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I briefly mentioned Bill Oddie's passing as a footnote in Ronnie le Drew's obituary thread, and as Heather mentioned in that thread, why don't I do one for Oddie? And so, here it is. Bill Oddie, comedian, actor, and birdwatcher has died at the age of 85.
I suppose growing up in the 1980s that I am more familiar with his birdwatching and environmental programmes rather than the Goodies; the original comedy series mostly ran on the BBC in the 1970s and moved to London Weekend Television in the early 1980s. Out of the original three Goodies, Tim Brooke-Taylor died from coronavirus in 2020 and only Graeme Garden is still alive.
By the 1980s he seemed to be focused on his birdwatching programmes (he did support the Green Party, so I heard, but only because it matched what he was well-known for). He was making guest appearances on various TV programmes such as Lionel Blair's team on Give us a Clue (briefly seen for around two seconds in the Liza Goddard-era opening titles circa 1989), and also the birdwatching theme went quite well while guesting with Rod Hull and Emu on EMU-TV in 1989. He lent his voiceover to a Sun Pat chocolate spread advert in the late 1980s.
Oddie presented one or two ITV Schools programmes just like Alan Rothwell who we lost earlier on this year; for Granada, he presented Time For A Story, a programme for five to seven year olds; another schools programme where ironically enough I only saw when I was off school. He also stood in for Derek Jameson on his BBC Radio 2 Breakfast Show in around the August Bank Holiday in 1987. Just like a lot of C-list celebrities in the 1980s, he made regular TV appearances, and no doubt that he sat on the TV-am sofa and was a guest on Wogan at some point as well.
In many ways, I think of Bill Oddie in a similar vein as Davids Attenborough and Bellamy; those who did programmes about botany and zoology. He had a sort-of squeaky voice, not like Emlyn Hughes or Joe Pasquale, but reminiscent of people such as Labour MP Robin Cook and others.
Ironically, what I didn't mention in the Ronnie le Drew thread was that I am certain that Bill Oddie made a guest appearance on Rainbow at some point. I am certain that he did so in the 1980s?
I suppose growing up in the 1980s that I am more familiar with his birdwatching and environmental programmes rather than the Goodies; the original comedy series mostly ran on the BBC in the 1970s and moved to London Weekend Television in the early 1980s. Out of the original three Goodies, Tim Brooke-Taylor died from coronavirus in 2020 and only Graeme Garden is still alive.
By the 1980s he seemed to be focused on his birdwatching programmes (he did support the Green Party, so I heard, but only because it matched what he was well-known for). He was making guest appearances on various TV programmes such as Lionel Blair's team on Give us a Clue (briefly seen for around two seconds in the Liza Goddard-era opening titles circa 1989), and also the birdwatching theme went quite well while guesting with Rod Hull and Emu on EMU-TV in 1989. He lent his voiceover to a Sun Pat chocolate spread advert in the late 1980s.
Oddie presented one or two ITV Schools programmes just like Alan Rothwell who we lost earlier on this year; for Granada, he presented Time For A Story, a programme for five to seven year olds; another schools programme where ironically enough I only saw when I was off school. He also stood in for Derek Jameson on his BBC Radio 2 Breakfast Show in around the August Bank Holiday in 1987. Just like a lot of C-list celebrities in the 1980s, he made regular TV appearances, and no doubt that he sat on the TV-am sofa and was a guest on Wogan at some point as well.
In many ways, I think of Bill Oddie in a similar vein as Davids Attenborough and Bellamy; those who did programmes about botany and zoology. He had a sort-of squeaky voice, not like Emlyn Hughes or Joe Pasquale, but reminiscent of people such as Labour MP Robin Cook and others.
Ironically, what I didn't mention in the Ronnie le Drew thread was that I am certain that Bill Oddie made a guest appearance on Rainbow at some point. I am certain that he did so in the 1980s?
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