Continuing the discussion from People from Andy's formative ....... Part 4 (Part 4) - #100 by EI3LH.
Previous discussions:
OK, I will kick off here with RIP Bill Oddie, who died a couple of days ago. A man of many talents, comedian, musician (anyone remember Funky Gibbon?) writer of books, scripts and lyrics, a member of the Goodies (a series that ran for 12 years) and of course a presenter of TV series about wildlife and particularly birds. For a gloriously funny book to dip into, I recommend “Gripping Yarns”, a punning title that birders will chuckle at, a collection of his articles (mainly about his [mis]adventures while birding) in Birdwatch magazine. Dammit, Bill, you were six months younger than me, now I’ll be looking over my shoulder for a man with an hourglass, agricultural impliment and a VERY DEEP VOICE! 
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Bill Oddie was mega. I heard his birding books are well worth a read so will pick a couple up soon.
Random fact of the day. Freddy from Rod, Jane and Freddy saved Bill Oddie from drowning when he was on holiday in the Seychelles.
One to keep in your back pocket for a pub quiz! 
EDIT: Additional pub quiz trivia. Jane was married to Freddy (and Rod! Who she divorced to marry Freddy! 
) until he passed away in 2021. Never knew he had even passed. Wasn’t it Geoffrey who died falling off his roof trying to adjust his satellite dish to watch a Man Utd game? Or was that Rod Hull?
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It was Rod Hull, but there was an investigation that EMU may have had a hand in it.
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Technically Mr. Oddie was someone from my misspent youth but he was not someone important. Sure I can remember making an effort to watch The Goodies when it first started and there were amusing vignettes in the episodes. In general there weren’t that many laughs per episode. Sure concepts like the Northern Martial Art ‘Ecky Thump’ was funny as was some of the speeded up slapstick. But in general it was not super-funny. I compare it with Black Adder. The first series had a few chuckles but wasn’t a laugh a minute. The team were given an ultimatum “this costs a lot to make… more laughs or you’re canned”. Result being Black Adder series 2-4 being continuously funny with plenty of guffaws/episode. Someone should have done that to The Goodies. But they did a wonderful hatchet job on Apartheid in South Africa in 1975 for which they should always be remembered.
Later on Bill was seen on so many conservation and birding programs, a committed conservationist. But he always seemed miserable. It’s only later I found the poor man suffered from clinical depression all his life. That shows the horror of mental health illnesses… unless you know, you don’t know the person is really ill. That’s a real bummer.
TBH I miss Tim Brooke-Taylor on ISIHAC more and Graeme Garden is still with us.
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