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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
Yellowdays · 29/04/2023 19:43

@IAmTheWalrus85 the people responsible for letting him get away with it are those with ministerial or media power, I'd say. The media saw his income potential but I don't understand why the rest of the establishment didn't go for him. One or two other, too. I suppose, as you say, women and kids didn't matter enough.

Florenz · 29/04/2023 19:59

There was a bit in an Irvine Welsh book I read as a teenager about a TV presenter that was clearly a pastiche of Savile having sex with dead bodies in a morgue. This would have been mid 90s or so.

MyopicBunny · 29/04/2023 20:20

Florenz · 29/04/2023 19:59

There was a bit in an Irvine Welsh book I read as a teenager about a TV presenter that was clearly a pastiche of Savile having sex with dead bodies in a morgue. This would have been mid 90s or so.

Really?? So Irvine Welsh was in on this too?

CherryRipe1 · 29/04/2023 20:21

Florenz · 29/04/2023 19:59

There was a bit in an Irvine Welsh book I read as a teenager about a TV presenter that was clearly a pastiche of Savile having sex with dead bodies in a morgue. This would have been mid 90s or so.

I didn't know about this. I remember reading about Val McDermid the crime writer & her pastiche of Savile:
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/based-psycho-jimmy-savile-says-1403727

I based psycho on Jimmy Savile, says writer Val McDermid

VAL was deeply uneasy when she met Savile in 1977 and he inspired her character Jacko Vance who was memorably played on TV by actor John Michie.

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/based-psycho-jimmy-savile-says-1403727

MyopicBunny · 29/04/2023 20:23

Lifeomars · 29/04/2023 17:44

When I was at college in the 70's I had a boyfriend who had done his art foundation year at Leeds Art College. I remember him telling me about the rumours about Saville's activities including necrophilia at Leeds i. I recall thinking that this made sense as he had that "weirdo" vibe. Much later on a friend of mine who was a teacher told me that they had invited Saville to open the school fete and that she found him creepy. What was even creepier was the fact that he kept turning up every year and the head had to ask him not to as he not welcome. The rumours were always there but as others have said, men could get away with a lot more in that era. I can recall so many times I was groped as a teenage girl including by a doctor. I never told anyone about this as nobody would have listened or believed me. In fact I only began thinking about it after a friend recounted that this had happened to her at the hands of the same doctor when she, like me was 15. Powerful men will always take advantage of the vulnerable, we just have to hope that those who speak up these days are believed and supported

My mum is in her 70s. She grew up in London and told me that her doctor's receptionist would advise her and other teenage girls to strip down to their underwear because the doctor liked it.

NurseCranesRolodex · 29/04/2023 20:36

ENoeuf · 11/04/2022 21:56

Hostaswordwoman

Born in 1970. As a child, watched jim'll fix it regularly and utterly loved him.
Obviously sickened now.

Snap. Thought he was hilarious, brilliant entertainment. I have a theory he got away with saying things that are now obvious truths disguised as humour because of two things - general culture of the time and also he was so odd looking and so unlikely a Casanova that no way could he have any sexual desires etc. So we all laughed at the idea of ‘his case coming up next Thursday’ etc.

Yes, I grew up in 70s and thought he was like a friendly child catcher. My Dad told me was known for 'fiddling with kids' and had struck a deal with government due to his ties (procuring) to an outgoing very well known posh male PM, to run marathons for Stoke Mandeville by fundraisers. He was known to be in masonic lodge and a friend of the Yorkshire ripper. 1 non fatal attack took place v close to Savils Leeds flat, the victim reported hearing 2 voices. He visited Sutcliffe many times in prison. He was enabled by the establishment and the general lack of interest in child abuse, women and vulnerable people. The older brother was well known on Scotland's club scene as a DJ of sorts, and other things. Grotesque man.

NurseCranesRolodex · 29/04/2023 20:38

And his 'case up next Thursday' was just calling everyone a C%*nt in broad day light.

Mogginsthemog · 29/04/2023 20:54

Unbelievable that despite so many people knowing what he was like, or at least having some idea , the media reported on his funeral as if he were royalty, the bbc did a Christmas special etc etc.

OneFrenchEgg · 29/04/2023 20:57

@NurseCranesRolodex I only just realised that when you put it. Wow.
I remember hearing him say that (in a documentary?) and thinking it was funny.
I've been reading through - are things like Elm Guest House and Westminster ring actually factual or rumour? They've been added along with other things I've heard of/know are true.

Thelnebriati · 29/04/2023 21:14

I think you are aware those are both hoaxes and are trying to catch people out.

x2boys · 29/04/2023 21:14

I think the BBC gas lighted most of us for years
Yes some people might have been aware of how awful he was
But for most people we were constantly told. What a saint he was and how in awe we should all have been of Ihim it's absolutely atrocious that he was able to get away with all.of his crimes. And nobody has ever really been held responsibility for this.

