The comedian turned ornithologist Bill Oddie has died at 85, leaving behind a legacy of anarchy and nature – and a hidden struggle with severe depression and lithium poisoning.
Oddie, born near Rochdale in 1941, was a product of the Cambridge Footlights, joining Graeme Garden and Tim Brooke-Taylor in the anarchic 1970s comedy trio The Goodies. Bird watching was a lifelong passion, and he later presented the BBC's Springwatch.
“Comedian and naturalist Bill Oddie dies at 85, revealing lifelong depression and lithium poisoning.”
But his life was plagued by bouts of acute depression, causing repeated admissions to psychiatric hospitals. During treatment, he suffered from severe lithium poisoning.
His mother Lillian had been diagnosed with schizophrenia and spent much of her time in hospital. Oddie later learned her depression followed the premature deaths of his two older siblings. His father Harry, an accountant, instilled a strong work ethic that Oddie credited for his own career.
At King Edward's School he was an enthusiastic rugby player, then read English at Pembroke College, Cambridge. There he joined the Footlights, writing for and appearing in the 1964 review A Clump of Plinths, which went from Edinburgh to the West End to New Zealand and the United States.
He wrote material for David Frost's That Was the Week That Was while still at Cambridge, and after university joined the cast of the BBC radio show I'm Sorry I'll Read That Again. He composed many of its songs, some appearing on his 1967 album Distinctly Oddie.
The Goodies, with Oddie, Garden and Brooke-Taylor, became a television phenomenon in the 1970s.
Oddie's passion for bird watching – his first recorded observation was in a 1956 West Midlands Bird Club publication – led him to become a noted ornithologist and TV presenter.
The man who brought so much joy to millions was, in private, battling demons that ultimately led to severe lithium poisoning – a stark reminder of the cost behind the comedy.