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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
brokengoalposts · 12/04/2022 00:40

I remember a conversation I had with friends, probably early 90's, when we were in our mid twenties. Not one of us wasn't creeped out by him, but we were all torn between this and knowing he'd done so much for charity. I think that fooled so many people into thinking he was better than they thought. "Now then, now then" made me cringe and I'd turn over the tv, so never watched those interviews where it was seemingly bloody obvious there was something not right.

Giggorata · 12/04/2022 00:41

Born in the 50s, and regarded Savile as uncool and naff, with the silly clothes and the sing song voice he put on and the stupid yodelling noise he made.
Was aware that he was always doing charity work and publicity but it always came across as self aggrandising and tiresome.
Jim’ll Fix It was a great idea for a programme, and I watched it in its early days, despite Savile being on it, not because.
When I began to hear the rumours about him being a perv, it wasn't the most surprising thing I’d ever heard, but I couldn't honestly say I,d always thought it. I just had the strong impression that there was something up with him.

brokengoalposts · 12/04/2022 00:41

@Cookerhood

I'm in my 50s. I always found him creepy and couldn't see why people adored him. Rolf Harris on the other hand...
Oh yeah, I was totally fooled by Rolf, thought he was great.
Thelnebriati · 12/04/2022 00:49

As a kid I thought he was creepy and 'off', but UK showbiz has always embraced eccentric and flamboyant people. I thought if he was on TV and mixed with famous people and Royals, there couldnt be anything actually wrong about him.
Now its obvious that they all knew, even police and security services.

bigyellowTpot · 12/04/2022 00:50

Born late 70s so a child of the 80s I loved watching jim'll fix it and rolfs cartoon club obvs didn't pick up any creepy vibes as a young child as like other posters said saville was just seen as eccentric. but seeing him now through adult eyes yes It was bloody obvious he was a perv. I was shocked at Rolf Harris though he always came across as such a nice guy but that's how they operate and get away with it I suppose. Looking back now I think Timmy mallet seemed a bit weird and creepy too, anyone else think so??

XDownwiththissortofthingX · 12/04/2022 01:04

Looking back now I think Timmy mallet seemed a bit weird and creepy too, anyone else think so??

I have a comprehensive list of 70's and 80's TV personas that I can't believe haven't been collared by Yewtree, but I think that says more about differences in people's perceptions more than anything else.

I don't agree with the poster that suggested claiming Savile gave you the creeps is sneery and victim-blaming, because I definitely felt that about him, and yet I met Stuart Hall twice, so did my partner, and neither of us got any 'creep' vibes from him at all. Possible that was just down to the fact that he looked pretty normal compared to Savile's eccentricity, and I don't think he offended against children in any case. But the point is, different people get different vibes from the same person, and when I've mentioned some of the people who always gave me 'avoid like the plague' vibes, it's not uncommon for the person I'm relaying that to to act all 'really? never ever got that impression myself'.

Mallet I didn't like, but I just felt that was his over-the-top and contrived 'zaniness' that put me off. I still can't take to the sort of people who go around telling everyone how 'mad for it' and 'crazy' they are. It just rubs me up the wrong way.

CherryRipe1 · 12/04/2022 01:06

I found him irritating and badly dressed
(like many 70s DJ's) but allowances made for his good works. I surmised he was a mummy's boy confirmed batchelor type or closet gay. My dad worked on the 'Clunk click" ads with JS & said he was a bloody nice bloke and only took a nominal fee for his efforts. 🤔

PussInBin20 · 12/04/2022 01:11

Born 70s and grew up watching him. Yes he was odd looking/wore strange clothes but like others just thought he was eccentric.

I did love Jim’s Fix It and once my school got us all to write in to make requests. I asked for Duran Duran to come and perform but sadly they never came.

ilovepixie · 12/04/2022 01:12

I loved Jim'll Fix It. I was constantly writing to him asking him to fix things.
We lived opposite Stoke Mandeville hospital and a nurse who used to baby sit my brother said the nurses all hated to see him coming into the wards!
We used to see him around the hospital and local shop and he used to hang around my sisters school but we didn't really think anything of it. He was really famous and classed as a national treasure due to all his charity work and no one had any idea of the monster he really was.

Skiptheheartsandflowers · 12/04/2022 01:29

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.

This puts It really well. It's so hard now to separate out what we know from our memories. All the parents who said at the time there was 'something off' with him were as likely to be responding to the obvious surface weirdness as their sense of what lay beneath.

bigyellowTpot · 12/04/2022 01:32

@XDownwiththissortofthingX
Mallet I didn't like, but I just felt that was his over-the-top and contrived 'zaniness' that put me off. I still can't take to the sort of people who go around telling everyone how 'mad for it' and 'crazy' they are. It just rubs me up the wrong way.
yes totally agree. And I always find it odd why a grown man wants to act like a child. To a child they're seen as fun and not another boring serious adult but as an adult I sometimes find it quite strange and sinister.I mean, Didn't Michael Jackson behave exactly like that! like a 10 year old boy having sleepovers etc with his boy pals etc.

lameasahorse · 12/04/2022 01:45

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Mothership4two · 12/04/2022 01:47

I grew up in the 70's and he made me feel uncomfortable and I didn't find him funny. He was on tv a lot which I remember being a bit bemused by, but a lot of things bemused me back then.

