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Original poster

To wonder what people really thought of Jimmy Savile when he was alive?

549 replies

BarmyBrunhilde · 11/04/2022 21:42

I'm a millennial, and was only really vaguely aware of who he was really, so watching the recent Netflix documentary I was fairly bemused to see how popular he seemed to be. Obviously he was beloved by the establishment, including the royals, Thatcher etc but he seemed to have massive following among the public.

Everyone now seems to say 'oh yes I always knew he was creepy' but I have to wonder - for those who grow up in the 60s-80s how was he really seen? In the documentary it seems like he had always had crowds of screaming and adoring fans, and they generally seemed none the wiser? It seemed like industry people and his poor victims were the only ones who really had any idea.

OP posts:
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6
Xrays · 28/04/2023 19:26

I think some of it is that now as a society we’re more suspicious of “weird” people- like JS and Michael Jackson. Back in the 80s it was a time for flamboyant fashion and general weirdness. People just embraced it.

Pedallleur · 28/04/2023 19:26

Nobody thought about the stuff he could do. Freddie Mercury, George Michael, Elton didnt want to come out and that was the 80s. Cliff Richard still wont. Liberace went to court in the 60s when it was suggested he was homosexual. He won the case. People were worried about 'poofs' assaulting children. Saville gave the public a persona. Utter villain but he was good at it.

CherryRipe1 · 28/04/2023 19:28

@toastunderpate @SmallFerret I third that. Pimp, panderer and procurer to the 'upper echelons', Jim fixed it alright.

Shouldbehoovering · 28/04/2023 19:54

I always thought he was a bit creepy but I did enjoy jim’ll fix it. Maybe slightly outing but I used to work at ‘his’ hospital. If he was in we would be warned eg, “don’t go into jimmys (the cafe) - he’s in there”. He was very much older and more gross by then. Older (now) members of staff trained when he had apartments there and socialised with him (taken out in his cars etc) and say nothing appeared odd at the time or in retrospect. They would have been early to mid twenties.

usernother · 28/04/2023 19:56

For me, I always thought he was creepy and weird and I always said that. I hated him on top of the pops and I didn't watch jim'll fix it. I also thought he was lying about his 'young ladies' girlfriends because who on earth would ever fancy him.

x2boys · 28/04/2023 19:59

usernother · 28/04/2023 19:56

For me, I always thought he was creepy and weird and I always said that. I hated him on top of the pops and I didn't watch jim'll fix it. I also thought he was lying about his 'young ladies' girlfriends because who on earth would ever fancy him.

I'm sure I read that he had a long term female partner?
it could of all been,a ruse,however to cover up.is crimes .

Tinytigertail · 28/04/2023 20:00

Loved him when he did Jim'll Fix it, I was about 7. Once I was a teen, he just seemed like creepy fucker. It really distresses me that it seems such an open secret among the establishment and he was allowed to host a show for kids like that.

Shouldbehoovering · 28/04/2023 20:02

FrasierCraneDay · 11/04/2022 22:32

Utterly repulsed, vile creature. Hospitals were supposed to be safe, they weren't. I've ran out of money for the therapy I so desperately need

I’m so sorry. I think he was good enough at hiding things so people might have found him creepy or letchy but without the tangible and very distinct evidence needed to report him. Those that did felt to weak or powerless to do so. Times were different but he was not stupid in choosing his victims.

CirreltheSquirrel · 28/04/2023 20:07

As a kid in the 80s I used to watch jim'll fix it and wrote in. But by the time I moved to roundhay in 2003 I was a lot more aware of the rumours and whenever I saw him around I definitely found him creepy. I remember doing race for life in the park one year and he was watching, and I felt really uncomfortable.

toastunderpate · 28/04/2023 20:08

If anyone is interested and has the time, this makes for enlightening reading in respect of the LGI;

https://data.parliament.uk/DepositedPapers/Files/DEP2014-0919/02Leedss-LibbDoc--_Report.pdf

usernother · 28/04/2023 20:10

@x2boys
I'm sure I read that he had a long term female partner?
it could of all been,a ruse,however to cover up.is crimes .

