by The Cube »
02 Apr 2012 21:51
I always had this vague wish that one day I'd be at an away game, probably in some cold Northern town like Bury or Bolton, when at half-time the PA guy said, "And now a special guest to draw the winning lottery ticket - it's our old friend Bill Oddie!" The home fans would greet this with a smattering of polite applause, but the away end would go into absolute meltdown. 17 separate Bill Oddie chants would start up, all clashing with each other and fading quickly as those responsible failed to maintain their over-ambitious starting volume. Meanwhile those Reading fans in the concourse would be spilling back through the vomitories trying to see what was going on - and of course starting up their own chants rather than joining in with any of those already in progress.
The Cambridge graduate and ex-Goodie himself would look slightly bemused, but in these days of celebrity cult would simply assume that he had an especially big following back in Berkshire (and make a mental note to ask the agent to slot in some extra speaking engagements there).
However, I also understand that Bill Oddie doesn't do personal appearances like drawing half-time raffle tickets without a large amount of cash heading his way first. And consequently, the chances of the above ever happening are very slim. Also, like any self-respecting professional Northerner, he lives in Hampstead.
On the football front I've heard two apparently conflicting stories - one is that he detests football (believable if misguided), and the other is that he supports Ipswich (I can't work out any connection he has with Ipswich at all). But in these days of Paul Jewell maybe there is some common ground to be found there, though.