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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Tony Blackburn OMG

200 replies

katemiddletonsothermum · 24/02/2016 22:41

No one from my teenage radio days has been free from aspersions.

Now then, careful now. No false allegations please. But according to the Mirror, he's been axed by the BBC as he's now linked to an incident in 1971.

The Mirror's Thursday front page

AIBU to think WTF?

OP posts:
BillSykesDog · 24/02/2016 23:48

It seems like Blackburn has spoken to the Daily Mirror himself. They are currently the only outlet reporting this as it appears Blackburn has given them a scoop.

But apparently we all have to pretend nothing has happened until a non-tabloid reports it because some posters sensibilities are shaken by seeing a link to a tabloid.

Because of course nothing in a tabloid is ever true, even when from the horses mouth.HmmConfused

gooseberryroolz · 24/02/2016 23:48

He always seems sleazy. Whether criminally sleazy or not is the question.

VertigoNun · 24/02/2016 23:49

They all copy each others news now a days. It won't be long until other papers pick it up.

Pontytidy · 24/02/2016 23:51

Whilst I think that there were instances which need to investigated despite the passage of time, for a great number of allegations it is better to leave it there and mbe on.

katemiddletonsothermum · 24/02/2016 23:51

Careful gooseberryroolz

Just been watching Sky Newspaper Review and they didn't feature the Mirror front page. They normally do. But The Mirror are blasting this story all over Twitter at the moment. I don't think the gagging order has been signed yet.

OP posts:
JenEric · 24/02/2016 23:55

We will never know the whole truth of what was going on all those years ago. It's definitely clear that there was a culture of put up and shut up which many took advantage of. However I Am also pretty sure that not every single man working there at that time was an abuser. I just feel so sad about it all. So many lives wrecked back then and so many wrecked now.

FinestGrundyTurkey · 25/02/2016 00:00

He's never been sleazy Shock

not as funny as he seems to think, yes, & a bit sad (Paul Whitehouse's Smashie was based on him) but I grew up with him on the radio/TV - 16 when Radio 1 started - & he never creeped me out like Savile or DLT.

1971 was the year before he married Tessa Wyatt & I'd have thought he was more interested in that relationship than in lusting after young teenagers.

gooseberryroolz · 25/02/2016 00:00

Well, I was only dimly aware of him as an individual until read a couple of interviews. He definitely has a bit of letch about him. But letching at adult women is perfectly legal.

gooseberryroolz · 25/02/2016 00:01

At least, it is if it's consensual letching.

OurBlanche · 25/02/2016 00:07

I would have said much the same about Stuart Hall, Finest. So I no longer trust that particular inner judgement Sad

And DLT wasn't found guilty of predation. He was, as were many others, guilty of sleazy, leching, groping etc. Sadly, in the days of the Radio 1 Roadshow that was all par for the course, DJs were totally and utterly idolised. Many a 14/15 year old bunked off school and hoped to meet and snog her radio idol, an alarmingly high % seemed to get their wish!

As is often said, the past truly is a different country.

OurBlanche · 25/02/2016 00:09

Eurgh! As usual the shortened version of the headline is calculated to be gross

I did ladies = I did very well with the ladies

SolidGoldBrass · 25/02/2016 00:09

Because of the whole high-profile 'OMG famous rapists' thing there has always been the possibility of chancers coming forward with false accusations (interestingly, the only stuff that seems to have been provably false is the stuff about young boys being murdered, with the associated implication that everyone is more likely to believe, immediately, claims about boys than anything about 'troubled' teenage girls as they are all liars...)
It's a bit of a shame that the girl saying Blackburn attacked her is dead in that there is unlikely to be any evidence one way or the other. Unless of course there are other girls who think they might now be listened to...

gooseberryroolz · 25/02/2016 00:14

It's a bit of a shame that the girl saying Blackburn attacked her is dead in that there is unlikely to be any evidence one way or the other.

That sounds like a rather crass dismissal. I don't know if you mean it that way.

If there is indeed a record of her mother trying to reach the chairman of the BBC by 'phone and outlining the allegation THEN (between the alleged incident and her DD's suicide) then there's something to investigate.

Until then, we just don't know, do we? Maybe the investigation that's already happened was extensive itself, but until we hear about it in full, we're in the dark.

HelenaDove · 25/02/2016 00:14

DH whos older than me says TB practically cried his eyes out on air when Tessa left him for her Robins Nest co star Richard O Sullivan.

gooseberryroolz · 25/02/2016 00:17

He cheated, she left, he cried? Typical cheater.

Actually there's a link about that on that results page too;

www.express.co.uk/celebrity-news/458119/Tony-Blackburn-opens-up-about-his-marriage-breakdown-depression-and-addiction-to-valium

On air!?

