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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.

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Dogknowsbest · 11/04/2022 22:51

Born in 76 and I was brought up on a diet of Saville. I loved Jim'll Fix It but it wasn't because of him it was because of the cool stuff he organised. Watching him used to make me feel strange but being so young it was hard to identify what the feeling was. There was a strange blend of charisma and creepiness that made him compulsive viewing. I'm not sure I would say I liked him. On another note, a family friend of ours helped to organise a fix it. He was convinced that the child had been interfered with. He tried to get her to admit to it but because she refused, he dropped it. People knew more, some people tried to do something but because of who he was he got away with it.

LardyDee · 11/04/2022 22:51

Born in 1972 - I loved him!

HarrietSchulenberg · 11/04/2022 22:52

Grew up in 70s and 80s and watched Jim'll Fix It, TOTP etc. Jimmy Saville used to scare/unsettle me but that was because he had a warty face and strange hair and made sudden, unpredictable noises, plus the rattly jewellery etc. He was thought to be a bit odd but his charity work meant we thought he must be OK.

Aconitum · 11/04/2022 22:52

I am a boomer😃 born in 1960, used to watch Jim'll Fix It but then there wasn't much else to watch and I always, always thought he was creepy.
Never did about Rolf Harris though, or Gary Glitter.
Different times though people. At 16 a lot of us were working ( how do you think we got the house?) and 'romantically' active. Creepy middle aged and older men were an occupational hazard though.

Maltester71 · 11/04/2022 22:53

Honestly just thought of him as eccentric and harmless

littledrummergirl · 11/04/2022 22:54

My dm has an amazing survival instinct. I wanted to write to ride a horse.
My dm said no way and a few years later I was allowed to learn at a local stables. She didn't think he should be allowed anywhere near children.

ohfook · 11/04/2022 22:54

I did not know he was a creep and wrote to him to ask if he could arrange for my mum to meet cliff richard.

That sentence tells you everything you might need to know about my terrible judgement of people in general to be honest!

Franklin12 · 11/04/2022 22:54

He took Stoke Mnderville on and raised millions. No one dared say anything.

MangyInseam · 11/04/2022 22:55

@LexMitior

There will be somebody in public life now doing something very similar, good works, eccentric, outrageous, with similar motives to Savile. The report on his offending said similar - its just true that predatory people find it easier if they are "helping". Helping puts us at ease.

The thing is, gut instinct is useful but you don't really see that on telly, there's so much distance and he was paid to be this character - up close, I imagine Savile was much more unnerving.

I think it's very difficult to get a real sense of someone we are really removed from and only know through film or television. Maybe they seem creepy but aren't at all, or vice versa. You really don't know how much is a role, or just about how the person looks.

A few years ago here in Canada we had a scandal about a public figure. I always thought he seemed like a dweeb and didn't have much time for him, he was too smooth. When the scandal came out it seemed like it was all over the place where he worked. And then a friend of mine who had lived in the same area and run in somewhat the same scene said he was well known there as a person to stay away from.

But apart from people who were in the places he frequented, at work or otherwise, you really didn't get any sense of that.

jenkel · 11/04/2022 23:00

I was born in 1969, watched TOTP and jimll fixit. I loved the programmes but thought he was a creepy man, but the world then was full of men like that, we just kind of accepted it. Admittedly there will always be men like it (and women) but at that time it was acceptable, so glad the world has moved on.

Rainbowshit · 11/04/2022 23:02

I loved Jiim'll fix it. Wrote in several times. He was always a bit weird. Maybe my experience only but it seemed fairly normal for blokes of that age to be creepy. Hmm

Yellownightmare · 11/04/2022 23:06

I thought he was creepy. I could never understand why someone so old used to try and act like he was one of the teenagers. It was odd then as a lot of the DJs were much older than the music fans, like Gary Davies, John Peel, diddy David Hamilton etc.

The News of the World published a very strange article about him in which he said some bizarre things about women. I could never understand why he carried on with that much media presence, except that maybe the producers and program commissioners were also out of touch and all male.

CircusBaby · 11/04/2022 23:07

My dad worked with him in the 70s, said he never liked him and there was something creepy and disingenuous about him.

