Jimmy Savile

[tupperware harty]

Good, sober thoughts United.
Savile's crimes aside, it's the hypocrisy of the press ( not touching stories about Savile & others behaviour with a bargepole for years, now wallowing in them ) and the silence of those who knew what was happening at the time, but who are now jumping on the bandwagon, that disturbs most.
No doubt many people were damaged by what went on- as usual the concerns of the public are simply being exploited for as long as the press can spin out this story that is tailor made for rags like The Mail.

[Bri Nylon shirt]

Jimmy Saville was a powerful well connected man. He is supposed to have spent every new years eve of Margaret Thatcher’s premiership (eleven in all) as a guest of hers at Chequers. It is impossible to imagine anyone getting so close to the prime minister without having to undergo vetting by the security services - makes you wonder. Max Clifford has been unusually silent about these revelations. I am not suggesting anything untoward about that silence but it is worth noting. When the BBC found the tape of Bowie doing ‘The Jean Genie’ and showed it I was surprised how young the audience was, some looked only 12 or 13. Much younger than 1960s pop shows and TOTP in the early 80s when they seemed to be mainly late teens/early 20s. In 1978/79 John Peel mentioned on his radio show that he had been interviewed by some 16 year old school kids for their school fanzine that day and singled out one of the girls as the most beautiful girl he had ever seen in his life and dedicated a record to her. He was nearly 40 and it seemed a bit desperate even then. The BBC, that bastion of soft left liberal political correctness must have been an odd place at different times/eras. Remember Janice Long was let go from Radio 1 in 1987 cos she was pregnant but not married.

[tupperware harty]

Though the BBC is described as having a left wing bias ( the Bolshevik Broadcasting Corporation they were called ), I don't see it at all & certainly not in recent years. Middle class liberals is what they've always been made up of imo.

I think Carol Thatcher has said that Savile's stays with the Thatchers have been exaggerated & that he was more like an oddball they couldn't get rid of rather than the influential confidant of the powerful he liked to portray himself as.
If you listen to clips of radio shows he did, he'll talk about famous names he's met & always he manages to make the story flatter him rather than the famous name. Again, when he's interviewed, he flatters the interviewer & makes it seem like he ( Savile ) is not important, yet by doing so he comes across as though he thinks he's the most important man in the World.
He was a devious & cynical man who used the image he'd created in order to hide the real person behind that image...we're now getting an idea why.

[jonnyald]

the press are really baying for blood , now theres talk of a 4th man (not named yet ,but still alive!) . Whose next ? ??

[Bri Nylon shirt]

Though the BBC is described as having a left wing bias ( the Bolshevik Broadcasting Corporation they were called ), I don't see it at all & certainly not in recent years. Middle class liberals is what they've always been made up of imo.

I think Carol Thatcher has said that Savile's stays with the Thatchers have been exaggerated & that he was more like an oddball they couldn't get rid of rather than the influential confidant of the powerful he liked to portray himself as.
If you listen to clips of radio shows he did, he'll talk about famous names he's met & always he manages to make the story flatter him rather than the famous name. Again, when he's interviewed, he flatters the interviewer & makes it seem like he ( Savile ) is not important, yet by doing so he comes across as though he thinks he's the most important man in the World.
He was a devious & cynical man who used the image he'd created in order to hide the real person behind that image...we're now getting an idea why.

I think the creative arm of the BBC has the same soft left liberal bias that most arts organisations have. But the BBC is the state broadcaster and on that side of things - news, current affairs they are careful not to antagonise the government/permanent state. In both respects yes they are middle class.

Some stars have a gigantic ‘humility’ which obliterates nearly everyone/everything they come into contact with!

[Vic Shortman]

or a shredded wheat... I bet he can't eat 3...

I think Radcliffe and Maconie on Radio 6 must have been reading this thread. They did a top 10 of celebs with Shredded Wheat hair on today's show. Mr Neil was number one of course.

[United 45]

The "stiff upper-lip" mentality of the BBC (as the state broadcaster) masks the liberal leaning of many of those involved there. It can never really be any other way. That is why "behind the scenes" antics at 'Top of the Pops' are kept quiet, and also why Janice Long was dismissed for having a child whilst un-married.

Some people have written books detailing their involvement, e.g. Tony Blackburn 'My Life In Radio', Johnny Beerling 'Radio 1: The Inside Scene'. Some TV documentaries have also covered aspects. But I don't think there has ever been definitive impartial histories written about 'Top of the Pops' and Radio 1. In some ways, you can now see why "the powers" at the BBC would not want such in depth histories to be researched. And why they weren't bothered about the old TV shows being "missing" or "wiped".