OurBlanche · 25/02/2016 00:18

Yep. We didn't have Twitter, Youtube, Facebook etc back then.

On air...

gooseberryroolz · 25/02/2016 00:20

Gosh. (Social media would be just as bad wouldn't it?)

bessiebumptious2 · 25/02/2016 00:22

HelenaDove I remember that too. Remember because I had a bit of a thing for Richard O'Sullivan (ok, ok... I KNOW!). I thought that Tessa was really pretty but felt so sorry for TB.

RosyCat · 25/02/2016 00:24

I did wonder how long it would take after the Saville scandal for people to go back to "teenage girls are scheming lying hussies who entrap innocent men into taking their virginity, famous men can get all the sex they want, why would they bother over stepping the mark" as the standard line.

Answer: not long enough

Hygge · 25/02/2016 00:26

So an allegation was made against him based on a diary entry.

Allegations were also made against others at the same time, based on the same diary entry.

"In 1971 allegations were made by the mother of a 15-year-old girl whose diary apparently contained suggestions that she had been seduced by celebrities including me."

Then the allegation against him was withdrawn by the girl and her mother informed the BBC of this, but the other allegations against the other people were apparently not withdrawn.

Just the one against him.

"I am told that the mother told the BBC, a few weeks after her initial complaint, that her daughter had withdrawn the allegation against me."

He says that he has never seen the diary entry, the BBC has never seen the diary entry, and the recent Dame Janet Review has never seen the diary entry.

"I have never seen the diary and neither has anyone at the BBC or the Dame Janet Review."

The coroner didn't find anything to suggest he was guilty at the time.

The police didn't find any evidence at the time either.

"Nor did a Coroner’s inquest into her death or a subsequent police inquiry."

He has since spoken about this to the Dame Janet enquiry and she found no evidence against him now.

"Dame Janet’s report makes no suggestion that I was guilty 45 years ago of any misconduct whatsoever with this girl."

The BBC have incomplete, vague, and missing records which suggest he was interviewed by two people, but aren't clear about why he was interviewed.

He says it was not about this girl or the allegations she made and later withdrew.

"I have repeatedly told Dame Janet and the BBC I was never interviewed by either man in this context and the BBC records are either very vague or have, conveniently, disappeared."

Dame Janet’s review found no attempt was made by the BBC to interview either Claire or Mrs McAlpine.

It does confirm the DJ was interviewed twice by BBC executives and by an independent barrister.

Dame Janet also said it was “hard to fathom” why the BBC had lost or destroyed call logs from the time.

The BBC say this allegation was the reason why he was interviewed. Surely if they had accurate records, it would be clear why he was interviewed and they would be able to prove it was in relation to this allegation.

And now they have sacked him for disagreeing with their version of events.

"The BBC have made clear that they are not terminating my relationship with them because of any misconduct."

"They are destroying my career and reputation because my version of events does not tally with theirs."

I really don't think it's fair or right to start accusing him of things or calling him names based on this.

More than one allegation was made at the time, only the one against him was withdrawn. There's no other real documentation to back up anything the BBC appear to be claiming, their record keeping is incomplete, and sacking him for disagreeing with their version of events seems unfair in the circumstances.

A very big enquiry has found nothing to suggest he was involved with this girl and her own mother withdrew the allegations against him. I am not surprised that in these circumstances he has made a public statement and intends to take this to court to clear his name.

BillSykesDog · 25/02/2016 00:27

It's a bit like rape charges though isn't it? You can't (perfectly correctly) bring up that a rape victim has been promiscuous. Equally, having legal consensual sex with a lot of women doesn't mean you are a rapist.

The letching is really unpleasant, but there's also a sense of judging another period by our own current standards. I've talked to my mother about this and it wasn't just the BBC, she worked in a factory in Yorkshire and she says the cat calls and comments and even the grabs should she have gone out on the shop floor were horrendous. The Sexual Discrimination Act was only put through in 1975 so often they were acting completely in line with the law too.

I don't really think that the comparisons to Stuart Hall or Rolf Harris are fair either as Blackburn has not been convicted of anything. And as far as we know, despite it being pretty much open season on BBC DJs of that era, there haven't been any other allegations against him.

I just find it a bit disturbing that in some of these cases the normal innocent until proven guilty principles seem to be suspended and people are treated as innocent until allegation is made instead.

HelenaDove · 25/02/2016 00:30

bessie i loved Richard O Sullivan in Me and My Girl. And i have a hazy memory of him playing Dick Turpin.

gooseberryroolz · 25/02/2016 00:30

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VertigoNun · 25/02/2016 00:31

I agree there are currently no other allegations. In other cases there was a repeated pattern of behaviour. I don't know if these things are repeated behaviour or not?

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