Oud

Front and rear views of an oud
String instrument
Classification	Necked bowl lutes String instruments
Hornbostel–Sachs classification	321.321-6 (Composite chordophone sounded with a plectrum)
Developed	Antiquity
Related instruments
Angélique (instrument) Archlute Balalaika Barbat (lute) Baglamadaki Bağlama Biwa Bouzouki Charango Chitarra Italiana Daguangxian Đàn tỳ bà Dombra Domra Dutar Electric pipa Erhu Irish bouzouki Liuqin Lute Mandocello Mandola Mandolin Mandolute Oud Pandura Pipa Qanbus Rubab Setar Sitar Surbahar Tambouras Tambura Tanbur Tanbur (Turkish) Tembûr Theorbo Tiorbino Tiqin Topshur Veena Zhonghu

The Oud ( /ˈuːd/; Arabic: عود‎ ʿūd, plural:أعواد, a‘wād; Assyrian:ܥܘܕ ūd, Greek: ούτι; Persian: بربط‎ barbat; Turkish: ud or ut;^[1] Armenian: ուդ, Azeri: ud; Hebrew: עוד ud‎; Somali: cuud or kaban) is a pear-shaped stringed instrument commonly used in North African (Chaabi, Classical, and Andalusian) and Middle Eastern music. The modern oud and the European lute both descend from a common ancestor via diverging paths. The oud is readily distinguished by its lack of frets and smaller neck.

Name[link]

A 12th century manuscript depicting musicians with various instruments such as Oud.

The origin of the name oud (and its etymological cousin, lute) for the musical instrument is uncertain, but the Arabic العود (al-ʿūd) refers literally to a thin piece of wood similar to the shape of a straw, and may refer to the wooden plectrum traditionally used for playing the oud,^[2] to the thin strips of wood used for the back, or to the wooden soundboard that distinguished it from similar instruments with skin-faced bodies.^[3] Recent research by Eckhard Neubauer suggests that oud may simply be an Arabic borrowing from the Persian name rud, which meant string, stringed instrument, or lute.^[4][5]

The Arabic definite article al- was not retained when al-ʿūd was borrowed into Turkish, nor was the letter ʿayn, the sound of which (a voiced pharyngeal fricative) does not exist in Turkish. The resulting Turkish word is simply ud (with a pronunciation similar to the word food without the f).

The oud was most likely introduced to Western Europe by the Arabs who established the Umayyad Caliphate of Al-Andalus on the Iberian Peninsula in 711. Oud-like instruments such as the Ancient Greek Pandoura and the Roman Pandura likely made their way to the Iberian Peninsula much earlier than the oud. However, it was the royal houses of Al-Andalus that cultivated an environment that raised the level of oud playing to greater heights and boosted the popularity of the instrument. The most famous oud player of Al-Andalus was Ziryab. He established a music school in Córdoba, enhanced playing technique and added a fifth course to the instrument. The European version of this instrument came to be known as the lute – luth in French, Laute in German, liuto in Italian, luit in Dutch, laúd in Spanish, and alaúde in Portuguese. The word "luthier", meaning stringed instrument maker, is in turn derived from the French luth. Unlike the oud, the European lute utilizes frets (usually tied gut).

History[link]

According to Farabi, the oud was invented by Lamech, the sixth grandson of Adam. The legend tells that the grieving Lamech hung the body of his dead son from a tree. The first oud was inspired by the shape of his son's bleached skeleton.^{[6][not in citation given]}

The oldest pictorial record of a lute dates back to the Uruk period in Southern Mesopotamia (modern Nasiriyah city), over 5000 years ago on a cylinder seal acquired by Dr. Dominique Collon and currently housed at the British Museum.^[7] The image depicts a female crouching with her instruments upon a boat, playing right-handed. This instrument appears many times throughout Mesopotamian history and again in ancient Egypt from the 18th dynasty onwards in long and short-neck varieties. One may see such examples at the Metropolitan Museums of New York, Philadelphia, Cleveland, and the British Museum on clay tablets and papyrus paper. This instrument and its close relatives have been a part of the music of each of the ancient civilizations that have existed in the Mediterranean and the Middle East regions, including the Sumerians, Akkadians, Persians, Kurds, Babylonians, Assyrians, Greeks, Egyptians, and Romans.

Arab musician in Aleppo, Syria with an oud circa 1915.