I don't ever remember him publicly having a long term partner. He used to talk about his mum all the time and called her the Duchess. He lived with her until she died. I thought that was weird too.

SockGoddess · 28/04/2023 20:10

We used to watch Jim’ll fix it as kids. I thought he was odd and a bit annoying, but I didn’t get creepy vibes especially. I was then surprised when he was on top of the pops as I hadn’t realised he did other stuff.

When he died it was the first I’d heard about his dodgy reputation, when it all came out.

sleeplessinsouthhampton · 28/04/2023 20:11

we all wrote to jim ll fix it as an activity at brownies. My mum made a complaint and 'fuss' to brown owl about it. I remember being confused as she wasn't usually like that

ClareBlue · 28/04/2023 20:24

He is just the worst example (that we know about) of a time when sexulising young girls was the norm. Yes we saw his behaviour as creepy and repulsive then, but it was everywhere and normalised. For example a popular cop show called the Professionals had an episode where two detectives are opening discussing how sexually attractive two underage school girls are as they are driving past. No context or need in the the plot line. Just something a creepy writer, producer or actor wanted in the episode. This was all the time and everywhere. No real outrage at a 13 year old girl meeting and dating a pop star in a night club, etc etc. So whilst he came across as a other creep, he wasn't so unusual that he particularly stood out.

BroadmoorGal · 28/04/2023 20:34

I’ve named changed for this because it’s outing

I worked at Broadmoor during (and after) the time that JS had keys. I never found anything creepy about him, he used to just drive me nuts with his egocentric personality. It was almost like he thought he was royalty, and everything had to stop because he came into the room. I never witnessed any of the whisperings to stay away from him, I’m not saying they didn’t happen, but it was just accepted that he was part of the furniture. In those days the security just wasn’t there, which is crazy seeing as what Broadmoor was (and still is).

I was so shocked when it came out, and I was interviewed for the Government Report. Mind you, I was also shocked about Rolf Harris, don’t judge me too hard!

PickoftheMix · 28/04/2023 20:37

When it all came out about him after he died, I remember my ex mil (who was in her 70s) defending him by saying she "remembered how those promiscuous young girls and the way they dressed used to throw themselves at him". I presume that's how he got away with so much because even women of a certain generation saw nothing wrong because they thought the younger generations were just throwing themselves at him or by wearing short skirts were just enticing male attention.

x2boys · 28/04/2023 20:48

ClareBlue · 28/04/2023 20:24

He is just the worst example (that we know about) of a time when sexulising young girls was the norm. Yes we saw his behaviour as creepy and repulsive then, but it was everywhere and normalised. For example a popular cop show called the Professionals had an episode where two detectives are opening discussing how sexually attractive two underage school girls are as they are driving past. No context or need in the the plot line. Just something a creepy writer, producer or actor wanted in the episode. This was all the time and everywhere. No real outrage at a 13 year old girl meeting and dating a pop star in a night club, etc etc. So whilst he came across as a other creep, he wasn't so unusual that he particularly stood out.

Yes the 80,s were an odd time and young girls who "dated" ( I use its in the terminology that was used at the time because clearly try were too young to date these men and were being groomed) older men were seen as "wild childs" why were they not protected? Emma and Joanne Ridley,Amanda De,cadanet,ect
Jimmy Saville,abused girls ,boys,patients in hospital, children,vulnerable adults,anyone who was in anyway vulnerable .

Phos · 28/04/2023 20:48

My mum worked in a customer service type role and he came to her place of work and was doing some sort of filming. This would have been early 2000s.

As she was providing him with food and beverages, he was stroking her hand and trying to stroke her ankle and calf with his foot. When she asked if there was anything else, he beckoned her and said in a horrible throaty voice “Later…”

She said at the time, when he dies, something will come out about him.

x2boys · 28/04/2023 20:54

BroadmoorGal · 28/04/2023 20:34

I’ve named changed for this because it’s outing

I worked at Broadmoor during (and after) the time that JS had keys. I never found anything creepy about him, he used to just drive me nuts with his egocentric personality. It was almost like he thought he was royalty, and everything had to stop because he came into the room. I never witnessed any of the whisperings to stay away from him, I’m not saying they didn’t happen, but it was just accepted that he was part of the furniture. In those days the security just wasn’t there, which is crazy seeing as what Broadmoor was (and still is).

