The thick of it - Savile joke

[wavingwhilstdrowning]

I just got round to reading an addition of Popbitch from 14/10. Always nice to see just how many ways and times that the BBC protected him. This will have happened in 2005ish I guess, 6 years before he died.

Basement cracks

Slight tangent but on that Piers Morgan clip did anyone else notice that Johnny Rotten made it clear more than once that Savile wasn't the only depraved one but Piers side stepped that neatly and didn't probe further?

Surely if he actually gave a shit at all aboit exposing predators he'd have dug a bit deeper? Or maybe they're all his mates

I do wonder to what extent Savile is a convenient scapegoat to allow others to avoid scrutiny. Not for one second saying he didn't do all the horrific things he's accused of and more, but hard to believe there weren't more like him

I wonder how much more will come out over the next decade or two

My dad "knew". Don't ask me how. He didn't like us watching Savile on TV. He was creepy as fuck and repulsive to look at, and I could never understand why he was so popular with youth audiences.

I am disgusted with the BBC making an entertainment programme out of their own cover up, and using an actor, known above all for his comedy, as the star.

for all the brave victims who spoke out, tried to fight this injustice, and were thoroughly failed all round. Make a programme centring them, not Savile.

I think they definitely knew but it was probably considered ‘consensual’ because society expected poor girls to have sex as kids. It was only really the working class people like Johnny Rotten who would have cared enough to try and do something about it. There are similar rumours about Jared Leto & he has been called out publically several times.

He was creepy as fuck and repulsive to look at, and I could never understand why he was so popular with youth audiences

He was. This really isn't a with the benefit of hindsight view. He was repulsive.

@wavingwhilstdrowning

They knew. I wrote to Ranzen and told her FGS! It's convenient to believe they didn't, but they did. And they chose to ignore it. I told the West Yorkshire Police and wrote to the DG of the BBC, the head of childrens programming, the head of culture and Ranzen on 3 occasions. As a victim of this man the pain caused by knowing EVERYONE knew is huge. Coogan knew, and now he makes a drama about it, and profits from it. Louis Theroux had the decency to admit he "Suspected and didn't want to push it" because he was young and wanted to protect his career. The others I mention had/have huge power and chose to do nothing. To be fair to Hislop he made his views very clear in Private eye and behaved in a thoroughly decent manner to the victims who had no voice. Victims that still have no voice whilst the BBC profits from it's grotesque drama and Iannucci get's to tell funny stories about having jokes cut. These are real victims, real people and it is not fucking funny.

,,,,,,

i am so sorry x

My dad 'knew'. He was a journo at the time, and when the Radio 1 roadshow came to town, he was always able to get me in to meet the DJs and they would give me free t-shirts and other merch. Except for the year Jimmy Saville turned up and my dad wouldn't let me go anywhere near it, and actually wouldn't let me even go to watch and told me to tell my friends not to go either. He told me years later that everyone in media knew he had a dodgy rep, I doubt if he realised the extent of his depravity though.

West Yorkshire police knew. Infact its since come out lots of members of the police, some senior used to hang out at his flat and hang out with him. They called it their coffee morning.

They knew they protected him and I think there's only one reason why. Because they were doing the same things.

I am so sorry to read your posts Wavingwhilstdrowning. The imbalance in power between you and presumably others who made accusations and Savile is horrifying. He was so secure in his position, exemplified in his having the keys to Broadmoor.

Interesting to read about your dad, TheWestIsTheBest. I think it was rare to know, or even suspect, the truth about him. remember the public reaction when Jimmy Savile died. It was treated as if it was a great loss. I also think that the views about all those girls he groomed and abused were abhorrent. Although things have improved, It is still possible to see references to 'underage sex' as a way of minimising what has happened.

Popbitch knew in 2003. I remember this because of where I was living at the time.

Steve Coogan and Armando Ianucci may have heard rumours but as far as I know neither of them would have worked with Savile or been in a position to cover anything up. They are both younger than me by a few years and would have been at the start of their careers in the mid to late 80s by which time Savile's star was waning (thankfully). Not a good idea to start claiming specific people knew about this and did nothing unless you have evidence to back it up. Most people (like me) thought he was odd and creepy and nothing more than that.

I know nothing about the drama the BBC is making about Savile. I think the whole idea is off. Would have been far better to stand back and let ITV or Channel 4 do it. However, I assume they're not going to play it for laughs and they surely can't believe they can get away with presenting it as anything over than a massive cover up on the BBC's part and a shameful blot on its reputation.

They knew. I wrote to Ranzen and told her FGS!

No, I mean the comedians that were joking about it. See also Lee and Herring from the early 90s. Richard Herring has since said that it was something that people joked about, but didn't think it would be really true.
Obviously some people knew and covered it up, but I think a lot of those joking about it didn't know. Not really know.