Strangeways19 · 11/04/2022 23:07

I was born in the 60's & remember him as just a household name. I think the problem with a lot of celebs such as Gary Glitter, Rolf Harris & Jimmy Savile is that they were hiding in plain sight. They were so famous that nothing interfered with what they did.
I don't remember having any feelings about him at all, I think he's one of those people who were obviously weird & perverted in hindsight, no-one was really looking at him properly back then.

I'd also add that child abuse wasn't such a big deal as it is now, there were less child protection procedures, boundaries were being broken all of the time. We had a neighborhood pervert who you wouldn't want to be alone with. I don't think this was that unusual back in the day

Usou · 11/04/2022 23:08

Saw JS at the Highland games in Fort William in the early 80s. He arrived bare-chested in a kilt with people swarming around him on some kind of charity walk and hung around for much of the day. He didn't strike me as especially odd.

The bloke was allegedly into necrophilia FFS..

LexMitior · 11/04/2022 23:08

I agree with the culture point - there were a lot of creepy men on television and in entertainment. It was very male centred - I remember watching Paul Daniels (I think) singing "Thank Heaven for Little Girls" on his magic show. That was "family" entertainment at one point on the BBC.

TheLightSideOfTheMoon · 11/04/2022 23:09

Until the documentary and I saw old pictures of him I thought his hair was natural…

Bless me.

Smidgy · 11/04/2022 23:10

I watched Jim'll Fix It as a child and liked seeing what the kids got up to but always though he was odd. But not odd in a creepy way. More in an eccentric way. He was just seemed like an unusual character. And I remember disliking it when he wore the running shorts, vest top, headband, cigar combo.

However, I have to say that when the scandal first broke I wasn't remotely surprised, so maybe I did pick up more about him than I fully understood as a child.

DramaAlpaca · 11/04/2022 23:11

I was born in the mid-60s and always found Savile creepy and really quite repulsive, though I did watch Jim'll Fix It.

Rolf Harris, on the other hand, I thought he was great. I met him when he was filming at a safari park once when I had my two little sons with me and he was lovely to us. Makes me shudder to think of it now.

EveryFlightBeginsWithAFall · 11/04/2022 23:17

Creepy and weird. Couldn't stand that he was on totp and some of the weird stuff he used to come out with 🤮 couldn't understand why anyone thought he was OK

EveryFlightBeginsWithAFall · 11/04/2022 23:18

Had no clue about Rolf Harris, just thought he was a bit odd

Ohfgsnotagain · 11/04/2022 23:19

70’s child- LOVED Jim’ll fix it and as a family we ALWAYS watched it! It was classed as family entertainment and often amusing to see the wishes that were granted. Don’t forget this was an era before the internet, sky tv, Netflix etc! The whole family would sit down on a Saturday evening and choose between 3 channels!! And if you were lucky you might have a video player and a Blockbuster rental card! As a millennial it must be impossible to imagine what that was like.

He was also very highly regarded and respected for his charity work. Obviously we now know that was his mask! Vile man who got away with it right up until the end.

knowinglesseveryday · 11/04/2022 23:20

My friend and I thought he was a hideous creep.

Feelingoktoday · 11/04/2022 23:21

Born mid 1960s. Lots of men looked and behaved like him. We had page 3, Benny Hill, women left work when pregnant, sexual harassment at work all the time. If I thought he was creepy then I also thought a lot of men were creepy then.

Astrak · 11/04/2022 23:22

In the mid sixties I worked in the offices of a charity for homeless people. We sometimes approached celebrities for donations/ endorsements of our work.
I wrote to JS requesting a small donation. He wrote back saying a version of "get lost - nothing in it for me". Oddly, he signed his name with a £ sign for the letter S .
I used to do a few half marathons at that time. He was in one. He and his entourage of hulking minders came shoving through the middle of the pack I was with. He was dressed in a gold jump suit, gold trainers and wore a lot of gold chains. Clutching a large cigar, he and his pack pushed everyone out of his way. No one said anything.
He seemed cold and had cold snake eyes.
I hope he's suffering in an eternal damnation.