I was so shocked when it came out, and I was interviewed for the Government Report. Mind you, I was also shocked about Rolf Harris, don’t judge me too hard!

This is what I find astonishing,how wa he allowed the keys of Broadmoor?
I.used to be a mental health nurse and i can't understand how someone celebrity or no. Celebrity was allowed to wander around a high security hospital unchecked he had unlimited access to do many vulnerable patients.

MasterBeth · 28/04/2023 20:56

Scorchedterf · 28/04/2023 19:12

I liked Jimmy Saville and was absolutely shocked when the truth about hits came out.

What did you like about him?

Paternosta · 28/04/2023 20:58

Cookerhood · 11/04/2022 22:02

I'm in my 50s. I always found him creepy and couldn't see why people adored him. Rolf Harris on the other hand...

Exactly this. Also in my 50s. I watched Jim'll.Fix it but only because there was very little else to watch and I enjoyed seeing the kids getting what they wanted. I never liked the parts with Jimmy as he gave me the creeps. I LOVED Rolf Harris though. Such a shame he turned out to be a creep too.

ClareBlue · 28/04/2023 21:14

PickoftheMix · 28/04/2023 20:37

When it all came out about him after he died, I remember my ex mil (who was in her 70s) defending him by saying she "remembered how those promiscuous young girls and the way they dressed used to throw themselves at him". I presume that's how he got away with so much because even women of a certain generation saw nothing wrong because they thought the younger generations were just throwing themselves at him or by wearing short skirts were just enticing male attention.

God, my mother in her 80s said something similar last year. I was absolutely gobsmacked. She said they all knew what they were doing with their short skirts and make up on to get older men. She was talking about abused 12 year old girls at the time. I couldn't get my head around what she was saying. The schoolgirl temptress was embedded by pervy old men to an extent it was just a normal thought for some. No wonder people were afraid of reporting JS at the time.

FictionalCharacter · 28/04/2023 21:19

MargaretThursday · 28/04/2023 18:39

I find it interesting how every time this subject comes up it's full of people saying they thought he was creepy etc.
I'm wondering what the response would have been before he was arrested.
I remember one of the girls at primary having written to him for Jim'll fix it, and we were all terribly hopeful she'd get on (she didn't). I don't recall anyone child or parent, saying anything negative at the time.
We didn't watch much TV, but I can't recall having any opinion about him other than lucky kids who got their dreams.

There are plenty of people who did say negative things at the time. Including people who tried to blow the whistle officially. They were basically told to shut up. This man was protected to a huge degree. And whistleblowers were far less likely to be believed in general.

dayswithaY · 28/04/2023 21:20

I liked JS too. As a kid in the 1980s Jim’ll Fix It was the best show of the week. But in those days, there wasn’t much to do and we just didn’t have the variety of entertainment that we have now.

It was a very different time, when celebrities were like royalty and we just didn’t know anything about their private lives. There were lots of weird things on TV in those days - the Black and White Minstrel Show, Fanny Craddock, Mind Your Language, Love Thy Neighbour. He was no more or less odd than any of them.

Weirdly, at the time I don’t remember anyone talking about how creepy he was. All these people here whose parents warned them about him, how did they know? I never suspected a thing til Louis Theroux made that documentary.

In fact I remember he made an appearance in the Big Brother house when George Galloway and Pete Burns were there - 2006? Everyone welcomed him with hugs so you can bet C4 will never show that clip.

Not defending him, just saying he was a well loved celebrity who purposely built a brand all about charity and good works and a lot of people fell for it.

I believe Edwina Currie was to blame for him having the keys to Broadmoor but I could be wrong.

Pedallleur · 28/04/2023 21:31

Keys to Broadmoor and a caravan in the grounds of a school for girls who were ill with I think mental issues or just in care. Outrageous now but it was more than acceptable for the people in charge to let him do whatever