The ancient Turkic peoples had a similar instrument called the kopuz. This instrument was thought to have magical powers and was brought to wars and used in military bands. This is noted in the Göktürk monument inscriptions, the military band was later used by other Turkic state's armies and later by Europeans.^[8] According to musicologist Çinuçen Tanrıkorur today's oud was derived from the kopuz by Turks near Central Asia and additional strings were added by them.^[9]

Today's oud is totally different from the old prototypes and the Turkish oud is different from the Arabic oud in playing style and shape. The Turkish oud is derived from modifying the Arabic oud: its development has been attributed to Manolis Venios, a well known Greek luthier who lived in Istanbul in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.^{[citation needed]} In Greece and Armenia musicians use the Turkish ouds and tunings.^{[citation needed]}

The oud has a particularly long tradition in Iraq,^[10] where a saying goes that in its music lies the country’s soul.^[10] A ninth-century Baghdad jurist praised the healing powers of the instrument, and the 19th century writer Muhammad Shihab al-Din related that it "places the temperament in equilibrium" and "calms and revives hearts."^[10] Following the invasion of Iraq and the overthrow of the secular Ba'athist regime in 2003, however, the increasing fervor of Islamic militants who consider secular music to be haraam (forbidden) forced many oud players and teachers into hiding or exile.^[10]

Defining features[link]

• Lack of frets: The oud, unlike many other plucked stringed instruments, does not have a fretted neck. This allows the player to be more expressive by using slides and vibrato. It also makes it possible to play the microtones of the Arabic Maqam System. This development is relatively recent, as ouds still had frets in AD 1100, and they gradually lost them by AD 1300, mirroring the general development of Near-Eastern music which abandoned harmony in favor of melismatics.
• A tapering neck: The oud, unlike the lute, the mandolin and the guitar, has a tapering neck with courses of strings converging towards one another at the pegbox end. The parallel courses found in lutes, mandolins and guitars are not necessary as music in the maqam system does not consist of series of chords.
• Strings: With some exceptions, the modern oud has eleven strings. Ten of these strings are paired together in courses of two. The eleventh, lowest string remains single. There are many different tuning systems for the oud which are outlined below. The ancient oud had only four courses — five by the 9th century. The strings are generally lighter to play than the modern classical guitar.
• Pegbox: The pegbox of the oud is bent back at a 45-90° angle from the neck of the instrument. This provides the necessary tension that prevents the pegs from slipping. The tension of the strings helps to hold what would otherwise be a weak joint together. The nut is held in place by the string tension, rather than being glued. The pegs do not slip if tapered accurately; if they do, chalk is used to make them stick more, and soap to enable them to slip more. Proprietary compounds or pastes, sometimes called pegdope are also used.
• Body: The oud's body has a staved, bowl-like back resembling the outside of half a watermelon, unlike the flat back of a guitar. This bowl allows the oud to resonate and have a particular tone quality. The shape is structurally very strong and stable enabling it to be very thin. It can be as thin as 1.2 mm. Although made of dense hardwood, good instruments are not heavy. The guitar structure would not be stable if the build were as light.
• Sound-holes: The oud generally has one to three sound-holes, which may be either oval or circular, and often are decorated with a carved bone or wooden rosette.

Construction[link]

A Muslim and a Christian playing an early version of the modern guitar in Al-Andalus.

Construction of the oud is similar to that of the lute.^[11] The back of the instrument is made of thin wood staves glued together on edge. Alternating staves (or ribs) of light and dark wood are often used. The instrument usually has an odd number of staves. This means the back will have a center stave rather than a center seam. Contrasting trim pieces are often used between staves. Patterns and wood species used generally vary from maker to maker. In better instruments the wood is always cut on the quarter from a dense hardwood.

The top of the oud is generally made of two matching pieces of thin spruce glued together on edge. Transverse braces, also of spruce, are glued to the underside of the top.

The neck is generally made of a single piece of wood and is usually veneered in a striped pattern similar to that of the back. The pegbox meets the neck at a severe angle. The pegbox is usually made from separate side, end and back pieces glued together.

Regional types[link]

Kuwaiti Oud made by Salmeen, it shows a straight forward design

The following are the general regional characteristics of oud types in which both the shape and the tuning most commonly differ:

An ancient Syrian ud made by Abdo George Nahat of Damascus, inlaid with ivory and mother-of-pearl. It belonged to the famous Turkish Musician Şerif Muhiddin Targan.(Mevlâna mausoleum, Konya, Turkey)