I had a nurse friend at St James'. She said when Saville visited they hoped they wouldn't be asked to show him round because he was a creep and nobody liked him. But even she didn't know know. Nothing real or firm she could take to the police (not that they would have acted).

I think he groomed many adults too. Into not seeing what he was doing.

You can’t convict someone on rumours but the bbc and police should absolutely have looked into it

I'm not surprised about Leeds police station.
My dsis bil was a copper there in the 90's.
It was a racist, sexist excuse of a police service.
The stories she heard were sickening even then.

RADIO 4 this morning
The woman discussing David Fuller just said that the truth was never properly discussed about Savile being a necrophiliac
😮
Never thought I'd here that on the BBC. The newsreader moved on with a 'yes well...' so she was quickly silenced but still v vindicating

Oh and I am listed as a vexatious complaint by the BBC because I complained about their coverage of 'Karen White' and told them that calling that monster 'she' and 'respecting her pronouns' whilst refusing to acknowledge the victims lived reality of being repeatedly taped by a man was corporate victim abuse. I didn't swear or say anything untoward- just a letter of complaint referring to Savile and saying Karen White should be referred to as the male rapist they are.

@EnjoyingTheSilence

I think he groomed many adults too. Into not seeing what he was doing.

You can’t convict someone on rumours but the bbc and police should absolutely have looked into it

I've been told repeatedly 'you can't convict on rumours' I had been beaten - I could prove it. There were bbc staff present. 5 witnesses. The police didn't care and knew what he was doing.

I can’t say anything apart from I’m so sorry @wavingwhilstdrowning. I can’t imagine your pain.

I think it’s revolting the BBC is making the new drama. Should have been ITV or Channel 4. It’s so inappropriate and God knows how many people involved in covering up his crimes will be involved in the making of the programme.

Your story is awful, OP, I’m so sorry. I don’t understand how Rantzen sleeps at night- I’ve often thought that out of everyone in the BBC at the time, she surely had enough power to do something. She could have said something live on air so it couldn’t be hushed up, she could have gone to ITV- she must have had options, and she did nothing. I can’t look at her and think anything but what a rotten hypocrite she is. She made money out of pretending to be the defender of children. Disgusting.

Jerry Sadowitz was talking about it in his act by 1987.

There was a fear of it being libel though.

Lots knew but only the police really had any proof and, well, they were his personal bully boys back then.

Funny how the police go to bat as enforcers for some. (Not always child abusers of course, but bullies too)

So sorry this happened to you and everyone else @wavingwhilstdrowning. There is no excuse. He could have been investigated and I’d like to think something like that couldn’t happened again but sadly I think I’m wrong.

I wish there was something useful I could say but I know there isn’t. I just want to wish you well and let you know that you are right, what happened to you was wrong, how you were treated was appalling and how it was covered shouldn’t have happened.

My granddad knew and he was literally a nobody who just worked in a theatre in the North in the 1950s and early 60s. He never even met Saville and he still knew. He wouldn't let my mum watch him on TV in the 70s. My granddad was dead by the time everything came out in the press and we all thought everyone already knew so it was a surprise to see everyone so shocked about it.

A few years ago when the Saville abuse was finally acknowledged and accepted as real my boss who was in his 60s told me about his friend who was a matron on a children's ward in Milton Keynes during the height of his fame. Absolutely everyone in senior management knew he was abusing the children and she had to warn all of the nurses not to leave him unsupervised with them. She tried to object to his visit but the bosses said the publicity was too valuable.

@NarcissistsEyebrows

Slight tangent but on that Piers Morgan clip did anyone else notice that Johnny Rotten made it clear more than once that Savile wasn't the only depraved one but Piers side stepped that neatly and didn't probe further?

Surely if he actually gave a shit at all aboit exposing predators he'd have dug a bit deeper? Or maybe they're all his mates

I do wonder to what extent Savile is a convenient scapegoat to allow others to avoid scrutiny. Not for one second saying he didn't do all the horrific things he's accused of and more, but hard to believe there weren't more like him

I wonder how much more will come out over the next decade or two

Yes, I saw that. Depressing

@wavingwhilstdrowning

RADIO 4 this morning The woman discussing David Fuller just said that the truth was never properly discussed about Savile being a necrophiliac 😮 Never thought I'd here that on the BBC. The newsreader moved on with a 'yes well...' so she was quickly silenced but still v vindicating

Yes, I'd only heard about his necrophilia since this David Fuller case. So they're still protecting him!

I'm on the fence about the BBC programme. I hope it will expose how and why he got away with it and how girls were treated in the past by society, not just Saville and the BBC. The problem was society and patriarchy. And still is though at least now its acknowledged as wrong.
I was abused as a child in the 70s and you felt it was your fault and shame. It was almost impossible to report it.
So my point is that Saville got away with it because loads of men did and it was acceptable to some extent