Thought I’d chip here- had relatives that lived near him in Roundhay which is very wealthy, predominantly Jewish, and quite conservative area of Leeds. The restaurant featured in the second LT doc was a family fave for celebrations- and he was a regular face in there. Never met him- but know he once approached a family friend and her elderly mother whilst they were out for afternoon tea (proper twinset and pearls type folk) did the whole smarmy celeb shaking hands thing but then whispered something incredibly crude and obscene to them. They were absolutely horrified and stunned into silence. Also heard years ago that The Smith’s song Panic / Hang The DJ was about him- not sure in the truth but the lyrics are haunting when you apply to him...
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I always wonder why I felt like I didn’t seem like anything was amiss with him. I was born 1981 and watched his show, didn’t really take any notice of what he did after, I remember putting a fb thing of when he died as you do with the childhood favs, then it all came out! But so many other things did too and I felt like, was my whole childhood a lie? Was everything pervy (at this point probably yes) but it does concern me when people say “they knew” and I had no inkling and don’t know whether I’m just ignorant or what!
A random thing I remember about Jimmy Savile is that my grandad never liked him apparently; according to my nan, he thought he was insincere/fake. My grandad died in 1966 in a mining accident and JS had also been involved in mining but in different regions. It’s stuck with me though, that even when Jim’ll Fix It was on TV and he was a DJ, on TOTP, a celebrity etc, nan mentioned that (so this was in the 70s/80s).
I really liked that song they played over the closing credits of Jim'll Fix It. It's a shame it's now forever tainted by association.
I’m not of that generation but I do think it’s worth saying that so many people would have been so in “awe” of a celebrity and that especially up north in the 70s/80s he’d have just been seen as eccentric and “affected” due to being in show business. It’s not like now where celebrities are more accessible and less on a pedestal. So much of the narrative was dictated by the press and he was at the helm of it working for the BBC. Also I think it would have been seen to have been “improper” to have spoken out etc. Of course people in his inner circle will have known, but I do think people in the hospitals / charities were just so starstruck that they were so oblivious.
I do not understand all this hate towards Jimmy Saville, Rolf Harris and Gary Glitter, all these people wanted to do was settle down and have kids !!
The Boards of the hospitals and charities that he was involved with loved the huge amounts of money he raised for them, which made them turn a blind eye to his behaviour.
In the 70,s I worked in a large kennels very near Broadmoor. We used to get the Broadmoor staff calling in to buy dog food. One of them told me that JS was treated like a God By Broadmoor and had a master key to allow him to go anywhere he wanted. He also said that the BBC sent minders with him when he recorded his radio programme Saville’s travels (which always sounded to me like he was in a caravan trying to get girls in bed with him). But my point is that the BBC knew exactly what he was like and presumably his minders didn’t actually protect anyone,
I remember this too - was the charity Variety? He came through our town and was at the front, all the taxis and mini buses beeping on their way through! I remember my mum saying she didn’t like him, parents must’ve had a sixth sense about the horrid bastard.
There were rumours he used to get in cars part-way through marathons and get dropped off nearer the finishing point.
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Yes lots of rumours the marathons were a load of codswallop. I remember seeing a clip of Esther Rantzen breaking her heart over the revelations after his death, I'd say she feels immense guilt.
There is a new documentary coming out on netflix this year.
There is a new documentary coming out on netflix this year.
Has anyone seen Line of Duty season 3 where the plot is about high-ranking police offers being p*edo's? They use a pic of JS during the show and I remember when I first saw the episode, it gave me chills:
Wow.I do not understand all this hate towards Jimmy Saville, Rolf Harris and Gary Glitter, all these people wanted to do was settle down and have kids !!
I inadvertently started singing it the other day to my husband and when I realised what i was singing I was mortified
When all the revelations were in the press and media I showed his picture to my daughter who was around 10 at the time. We live overseas so she’d never seen him before. Her reaction was ‘ugh’. Rightly so in his skimpy shorts, see through vest, gold jewelry, bizarre glasses and hair. Which made me think we were ‘sold’ this eccentric over the top character. Who dresses like that around children?! Quite rightly my daughter never seen him before was baffled that he was a children’s presenter when he immediately gave her the creeps.
Interested to hear their will be a Netflix production coming out.
FWIW I think LT was no match for Savile who let’s face it ran rings around him. You would need to be a Psychologist with balls of steel and no concern for your own career or safety to have broken that story.
When I was growing up, we just didn’t have the education we do now, in the 80s which stars had ever been “exposed” and jailed for being a pedalo? We were all still going to Gary Glitter concerts and going “can you tell what it is yet” drawing with Rolf.
FWIW I think LT was no match for Savile who let’s face it ran rings around him. You would need to be a Psychologist with balls of steel and no concern for your own career or safety to have broken that story.
When I was growing up, we just didn’t have the education we do now, in the 80s which stars had ever been “exposed” and jailed for being a pedalo? We were all still going to Gary Glitter concerts and going “can you tell what it is yet” drawing with Rolf.
Don't worry, I didn't know either. You're not alone. I think this sixth sense thing is a myth for most people. Obviously some people could tell, but most people actually don't have much of a sense for who is "evil" or not, especially people who they only see on the telly and don't know in real life. At the end of the day if loads of people could tell Saville was dodgy, he would never have had a career.
I was very disappointed with the documentary. Much of it was behavioural ‘experts’ looking at his interviews and drawing conclusions which they already knew to be true. There is a lot of focus on an interview with Andrew Neill. It is clear he is trying to get Savile to open up but he doesn’t play ball. Couldn’t be clearer everybody knew.
Didn’t the theme tune start ‘your letter is only the start of it’?
They knew
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This is the link to the bbc review. It’s harrowing so trigger warning. Apologies if already shared.
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