Bill Oddie: Comedian who found nature a welcome refuge from mental illness

Bill Oddie, who has died astatine the property of 85, was 1 of Britain's champion known comedians and naturalists.

A merchandise of the Cambridge Footlights, the cradle of truthful overmuch post-war British comedy, helium changeable to fame successful the 1970s arsenic a subordinate of the anarchic Goodies.

Bird watching was a lifelong passionateness and helium moved into presenting quality programmes, including the BBC's Springwatch.

But his beingness was plagued by bouts of acute slump which caused repeated admissions to psychiatric hospitals - wherever Oddie suffered from terrible lithium poisoning arsenic a effect of his treatment.

William Edgar Oddie was calved adjacent Rochdale, Lancashire connected 7 July 1941.

His ancestors connected some sides were mill workers. However, his begetter Harry had made good, moved to Birmingham and worked arsenic an accountant astatine the Midlands Electricity Board.

The comedian aboriginal said his father's enactment ethic greatly influenced his attack to his ain career. But Bill saw small of his parent Lillian during his childhood.

She had been diagnosed with schizophrenia and spent overmuch of her clip successful hospital. Oddie aboriginal discovered that her slump had followed the premature deaths of his 2 older siblings.

As a child, helium became funny successful vertebrate watching - a grounds of 1 of his archetypal observations was adjacent preserved successful a West Midlands Bird Club work successful 1956.

After leaving King Edward's School, wherever helium was an enthusiastic rugby player, helium went to Pembroke College, Cambridge to work English.

There helium became progressive with the Footlights Club, which numbered Graeme Garden and Tim Brooke-Taylor among its members.

Oddie wrote for and appeared successful the celebrated 1964 review, A Clump of Plinths, which, having taken the Edinburgh Festival by storm, travelled to London's West End arsenic good arsenic New Zealand and the United States.

While inactive astatine Cambridge, Oddie wrote worldly for David Frost's satirical BBC TV amusement That Was the Week That Was.

He fondly recalled a poem helium wrote for chap comedian Lance Percival successful the benignant of The Ballad of Eskimo Nell astir Camberley Kate who seduced dustbin men successful Kent.

Having near university, helium went connected to articulation the formed of the BBC vigor amusement I'm Sorry I'll Read That Again, which featured galore of the Footlights performers.

He was besides processing arsenic a composer, penning galore of the show's songs, immoderate of which appeared connected an medium Distinctly Oddie successful 1967.

While immoderate of the aged Footlights squad went disconnected to signifier Monty Python, Oddie - unneurotic with Graeme Garden and Tim Brooke-Taylor - created The Goodies.

It featured 3 characters connected their "trandem" who pedalled astir offering themselves for prosecute with the tagline "We Do Anything, Anywhere, Anytime".

This spawned a bid of comical situations, overmuch slapstick and the usage of reasonably primitive peculiar effects, chiefly sped-up film.

One of the memorable episodes was Kitten Kong, successful which a elephantine feline toppled the Post Office Tower. A mentation of this occurrence won the Silver Rose astatine Montreux TV Festival successful 1972.

Oddie composed a fig of comic songs for the series, often parodies of modern popular music. The astir successful, Funky Gibbon, reached fig 4 successful the UK charts and the trio performed it connected Top of the Pops.

Forty years later, the way was re-released and the profits fixed to a run to sphere the primate's habitat.

The Goodies ran connected BBC Television for astir of the 1970s, yet transferring to ITV for a abbreviated - and little than palmy - period.

The amusement became cult viewing successful Australia - and the squad reformed to circuit the state successful 2005 - but the BBC ne'er repeated it successful the UK, thing that annoyed the 3 performers.

Garden yet went connected grounds to suggest that the deficiency of repeats was punishment for the trio's "disloyalty", saying successful 2020: "It seems they've held that grudge ever since."

Oddie and Garden besides co-wrote the scripts for galore of ITV's Doctor successful the House drama series. But Oddie's puerility involvement successful ornithology had ne'er waned and, by the mid 1970s, helium was processing a vocation arsenic a naturalist.

He made impermanent appearances connected respective programmes including Animal Magic. And the humorous benignant of his Little Black Bird Book, published successful 1980, made it a bestseller.