• Arabic ouds: Slightly larger, slightly longer neck, lower in pitch.
  • Syrian ouds: The basic design, with less decoration
  • Iraqi (Munir Bashir type) ouds: Generally similar in size to the Syrian oud but with a floating bridge which focuses the mid-range frequencies and gives the instrument a more guitar-like sound. This kind of oud was developed by the Iraqi oud virtuoso Munir Bashir. Iraqi ouds made today often feature 13 strings, adding a pair of higher pitched nylon strings to a standard Arabic oud configuration.
  • Egyptian ouds: Similar to Syrian and Iraqi ouds but with a more pear shaped body. Slightly different tone. Egyptians commonly are set up with only the 5 courses GADGC. Egyptian Ouds tend to be very ornate and highly decorated.
• Turkish and Greek ouds ("ud, ούτι") (Includes instruments found in Armenia): Slightly smaller in size, slightly shorter neck, higher in pitch, brighter timbre.
• Persian/Iranian Oud (barbat): smaller than Arabic ouds with different tuning and higher tone. Similar to Turkish ouds but slightly smaller. The original barbat, a predecessor of the oud, had tied frets like those of a tar, setar or lute, but today these are not used.
• Oud Qadim: a type of small-bodied oud with four courses of strings from North Africa, now out of use.

Although the Greek instruments laouto and lavta appear to look much like an oud, they are very different in playing style and origin, deriving from Byzantine lutes. The laouto is mainly a chordal instrument, with occasional melodic use in Cretan music. Both always feature movable frets (unlike the oud).

Plectrum (pick)[link]

How the risha (Arab term for the pick or plectrum) of the oud is held in the palm of the hand.

The plectrum (pick) for the oud is usually a little more than the length of an index-finger. According to some sources, the Arabs traditionally used a thin piece of wood as a plectrum while Ziryab in ninth-century Spain introduced the use of an eagle's feather, while according to other sources Ziryab was the first to use a wooden plectrum.

Arabic players currently call the plectrum a reeshe or risha (Arabic: ريشة‎ rīša, "feather, quill"), while Turkish players refer to it as a mizrap (Turkish: mızrap, from Arabic: مضرب‎ miḍrab, '"striker"). Currently the plastic plectrum is most commonly used for playing the oud, being effective, affordable, and widely available, though plectrums of horn are also widely used.

Like similar strummed stringed instruments, oud players take the quality of their plectrums very seriously, even making their own out of other plastic objects. Oudist often take great care to customize the shape and thickness by sanding down the ends in order to achieve the desired results in feel, performance and sound.

See also[link]

• Arabic music
• Middle Eastern and North African music traditions
• List of oud makers
• List of oud players
• Lute

Painting[link]

• Painting of swiss artist Otto Kohler

References[link]

External links[link]

Media related to Ouds at Wikimedia Commons

v t e Greek musical instruments String Instruments Bowed instruments Byzantine lyra Contrabass Cretan lyra Pontian lyra Violin Plucked instruments Baglamas Bouzouki Karantouzeni Kanonaki Kithara (modern) Laouto Lavta Lute Mandola Mandolin Oud Piano Psaltery Tambouras Thaboura Tzouras Struck instruments Santouri Aerophones Woodwind instruments Aulos Askomandoura Dankiyo Gaida Tsampouna Floghera Flute Karamuza Klarino Lalitsa Mantura Souravli Brass instruments Trumpet Free reed Accordion Harmonica Percussion instruments Membranophones Daouli Tambourine Toubeleki Tympano Idiophones Cochilia Crotalum Koudounia Metallophone Spoon Trigono Zilia See also Music of Greece Greek folk music Byzantine music Rebetiko Laïko Greek dances

v t e Iranian musical instruments Stringed (Sāzhāy-e Zehī) Bowed Ghazhak Kamāncheh Sorāhi Plucked Barbat Chang Dotār Qānūn Robāb Sallāneh Sāz Setār Tanbūr Tār Ūd Shurangiz Shahrud Rud Mugni Struck Santur Woodwind (Sāzhāy-e Bādī) Exposed Sornā Zurna Karnay Shehnai Narmeh-ney Dozaleh Ney anban End-blown Haft Band Nāy (Ney) Sheypur Zurna Pisha Percussion (Sāzhāy-e Kūbeheyī/Zarbī) Auxiliary Darāy Daf Dohol Dāvūl Dāyereh Zangī Naqāreh Tonbak (Dombak) Kūs Sanj Dammam Zarbang Udu Persian traditional music

