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

[BarmyBrunhilde]

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.

I can't speak for anyone but my self but I loved jim,illfixit,as a child born in the 73 and spent most of my childhood in the 80,s I just saw a huge persona with all his catch,phrases ,now then now then,guys,and gals,ect and the gold jewlry and big cigar,he fooled a lot of people and the BBC were complicit in this

I loved Jim'll Fix It but I always thought of Jimmy Saville as one of those slightly creepy 'Uncles' at family parties that you would try to avoid being alone with.

I once went to watch the filming of Jim'll fix it, it was exciting for a youngster.. My mums partner was a BBC cameraman and i wanted to meet Jim afterwards, but i wasnt allowed to, because he said Jim wasnt a nice man.
I was pissed off at the time, but now i'm so relieved.
Just goes to show though, how many people knew he was dodgy as!

Hindsight is a wonderful thing

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/1338776-Cult-of-Celebrity

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/in_the_news/1331313-jimmy-savile-has-died?reply=28183254

rumours:
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/1185465-IS-jIMMy-Saville-dead-yet

Odd thing is no one will admit to being the one who approved it. Managers blame other managers who blame someone who left years ago. I don’t think we will ever find out the “real” truth, there’s a lot that’s been covered up.

He was treated like royalty, that was the part I didn’t like, and the key thing was just accepted. He could literally go everywhere including bathrooms and private rooms. I have my opinions on how it was allowed, but to me he didn’t come across as creepy as such. Just that he thought he was an Honorary manager or something.

The Government report is online to read and it is quite fascinating in parts at just how much he was able to get away with under the radar

People from Boutnemouth knew what he was like.
he had a nightclub, the Maison Royale, word got around. Also his friendship with ‘mascot’ Ken Bailey….

I don't doubt anything you,n say tbh,I know how it works. It's scarey!

I met him once after a marathon as my Dad ran a lot and there was usually a room we would go to afterwards for whatever team he was running with. Just so happened Saville was running for the same charity. He was a strange and creepy man. I was only about 9 I think and remember him sitting in a big chair and smoking a cigar. He grabbed my friends Mum (she was also running that day) and pulled her onto his lap and started bouncing her around. She was laughing but I felt very uncomfortable.

I grew up watching Jim'll fix it and I always thought he was creepy, I couldn't understand why other children wrote in to him, I was scared of him. Must have been his body language, unlike that of other adults towards children ( getting them to sit on his lap with a lecherous look on his face). Later on it was even more obvious, he said 'I'm feared in ever girls' school in the country.' How could you be any more obvious than that?

Same. Thought JS was creepy and had a real aversion to him but RH was the bees knees with his drawings.

I met him in 2005, at the unveiling ceremony of the women at war memorial at Whitehall. I was in uniform, waiting for the parade to begin. He was being ushered to the VIP area. He stepped away from the usher to go down my troop, shaking every woman's hand in the grippiest, clingiest, sweatiest sort of 2 handed lingering shake. There were about 50 of us.
It was a display of

1. I can make everyone wait and put out the timings of the event, because I am too important for you to dare usher me.

And 2. I can touch every single one of you women, even though you are all repulsed by me. None of you will be impolite enough to withdraw from my touch.

It was an astounding power play statement of arrogance.

My friend met RH as a pre teen she wouldn't watch anything with him in after that and said it was the most uncomfortable she has ever felt with a man. When things started to come out about him she was not suprised in the slightest.

My dad always said he was dodgy. We used to watch Jim’ll Fix It and I loved that show. But Dad maintained there was something wrong with him. He died before everything came out about Jimmy Saville but I watch footage now and I don’t know how people weren’t repulsed by him, and why they revered him so much.

He gave me the creeps when I was young in the 70s, never understood the appeal. Ghastly man, oozing dodgy ness....

I grew up watching Jim’ll Fix it, and a boy from my class went on it and stood up in assembly to talk about how amazing it was. I think we all thought Savile was weird (I remember playground jokes about him running the marathon with his jewellery jangling) but not creepy as such. I don’t think anyone actually liked him though.

Rolf Harris - no idea at all! Seemed like a charming fun bloke. I used to subscribe to Popbitch back in the day, and there was a snippet in the newsletter probably early 2000s saying of all the people in the BBC people were warned about leaving kids alone with Rolf. I thought ‘what a load of rubbish’ - just goes to show how wrong we were!

Oh my! I've been reading all the indignant posts from posters such as WorraLiberty on the first of your links. That's really funny ( not funny haha)

This is ZOMBIE THREAD BTW.

I wrote to Jim'll fix it but my mum lied and binned the letter instead of posting it ( she admitted later on) as Saville always gave her the creeps.

I completely agree with this. It was a different time when women were told to suck it up and be grateful for the male attention. Creepy guy? Keep away from him, dear. The idea that the man should be told to keep his hands to himself just didn’t come into it.

As for Saville, I was born in the late 70s and I grew up watching Jim’s Fix It. I thought he was marvellous and hung out of the window when a half marathon in which he was running went past our house, I was thrilled to see him. I look at him now and think “hiding in plain sight”. My parents say they always disliked Saville and would never have allowed us anywhere near him.

15 million people watched his show at its peak apparently. 14,999,999 now claim that they knew he was creepy all along.

This is still a ZOMBIE THREAD

@Jellykat yep, everyone at the BBC knew. As a child I spent an inordinate amount of the early 70s in the BBC canteen creche . He was never allowed near us, we were forbidden to go near him, total strangers (and RH) would physically block his path to us.

I don't know anyone who didn't think JS was creepy. Maybe older people didn't. It let him get away with it for so long because he looked like a stereotypical paedophile but people thought he must be OK because he'd been on TV so long and did charity stuff. So the likes of Johnny Rotten speaking out were not paid attention to.

Ricky Gervais, creepy?!

DF knew him when he was a club promoter in Leeds in the 60s. It was well known even back then what he got up to but the police weren't interested. Every time he turned up on the TV Dad would swear at him. He also made sure everyone he knew didn't let their kids write in to Jim'll Fix It.

It was well known even back then what he got up to but the police weren't interested.

That’s the issue, isn’t it? When he started, no-one cared because that sort of thing just wasn’t seen as an issue. Yeah, another creepy bloke, keep yourself/your children away from him. At what point do people start to say “No, this is unacceptable”? Because to do so, in effect, criticises all those who’d excused his behaviour previously. So it carried on being swept under the carpet until the bastard finally died and people could speak out without fear of recrimination.

My sister was on Jim'll Fix It - nothing to report.

My DH was a mental health manager in Bucks in the 80's - 90's. He always told me everything would hit the fan on Saville's death. Reckons he had too much dirt on too many establishment figures.