William Edgar "Bill" Oddie OBE (born 7 July 1941) is an English writer, composer, musician, comedian, artist, ornithologist, conservationist and television presenter. He became famous as one of The Goodies.

A birdwatcher since his childhood in Quinton, Birmingham, Oddie has established a reputation as an ornithologist, conservationist, and television presenter on wildlife issues. Some of his books are illustrated with his own paintings and drawings. His wildlife programmes for the BBC include: Springwatch/Autumnwatch, How to Watch Wildlife, Wild In Your Garden, Birding with Bill Oddie, Britain Goes Wild with Bill Oddie and Bill Oddie Goes Wild.

Biography

Family
In 1967 Oddie married Jean Hart, and from this marriage he has two daughters, Bonnie Oddie and Kate Hardie, an actress, as well as three grandchildren, Lyle, Ella, and Gracie.

In 1983 he married Laura Beaumont-Giles, with whom he has worked on a variety of projects for children, including film scripts, drama and comedy series, puppet shows and books. They have a daughter, Rosie, born in October 1985, and live in Hampstead, North London. Rosie Oddie is a musician, also using the name Rosie Bones.


Depression and bipolar disorder
Oddie has suffered from depression for most of his life and was diagnosed with clinical depression in 2001. On 11 March 2009 it was reported that he had been admitted to Capio Nightingale psychiatric hospital in Marylebone, to deal with his depression. His then agent David Foster said: "Bill gets these bouts every two or three years where he gets down for about two weeks and recovers. He sometimes goes into hospital or takes a break or has a change of scenery to recharge his batteries." In January 2010 Oddie spoke to the media, revealing that he had in fact had two separate stays in different hospitals, only being discharged "in time for Christmas". He said that he was dealing with depression and bipolar disorder, describing the period as "probably the worst 12 months of my life". Oddie stated that he was planning to meet with BBC executives to discuss his return to television work.

His illness meant that Oddie did not appear in the 2009 and 2010 series of Springwatch, although he made a guest appearance in the penultimate episode of the latter. He subsequently claimed he was dismissed from Springwatch and that this had caused the depressive illness.

Oddie presented the BBC Radio 4 Appeal programme on 10 August 2014 on behalf of the charity Bipolar UK. He revealed that as a consequence of his bipolar disorder he had attempted suicide during one of his depressive episodes. On the UK TV program Who Do You Think You Are? he attributed his depression and bipolar disorder as an adult to his minimal and painful relationship with his mother.


Political views
Oddie supports the Green Party. In October 2014, on the BBC's Sunday Morning Live, he stated that he wanted a limit on the number of children that British families can have, saying that he was "very often ashamed" to be British, whom he called "a terrible race".

Best films