- After Dinner Speakers
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- TV/Radio Presenter
Bill Oddie
BILL ODDIE is a man of many parts - from star of all-time comedy favourite "The Goodies" to being one of Britain's best-known and best-loved wildlife programme presenters. His enthusiasm for the subject has made his programmes such as "Bill Oddie
The Goodies
Lancashire-born, Bill co-wrote The Goodies with Graeme Garden and over a ten year period they recorded seven series and two Specials for BBC and a series and Special for LWT. They twice won the Silver Rose of Montreux.
He has also appeared in his own show From the Top, two series for Central (co-written with Laura Beaumont). Bill wrote and appeared in a six part children's series called The Bubblegum Brigade for HTV.
Natural History Presenter
As an ornithologist, conservationist and natural history presenter, he has been an obsessive birdwatcher since childhood and has written for many specialist publications: British Birds, Birdwatching Magazine, Twitching etc. In recent years he has presented a number of bird or general wildlife programmes including: Oddie in Paradise (Papua New Guinea), The Great Kenyan Bird Safari and Favourite Walks (FairIsle) for BBC TV, Wild Weekends for TV AM and The Bird Business, Flight to Eilat and The Big Bird Race for Channel 4. He was also the subject of a Nature Watch special for Central TV.
Bill has been called "Britain's best-known bird watcher". However, he is vigorously resisting the pressure to become a full time "wildlifer" (though he does have plans for various bird-watching programmes and books).
Conservationist
He is an active conservationist; a present or past council member of the RSPB, the Wildfowl Trust and the Ornithological society of the Middle East and he represents such organisations as the World Wildlife Fund, Friends of the Earth, the Fauna and Flora Preservations Society the International Council for Bird Preservation, the Royal Society for Nature Conservation, the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers.
He has written a number of bird books including Bill Oddie's Little Black Bird Book and Introduction to Birdwatching as well as contributing to a number of magazines including Country Life and Signature.
In addition though, he is working on a variety of non-birdy projects, mainly co-written with his wife, Laura. These range through film scripts, drama and comedy series, puppet shows and more books.
In musical context his appearances range from playing Cousin Kevin in the Who's Rock Opera Tommy to narrating Tubby the Tuba with the Royal Philharmonic.
He has also appeared in Charity Shows on stages from the Albert Hall to the Palladium, via the Theatre Royal Stratford. Moreover, his voice is recognisable on a large number of commercials.