Jimmy Saville was a powerful well connected man. He is supposed to have spent every new years eve of Margaret Thatcher’s premiership (eleven in all) as a guest of hers at Chequers. It is impossible to imagine anyone getting so close to the prime minister without having to undergo vetting by the security services - makes you wonder.

I think Carol Thatcher has said that Savile's stays with the Thatchers have been exaggerated & that he was more like an oddball they couldn't get rid of rather than the influential confidant of the powerful he liked to portray himself as.
If you listen to clips of radio shows he did, he'll talk about famous names he's met & always he manages to make the story flatter him rather than the famous name. Again, when he's interviewed, he flatters the interviewer & makes it seem like he ( Savile ) is not important, yet by doing so he comes across as though he thinks he's the most important man in the World.

Jimmy Savile spread his tentacles into many areas of life. Yet although he "knew" people, none of those people seem to have known him well. His influence seems to be based on a myth that he was well connected with others elsewhere. Johnny Beerling (former Radio 1 controller) speaking last week effectively said that Savile worked with his own producer, came into the Radio 1 building, did his show and departed again. He did not really mix with other employees at Broadcasting House. Tony Blackburn wrote in his autobiography (& more or less said the same publicly when Savile died) that he never saw any more to Savile than the public did. Steve Wright, commenting on Savile on his Radio 2 show, acknowledged his contribution to broadcasting but said he "never really knew him that well".

When the BBC found the tape of Bowie doing ‘The Jean Genie’ and showed it I was surprised how young the audience was, some looked only 12 or 13. Much younger than 1960s pop shows and TOTP in the early 80s when they seemed to be mainly late teens/early 20s.

The paradox of the BBC in the late 60s is borne out by the daytime Radio 1 shows being presented by "housewives favourites" like Jimmy Young and Terry Wogan. Tony Blackburn was very trendy in comparison. Under the 'needle time' restrictions, the former balladeer Jimmy Young was obliged to serenade live to his mid-morning audience as part of the show. For "the youth", at weekends, there was first 'Savile's Travels' and then 'Speakeasy' (still with Savile), described as "a young peoples' uninhibited discussion programme interspersed with music." Eventually, Savile settled down with the oldies show on Sundays.

The station went on the road each weekday with the show 'Radio 1 Club', visiting different provincial towns. DJs like Rosko, Stuart Henry, DLT and Kenny Everett rotated and did a live show from town halls, theatres etc that was interactive with the audience. This was initially at lunchtimes, and I suppose the idea was obviously to attract "young people", though theoretically these would be aged over 16 and on a break or day off from college or work.

In practice, it was found that 'Radio 1 Club' was having an effect on school attendance. It was switched to teatimes, but truancy was still a problem. It was also now found that schoolchildren were travelling many miles from home, unaccompanied by adults, to attend the shows. Thus 'Radio 1 Club' was transformed into the 'Radio 1 Roadshow', based on seaside resorts at school holiday times. I am not suggesting any impropriety on the part of the DJs who presented 'Radio 1 Club', but the BBC were probably becoming aware of a general scenario of an under-age audience and a "party scene". This suggests that they recognised a situation in the early 70s and took steps to put it right.

The BBC were publicly sacking Simon Dee and Kenny Everett for being uncontrollable mavericks. Yet the misdemeanours of these two were minor in comparison to a deeper situation the BBC had perhaps stumbled across. This was as portrayed in the B-movies of Stanley Long and Pete Walker at that time. These showed an alternative view, if not an outright downside, to the 'Swinging Britain' of 'Top of the Pops' and 'The Persuaders'. Long's 'Groupie Girl' was exactly as the title described, a girl equally loved and mistreated by rock bands. Walker's 'Cool It Carol', about a teenage couple running away to London, even had Pete Murray, just after his TOTP contract had ended in 1969, in a cameo at the end. His one line of dialogue extolled the virtues of the party which he was attending. 'Open House' indeed.

[Jet Set Willy]

Watching the daily events of the unfolding Saville sex allegations coming out of the woodwork, and this reflects a darker side to the 70's era, where stuff like this went on, and was either turned a blind eye to, or brushed under the carpet.

I can imagine people working with Saville at the time and knew of the rumours would have dismissed him as a dirty old man, nothing more than that.

Any of the older members on here have memories of how these kind of stories would have been reported back then?

[Joe Marmo]

Watching the daily events of the unfolding Saville sex allegations coming out of the woodwork, and this reflects a darker side to the 70's era, where stuff like this went on, and was either turned a blind eye to, or brushed under the carpet.

