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.

John Leslie. Many of you will remember the popular and reasonably attractive TV presenter who has now, thankfully, vanished from public life. JL had a terrible reputation for being sexually inappropriate and worse, both in tv world and in his local West London area. He was notorious. Yet nobody said anything publicly until Ulrika wrote in her autobiography about a sexual assault and Leslie was outed on TV, by another presenter, as the likely perpetrator. If that hadn't happened he'd still be on the Good Morning sofa with young women inching away from him. Savile was particularly predatory, with what I hope were unusual proclivities, but the media and music are areas in which similar predators have always found easy prey and continue to do so. Not just Savile hiding in plain sight. And plenty of, er, 'issues' from earlier eras still remain unaddressed. Some people are too wealthy and 'well loved and respected by the public' to be brought to account and never will be.

Born 1970. I liked Jim'll Fix It on tv but only because of the format, definitely not because of him. Always thought he was a bit creepy. It never crossed my mind that he was anything but a bit creepy though. Seriously shocked when it all came out.

Have a look at an episode of Benny Hill & you'll get more of an idea about how common old blokes perving women & girls was & how acceptable.

I loved Jim'll Fix it. Definitely a time & place thing tho.

An awful lot of people will deny having liked him, but there was plenty of people queueing to mourn him. Lots of people loved Rolf Harris too.

Its like people are ashamed to admit they liked them. But how would your average person on the street have any idea what these people really were? All we saw was what we were presented with. In rolf's case, a harmless tv presenter/artist who was privileged enough to paint the Queen. If he's good enough for the Queen he's good enough for us mere mortals!

I'm 48, and was probably generally 'younger than my years ' growing up (so the idea of creepy men, closeted gays etc would have passed me by). I do remember vaguely wishing I could have a wish on JFI, but not much about the man himself. Yes, he was a bit odd- but then, so was I.

When the news started to emerge, I was discussing it with DB and he said, "Well Mum didn't like him even at the time, she said there was something off about him". Was genuinely shocked about this, as I don't remember her saying anything at the time or even objecting to us watching him on TV.

Child of the 60s. I always thought he was weird, seedy, arrogant and totally unfunny.

I could never ever understand why anyone liked him. Not said with the benefit of hindsight.

I'm too young to remember him in his heyday. However, a relative remembers overhearing a conversation many years ago between another relative and a third relative who was a consultant at Stoke Mandeville. Upon a passing comment about how nice it be to have Jimmy Savile visit so often, he made some very non committal noises and changed the subject. He certainly knew more than he let on.

Born 1964, Like many others, I thought he looked and sounded weird and creepy but obviously had no idea how and to what extent. My mum thought Jim'll Fix It was "common" and didn't let me watch it, so I only saw him on TOTP!

@AdoraBell

I’m 54. My late mother suggested writing to Jimmy Fix It for something I wanted to do, can’t remember what it was but I didn’t write in because he was creepy. I was too young to articulate it, but watching him on TV gave me the creeps.

This! I couldnt articulate it as a child either, but I knew I didnt want to be near him

I didn't know but they why would I, I only ever saw him on fix it and totp. Liked him on fix it, hatred him on totp. It's only when you watch all that doc footage together you realise he was hiding in plain sight. Felt very sorry for his victims, I remember Sam's account from years ago and found her to be incredibly brave and articulate

For all people claim ‘times have changed’, just look at how many people still VEHEMENTLY defend Michael Jackson. Sharing a bed with young boys, “Oh he just liked the innocent company of children.” My arse. Exactly the same as the love for Jimmy Savile, people don’t want to believe it.

Born early 90s and only heard of him when his death was in the news.

Were ‘the rumours’ the show goes on about very widespread?

I was born in the late seventies. I was a big fan of Jim’ll Fix It. I definitely thought he was odd, but he made dreams come true for kids, so I suppose I was willing to overlook any weirdness.

Beyond the obvious horrors in the documentary, I was disturbed by the depiction of an era I thought was wonderful as a child, but the film footage showed a really inward-looking, homogenous England.

@GarlandsinGreece

Yes I thought this too. The programme went beyond Jimmy Saville, it showed and insular and almost cult-like England. Not only in the establishment but it extended to the general public as well. If you were British you had to like Jimmy Saville. The show described how he was ‘national property’. Looking back, 1970’s/1980s England was a very bizarre place.

I was totally taken in by him and his PR.
I liked Jim’lfixit and also used home as an example of the fact that people could be weird and also be good people. I never met him or anyone who had met him either. I think in pre Internet days you only had the papers and TV to watch and all the news about him was how much he had helped spinal injury victims.

I was born in the 60s and FWIW always found JS very scary indeed, I couldn't say exactly why but it was such a strong feeling that I refused to watch Jim'll Fix It. At boarding school in the 70s our weekly treat was being allowed to watch ToTP, most of us didn't want to when he was on. When my sister, who at that time moved in some interesting circles told me about the necrophilia and the trains I was not at all surprised.

Born mid 70’s and I was always repulsed by him. Even back then I thought he had a horrible manner and his bare chest and small running shorts with cigar disgusted me.
My brother once wrote to the show and my dad wouldn’t let him post it.

Born late 70's.

It was a funny time looking back on it.

Sexism, racism and homophobia were rife on the television in popular sit-coms and comedy shows.

