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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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Thestagshead · 11/04/2022 22:26

As a child watching him, I can say he just came across as some quite eccentric tv personality a bit of a character, an old bloke. jim’ll fix it was less about “Jim” and more about the kids he was fixing things for. Same as top of the pops. It was more about the acts than the presenter.

As he aged, and as I grew up, it became apparent he was becoming incredibly eccentric and larger than life. A bit lascivious at the height of his popularity, but he didn’t come across as more so than others of his generation, and some of them made a career out of being pervy, from benny hill to les Dawson, to kenny Everett and Cleo, although I assume they were different in real life, but I don’t really know. Jimmy savile didn’t make a career out of that.

For me he was just some eccentric bloke who presented shows aimed at a younger audience, but the shows were not about him as such. Not like benny hill or kenny Everett. Their shows were about them. Jimmy savile didn’t actually do much on his shows. He was just the glue that bling it together.

It was just a different era I think. As a child I watched rhe programs, it would not have occured to me anything was wrong, but as an adult, for some reason, I was unsurprised by it.

Germolenequeen · 11/04/2022 22:27

It's verging on victim blaming IMO, like the people who were taken in by him were naïve and stupid, and had they been as smart and knowledgeable as the posters above they'd have been fine.

I've seen no victim blaming here - OP asked how he was viewed at the time and people have answered - I can say hand on heart I found him creepy at the time.

He was a vile individual who was enabled at the highest levels - he picked his victims very carefully as do all predators of his ilk.

Scarby9 · 11/04/2022 22:30

I found him very unsettling.
Didn't like him on TV as a child.
When I was an adult he often used to hang out in a local hotel, and would shout things at you if you walked past. The kind of things I now would not accept from anyone shouting, especially in a nice hotel.
This is not in any way hindsight. I said it then, and I had not the inkling of unease about Rolf Harris.

LexMitior · 11/04/2022 22:30

Some of the imagery he put out is extraordinary now - this is actually disturbing and you can see the discomfort by everyone else involved. But of course, he'd organised this himself, for charity.

To wonder what people really thought of Jimmy Savile when he was alive?
Toddlerteaplease · 11/04/2022 22:30

I loved Jim'll fix it. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. I have a friend who worked on the Childrens wards at Stoke Mandeville at the time he was around. And is adamant that nothing happened. HmmBit then she also things the moon landings were faked.

SlipperyLizard · 11/04/2022 22:30

I was born late 70s, like others I enjoyed Jim’ll Fix It.

Saw him at a fun run once & went to get his autograph (so I must have thought he was ok), and I walked away (with his autograph) thinking “what a horrible man”. Not sure now what it was, I think he was just curt & dismissive, even though he was out “in character” with loads of people round him.

cocktailclub · 11/04/2022 22:32

Found him distinctly creepy and if put me off his TV shows

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

Jellykat · 11/04/2022 22:32

I went to watch Jim'll Fix It being filmed, tbh i wasnt a particular fan of Saville, but more impressed at just being in the audience on a real telly show!
I did want to go backstage to see what it was like there, but my Stepdad at the time (a young BBC cameramen) wouldnt let me, because, he said Saville 'wasnt a very nice man'.. Yep, everyone knew that he was highly highly dodgy.

MrsSkylerWhite · 11/04/2022 22:34

Yep, born in early 60s and thought he was creepy as soon as I was aware. Jim’ll Fix It freaked me out, as did his seat belt adverts. Parents had to switch off.

Rosebel · 11/04/2022 22:34

He always looked a bit weird /creepy but I don't think anyone knew just how awful he was. It's easy for people to say they knew but I doubt many people really did.
I was really upset about Rolf Harris as I liked him on Animal Hospital and the show where he used to do drawings based on cartoons (can't remember the name).

StarbucksSmarterSister · 11/04/2022 22:37

I'm in my 60s. We thought he was a bit odd, he looked strange and he always talked about his mother, never seemed to have any kind of relationship.

Nobody I knew suspected what he was up to and to be honest I think some of us thought he might be in the closet. Neither I nor anyone I knew, knew anyone who had ever met him so it was all based on what we saw on tv.

And yet after his death when the stories started becoming known I didn't doubt it for a second.

Shehasadiamondinthesky · 11/04/2022 22:38

I was young then and I hated him. He totally gave me the creeps. I felt he was not right but I didn't know how. He always had his chest exposed and he wasn't exactly a chippendale. I remember thinking I wouldn't have wanted to be alone with him.

