The 7th child in a struggling Leeds family, teenage Jimmy Savile (1926-2011) worked in coalmines in WW2 when he suffered serious injuries in an explosion. So he moved instead to work as a dance hall manager and disc jockey. Later he became a DJ at Radio Luxembourg and then at BBC Radio 1. His work included regular tv appearances in Top of the Pops (1964->) and the children’s show Jim’ll Fix It (1975–>). It was on Top of the Pops that Savile displayed his eccentric peroxided hair, ugly tracksuits, bling jewellery, cigars, cartoonish mannerisms, unintelligible yodelling, Yorkshire accent and huge cigars, as I blogged earlier.
As one of BBC’s biggest star, Savile was the core to the BBC’s success eg a Sat evening TV fixture in millions of UK homes. As his TV presence grew, his celebrity promoted his philanthropy which in turn boosted his national fame. Over 30 years, he raised £40+ million for the NHS. Powerful institutions rewarded him with membership on their boards.
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I worked in Protective Services Victoria in the 1970s-80s, and I know we made some serious mistakes here! But we read nothing of Savile’s nasty behaviour back then. Now we know that the earliest incident of abuse FORMALLY recorded by the Manchester police was in 1955, where he was managing a dancehall. In 1960 the police recorded a 10-year-old boy who Savile took and sexually assaulted. In 1965 police records showed abuse at the BBC, at Leeds general infirmary where Savile was a volunteer porter, and Stoke Mandeville hospital. In fact this was the start of what police identified as Savile's peak abuse period. Police records from 1970 show Savile started to abuse girls at Duncroft Girls' School Surrey, where he visited often. And in 1972 police wrote he groped teenagers at Top of the Pops.
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As one of BBC’s biggest star, Savile was the core to the BBC’s success eg a Sat evening TV fixture in millions of UK homes. As his TV presence grew, his celebrity promoted his philanthropy which in turn boosted his national fame. Over 30 years, he raised £40+ million for the NHS. Powerful institutions rewarded him with membership on their boards.
Top of the Pops, presented by Jimmy Savile,
New Year's Day 1964
The Independent
Jimmy Savile taking underprivileged children
on a day out to Southend, London. 1973.
Allthatsinteresting
The star died of pneumonia in Oct 2011, and a warm tribute programme to honour him was quickly broadcast on BBC1: Jimmy Savile: As It Happened.
Only then were many official inquiries launched into Savile’s abuse at hospitals, schools and the BBC. BBC Director General George Entwistle asked the BBC Scotland Director to investigate the circumstances in which the Newsnight investigation was dropped. Entwistle gave evidence to the appropriate Commons Select Committee, then quickly resigned as BBC D-G in Nov 2012. Panorama ran a programme called Jimmy Savile: What the BBC Knew, on the scandal and the original scrapping of the Newsnight investigation.
As hundreds of past victims came forward, the Crown Prosecution Service and Metropolitan Police Service released a joint report in 2013 on Savile’s crimes, primarily committed at the height of his fame!
In Jan 2013 Scotland Yard’s report, Giving Victims a Voice Report, found that 73% of his victims were children in 14 medical facilities. 450 people DID complain against Savile, with the worst period in the 1955-2009 era with many rapes formally reported to 28 police forces. I realise that some of the children’s complaints might have been fake, but SAVILE WAS NEVER CHARGED DURING HIS LIFETIME! NOT ONCE!
Only in 2014 did the Dept of Health publish the results of these investigations. In Leeds General infirmary, Savile abused 60 patients aged 5-75. At high-security Broadmoor Hospital, he abused patients. Clearly a school, hospital or media empire would have been reluctant to damage its own reputation by calling Police to save children. Or even adults. And this doesn’t excuse the police, but the BBC DID have information the police did not. However in the end it was the police who were legally bound to protect people from sexual abuse.
Only then were many official inquiries launched into Savile’s abuse at hospitals, schools and the BBC. BBC Director General George Entwistle asked the BBC Scotland Director to investigate the circumstances in which the Newsnight investigation was dropped. Entwistle gave evidence to the appropriate Commons Select Committee, then quickly resigned as BBC D-G in Nov 2012. Panorama ran a programme called Jimmy Savile: What the BBC Knew, on the scandal and the original scrapping of the Newsnight investigation.
As hundreds of past victims came forward, the Crown Prosecution Service and Metropolitan Police Service released a joint report in 2013 on Savile’s crimes, primarily committed at the height of his fame!
In Jan 2013 Scotland Yard’s report, Giving Victims a Voice Report, found that 73% of his victims were children in 14 medical facilities. 450 people DID complain against Savile, with the worst period in the 1955-2009 era with many rapes formally reported to 28 police forces. I realise that some of the children’s complaints might have been fake, but SAVILE WAS NEVER CHARGED DURING HIS LIFETIME! NOT ONCE!
Only in 2014 did the Dept of Health publish the results of these investigations. In Leeds General infirmary, Savile abused 60 patients aged 5-75. At high-security Broadmoor Hospital, he abused patients. Clearly a school, hospital or media empire would have been reluctant to damage its own reputation by calling Police to save children. Or even adults. And this doesn’t excuse the police, but the BBC DID have information the police did not. However in the end it was the police who were legally bound to protect people from sexual abuse.
PM Margaret Thatcher and Jimmy Saville at #10, 1988.
She tried 5 times to get him knighted, succeeding in 1990
Daily Mail
She tried 5 times to get him knighted, succeeding in 1990
Daily Mail
Sir Jimmy Saville with revellers
Radio One Love Parade, Leeds, 2009
Radio One Love Parade, Leeds, 2009
Daily Mail
Ironically Savile was the recipient of many honours: BBC, NHS, Education Dept, church, monarchy and military were all involved in his awards. He won an OBE (1971) and was knighted (1990) by the Queen for his voluntary charity work at medical sites. In Nov 2009 he received an honorary arts degree from Bedfordshire Uni for his lifelong support of the National Spinal Injuries Centre at Stoke Mandeville Hospital Aylesbury - because he had a spinal injury while he was working as a child coal miner. Were the honours withdrawn after all the reports were published?
See a new Netflix documentary series by Rowan Deacon called Jimmy Savile: A British Horror Story, 2022. Deacon used archive footage and interviews with survivors and staff who’d worked closely with Savile. But note that by marginalising the empowering role of institutions in Savile’s crimes, both the Netflix documentary and the Inquiries ultimately protected the reputations of those institutions, and freed them of responsibility.
See a new Netflix documentary series by Rowan Deacon called Jimmy Savile: A British Horror Story, 2022. Deacon used archive footage and interviews with survivors and staff who’d worked closely with Savile. But note that by marginalising the empowering role of institutions in Savile’s crimes, both the Netflix documentary and the Inquiries ultimately protected the reputations of those institutions, and freed them of responsibility.
So who WAS guilty for enabling, covering up or failing to investigate the crimes? Noone?
My own Protective Services Victoria experience made it clear that major celebrities have long relied on institutional protection, legal strategies, manipulation of the media to neutralise allegations and to silence victims. Thank you to Multi-Institutional Masking of Sir Jimmy Savile for making the concept of Untouchable Celebrity Status crystal clear.
My own Protective Services Victoria experience made it clear that major celebrities have long relied on institutional protection, legal strategies, manipulation of the media to neutralise allegations and to silence victims. Thank you to Multi-Institutional Masking of Sir Jimmy Savile for making the concept of Untouchable Celebrity Status crystal clear.