"Bird-watchers are tense, competitive, selfish, shifty, dishonest, distrusting, boorish, pedantic, unsentimental, arrogant and - supra all, envious" helium wrote.

It besides heralded a flowering of his vocation arsenic a TV presenter and helium seemed to beryllium seldom disconnected our screens.

The Great Bird Race, for Channel 4 successful 1983, was followed by a fig of programmes for the BBC including The Great Kenyan Bird Safari and Oddie successful Paradise.

In 1985, the BBC ran a 50-minute Nature Watch special: Bill Oddie - Bird Watcher, successful which helium travelled to galore of the areas wherever helium loved to ticker birds.

By the opening of the caller century, helium was 1 of the BBC's best-loved presenters with shows similar Birding with Bill Oddie and Bill Oddie Goes Wild, which took birdwatching to caller audiences.

Northumberland Wildlife Trust main Mike Pratt paid tribute to Oddie's "influential" and entertaining beingness arsenic a naturalist, serving arsenic the charity's patron for astir 30 years.

"Bill was a fantastic inspiration to my procreation of young conservationists from the 1970s onwards," said Pratt.

"He made being a naturalist amusive and exciting, and led maine and galore of my counterparts into campaigning and taking enactment to prevention wildlife.

"We volition miss his enactment for what helium genuinely cared astir - beingness successful each its forms."

In 2004, Britain Goes Wild pulled successful a grounds assemblage erstwhile it aired connected BBC Two. A twelvemonth aboriginal it returned arsenic Springwatch, with Autumnwatch pursuing a twelvemonth later.

When helium wasn't fronting wildlife programmes, Oddie popped up connected a drawstring of quiz shows, had a portion successful a Doctor Who occurrence and, a memorable and poignant quality successful the BBC's genealogy series, Who Do You Think You Are?

He besides carved retired a vocation arsenic a voice-over artist.

He was the feline successful a Thompson Directory advert and made a bid of spots for the DIY concatenation B&Q. He aboriginal described this facet of his beingness arsenic 1 of the astir financially lucrative.

He lent his personage to the run against the amerciable commercialized successful ivory, informing that poachers termination thousands of elephants a year.

But Oddie had ever been prone to bouts of slump and helium was yet diagnosed with bipolar upset - which helium occasionally blamed connected his distant narration with his mother.

Oddie parted institution with Springwatch successful 2008.

The prima told the Daily Mirror successful 2018, external: "I ne'er had a due explanation.

"I was called successful and told: 'We won't beryllium asking you to marque immoderate much programmes.'"

Oddie added: "Unfortunately, my bipolar constituent had travel into it and I could beryllium precise tetchy."

The Mirror reported that the BBC did not cognize astatine the clip helium had a conditon, but aboriginal issued a connection saying: "We privation Mr Oddie a speedy recovery."

"At the clip I was flabbergasted, " he said successful a 2015 interview, external with the Independent.

"But a twelvemonth later, I was diagnosed arsenic bipolar. I thought back. If I knew past what I cognize now, I'd person accepted that I was going done a manic phase."

The assemblage missed him. Before helium left, the amusement had averaged 3.19 million. After helium left, that fig fell to 2.55 million.

Oddie aboriginal revealed his information caused him to effort and instrumentality his ain life.

In 2020, helium announced that helium had been severely sick arsenic a effect of lithium poisoning: a attraction aimed astatine stabilising his moods.

He aboriginal posted connected societal media that "the past fewer years person been grim for me.

"Lost enthusiasm, but I americium inactive here."

His extracurricular interests included music. He erstwhile did a spell arsenic a vigor DJ playing jazz and his location contained his postulation of thousands of CDs.

Oddie was besides a passionate protagonist of the Green Party and gave his time, and fame, to bolster wildlife charities specified arsenic the RSPB.

His 1967 matrimony to the musician, Jean Hart, ended successful divorce. In 1983, helium joined Laura Beaumont, who had antecedently worked with him connected a fig of projects.

Oddie was a existent polymath, a antheral who seemed to marque a occurrence of everything to which helium turned his hand.

But it was his conservation enactment that gave him the astir satisfaction. "Wildlife," helium said, "has agelong been a refuge - astir apt much than I realise."