Born in Rochdale in 1941 but brought up in Birmingham, Bill was a bright lad who ended up at Cambridge University. And like many of its more famous alumni, appeared in several Cambridge Footlights productions. He soon became a successful script writer for TV's That Was The Week That Was and on leaving Cambridge, gave up all plans to become an English teacher or Bird Observatory owner (he's always been an ornithologist) and went into showbiz.

Remember Kitten Kong?
By the 1970s, Bill had of course become seriously famous as one third of surreal looney-up comedy duo The Goodies alongside Graeme Garden and Tim Brooke Taylor. Reminiscent of a live-action version of a mental cartoon, the show was chocker with speeded-up footage, film trickery and violent slapstick - a sillier Monty Python without the critical acclaim, if you like. It won various awards, was a family favourite and Bill was now known as an earthy, hairy individual who loved environmentalism.

Top of the Bill
What was less well known during this time was that The Goodies allowed Bill to indulge his love and mastery of pop music. The result was a series of hits in 1974/75 such as The Inbetweenies, a glam-rock spoof and, most successful of all, The Funky Gibbon - a record that could be argued as being a classic piece of Britfunk. This Prince fan is a mean sax player and drummer and once recorded a memorable re-working of I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside in the style of A Whiter Shade of Pale. And you thought Bill Bailey was original.

Wee are not amused
Of course, Bill's career has since taken a rather more serious tack. This doesn't mean laughs still can't be had and one time in January 2003, Bill Oddie visited Killoch Farm to report on some endangered wildlife. While speaking live to the BBC from a milking parlour at the farm, Oddie was a bit taken aback by a five-year-old cow named Punch. "For God's sake," he exclaimed, "there is a cow peeing on me! It's a bovine golden shower!"

Back to the future
However, perhaps one of the most poignant moments of his career was his appearance on a very moving episode of BBC's Who Do You Think You Are. He candidly revealed that his family tree research began after he had suffered two severe bouts of clinical depression. A clearly distressed Bill slowly unravelled the tragic truth of the mother he only saw four times in his young life. In a truly moving show, Bill at last finds some sense of closure as he follows the family trail back to his Lancashire roots.