I do remember the Benny Hill show and being (even as a very young girl) repulsed by the end credits of him chasing much younger girls in bikinis around with a gurning face and comic music.

As for JS I honestly don't have that much memory about JFI as I'm not sure I watched it that much. I do have more memories of him hosting TOTP and being disappointed as I didn't like him as much as other presenters.

That said, I don't think that was me being particularly intuitive to the man he was - his style of presenting just didn't resonate with me at all - probably why I didn't watch JFI.

However, he was extremely popular and many people thought he was a national treasure because of the charity work he did (and we now know that provided both access to those he abused and cover for accusation of abuse).

The truth is he was a monster that hid in plain sight and there is no shame in saying you didn't (as a child or adult) see him for what he was.

The shame should be held by the adults who knew what he was doing or at least suspected it and especially people who suppressed investigations into his behaviour.

I’m also a millennial OP, and like you was only vaguely aware of him from seeing him on CBB for example, and just thought one was some old eccentric well loved by the British public.
I remember commenting to my mum when he died “aww, did you hear Jimmy Savile died?” And her reaction said it all. She said nothing but pulled a face that I know well to mean ‘I’m not sad about that’. My mum never met Savile btw.

I would love to be able to say I was creeped out by him, but I wasn't at all. I remember everyone going around school doing impersonations of his catchphrases. I wrote in to him, but would out myself to people who know me to say what it was for 😁
Same with Rolf Harris. A quirky, likeable Aussie bloke. I remember his "Learn to swim advert" in a public baths and the Jimmy Saville "Clunk Click every trip" seat belt one.

@Wishihadanalgorithm

I was repelled by JS. I loved the programme, seeing children achieve their dreams but I couldn’t have ever gone on the programme as he made my flesh crawl. Couldn’t say why, but he was creepy.

I never got this vibe from Rolf Harris though and was really saddened that he is another vile POS.

Ken Dodd was also very big in the 1970s and he was another one who made my flesh crawl.

Same. I’m quite a bit younger so missed the Jim’ll Fix It era/TOTP but I always was repulsed by JS whenever he popped up in the media. Always knew something about him was off and wasn’t shocked at all when everything came out.

I was shocked by RH though. I loved Animal Hospital as a child (had a lot of the toys they released as well), so when that news broke, I felt like part of my childhood was lost.

Same with Ian Watkins. Was a huge LP fan as a teen, saw them several times, fancied the pants off him, and absolutely had no idea he was such a complete pile of shit. Obviously I’ll never be able to listen to any of their songs ever again. And now there’s rumours about Jared Leto- it seems like it never ends.

However, just to clarify, obviously be being sad over childhood/teen memories is absolutely nothing compared to what the victims went though. It’s utterly heartbreaking.

This will sound unbelievable but as a young child I didn't like him. I didn't like his flashy clothes, his gold rings and shell suits and cigar. I felt that was braggy in a way that clashed uncomfortably with his supposedly selfless charity raising persona. I thought if he was really good he wouldn't sit in a huge velvet chair covered in chains for Jim'll fix it.

You might think this is unbelievable in a kid but as an adult I put my highly analytical personality to good use as a psychologist

I never guessed about Rolf H though. That was a big surprise.

Always thought he was a creepy bastard! Never wanted to apply to Jim'll fix it as he seriously creeped me out. I apparently called him 'the horrible man' whenever he came on the tele.

I was born in 74 and I LOVED Jim’ll Fix It and wrote in a couple of times. I didn’t like the bit where they got their badge because it was always awkward and JS was definitely weird. I don’t know anyone who didn’t think him weird because he just was. Men on television wore suits, business suits, not shell suits and the hair , cigar and gold chains were just so…weird. I didn’t think he was a massive sex offender, I just thought he was a weird old man. I was at an event he was doing something at when I was about 10 and I was uncomfortable but again, not because I thought he was dodgey. I was a shy kid and I’ve always been introverted and his extroversion made me uncomfortable. He was unpredictable and I think I knew that it was all about him and if someone like me was too shy to join in he would make a thing of it. I was always the same with any kind of childrens entertainers or the pantomime or anything. I hated any attention but I didn’t get creepy vibes as such. Almost ALL men were creepy though so he was just normal. TV was a shitshow of old men with glamorous assistants, sitcoms were full of young women getting leered at by their boss, Carry On was in its heyday. Remember ‘Allo ‘Allo with the waitresses taking the officers upstairs as well as carrying in with Rene? We used to watch a BONKERS sitcom as a family about a bloke who was on holiday with his wife and his mistress was at the same hotel. I was completely used to old men saying “ give us a kiss” or asking if I had a boyfriend, it was normal to see men grope womens arses. I wouldn’t have noticed one more creep.

I liked JIFI but it was about children dreams coming true such a simple program such a shame it’s tarnished

When my friend suggested we write in to meet Abba I felt panicky I didn’t understand why but he scared me. As I got older I found him creepy and annoying and a sad pathetic figure

My nan would say he was a creep and would say things like there is something wrong with him he should be locked up. only thing I can guess is rumours she heard form her family in Leeds

I think many felt confused by him which is exactly what he wanted. People who worked with him saw the man we saw on tv they didn’t have conversations with him just him making announcements all the time