A good friend's friend was a nurse at Stoke Mandeville during the 80's and she told me that all the nurses avoided him as he was a "dirty old man". I naively thought she meant he was a bit of a flirt and maybe pinched the odd bum.

lameasahorse · 12/04/2022 01:47

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XDownwiththissortofthingX · 12/04/2022 01:55

Didn't Michael Jackson behave exactly like that! like a 10 year old boy having sleepovers etc with his boy pals etc

The people who insist Michael Jackson was entirely childlike and innocent, rather than being a predatory abuser of children, are clearly either unaware of certain things that the FBI uncovered at the Neverland ranch and on his private jet, or they are aware and choose to ignore it because they can't accept the truth about their beloved idol. Possessing images of child sexual abuse, and plying children with alcohol is not the behaviour of an innocent but eccentric 'manchild'. He was never tried for these offences because the prosecutors were so certain he'd be convicted for the more serious offence of actually assaulting a child that they didn't bother to present them, but that doesn't altar the fact that the FBI found what they found, or that it was uncontested that he'd been serving alcohol to children.

XDownwiththissortofthingX · 12/04/2022 01:57

alter*

bloody phone Angry

Toddlerteaplease · 12/04/2022 02:20

@Mothership4two that's why I find my friend, who was also there in the 80's, as was her husband, attitude so strange. As there are multiple stories from patients and staff saying things like your friend.

Aroundtheworldin80moves · 12/04/2022 02:21

Born mid 80s. Remember watching Jim'll fix it but no details. I had no awareness of him really. I vaguely remember that show as a guy presenting it in a tracksuit and medals.

To put it into context on how low my awareness was... the singing contest Tweenies episode, with the grandpa? Dressed in a shiny suit... I had no idea he was meant to be Saville and had no idea what the furore was about when it was broadcast on CBeebies 10 years ago as my daughter throughly enjoyed the episode!

BashfulClam · 12/04/2022 02:30

He always gave me the creeps when he was on tv.

TheRealBoswell · 12/04/2022 02:33

I hardly remember Saville either. But I do have vague memories of Rolf Harris because I think we watched a few of his wildlife shows in primary school.

But I’ve seen old clips of Saville and he just looks so creepy. Crazy how much access to power he had. I do wonder if there were others like him who have/had abused their positions of power when doing charity work etc and working with children and whatnot.

MajorCarolDanvers · 12/04/2022 02:36

I loved watching Jim'll Fix It when I was a kid. I can still hum the theme tune.

I thought he was great for raising all that money for charity.

I was shocked to find out what he'd done.

XDownwiththissortofthingX · 12/04/2022 02:41

But I’ve seen old clips of Saville and he just looks so creepy. Crazy how much access to power he had. I do wonder if there were others like him who have/had abused their positions of power when doing charity work etc and working with children and whatnot

Given what we know about Savile, the fact his behaviours were not entirely hidden, and that people in power ignored complaints about him, I shudder to think what must have gone on elsewhere.

TV was full of shows with children everywhere in the 70's and 80s'. Off the top of my head, I can think of Crackerjack, Runaround, Tiswas, We Are the Champions, and there are undoubtedly countless more that I've forgotten, so I would be stunned if Savile was the only predator who inveigled himself into that world, and if it was only guests on his shows who were abused.

You'd think that if it had happened elsewhere on the scale of Savile's offending then people would have been coming forward in droves they way they did when the JS stories broke, but then I'm sure that there may well have been instances of backroom staff or much lesser known personalities, perhaps even staff in the same hospitals Savile frequented, who may have abused children, and it was either infrequent enough, unwitnessed, or the victims themselves would be unsure of who their attackers were, and it would pass totally unreported.

It's scary to think what other like-minded people could have gotten away with when you see what attitudes were like and how easy it was to get access to children and vulnerable people.

SpeedofaSloth · 12/04/2022 02:56

As a child of the 70s and 80s, I thought him creepy, but frankly that was just like a lot of men from that era. Never understood why he was so popular.
Rolf Harris wasn't creepy though, that did come as a surprise to me.

TomPinch · 12/04/2022 02:58

When I was a child he reminded me of Willy Wonka. Eccentric, extrovert, unpredictable, and holding the key to an Aladdin's cave of treasures. I can't say I had any thoughts about whether he was nice or not. He was just a bloke on the television.

For the same reason I find it a bit odd when anyone says some presenter is a good or bad person. They're presenters- they have a public face, that's what they do.

When a child I did think that Rolf Harris and Tony Hart must be nice people though (nb I'm not aware of anything being alleged against the latter.)

HappyDays40 · 12/04/2022 02:59

He looked like a local weirdo who used to hang around our local park trying to talk to unaccompanied children so I hated Jimmy Saville then.