Bill Oddie's Gripping Yarns: Tales of Birds & Birding

by Bill Oddie

Here are more than 60 of Bill Oddie's tales of birding from nefarious childhood "egging" to fully fledged twitching -- and much more besides.Most of the stories are taken from the last five years of Oddie's regular monthly column in Birdwatch magazine and cover such diverse subjects as bird racing in Hong Kong and a birder's dietary requirements. The stories appear in their original form and are complemented by Oddie's own drawings.

Genres: Birds, Nonfiction, Natural History

224 pages, Paperback

First published May 28, 2000

About the author

William "Bill" Edgar Oddie OBE was an English author, actor, comedian, artist, naturalist and musician, who became famous as one of The Goodies. A birdwatcher since childhood, Oddie had established a reputation for himself as an ornithologist, conservationist and television presenter on wildlife issues. Some of his books are illustrated with his own paintings and drawings.

Oddie studied English Literature at Pembroke College at the University of Cambridge, where he appeared in several Cambridge University Footlights Club productions. 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. Meanwhile, still at Cambridge, Oddie wrote scripts for TV's That Was The Week That Was.

His first television appearance was in Bernard Braden's On The Braden Beat in 1964. Subsequently, he was a key member of the performers in the BBC radio series I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again (ISIRTA; 1965), where many of his musical compositions were featured. Some were released on the album Distinctly Oddie (Polydor, 1967). He was possibly 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).

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. Later, he was co-writer and performer in the comedy series Broaden Your Mind with Tim Brooke-Taylor and Graeme Garden, for which Oddie became a cast member for the second series. Oddie, Brooke-Taylor and Garden then co-wrote and appeared in their television comedy series The Goodies. The Goodies also released records, including "Father Christmas Do Not Touch Me"/"The In-Betweenies", "Funky Gibbon", and "Black Pudding Bertha", which were hit singles in 1974-75. They reformed, briefly, in 2005, for a successful 13-date tour of Australia. Oddie, Brooke-Taylor and Garden voiced characters on the 1983 animated children's programme Bananaman. He had occasionally appeared on the BBC Radio 4 panel game I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, on which Garden and Brooke-Taylor are regular panellists.

Reviews

[Sally]

Even a know-nothing* (lower than a Dude) like me can enjoy this book. I enjoyed learning about the birds of the world and their habits. Even more than that, I was entertained by the funny ways of twitchers and Bill's antics whilst birding. But the supreme reward, as expected by those who know him, is the leavening with wit and, yes, SMUT at every opportunity, including some of the brilliantly funny drawings. I will be reading it again.

*Although I don't think even I'd identify a nocturnal blackbird as a nightingale.

[Trepkos]

Shows how much birding has changed over the years - lots of funny tales.

[Carolyn]

Dated but still a fun book to read.

[Darwinian]

I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/12939307