Bill Oddie obituary: The comedian turned conservationist loved at home and abroad

Bill Oddie, who has died at 85, found fame in the 1970s as one third of The Goodies, but went on to establish a reputation as an ornithologist, conservationist and television presenter on wildlife.

Oddie had a multifaceted career which saw him achieve chart success with novelty songs as well as appearing in surreal dramas featuring giant mutant kittens.

He was a successful comedian, actor and musician whose journey began as a contemporary of John Cleese and the other future Pythons in the post-satire boom of the mid-1960s.

But he attracted a new legion of fans when he became one of the original hosts of Springwatch, originally titled Britain Goes Wild with Bill Oddie.

A birdwatcher since his childhood, Oddie was born in Lancashire in July 1941 to Harry Oddie and Lilian (née Clegg).

He was raised in Birmingham by his father and his grandmother Emily, and spoke about his mother’s schizophrenia which led to her being treated in a psychiatric facility.

Bill was still at school when it happened.

He studied English literature at Cambridge, where he also started his stage career, appearing in several Footlights Club productions.

One of his shows, Cambridge Circus, was a hit at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and subsequently transferred to the West End and Broadway.

During his time at university, Oddie also began writing TV scripts – having worked on the BBC’s satirical comedy That Was The Week That Was, on which he also made a brief appearance.

His frequent writing partner was Graeme Garden, who is now the only surviving member of The Goodies. The other member of the trio, Tim Brooke-Taylor, died in 2020.

All three were featured in Cambridge Circus and on I’m Sorry, I’ll Read That Again, the radio show it inspired, which featured many of Bill’s musical compositions.

Oddie was a recognisable face during the late 1960s on such shows as On The Braden Beat, Twice A Fortnight and Broaden Your Mind, often writing and composing as well as performing.

But it was The Goodies which made him a household name, not just at home but also in Australia and New Zealand.

He and Garden co-wrote the show, which in its heyday was one of the BBC’s most popular (and expensive) comedies, featuring surreal episodes like the one in which a giant kitten appeared to climb the Post Office Tower and terrorise London.

It ran from 1970 until 1982, by which time it had transferred to ITV, and also featured Oddie’s novelty songs like The Funky Gibbon and The Inbetweenies – both of which peaked in the top 10 of the UK singles charts.

Throughout the period, Oddie and Garden wrote scripts together for other people’s sitcoms, not least ITV’s Doctor In The House and its sequels.

Bill continued to work with his fellow Goodies on the animated comic book superhero series Bananaman for the BBC, before turning his attention to nature shows.

A keen conservationist and naturalist since his youth, his first published work on birding was an article about the birdlife of Birmingham’s Bartley Reservoir in 1962.

He went on to write several books about birds and birdwatching. In 1976 he was also involved in the successful identification of Britain’s first-ever recorded Pallas’s reed bunting on Fair Isle, Shetland.

In 2004 he fronted the first Springwatch, in which he, Kate Humble and Simon King spent one hour each evening, describing wildlife and presenting live action from hidden cameras in or near nest boxes across the country.

It set a record for its 8pm time slot on BBC Two.

But off-screen, Oddie suffered from crippling depression, about which he spoke openly.

In 2009 he was admitted to a psychiatric hospital and was finally diagnosed with bipolar disorder, a condition in which depressive periods alternate with manic activity.

An active conservationist, Oddie was a council member for The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust and The Worldwide Fund for Nature.

In 2003 he was made an OBE for his service to wildlife conservation.

He is survived by his second wife Laura Beaumont and their daughter, Rosie; and by his daughters Bonnie and Kate (the actress Kate Hardie) from his first marriage to the actress Jean Hart, as well as by three grandchildren.