Bill Oddie, the comedian, broadcaster and naturalist best known as a member of the anarchic 1970s BBC comedy trio The Goodies, has died aged 85. He rose to prominence via the Cambridge Footlights before co-creating The Goodies with Graeme Garden and Tim Brooke-Taylor, and later became a familiar face on nature programmes including the BBC's Springwatch, drawing on a lifelong passion for birdwatching that dated back to his childhood.

Born William Edgar Oddie near Rochdale in 1941, he studied English at Pembroke College, Cambridge, where he joined the Footlights alongside future Goodies co-stars and wrote for David Frost's That Was the Week That Was. The Goodies, known for slapstick humour and primitive special effects, produced the memorable Kitten Kong episode, which won a Silver Rose at the 1972 Montreux TV Festival, and the hit comic song Funky Gibbon, which reached number four in the UK charts. Alongside his public success, Oddie struggled with severe depression throughout his life, including hospital admissions and lithium poisoning from his treatment, though he found nature a source of solace and later helped bring birdwatching to wider audiences.