William Edgar Oddie OBE (born 7 July 1941)[2] is an English actor, artist, birder, comedian, conservationist, musician, songwriter, television presenter and writer.

A birder since his childhood in Quinton, Birmingham,[3] Oddie has established a reputation as a naturalist, conservationist, and television presenter on wildlife issues.

Oddie was born on 7 July 1941 in Rochdale, Lancashire, but moved to Birmingham at a young age; his father was assistant chief accountant at the Midlands Electricity Board.

One of these, a revue called A Clump of Plinths, was so successful at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe that it was renamed Cambridge Circus and transferred to the West End in London, then New Zealand and Broadway in September 1964.

He was one of the first performers to parody a rock song, arranging the traditional Yorkshire folk song "On Ilkla Moor Baht'at" in the style of Joe Cocker's hit rendition of the Beatles' "With a Little Help from My Friends" (released on John Peel's Dandelion Records in 1970 and featured in Peel's special box of most-treasured singles), and singing "Andy Pandy" in the style of a brassy soul number such as Wilson Pickett or Geno Washington might perform.

On television Oddie was co-writer and performer in the comedy series Twice a Fortnight with Graeme Garden, Terry Jones, Michael Palin and Jonathan Lynn.

The Goodies also released records, including "Father Christmas Do Not Touch Me"/"The In-Betweenies", "The Funky Gibbon" (co-written by Oddie with Dave MacRae) and "Black Pudding Bertha", which were hit singles in 1974–75.

[9][10][11] In the Amnesty International show A Poke in the Eye (With a Sharp Stick), Oddie, Brooke-Taylor and Garden sang their hit song "Funky Gibbon".

He has occasionally appeared on the BBC Radio 4 panel game I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, on which Garden is and Brooke-Taylor was a regular panellist.

[12] Oddie's first published work was an article about the birdlife of Birmingham's Bartley Reservoir in the West Midland Bird Club's 1962 Annual Report.

He discussed bird-song recordings with Derek Jones in an August 1973 BBC Radio 4 programme called Sounds Natural.

[16] In the autumn of 1976, Oddie was involved in the successful identification of Britain's first-ever record of Pallas's reed bunting on Fair Isle, Shetland.

[19] On 30 July 1985, he was the subject of a 50-minute Nature Watch Special: Bill Oddie – Bird Watcher, in which he was interviewed by Julian Pettifer[20] at places where he had spent time birding, including Bartley Reservoir, the Christopher Cadbury Wetland Reserve at Upton Warren, RSPB Titchwell Marsh and Blakeney Point.

One of the former, issued in 1970 on John Peel's Dandelion Records label (Catalogue No: 4786), was "On Ilkla Moor Baht 'at",[28] performed in the style of Joe Cocker's "With a Little Help from My Friends".

Both tracks appear on the compilation CD Life Too, Has Surface Noise: The Complete Dandelion Records Singles Collection 1969–1972 (2007).

Initially teacher Bridget Mermikides tries to teach him using traditional methods but he rebels: instead he turns to old friends Albert Lee, Dave Davies (of The Kinks) and Mark Knopfler for advice and strikes out on his own.

He succeeds in the target of playing lead guitar for his daughter Rosie's band at her 21st birthday party and even manages to impress his erstwhile teacher.

In 2005, he took part in Rolf on Art – the big event at Trafalgar Square and in September that year was also a celebrity guest along with Lynda Bellingham on the ITV1 programme Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.

One of the artists, Mark Roscoe, later revealed a dislike of Oddie, claiming to have included hidden insults in his work.

[49] Oddie undertook an Australian tour during June 2013 in all of the mainland states capital cities – Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth – in a series of one-off shows, An Oldie but a Goodie.

[54] The couple have worked on a variety of projects for children, including film scripts, drama and comedy series, puppet shows and books.

"[57] In January 2010 Oddie spoke to the media, revealing that he had two separate stays in different hospitals, only being discharged "in time for Christmas".

In June 2004 Oddie and Johnny Morris were jointly profiled in the first of a three-part BBC Two series The Way We Went Wild, about television wildlife presenters.

In May 2005 he received the British Naturalists' Association's Peter Scott Memorial Award, from BNA president David Bellamy, "in recognition of his great contribution to our understanding of natural history and conservation.

[70] (incomplete list) Bill Oddie also co-wrote the Springwatch & Autumnwatch book with Kate Humble and Simon King.