Bill Oddie
William Edgar (Bill) Oddie,
OBE,
BA,
MA (Cantab.), born
July 7 1941 in
Rochdale,
Lancashire), is a
comedy writer and performer,
author, and talented
composer and
musician. A
birdwatcher since his childhood in
Birmingham, Oddie has now established a reputation for himself as an
ornithologist,
conservationist and
television presenter on
wildlife issues. Some of his books are illustrated with his own paintings and drawings. His programmes for the
BBC include
Springwatch with Bill Oddie,
How to Watch Wildlife,
Wild in Your Garden,
Birding with Bill Oddie and
Britain Goes Wild with Bill Oddie.
He supports
Ipswich Town but also follows
Rochdale A.F.C..
On a
2004 episode of the BBC
television series Who Do You Think You Are?, Oddie was invited to investigate his family history. The programme revealed that Oddie was raised primarily by his father after his mother was placed into long term
psychiatric care suffering with
bipolar disorder; and that his mother had had one
miscarriage and then lost another child, a girl, after five days. It was suggested that Oddie's grandmother had prevented his mother from attending to the girl, who was crying. His mother subsequently found the child dead. Oddie speculated that his mother would have felt that his grandmother (with whom she lived) was to blame for the death of her daughter and that this psychological trauma may well have contributed to her mental ill health. For Oddie, who had previously believed that his mother had abandoned him in childhood, "it undemonised her".(Interviewed in
The Idler magazine, Oddie revealed that he suffers from bouts of
depression.)
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"The Goodies" â€"
"Kitten Kong" (VHS) |
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"The Goodies and the Beanstalk" (VHS) |
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"The Plank" (DVD cover)
Bill Oddie appeared as the window cleaner in this comedy film |
After attending
King Edward's School, Birmingham, Oddie studied
English Literature at
Pembroke College at the
University of Cambridge, where he appeared in several
Cambridge University Footlights Club productions. One of these, a
revue called
A Clump of Plinths, was so successful during its run at the
Edinburgh Fringe Festival that it was renamed
Cambridge Circus and transferred to the
West End in
London, then
New Zealand and
Broadway. Meanwhile, still at Cambridge, Oddie wrote scripts for TV's
That Was The Week That Was.
His first television appearance was in
Bernard Braden's
Braden Beat in
1964. Subsequently, he was a key member of the performers in the cult
BBC radio series
I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again (ISIRTA; 1965), where many of his compositions were featured. Some were released on the album
Distinctly Oddie (Polydor, 1967). He was possibly 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.
In one song on
I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again, Oddie performed
What a Wonderful World with a voice fully reminiscent of
Louis Armstrong. During the course of the song, the rest of the cast attributed the gravelly quality of his voice to a bad cold. In the background, during the rest of the song, it is possible to hear the cast call for a doctor, the arrival of the doctor and his decision that Oddie should go into hospital, the trip to hospital in an ambulance, and the operation extracting his tonsils. After this, the sound of his voice changed to a sound closer to that of Harry Secombe. He thanked the cast for curing him.
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 Oddie became a cast member for the second series). Bill, Tim and Graeme then co-wrote and appeared in their television comedy series
The Goodies.
Oddie was a member of
1970s BBC TV trio
The Goodies, in which he starred with ISIRTA colleagues
Graeme Garden and
Tim Brooke-Taylor (also veterans of Cambridge Footlights). He portrayed the rebel, to Brooke-Taylor's conservative and Garden's boffin, with long hair and a poster of
Che Guevara in his corner. The Goodies also released records, including "Father Christmas Do Not Touch Me"/"The In-Betweenies", "Do The Funky Gibbon", and "Black Pudding Bertha", which were hit singles in 1974-5. They reformed, briefly, in
2005, for a successful 13-date tour of
Australia. Tim, Bill and Graeme also voiced characters on the
1983 animated children's programme
Bananaman 1983, in which Oddie voiced the characters of
"Crow",
"Chief O'Reilly",
"Doctor Gloom",
"Eric" and
"the Weatherman".
Oddie co-wrote many of the episodes of the television comedy series
Doctor in the House with
Graeme Garden (who is a qualified doctor). Bill and Graeme wrote most of the episodes for the first season of the
"Doctor in the House". Also, Bill and Graeme wrote all of the episodes for the second season of .the
"Doctor in the House" television series.
Bill Oddie has occasionally appeared on the BBC Radio 4 panel game
I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, on which Garden and Brooke-Taylor are regular panellists.
In 1982 Garden and Oddie wrote, but did not perform in, a 6-part
science fiction sitcom called
Astronauts for
Central and
ITV. The show was set in an international
space station in the near future.
Bill Oddie was the compere of a daytime BBC
gameshow, "
History Hunt" (
2003); and has featured in a
Doctor Who audio drama, and he also appeared as the hapless window cleaner in one of the two films made of
Eric Sykes' comedy story
The Plank.
In the fictional world of comedy character
Alan Partridge, Oddie is an unseen presence in Alan's life, bothering him with prank phone calls, and buying him gifts like dressing gowns.
