I have to say, when these allegations came out I did put them down to fame-hungry and/or mentally disturbed individuals out to besmirch an excellent fellow’s good name now that he was dead and unable to defend himself - indeed it was the timing that convinced me most.
Even though the ITV documentary hasn’t come out yet, I have to say that now the more I read about it, the more likely it is looking that indeed Saville was a mollester, rapist, and a serial mollester and rapist at that. I won’t call him a paedophile since he didn’t seem to be into pre pubescents, but he certainly seems to have been into inappropriately young girls who were very vulnerable.
This makes me very sad - I hope that the charities don’t turn down his money as being “dirty” (a nonsense stance that) but my god if this is true I do hope that any of his estate that was passed on to relatives and the like is sued to give appropriate compensation, and more importantly that this kind of thing never happens again.
Out of interest for those alive in the 1970s was it more acceptable to sleep with 14 year olds? Some of the anecdotes seem to suggest that.
One “l” in Savile and in molester. I’ve been aware of rumours about Savile for a long time, begining some time in the seventies after the suicide of a young girl who had been a frequent audience member on Top of the Pops (of which Savile was one of a team of presenters). She left a diary which apparently had details of sexual encounters with one or more presenters. It seemed like it was all over the news one day and gone the next. Mind you at the time I thought it was about a different presenter. Subsequently all kinds of rumours have circulated, some quite outlandish.
Savile was one of those celebrities whose apparent lack of a sex life attracts rumours but I can’t say I’m surprised at concrete allegations surfacing. I’m waiting to see the programme before I commit myself.
I’m in the US and haven’t heard any of this information; obviously Savile is very much a British institution and even the most devoted Anglophile has likely never heard of him. However, TOTP and Jim’ll Fix It were fixtures of my childhood, like Swapshop, Tiswas, and Blue Peter.
I never warmed to Savile like I did to Noel Edmunds, though. Something about his weird outfits, I guess. And I always disliked his seatbelt PIFs. Apropos of nothing… but I always got a weirdo vibe from him, though he did teach me to pity people with disabilities when he would fix it for some kid in a wheelchair.
Hell yes. He always gave off a sleazy creepy vibe. In fact, the reaction from most of my friends and family was “Is this new-news? Didn’t we already know this?”
I think the allegations require further investigation, but am surprised at the (currently) two people who feel he’s guilty beyond reasonable doubt. Were you both there at the time? Have you had access to information other than what has been reported in the media?
That doesn’t read like Paul Merton, for one thing it’s not funny, for another it doesn’t fit with his style of joke.
That said, I think Savile was a dodgy weirdo and there’s probably some truth to the allegations, however, as he’s dead any investigation is going to be difficult. If it is true, then an awful lot of people were complicit in the coverup, including Esther Rantzen, which they should be ashamed of.
The Louis Theroux program on Savile I think showed there was something pretty off about him. I seem to remember some anecdote about when he ran a nightclub about him catching some drug dealer and then keeping him tied up in the basement for day or two. It was distinctly creepy. The whole relationship to the mother also came across as very Norman Bates.
Of course maybe he was just an eccentric personality but my first thought on hearing the allegations was that I was not surprised at all.
I think it’s very telling that these allegations have only come out now he’s dead and cannot defend himself. He was investigated in the 70s. Why didn’t these people come forward during the Jonathan King affair? And it’s nearly 40 years on. Are their memories real?
The cynic in me says that they’re after money from the BBC.
Extremely weird guy which clouds the issue a bit, as his strange personality would and did attract all sorts of stories. Agree that waiting for the obituary to make these allegations isn’t that convincing - He’s recently passed on, but how long has he been out of TV? Must be pushing 20 years - it’s not like he had any great standing that would get these sort of allegations buried. An entire generation has never heard of him.
I don’t think anyone would be surprised if they turned out to be true, which is probably a good reason not to rush to judgement.
Heard this years ago from a couple of friends who just left the police - it was known to the police but it ‘was not in the public interest’ to persue him - never really understood what that meant but thats the law for you - 1 rule for the poor… I heard that the MET had a thick file on him and some peer of the realm but chose not to persue them. I was so glad he kicked it - him and MJ may they rot in hell. (as a father of 3 girls - things like this get me angry)
Jimmy Saville always gave me a creepy pedo vibe*, and I often said something would come out after he died, but I also often thought maybe I was just being unreasonable.
Dunno. It’s easy to make claims about someone when they’re no longer around, but it does seem to ring too obviously true to be false. Philanthropic acts a mile wide, but the man himself was a creepy nutcase.
*(supporting evidence that I’m not just saying this in retrospect may be found here, hereand here)
He was supposed to be notoriously litigious. Anyone made an allegation was slapped with an injunction pretty quickly, so you would have had to have pretty solid evidence against him to pursue it.
Interestingly, he was the face of British Rail railcards in the early 80’s, leading to posters such as this, with him leering under the slogan Children £1 each
Full disclosure: I didn’t realise either until shortly before posting the correction, I found out from googling. Someone else said the way to remember is to think of “so vile”.
- I hope that the charities don’t turn down his money as being “dirty” (a nonsense stance that) but my god if this is true I do hope that any of his estate that was passed on to relatives and the like is sued to give appropriate compensation, and more importantly that this kind of thing never happens again.