San141 · 11/04/2022 22:38

I need to watch the documentary. As a child I wrote to Jim ll fix it weekly, but he never fixed my life

Rupertgrintismyguiltypleasure · 11/04/2022 22:38

I was born in 88 and when I was a kid he always gave me the creeps, I said that to my mum when I was about 9.

Rewis · 11/04/2022 22:40

I asked my bf about this yesterday. I'm not British and had not heard about him before everything came out. So to me he seems very creepy but I have no idea how I'd feel if I knew him before. My bf said he was never a fan cause he seemed unnatural in front of camera but did watch Jim'll fix it occasionally and he liked the pre-filmed parts. But he distinctly remembers his grandfather saying "there is something wrong with that man" when Jimmy was on screen and would change the chanell.

StarbucksSmarterSister · 11/04/2022 22:41

Rosebel I was really shocked by Rolf Harris because he always seemed so nice. Yet someone I knew was a warder in the prison where he was and said he was really awful and very arrogant.

FairyCakeWings · 11/04/2022 22:43

I used to love watching Jim’ll fix it as a child but he gave me the creeps to the point that I found him quite scary. I thought it must just be me because everyone seemed to adore him, so it’s interesting to see how many others were creeped out by him on telly as children.

lemmein · 11/04/2022 22:43

I grew up in the 80s and didn't have an opinion on him at all - but then I didn't watch Fix it, or TOTPs when he presented it. He just wasn't on my radar really.

Goldfishbowls · 11/04/2022 22:45

I enjoyed Jim’ll Fix It when I was young. He just seemed like an eccentric uncle with lots of silly catchphrases. The program tapped into the magic of making your dreams come true on tv and that was the attraction. I didn’t pay much attention to him on TOTP. As I got a bit older I thought he probably had a different lifestyle which he wanted to keep secret.

Ahgoonyegirlye · 11/04/2022 22:48

I loved Jim’ll Fix it because of the cool things the kids got to do but didn’t like Saville and wouldn’t write in because He gave me the heebies.
I though he was weird at age 8 and that opinion didn’t change even when he was doing all his charity work etc I thought he was a creepy old dude.

tearinghairout · 11/04/2022 22:48

I agree with the previous pp's observations that we thought he was in the closet, and also that he didn't seem to like the children on his show very much. There was something about the fake blond hair, the catchphrases, the cigars, medals and the nylon tracksuits that suggested some sort of front, like acting a role, but I have to admit that he was a popular character. He was always doing charity runs and yes, people loved him. My mother, OTOH, always disliked him but wouldn't or couldn't explain why not - I don't think it was generally suspected by the general public that he was dodgy; he was just seen as a lovable eccentric by most.

PandemicAtTheDisco · 11/04/2022 22:48

My parents knew of him when he worked in a dance club in Manchester in the fifties/sixties - right at the start of his career. He had a reputation then for being sleazy with young women/teenage girls. He had a friend/housemate with a hearse and women were warned not to leave with them in it. They were very generous with giving lifts. He did favours for people and expected them to be repayed somehow. His friend had the worst reputation though.

steppemum · 11/04/2022 22:49

I grew up with Jim'll fix it.

We loved the programme ( in the early days).
Jimmy Saville was like a person from another planet. Exotic, weird sparkly clothes, he was unreal or surreal.

But we didn't expect celebrities to be real people. They were like charicatures. He was very 'other' and his voice/comments/actions were just weird telly people speak.

He was at the same time creepy. I would have loved to send in a request to do something on Jim'll Fix it, but would have hated to have to stand next to him or talk to him.

It is hard to explain the sexual morals of the time. On the one hand conservative (wasn't acceptbale to be gay) and on the other hand very Benny Hill like in its attitudes to women. Ok to have school girls in sexy clothes and a lot of sexual harrassment would be considered normal.

Nc123 · 11/04/2022 22:50

I was born in 82 and although aware of him never watched him on TV, partly because my mum didn’t like him. Even as a kid I was never good at pop culture stuff so he sort of passed me by a bit.

When he died and all the awfulness started to come to light, initially some people were doubting that he had done what was alleged, and I was discussing it with my mum one day and she said, “He did do it, you know.”

Turns out that as a teen in 1960s Manchester she knew a lot of girls who had been to TOTP when it was filmed. It was always “Jimmy” who would chat to them and kiss them. On at least one occasion a girl of 13 or 14 “dated” him and he used to pick her up from home with her parents’ full knowledge, which seems bonkers now but then I suppose it was the age of Bill Wyman etc. The thing which really stuck in my mums mind was that the girl had gone to meet JS at Piccadilly station after school, changing out of her uniform in the toilets there. When he arrived JS was furious with her for getting changed and made her go and put her uniform back on.