He plays the
drums and
saxophone and appeared as Cousin Kevin in a production of
The Who's rock opera
Tommy at the
Rainbow Theatre,
Finsbury Park,
London on
9 December 1972. He has also contributed vocals to a
Rick Wakeman album, "Criminal Record".
Bill Oddie took part in the
English National Opera production of the
Gilbert and Sullivan comic opera The Mikado, in which he appeared in the role of the "Lord High Executioner", taking over the role from
Eric Idle.
During the early 1990s, Bill Oddie was a DJ for
London based
jazz station,
102.2 Jazz FM. Oddie on his show would play
jazz tracks on his Sunday morning show. Oddie was dismissed after criticising the management on air after they told him he was playing too much jazz on his show. [
1]
Although he remains almost unknown to US audiences, in 1992 he was a guest star in the US comedy television series
Married with Children for a 3-part episode set in England. [
2]
Oddie's first published work was an article about Birmingham's
Bartley Reservoir in the
West Midland Bird Club's
1962 Annual Report. He has since written a number of books about birds and bird watching, as well as articles for many specialist publications including
British Birds,
Birdwatching Magazine and
Birdwatch. 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 vice-president of the
League Against Cruel Sports.
He has hosted a number of very successful nature programmes for the BBC, many produced by
Stephen Moss, including:
The Great Kenyan Bird SafariFavourite WalksWild WeekendsThe Bird BusinessFlight to EilatThe Big Bird RaceOddie in Paradise (
1993)
Bird in the Nest (two series)
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'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 with Bill Oddie (
2005 and
2006) On its first evening of broadcast,
Britain Goes Wild set a record for its timeslot of 8pm on
BBC Two of 3.4 million viewers, one million more than the
Channel 4 programme showing at that time. It also created a run on
nest boxes for
wild birds and ,
bird baths and bird feed from suppliers, likened to the
Delia power phenomenon created when
Delia Smith mentioned the tools and ingredients she was using on her cooking programme
Delia's How to Cook. Oddie presented an update later in 2004.
Most of the recent series have been produced by
Stephen Moss.
Oddie is married to
Laura Beaumont, with whom he has worked on a variety of projects for children, including film scripts, drama and comedy series, puppet shows and books. They have a daughter, Rosie, and live in
London. He has two daughters from his first marriage (to Jean Hart), Bonnie and the actress
Kate Hardie, and a grandson, Lyle.
In
2001, Oddie became the third person to turn down the "red book" and decline to appear on
This Is Your Life. He relented some time later.
On
16 October 2003, Oddie was made an
OBE for his service to Wildlife Conservation in a ceremony at
Buckingham Palace. He played down the event, choosing to wear a camouflage shirt and crumpled jacket to receive his medal.
In June 2004, Oddie and
Johnny Morris were jointly profiled in the first of a three part BBC Two series,
The Way We Went Wild, about television wildlife presenters.
In May
2005, he received the
British Naturalists' Association's
Peter Scott Memorial Award, from BNA president
David Bellamy, "in recognition of his great contribution to our understanding of natural history and conservation".
Further information about Bill Oddie can be found in the following books:
*
(incomplete list)
Bill Oddie's Colouring Guide to Birds (Piccolo,
1991)
Bill Oddie's Little Black Bird BookBill Oddie's Little Black Bird Book (paperback with additional material)
Bill Oddie's Gone BirdingThe Big Bird Race (with
David Tomlinson; Collins, 1983)
Follow That Bird!Gripping YarnsBird in the NestBill Oddie's How to Watch WildlifeBill Oddie also co-wrote the following books with the other members of The Goodies The Goodies FileThe Goodies Book of Criminal RecordsThe Goodies Disaster MovieContributions
Blokes and Birds, Stephen Moss;
New Holland Publishers . ISBN 1843304848 (foreword)
The New Birds of the West Midlands, Graham and Janet Harrison ([
3];
West Midland Bird Club, 2005). (foreword)
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Bill Oddie's family history at the BBC website for the programme Who Do You Think You Are?*
Biography on BBC's nature website*
Bill Oddie Goes Wild — on BBC's Science and Nature website
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BBC7's Listen Again series featuring "I'm Sorry I'll Read That Again"*
Bartley Reservoir article from West Midland Bird Club's archive*
BBC Press release reviewing Britain Goes Wild*
Bill Oddie to receive Peter Scott Memorial Award*
Bill Oddie — at the
Internet Broadway Database*
In-depth interview, The Telegraph, 28 April 2005*
BBC 'Face of the week' article*
Oddie in the BBC Guide to Comedy*
Oddie as a celebrity speaker*
Gigrin Farm chapter from Gripping Yarns*
Oddie's actor profile*
Oddie on UKTV*
Bill Oddie - Comedy Zone
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Bill Oddie at the TMC Entertainment
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New Wildlife Website Takes off with Bill Oddie*
First Person Quiz*
Bill Oddie's Great Bird Race Game*
humorous flash presentation*
The Origin of Monty Python — mentions Bill and ISIRTA
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mailing list for Oddie fans |
The Goodies â€" Bill Oddie,
Tim Brooke-Taylor, Graeme Garden |
