It was during these years that he developed an interest in archaeology after having visited the excavations at Meare Lake Village in Somerset that were being directed by Harold St George Gray.
When in the sixth form he went with parties from Bradford Grammar School on several occasions to excavate in York under the direction of George Willmot of the Yorkshire Museum.
[citation needed] He also took an interest in stonemason's marks on mediaeval buildings and this led to his first publications, which were in the Archaeology Group Bulletin published by Bradford City Art Gallery and Museums.
[citation needed] In the early 1960s, the British Museum began an extensive programme of cleaning its collection of classical marble sculptures by the application of a solvent to remove atmospheric grease and a mud-pack to suck out dirt from the porous surface.
In 1966, Oddy and a senior conservator, Hannah Lane, did some initial cleaning which showed that the sepiolite method did not adversely affect the marble but did leave the surface looking rather milky in appearance.
[5] In the autumn of 1970, dredging operations in a drainage channel on the Graveney marshes on the north coast of Kent revealed the remains of a small ship, the wood of which was completely waterlogged.
[13] In 1972, the Wallace Collection sought the help of the British Museum Research Laboratory to investigate the tarnishing of gold snuff boxes after they had been on display for only a few months.
Testing of the materials of which the showcase were made revealed that the main structural timber was an African pseudo-mahogany and that this caused silver to tarnish very quickly.
[19] In 2005, Oddy participated in a European Union-funded project on the history of conservation organised by the Associazione Giovanni Secco Suardo.
[23] Harold James Plenderleith,[24][25][26] He has also contributed to numerous biographical articles in Amplius Vetusta Servare, such as those relating to John Doubleday, Nigel Williams and David Baynes-Cope.