John Lydon 'I'd like to kill Jimmy Savile' [1978]

[ElenorRigby]

This interview was recorded for BBC radio in late 1978, this excerpt was not broadcast but has just been made available as part of the reissue of the first PIL album.

Lydon:
I think he's a hypocrite.
He's into all kinds of seediness.
We all know about but are not allowed to talk about. I know some rumours.

Interviewer:
People always tell you things.

Lydon:
I bet none of this will be allowed out.

Interviewer:
I should imagine libellous stuff won't be allowed out.

Lydon:
Nothing I've said is libel.

Wow.

Good old John.

Well why didn't he speak about it then?

your first quote is wrong

"He's into all kinds of seediness."

he said

"I bet he's into all kinds of seediness"

The "I bet" removes the libel.

I can't stand him but bloody hell, someone should have listened to him back then.

how could anyone listen to someone they couldn't hear? the radio didn't broadcast it, he didn't go to the police, did he? why not? saying something on radio (that isn't broadcast) wasn't his only option- in fact it was hardly an attempt to out JS at all because he knew it wouldn't be broadcast. if he knew anything he should have gone to the police. if he didn't know anything to go to the police with then why was he insinuating he did?

and someone should have listened to the countless children who did tell adults/police/ people in authority. lots of people should have listened to lots of people.

Erm, and why didn't these people in the know go to the police?

Exit, why say good old John?

He didn't do anything more to out him.

exactly idiot

Go to the police? The authorities, the police, the hobs and nobs at the BBC, they all covered for him, at that time everyone was blocked, there was no point in anyone talking out, Jimmy Saville was protected. We can't blame people for not speaking out, no one would listen then.

What he done was beyond disgust, but the people that protected him are also beyond disgust, but it's not right to blame people who heard the rumours, they couldn't do anything.

yes they could. they could have kept talking about it in public. lots of people knew the things he had done, lots of them public figures. keep talking about it til somebody listens. I don't accept this excuse that it was just those times and nobody could do anything. and i'm talking about the adults that knew- not the children.

and we very much can blame the authorities, the police, the hobs and the nobs for not speaking out- they had the information just the same as the people who had no authority. they definitely can be blamed for not speaking out! especially when they were the ones that had the authority to do something about him.

the hobs and the nobs could have refused to employ him or work with him, the police could have arrested and investigated him. who was blocking them? was there a higher power? if so then the higher power needed to act. it isn't acceptable to keep passing the buck. people who could and should have done something didn't and there is blame there for what they didn't do.

The people who knew (not just hearing rumours, which you can't take to the police) are the ones who protected him, that's what I am trying to say, just badly .

Quite aside from the wall of silence which was clearly in place, I doubt many in authority would have taken Johnny Rotten circa 1978 particularly seriously, however right he was.

What I mean is ŷou can't blame people like JL, he didn't know, he'd heard rumours, who would have taken him seriously? At the time he was a drugged up punk, who enjoyed rocking the establishment, they would have made mincemeat out of him, or at least made sure he wasn't heard, oh yes it seems they did that.

X post Hassled [smle]

Bloody I pad!

No one listened.

No one would listen to John Lydon at the time either due to him being such a rebel

People knew. People hid it. Sickening.

Sorry. My remark should have been accompanied by a sarcastic smiley.

What Onestep said. You can't go to the police with rumours, even if he was right.

Well he DID say something didn't he? And it was edited out.

And seriously would anyone with the power to do anything have been listening to someone who was singing such anti-establishment material as he was?

I think pretty much everyone knew but just STFU and thought about their own careers.

Sparkly - or knew there were rumours but had no evidence to take to the police. Who wouldn't have listened anyway, as we know they not only didn't listen to victims, but threatened them into silence.

Even my Mum, who only worked with TV companies (Granada and BBC) tangentially, had heard the rumours - she stopped me writing to Jim'll Fix It, which I did not understand and thought was mean. But she didn't have anything she could have gone to the police about. And people didn't in those days - even when we had a dodgy swimming teacher, she didn't go to the cops, she just took us out of lessons. He hadn't done anything 'wrong' enough to make an official complaint.

My Mum's a decent, intelligent woman, who has fought against injustice repeatedly, btw. There are quite a few victims of the powerful whose corners she has fought. But there wasn't enough in the terms understood in the 80s to take any official steps.

I'm sure there were people at the Beeb who did know more, who had more evidence, and could have refused to work with the disgusting creep Saville. But I can see why many more people who had heard rumours felt unable to do anything about it.

Has anyone read anything about how high this actually went?

When this first broke, We had articles about high powered BBC execs, hospitals, politicians etc. But months on all we have is a recording of john Lyndon and some celebs that have been arrested and released.

As far as I can see we have no-one that is remotely near the top of the chain and no-one is really making an effort to find out.