v t e Turkish musical instruments String instruments: █  Bowed instruments:    Karadeniz kemençe  • Classical kemençe  • Yaylı tanbur  • Rebab/Kabak kemane  • Sine kemanı █  Plucked instruments:    Kanun  • Çeng  • Tanbur (Turkish)  • Ud  • Cümbüş  • Ahenk  • Saz  • Cura (instrument)  • Baglama  • Komuz  • Shahrud  • Rud  • Lavta  • Mugni█  Struck instruments:    Santur Woodwind instruments █  Exposed:    Zurna  • Tulum  • Karkm  • Dankiyo  • Gaida  • Düdük  • Çifte █  End-blown:    Ney  • Ney (Turkish)  • Kaval  • Sipsi  • Dilli Kaval  • Dilli ney  • Mey  • Taragot  • Dilli düdük  • Kargı Düdük Percussion instruments █  Auxiliary Percussion:    Bendir  • Daf  • Davul  • Darbuka  • Naqareh  • Kus  • Kudüm  • Nagara  • Turkish crescent  • Zill  • Castanet  • Spoon See also Turkish musical instruments  • Turkish folk music  • Ottoman classical music  • Ottoman military band  • Music of Turkey

v t e Traditional Arabic musical instruments Plucked lutes Buzuq Gimbri Guembri Lotar Oud Qanbus Sintir Lavta Zithers Qanun Bowed lutes Kamanjah Rababa Lyres Simsimiyya Kissar Tanbūra Flutes Ney Kawala Reed instruments Arghul Habbān Jirba Mijwiz Mizmar Mizwad Rhaita Drums Bendir Daf Goblet drum Hajir Mazhar Mirwas Naqara Naqareh Riq Tar Tabl baladi Other percussion Krakebs Manjur Mihbaj Sagat (zills) Sistrum Clapping Clay Jug

Bill Bailey
Bailey's Remarkable Guide to the Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall in 2008
Birth name	Mark Bailey[1]
Born	(1964-01-13) 13 January 1964 (age 48)[2] Bath, Somerset, England
Years active	1989–present
Genres	Surreal humour, Musical comedy, Satire
Spouse	Kristin Bailey[3] (1998–present)
Notable works and roles	Black Books Never Mind the Buzzcocks Hot Fuzz
Website	billbailey.co.uk

Bill Bailey (born Mark Bailey;^[1] 13 January^[2] 1964) is an English comedian, musician and actor. As well as his extensive stand-up work, Bailey is well known for his role in Black Books and his appearances on Never Mind the Buzzcocks, Have I Got News for You, and QI.

Bailey was listed by the Observer as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy in 2003. In 2007 and again in 2010, he was voted the 7th greatest stand-up comic on Channel 4's 100 Greatest Stand-Ups.^[4]

Personal life[link]

Bailey was born in Bath, Somerset and spent most of his childhood in Keynsham, a town situated between Bath and Bristol in the West of England. His father was a medical practitioner and his mother was a hospital ward sister. His maternal grandparents lived in an annexe, built on the side of the house by his maternal grandfather who was a stonemason and builder. Two rooms at the front of the family house were for his father's surgery.^[5]

Bailey was educated at King Edward's School, an independent school in Bath^[6] where he was initially a highly academic pupil winning most of the prizes. However, at about the age of 15 years, he started to become distracted from school work when he realised the thrill of performance as a member of a school band called Behind Closed Doors, which played mostly original work. He was the only pupil at his school to study A-level music and he passed with an A grade. He also claims to have been good at sport (captain of KES 2nd XI cricket team 1982), which often surprised his teachers. He would often combine music and sport by leading the singing on the long coach trip back from away rugby fixtures. It was here that he was given his nickname Bill by his music teacher, Ian Phipps, for being able to play the song "Won't You Come Home Bill Bailey" so well on the guitar.^[5]

He started studies for an English degree at Westfield College of the University of London but left after a year.^[7]

He spent his final years listening to Monty Python records, and rehearsing with a band called the "Famous Five",^[8] who he confesses were very bad but still much better than him and who actually had six members.^[9] However, he is a classically trained musician and received an Associateship Diploma from the London College of Music as well as being made an honorary member of the Society of Crematorium Organists. Despite this, he has said that he always had the temptation to be silly with music, a trait that influences his stand-up shows.

Bailey often mythologises his early years in his stand-up. In his show Bewilderness, he claims to have attended Bovington Gurney School of Performing Arts and Owl Sanctuary. He talks about a succession of jobs he had before becoming a comedian, including lounge pianist, crematorium organist, door-to-door door-salesman and accompanist for a mind-reading dog. A clip of Bailey's appearance in the dog's routine was shown during his Room 101 appearance. He also is self-deprecating about his appearance, suggesting he is so hairy that he is part troll, or that his hair or beard is a small animal named Lionel whom he has trained to sit 'very very still.'

Bailey also talks about his role as a "Disenfranchised Owl" in an experimental Welsh theatre troupe.^[10] Other acting roles included a part in a Workers' Revolutionary Party stage production called The Printers, which also featured Vanessa Redgrave and Frances de la Tour. His trivia page on IMDb also claims that he was awarded Best Actor in the 1986 Institut Français awards.

