Oddie has since hosted a number of successful nature programmes for the BBC, many produced by Stephen Moss, including:

*''The Great Bird Race'' (1983; Channel 4)
*''The Great Kenyan Bird Safari'' (BBC)
*''Favourite Walks'': "A Bird Walk" (1985; BBC; filmed on Fair Isle)
*''Worldwise'': "The Bird Business" (1985; Channel 4)
*''Oddie in Paradise'' (1985; BBC)
*''Wild Weekends'' (TV AM)
*''Flight to Eilat'' (Channel 4)
*''Bird in the Nest'' (two series, 1994 and 1995)
*'' Birding with Bill Oddie'' (three series, 1997, 1998 and 2000)
*'' Bill Oddie Goes Wild'' (three series, 2001, 2002 and 2003)
*'' Wild in Your Garden'' (2003)
*'' Britain Goes Wild'' (2004)
*''Bill Oddie in Tiger Country'' (2004)
*''Bill Oddie's How to Watch Wildlife'' (two series, 2005 and 2006; also on DVD)
*''Seven Natural Wonders'' (London edition) (2005)
*''The Truth About Killer Dinosaurs'' (2005; also on DVD)
*'' Springwatch'' (2005–2008)
*''Autumnwatch'' (2006–2008)
*''Bill Oddie Back in the USA'' (2007)
*''Bill Oddie's Top Ten Birds'' (2007; BBC Four)
*''100 Years of Wildlife'' (2007)
*'' Bill Oddie's Wild Side'' (2008)
*'' Bill Oddie's Top 10'' (2008)

The first broadcast, in 2004, of ''Britain Goes Wild'' set a record for its timeslot of 8 pm on BBC Two of 3.4 million viewers, one million more than the Channel 4 programme showing at that time. ''Britain Goes Wild'', renamed ''Springwatch'' the following year, became a wildlife broadcasting phenomenon, attracting over 4 million viewers.

He became president of the West Midland Bird Club in 1999, having been vice-president since 1991, and is a former member of the council of the RSPB. Oddie is also a President of the League Against Cruel Sports and a vice-president of the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers. He practised as a bird ringer but allowed his licence to lapse.

In 2003, Oddie set up a half-marathon to raise money for various wildlife charities in his birth town of Rochdale. Celebrities who have participated in the event include Ray Mears, Katherine Jenkins

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