Book description
Whose first records were produced by George Martin, and who had two
singles banned by the BBC?
Who earned rare reviews on Broadway for his dancing?
Who rode on the back seat of the Goodies' trandem?
Who has been called 'Britain's best-known birdwatcher'?
Who had his first clinical depression in his 60th year, and has only
just discovered why?
Who has written an autobiography that is as witty, candid and
unconventional as the man himself?
Answer to all of the above - Bill Oddie
Bill Oddie is best known for the wacky humour of the Goodies, and the
irrepressible enthusiasm of his nature programmes, off screen there
has been a darker side. Bill has suffered from bouts of depression
which have more than once taken him to the brink. Now he is back in
control and wiser about the causes and the cure.
Here he describes the childhood blighted by the absence of his mother
who had been committed to a mental asylum when he was small. It was a
lonely and difficult start to life, but there were to be happier
times. Touring with the Cambridge Footlights in the l960s saw him
alongside the greatest comic talents of his generation - John Cleese
and of course fellow Goodies Tim Brooke-Taylor and Graeme Garden. Soon
the Goodies were to become on of the biggest comedy hits of the 70s -
bringing a new brand of surreal humour to our screens.
Now as Britain's favourite birdwatcher Bill has turned his private
passion into his most public role and presented more than 20 nature
programmes for the BBC. He has also become a fervent and outspoken
campaigner for the environment.
It has been an extraordinary and far from straightforward journey.
Bill Oddie takes us along with him in a memoir which is as witty,
candid, curious and unconventional as the man himself.