Bailey married Kristin in 1998. An avid Star Trek fan, he named his son (born 2003) not after the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine character Dax as is often reported, but after a childhood friend,^[3] and often refers to himself as a Klingon (once claiming during his "Part Troll" tour that his ear-mounted microphone made him resemble "a wizard in a call centre" and "a Klingon motivational speaker").

He currently lives in Hammersmith and supports Queens Park Rangers.^[11] In 2010, Bailey endorsed the Labour Party in the upcoming General Election, appearing in the party's fifth party election broadcast of the 2010 campaign.^[12] He is also an outspoken feminist and supporter of the Fawcett Society.^[13][14] Bailey is a patron of International Animal Rescue and has been instrumental in the organisation's campaign to capture dancing bears.^[15][16]

Career[link]

Early stand-up[link]

Bailey began touring the country with other comedians such as Mark Lamarr. In 1984 he formed a double act, the Rubber Bishops, with Toby Longworth (a former fellow pupil at King Edward's, Bath). They achieved a certain amount of success on the club circuit, partly due to their rigorous schedule – sometimes as many as three or four gigs a night. It was here that Bailey began developing his own unique style, mixing in musical parodies with deconstructions of or variations on traditional jokes ("How many amoebas does it take to change a lightbulb? One, no two! No four! No eight..."). According to comedy folklore, after a reviewer once criticised his act for its lack of jokes, Bailey returned the following night, at Queen Margaret College, Edinburgh, to perform a set composed entirely of punchlines. Longworth left to join the RSC in 1989 and was replaced by Martin Stubbs.

Stubbs later quit to pursue a more serious career, and in 1994 Bailey performed Rock at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe with Sean Lock, a show about an ageing rockstar and his roadie, script-edited by comedy writer Jim Miller. It was later serialised for the Mark Radcliffe show on BBC Radio 1. However, the show's attendances were not impressive and on one occasion the only person in the audience was comedian Dominic Holland. Bailey almost gave up comedy to take up a telesales job.^[17]

He persevered, however, and went solo the next year with the one man show Bill Bailey's Cosmic Jam. The show was very well received and led to a recording at the Bloomsbury Theatre in London which was broadcast in 1997 on Channel 4 as a one-hour special called Bill Bailey Live. It was not until 2005 that this was released in DVD uncut and under its original title. It marked the first time that Bailey had been able to tie together his music and post-modern gags with the whimsical rambling style he is now known for.

After supporting Donna McPhail in 1995 and winning a Time Out award, he returned to Edinburgh in 1996 with a critically acclaimed show that was nominated for the Perrier Comedy Award. Amongst the other nominees was future Black Books co-star Dylan Moran, who narrowly beat him in the closest vote in the award's history.

Bailey won the Best Live Stand-Up award at the British Comedy Awards, 1999.

Television[link]

Though he didn't win the Perrier in 1996, the nomination was enough to get him noticed, and in 1998 the BBC gave him his own television show, Is It Bill Bailey?

This was not Bailey's first foray into television. His debut was on the children's TV show Motormouth in the late 1980s, playing piano for a mind-reading dog. The trick went hilariously wrong, and Bailey reminisced about the experience on the BBC show Room 101 with Paul Merton in 2000. In 1991, he was appearing in stand-up shows such as The Happening, Packing Them In, The Stand Up Show, and The Comedy Store. He also appeared as captain on two panel games, an ITV music quiz pilot called Pop Dogs, and the poorly received Channel 4 science fiction quiz show, Space Cadets. However Is it Bill Bailey? was the first time he had written and presented his own show.

With his star on the rise and gaining public recognition, over the next few years, Bailey made well received guest appearances on shows such as Have I Got News For You, World Cup Comedy, Room 101, Des O'Connor Tonight, Coast to Coast and three episodes of off-beat Channel 4 sitcom Spaced, in which he played comic-shop manager Bilbo Bagshot.

In 1998, Dylan Moran approached him with the pilot script for Black Books, a Channel 4 sitcom about a grumpy bookshop owner, his put-upon assistant, and their neurotic female friend. It was commissioned in 2000, and Bailey took the part of the assistant Manny Bianco, with Moran playing the owner Bernard, and Tamsin Greig the friend, Fran. Three series of six episodes were made, building up a large cult fanbase, providing the public awareness on which Bailey would build a successful national tour in 2001.

