Born in Leicester. Joined the Saturday morning Natural History Club at Leicester Museum and, encouraged by Ian Evans, then the keeper of Biology, sent in records of Carabidae and Heteroptera at the age of 14. From 1967 to 1970 he studied Biological Sciences at the University of Leicester before joining the British Antarctic Survey as an invertebrate ecologist researching Antarctic soil mites from 1971-77. He spent two years in the South Atlantic at the same time studying for a Ph.D at Leicester University, which he was awarded in 1976.
Between 1978 and 1983 Lott (2009), 38, records that he carried out detailed surveys of the beetles and other insects in three areas in north east Leicestershire in order to gather information for a response to a proposal to exploit coal reserves. This work was followed by further contracts for surveys on insects at sites scattered all over Leicestershire and established some, such as Donington Park, as of Conservation importance.
In 1983, after marrying, Goddard moved to Worcestershire to take up a teaching post in biology and was awarded a Post Graduate Certificate of Education at Worcester College of Higher Education in 1982. He eventually became Head of the Biology Department before taking early retirement for health reasons in 1997. He then worked as a Wildlife Consultant mainly to the Worcestershire Wildlife Trust and as an invertebrate Ecologist with the National Trust’s Biological Survey Team. Shortly before his death he participated in the Norfolk Coleopterists meeting and took part in the European Commission’s ‘Life 2’ Coleoptera Survey of the New Forest.
As a natural historian one of his main interests was pond life, especially amphibians and beetles, but his interests extended much further and, as well as beetles he published on caddis flies, springtails and mites. He was a very enthusiastic and energetic field worker, with a knack for making good finds. Of his personality, Keith Alexander and Derek Lot commented in their tribute to him in Col.,10, 2001, 28-29, from which most of the above is taken, ‘His somewhat wild-eyed appearance belied an easy-going, gentle and friendly nature and he was always a welcome companion on field trips. In his Leicester days, he was fond of turning up with a friend to play snooker at the Conservative Club, where his father was a prominent member, wearing long hair and open-toed sandals.’
Goddard was a longstanding member of the Balfour-Browne Club. A note in Latissimus, 13, May 2001, recording his sudden death, mentions that he contributed over a thousand records to the National Recording Scheme. Listed as a subscriber to the Coleopterists Newsletter in 1981. (MD 11/09, 1/22)