I CUTHEROEADVERTISER&TIMES


www.clitheroeadvertis8r.co.uk Thursday,September18,2014


Thursday,September^,2014 www.clitheroeadvertiser.co.uk CUTHEROEADVERTISER&TIMES I Now back from the


brink, Bill's a hoot! After a dark 18 months, Oddie is back in limelight


byTonyDewhurst www.thegrandvenue.co.uk Box office: 01200 421599


Bill Oddie, the nation’s most famous birdwatcher, has a demanding kind of fame.


When people recognise him, they request something more than an autograph or to re­ veal the migrating route of the spotted flycatcher. They now often ask him


how he is these days. “It happens quite often,”


says Oddie, who will reflect on his career in television as an actor and presenter at a spe­ cial one-off show at The Grand in Clitheroe next month. “They say‘Hey, Bill, good to


see you’. It is very special that, because 2009 was the worst year of my life, and what hap­ pened put me in hospital. 1 thought I’d had it." For the best part of two


de cad e s, Oddie hosted much-loved nature shows for the BBC, but when he was dropped from “Springwatch” it plunged him into a dark de­ spair. “I suffered from bipolar


and terrible depression - it was a lost year. Depression is such an insidious illness and I know only too well when people talk about ending it all because it changes your life in such terrible way. You just want to blank it out and go to sleep. . “It is like your mind is tell-


ingyou to switch off andyou go on permanent standby. I suf­ fered ayear-and-a-half of hell with depression.” Oddie is jovial, chatty and


hilarious when we talk on the telephone from his London home, and he is clearly in rude health. “Thankfully, I’m absolute­


ly fine now, but it was the sup­ port of my family that got me through it,” added Oddie, who now campaigns for Bipolar UK and Mind, the mental health charity.


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01200427601 www.leapinglizardsplaycehtre.co.uk Unit 4 Hawthorne Business


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Bill Oddie, Britain's favourite birdwatcher. “It is awful for your near­


est and dearest to see you like that, and it put pressure on my whole family.” It helps, of course, that


Oddie has a comedy pedigree. Throughout the 1970s he was best known as one-third ofthe barmy comedy act The Good­ ies, togetherwith TimBrooke- Taylor and Graeme Garden. “The Goodies was a won­


derful experience. Foru years it was my full-timejob and I ab­ solutely loved it,” he added. “Thefunnythingis,though,


I never saw it as a kids’ show. Children who have seen the repeats say ‘We love the fluffy kitten on the Post OfficeTower and did you really get bombed by a goose with golden eggs?’. They say ‘Do Do the Funky Gib­ bon’, and we got on ‘Top ofthe Pops’ with that. They are icon­ ic images of The Goodies and I think that’s lovely.” - But it was Oddie who, for


many of us, reignited our love affair with the British country- sideand wildlife, culminating in the extraordinary success of “Springwatch” and “Autumn- watch”. “I miss it - who wouldn’t.


They just said ‘we won’t be asking you to do it again'. And actually you’re so taken aback


Comfortable seating area


at that moment you don’t in­ sist Why not?’ Itisstillagreat British institution, but I don’t really want to say anything more about it,” he said. He remembers growing


up in Birmingham, and see­ ing skylarks and yellowham- mers when he walked through nearby fields. There were often hedgehogs in the family’s small garden. “Nature is such a wonder­


ful thing and when you think of a swallow migrating thou­ sands of miles to Africa it is, I think, a true wonder of the natural world,” adds Oddie. He laughs out loud when


I ask him i f he were reincar­ nated as a bird, what species would he be? “It would have to be the lit­


tle owl. He has a similar fig­ ure to me. He also looks like he might be wearing a pair of round spectacles, too. I like owls a lot.” . . • “Bill Oddie, My Life”,


at The Grand, Clitheroe on October 15th. There will also be a question and answer with the audience. Tickets £15. Tel. 01200 421599, www.thegrand venue.co.uk The event is being spon­


sored by Oddie’s Bakery of Nelson.


Jack’s off ‘Down Under’


Clitheroe Cricket Club is wish­ ing all the best to promising all-rounder Jack Dewhurst as he embarks on an exciting winter abroad playing club iricket in Australia. Following Jack’s nomi-


lation for the Ribblesdale league groundsman of the rear prize, the popularyoung- >ter will seek to hone both lis horticultural and play- ng skills alongside former 'litheroe professional Grant Iordan at Melbourne’s Lily- lale Cricket Club.


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JackDowhurstcclebratesawicket Jack’s selection is testa­


ment to his commitment to training, which has recently included a gruelling exercise


programme with club fitness .V , guru Peter Dibb, allowing him j,' : to stay injury free throughout ^;-f the season.


fr, Having previously played f


abroad for Tasmania Univer- ' •' sity Cricket Club, alongside international stars such as ^ - Tim Paine and James “Jet" V " Faulkner, the former Lanca- 1 shireacademystarhopesthat !■ ;, his strong leg side batting and ; wily right arm swing bowling ■ ■; 5 will continue to develop under the tutelage of the Australian ;* club set up.


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