When Sean Hughes left his long-term role as a team captain on Never Mind the Buzzcocks in 2002, Bailey became his successor. His style quickly blended into the show, possibly helped by his background in music. He soon developed a rapport of sorts with host Mark Lamarr, who continually teased him about his looks and his pre-occupation with woodland animals. It was announced on 18 September 2008 that Bailey would be leaving the series and be replaced by a series of guest captains including Jack Dee and Dermot O'Leary.^[18] Whilst touring in 2009, Bailey joked that his main reason for leaving the show was a lack of desire to continue humming Britney Spears' "Toxic" to little known figures in the indie music scene. It was during this time that he also left his position as "curator" of the Museum of Curiosity, and declared his intention to "retire" from panel games, although he has since appeared on QI many more times and hosted Have I Got News For You.

Bailey has appeared frequently on the intellectual panel game QI since it began in 2003, appearing alongside host Stephen Fry and regular panellist Alan Davies. Other television appearances include a cameo role in Alan Davies' drama series Jonathan Creek as failing street magician Kenny Starkiss and obsessed guitar teacher in the "Holiday" episode of Sean Lock's Fifteen Storeys High. He later appeared with Lock again as a guest on his show TV Heaven, Telly Hell. He has also appeared twice on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross. Bailey also hosted his own show Comic's Choice, which aired in 2011.

Bailey also presented Wild Thing I Love You which began on Channel 4 on 15 October 2006. The series focuses on the protection of Britain's wild animals, and has included rehoming badgers, owls and water voles.

Bailey has most recently appeared in the second series of the E4 teenage "dramedy" Skins playing Maxxie's dad, Walter Oliver. In episode 1, Walter struggles with his son's desire to be a dancer, instead wishing him to become a builder, which is what he himself does for a living. Walter is married to Jackie, played by Fiona Allen.

Bailey appeared on the first episode of Grand Designs Live on 4 May 2008, helping Kevin McCloud build his eco-friendly home. In 2009 Bailey appeared in the BBC show Hustle as the character "Cyclops", a side-line character. In autumn 2009, Bailey presented Bill Bailey's Birdwatching Bonanza.^[19]

As a continuation of Bailey's recent foray into natural history, he presented ITV1's half-hour wildlife mini-series Baboons With Bill Bailey.^[20] The series was filmed in Cape Town and spanned 8 episodes, with exclusive content available on itvWILD.^[21]

Bill Bailey played Droxil, a Harvest Ranger from the Planet Androzani Major in the 2011 Christmas Special of Doctor Who, The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe.

International tours[link]

Bailey in concert, 2007

In 2001, Bailey began touring the globe with Bewilderness, which became a huge success. A recording of a performance in Swansea was released on DVD the same year, and the show was broadcast on Channel 4 that Christmas. A modified version of it also proved successful in America, and in 2002 Bailey released a CD of a recording at the WestBeth Theatre in New York. The show contained all his trademarks, popular music parodies (such as Unisex Chip Shop, a Billy Bragg tribute which he actually performed with Billy Bragg at the 2005 Glastonbury Festival), "three men in a pub" jokes (including one in the style of Geoffrey Chaucer) and deconstructions of television themes such as Countdown and The Magic Roundabout. A Bewilderness CD was sold outside gigs, which was actually just a mixture of studio recordings of songs and monologues Bailey had performed in the past – it was later released in shops as Bill Bailey: The Ultimate Collection... Ever!. That same year he also presented a Channel 4 countdown, Top Ten Prog Rock.

Bailey premiered his show Part Troll at the 2003 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. A critical and commercial success, he then transferred it to the West End where tickets sold out in under 24 hours, and new dates had to be added. Since then he has toured it all over the UK as well as in America, Australia and New Zealand. The show marked the first time Bailey had really tackled political material, as he expanded on subjects such as the war on Iraq, which he had only touched upon before in his Bewilderness New York show. He also talks extensively on drugs, at one point asking the audience to name different ways of baking cannabis. A DVD was released in 2004.

2005 finally saw the release of his 1995 show Bill Bailey's Cosmic Jam. The 2-disc set also contained a director's cut of Bewilderness, which featured a routine on Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time not seen in the original version.

Bailey performed at show at the 2006 Edinburgh Festival Fringe entitled Steampunk. It looked set to become the fastest selling fringe show ever (beating the record Bailey set with The Odd Couple in 2005). But a ticketing mix-up forced the last 10% of tickets to be purchased in person from the venue rather than pre-booked, meaning the venue filled at a slower overall rate than it should have.

Bailey appeared at the Beautiful Days festival in August 2007. The UK leg of the Tinselworm tour enjoyed 3 sell-out nights at the MEN Arena in Manchester, Europe's largest indoor arena, and culminated with a sell-out performance at Wembley Arena.