Hell121 · 29/04/2023 21:16

Not read full thread but I lived in leeds when he died - I often think about the people who went to see the disgusting specimen LYING IN STATE at the queens hotel ffs. I was a journo in the early 2000s and crossed his path at a few events and at the flying pizza restaurant where he has his own table. I was warned early on to stay away - disgusts me even more now tbh

GaslitlikeaVictorianparlour · 29/04/2023 21:23

Like a lot of people I loved him on the telly.
However, he came into a shop I was working in when I was about 17 and he scared the living shit out of me. I was so excited to see him and I gave him a big happy smile. He was so cold and horrible, looked at me like I was less than nothing. An absolutely repellant man, like a human reptile or a shark.

CurlewKate · 29/04/2023 21:34

I think a lot of people now have very effective "retrospectoscopes." He was unashamedly eccentric, and that was one of the things that made him popular. I am as sure as I can be that if a child had spoken up about him, they would not have been believed.

ashitghost · 29/04/2023 21:37

Everyone in Leeds has got a Jimmy Savile story. My friend’s dad was in the same class at him at school but absolutely hated him. They saw Savile walking towards them at Roundhay park, he tried say hello and initiate a conversation but my friend’s dad said “fuck off Jim”

my driving instructor said he tried to grope his dad’s girlfriend way back in the 60s and he got hold of him threw him against a wall and told him to not to come near them ever again and he called him a fucking piece of shit.

my mum was a nurse and she saw him all the time in the LGI. She said she somewhat naively just though he was someone who raised a lot for charity.

CurlewKate · 29/04/2023 21:46

I also think we need to remember, when we say our parents were "on to him" that some of our parents at that time had problems with TV presenters who didn't wear ties! It was such a different world.

OneFrenchEgg · 29/04/2023 22:01

Thelnebriati · 29/04/2023 21:14

I think you are aware those are both hoaxes and are trying to catch people out.

Do you mean me? No not at all. If you scroll back someone has referenced them. I was aware of all the noise around it, and Schofield with his list? The only hoax I knew off was Carl Beech but that seemed more serious than a hoax /rumour as I think he ended up convicted himself?

CiaoBellisima · 29/04/2023 22:02

ENoeuf · 11/04/2022 21:56

Hostaswordwoman

Born in 1970. As a child, watched jim'll fix it regularly and utterly loved him.
Obviously sickened now.

Snap. Thought he was hilarious, brilliant entertainment. I have a theory he got away with saying things that are now obvious truths disguised as humour because of two things - general culture of the time and also he was so odd looking and so unlikely a Casanova that no way could he have any sexual desires etc. So we all laughed at the idea of ‘his case coming up next Thursday’ etc.

Yes! I remember watching the Louis Theroux show and saying to my DH that he was telling us all the way through what he was, but people assumed he was joking. Unfortunately he wasn’t.

Staygoldponyboystaygold · 29/04/2023 22:04

LethargeMarg · 11/04/2022 21:56

As a child of the 80s Jim ll fix it was one of my favourite programmes and he was always on the tv . Looking back now he seems really creepy but this was an era when a rolling stone in his 40s married a 16 year old after dating her for years and page 3 in the sun had a countdown till Sam fox was 16 , EastEnders had a pregnant school girl as a major storyline with her friends dad as the father which I don't remember being shown as seedy or grooming but more of a love story . So his awful jokes about young girls weren't so shocking in the context of the time . A lot of things look hideous now looking back as an adult.

Sane here

Mogginsthemog · 29/04/2023 22:04

@CurlewKate I agree, my parents never had any
issue with JS.
But I do remember them not liking Larry Grayson and finding his campness distasteful.

Staygoldponyboystaygold · 29/04/2023 22:05

Sorry! Same here

Greenfairydust · 29/04/2023 22:48

I always found him creepy and repulsive....

MyopicBunny · 30/04/2023 07:45

x2boys · 29/04/2023 21:14

I think the BBC gas lighted most of us for years
Yes some people might have been aware of how awful he was
But for most people we were constantly told. What a saint he was and how in awe we should all have been of Ihim it's absolutely atrocious that he was able to get away with all.of his crimes. And nobody has ever really been held responsibility for this.

I couldn't agree more. I'm assuming that there are others like him who have never actually been unmasked as perpetrators.

He was only popular because the BBC pushed that narrative of brainwashing on everyone for years. He was dead behind the eyes and also doesn't come across remotely likeable.

Emotionalstorm · 30/04/2023 07:47

Didn't know who he was until he was outed as a pedophile. Watched the Netflix documentary, he was super creepy in every scene. Not sure how people didn't know.

CurlewKate · 30/04/2023 07:57

@Emotionalstorm " Not sure how people didn't know."
You wanted a documentary about someone you knew in advance was a predatory paedophile. Of course it was obvious. We were watching a quirky, eccentric entertainer who fronted an extraordinarily successful and popular children's TV show and who raised huge amounts of money for charity. At a time where paedophilia was barely talked about and there were many people who didn't know it existed. That's why.