“On the time I used to be flabbergasted, ” he mentioned in a 2015 interview, exterior with the Impartial.
“However a yr later, I used to be identified as bipolar. I believed again. If I knew then what I do know now, I would have accepted that I used to be going by way of a manic part.”
The viewers missed him. Earlier than he left, the present had averaged 3.19 million. After he left, that determine fell to 2.55 million.
Oddie later revealed his situation brought on him to try to take his personal life.
In 2020, he introduced that he had been severely unwell because of lithium poisoning: a remedy aimed toward stabilising his moods.
He later posted on social media that “the previous few years have been grim for me.
“Misplaced enthusiasm, however I’m nonetheless right here.”
His outdoors pursuits included music. He as soon as did a spell as a radio DJ enjoying jazz and his home contained his assortment of hundreds of CDs.
Oddie was additionally a passionate supporter of the Inexperienced Celebration and gave his time, and fame, to bolster wildlife charities such because the RSPB.
His 1967 marriage to the musician, Jean Hart, led to divorce. In 1983, he married Laura Beaumont, who had beforehand labored with him on quite a lot of initiatives.
Oddie was a real polymath, a person who appeared to make a hit of every part to which he turned his hand.
Nevertheless it was his conservation work that gave him essentially the most satisfaction. “Wildlife,” he mentioned, “has lengthy been a refuge – in all probability greater than I realise.”