Early in 2007, a petition was started to express fans' wishes to see him cast as a dwarf in the 2010 film The Hobbit, after his stand-up routine mentioned auditioning for Gimli in The Lord of the Rings. The petition reached its goal in the early days of January, and was sent to the producers. It was hoped that as the Tinselworm tour took him to Wellington in New Zealand where the film is in pre-production, that he would be able to audition.^[22]

Bill Bailey's most recent tour, titled Dandelion Mind, was released on DVD on 22 November 2010.

Other appearances[link]

2000[link]

• A small role in British comedy film Saving Grace

2001[link]

• 19 July: Panelist in Radio 4's show The 99p Challenge

2002[link]

• Voice for a BMW Mini advertising campaign
• Writer and performer for a series of British Airways adverts in which, through the use of music, he took a humorous look at several locations around the world
• Guest panellist on BBC Radio show I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue

2003[link]

• Juror No. 4 in Twelve Angry Men, directed by Guy Masterson for the 2003 Edinburgh Festival Fringe
• Panelist on Radio 4's show Just a Minute (twice)
• 4 February: Panelist (for a second time) on Radio 4's show The 99p Challenge
• 21 October: Presented Good Vibrations: The History of the Theremin on Radio 4

2004[link]

• 24 October: appeared on Top Gear's Star in a Reasonably Priced Car. He finished with a time of 1:53.4 in the Suzuki Liana.

2005[link]

• Voice of the sperm whale in the 2005 film The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
• Co-starred as Oscar in The Odd Couple (alongside Alan Davies), directed by Guy Masterson for the 2005 Edinburgh Festival Fringe
• One of the acts in the Birmingham show Jasper Carrott's Rock with Laughter, alongside other performers including Bonnie Tyler, Lenny Henry, Bobby Davro and the Lord of the Dance troupe
• Returned to Radio 4's Just a Minute for a third show as a panellist

2006[link]

• 15 March: Interviewed by Lenny Henry for BBC Radio 4 show Chain Reaction
• 22 March: Returned to Chain Reaction to interview Simon Pegg

2007[link]

• A minor part in Simon Pegg's and Edgar Wright's film Hot Fuzz, as a pair of desk sergeant twins. (Bailey had originally meant to also appear in Pegg and Wright's earlier film, Shaun of the Dead. but the commentary included with the DVD of that movie explains that he was busy with other commitments at the time.)
• February: Organised, produced, and starred in West End show Pinter's People, a collection of sketches by playwright Harold Pinter. The show also starred Kevin Eldon, Sally Phillips and Geraldine McNulty
• March: Appeared at the International Human Beatbox Convention at the Southbank Centre in London, introducing Shlomo to the stage for the climax of the concert, as well as showing off his own beatboxing
• 4 May: Guest presenter for an episode of BBC One's Have I Got News for You (a role he returned to on 9 May 2008)
• July: Narrator for Nessy Tales, a series of animated reading books for dyslexic children

2008[link]

• Guest on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs
• February: Co-host of the first series of BBC Radio 4's panel show The Museum of Curiosity
• 9 May: Guest presenter for an episode of BBC One's Have I Got News for You
• 9 June: Guest on Radio 4's Desert Island Discs.^[5] Later that day, appeared as Rushton in the first episode of an adaptation of The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists on the same station
• 7 September: Guest on live Australian TV show Rove.^[23] In a questionnaire to win in 20 seconds, host Rove McManus asked his usual question, "Who would you turn gay for?". Bailey replied, "The pope"
• September: One of the hosts of the So You Think You're Funny comedy gala at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe^[24]
• 11 October: Guest on BBC Radio 4's Loose Ends
• 12 November: Performed for We Are Most Amused, a special comedy performance to celebrate the 60th birthday of Prince Charles

2010[link]

• 30 March: took part in Channel 4's Comedy Gala, a benefit show held in aid of Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital, filmed live at the O2 Arena in London.
• 27 June: appeared on Top Gear's Star in a Reasonably Priced Car, while impersonating Angelina Jolie. He finished with a time of 1:50.8 in the Kia Cee'd.
• 28 September: the first guest on new ABC TV conversation program A Quiet Word With ....^[25]

Music[link]

Bailey is a talented pianist and guitarist, and has perfect pitch; of this he has said

"Perfect pitch ... occurs entirely at random in about one in every 10,000 of us, and I'm one of them. From as early as I can remember, I was able to pick out the pitch of things, not just instruments but washing machines, vacuum cleaners, dentists' drills."^[26]