I can imagine people working with Saville at the time and knew of the rumours would have dismissed him as a dirty old man, nothing more than that.

Any of the older members on here have memories of how these kind of stories would have been reported back then?

These issues would probably have gone unreported due to the "mates' club" existing in media and government circles back then, plus many of them would have needed to get their own houses in order if they stirred up a hornet's nest

In the 60s most of the White House press corps knew that JFK liked the ladies but there was a type of gentleman's agreement not to report it because "he's the President" - the same went for LBJ who had similar habits and Nixon who regularly visited a psychiatrist

I notice regarding JS that many apologists are saying that attitudes to sexual dealings with the underaged were more relaxed in the 70s, but I can't say I recall that being the case

[Ace5150]

I can imagine people working with Saville at the time and knew of the rumours would have dismissed him as a dirty old man, nothing more than that.

Any of the older members on here have memories of how these kind of stories would have been reported back then?

Good question..........im racking my brains, but the only 'dirty old man' I recall was Keith Moons' Uncle Ernie from Tommy, but that was so OTT, maybe thats why it stuck.
Mind you, watching TV clips of Jimmy on his 'Jim'll Fix It' on TV with youngsters bouncing on his knee makes me feel a bit queezy as back then, it just wasn't seen as anything BUT a kindly uncle figure.

[mydadwasinsladeinflame]

Was chatting to my Boss about this lat night and she is 54, and she totally agrees with me, that you got to Questionthe Financial motive all these women coming out and suddenley saying they were attacked all those years ago , indeed if they were she says , like her i am old school, and things were very different in them days ,i remember a freind of my Mums years ago , when she was at the BBC after totp and Gary Glitter and others were all at the bar , without going into to many details lets just say some of the Girls who wer about schoolage ish were getting the stars to sign and kiss/foundle them in public, believe me my freind says they enjoyed it , and she told me a few years back that all sorts of things went on in them days and nobody complained


Footnote to the above, when i was waiting for My Dad who worked for BBC for over 50 years , i had to wait outside Broadcasing house as i was too young to go in BBC CLUB/BAR , so sat on steps where Radio one was then broadcast from , a very famous then Dj came out and the Girls were all over him, with some very luid suggestions indeed , being 16ish it quite shocked me at the time , spoke to one girl afters , said did you get his Autograph better than that she said he signed my Tit ,

[thomascrown68]

i can believe it some were very easy and not being backward in coming forward too i bet

[mydadwasinsladeinflame]

i can believe it some were very easy and not being backward in coming forward too i bet

Totally unconnected , with saville but my school which was a boarding school which i attened between 73/77 was at a scandal in late 90s, i knew who they were investigattng, and i was interviwed , trouble is some of the kids were not all there ie manajusted , as it was then known lol , but i do know one thing that Did happen, the night nurse who was a blonde who was then in her 30s, invited boys round to her house , and i went with a school freind, whilst he went upstairs i stayed downstairs to watch Grandstand, no idea what happened but then i wouldnt have cared, as long as Leeds won , but seriously know she had boys there on quiet, she sat on sofa next to us, and asked if we liked Girls , nothing wrong with that or so we thought , but we were about 14, but you can be sure the school was unaware of it , btw she was not the one at the centre of the investigation

[thomascrown68]

There was a scout mistress accused in the 90s i recall Roy Hudd making a joke on his show saying i had to make do with rubbing two sticks together

[tupperware harty]

I very much doubt that any of the people coming forward are being paid money. They made a point of saying that the women in the ITV documentary were not paid for appearing. Their motivation for coming forward is easy to understand...they want to rid themselves of a burden they've carried & the truth to be told about Savile.

Imagine if you had been sexually abused as a youngster, would you want others to know? It's a crime that makes its victims feel shame. Shame is about hiding your emotions & remaining silent. Sexual crimes very often go unreported by their victims, it's only once people feel able to talk openly about what happened to them that we hear about it...this can be decades after the crime was committed.
Being sexually abused at a young age can eat away at a person in ways that those who have not experienced abuse can never understand. We need to try & understand how victims of abuse must feel, rather than look at what Savile did in terms of "sex"...for Savile it was about sexual gratification, for his victims ( and all victims of rape & sexual abuse ) it is about being invaded, attacked, abused & degraded.

The coverage in the media is sleazy & muck raking. What does it say about us that we're more interested in hearing about famous people's sexually perverse behaviour, than in respecting the feelings of those who are abused?