His stand-up routines often feature music from genres such as jazz, rock (most notably prog rock from the early seventies), drum'n'bass, rave, classical, and even theme songs, usually for comic value. Favourite instruments include the keyboard, guitar, theremin, kazoo and bongos. He also mentioned in an interview that he has achieved Grade 6 Clarinet. He was part of punk band Beergut 100,^[27] which he founded in 1995 with comedy writer Jim Miller and also featured Martin Trenaman and Phil Whelans, with Kevin Eldon as lead singer.^[28] The band performed at the 2006 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.^[29] Trenaman and Welans had previously appeared in Cosmic Jam under the name "The Stan Ellis Experiment", and Trenaman and Eldon later featured with John Moloney in the Kraftwerk homage "Das Hokey Kokey" on the Part Troll tour. Bailey claims that he and the three other performers are a Kraftwerk tribute band called Augenblick. To mark the final gig of the Part Troll tour on 1 January 2005 the band reappeared on stage after the "Das Hokey Kokey" joke to play an hour-long encore of music.

In February 2007, Bailey appeared on two occasions with the BBC Concert Orchestra and Anne Dudley in a show entitled Cosmic Shindig. Performed in the Colosseum in Watford on 24 February and in the Queen Elizabeth Hall on 26 February, the show contained orchestrally accompanied versions of many of Bailey's previously performed songs, an exploration of the instruments of the orchestra and a number of new pieces of music. The Queen Elizabeth Hall performance was aired on BBC Radio 3 on 16 March 2007 as a part of Comic Relief 2007.

Bailey had planned to put himself forward as Britain's Eurovision entry in 2008, as a result of several fan petitions encouraging him to do so.^[30]

In October 2008 he performed Bill Bailey's Remarkable Guide to the Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall with the BBC Concert Orchestra, conducted by Anne Dudley.^[31]

In 2009, Bailey presented a project about the explorer and naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace, in the form of an Indonesian travelogue.^[32] Bailey said in an interview that Wallace had been "airbrushed out of history", and that he feels a "real affinity" with him.

In November 2009 he was a guest on Private Passions, the biographical music discussion programme on BBC Radio 3.^[33]

In July 2011, Bailey performed at the Sonisphere Festival in Knebworth, headlining the Saturn Stage.^[34] He released an album, In Metal, using songs played at Sonisphere, later that year.

Tours[link]

• Cosmic Jam (1995)
• Bewilderness (2001)
• Part Troll (2004)
• Steampunk (2006) (Edinburgh Festival)
• Tinselworm (2008)
• Bill Bailey Live (2008–09) (Theatre tour with some material from Tinselworm, but mostly new material)
• Remarkable Guide to the Orchestra (2009)
• Dandelion Mind (2010)
• Dandelion Mind – Gently Modified (2011)

DVD releases[link]

Filmography[link]

• The James Whale Radio Show (TV series) (circa 1990) (Guest)
• Blue Heaven (Channel 4 TV series) (1994)
• Asylum (1996)
• Space Cadets (1997) (Regular team captain)
• Is It Bill Bailey? (1998)
• Spaced (1999–2001)
• Have I Got News for You (guest 1999, 2001, 2005; guest presenter 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011)
• Saving Grace (2000)
• Maid Marian and her Merry Men (1992). Cameo court jester to King John
• Black Books (2000–2004)
• Jonathan Creek
  • "Satan's Chimney" (2001)
  • "The Tailor's Dummy" (2003)
• Wild West (2002–2004)
• Never Mind the Buzzcocks (2002–2008) (Regular team captain)
• QI (2003–present) (Frequent guest)
• "15 Storeys High" – "The Holiday" (2004)
• The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005) (Voice of the Sperm Whale)^[35]
• The Libertine (Small cameo role as advisor to Charles II of England).
• Wild Thing I Love You (2006) (Presenter)
• Top Gear (A Star in a Reasonably-Priced Car)
• Hot Fuzz (2007)
• Run Fatboy Run (2007) (Cameo)
• Skins (2008)
• Love Soup (2008)
• We Are Most Amused (2008) (One-off special)
• Hustle (as 'Cyclops')
  • "Return of the Prodigal" (2009)
  • "Diamond Seeker" (2009)
  • "Picasso Finger Painting" (2012)
• Steve's World (2009)
• Burke and Hare (2010)
• Bill Bailey's Bird Watching Bonanza (2010)
• Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang (2010)
• Talkin' 'bout Your Generation (2010); one episode
• Jo Brand's Big Splash (2011); one episode
• Chalet Girl (2011)^[36]
• Doctor Who – The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe (2011)^[37]

References[link]