Jimmy Savile

Sir James Wilson Vincent Savile (; 31 October 1926 – 29 October 2011) was an English media personality and DJ. He was known for his eccentric image, charitable work, and hosting the BBC shows Top of the Pops and Jim'll Fix It. After his death, hundreds of allegations of sexual abuse made against him were investigated, leading the police to conclude that he was a predatory sex offender, possibly one of the United Kingdom's most prolific. There had been allegations during his lifetime, but they were dismissed and accusers were ignored or disbelieved. Savile's victims allegedly included young children and elderly individuals.

As a teenager during the Second World War, Savile worked in coal mines as a Bevin Boy. He began a career playing records in, and later managing, dance halls. His media career started as a disc jockey at Radio Luxembourg in 1958 and at Tyne Tees Television in 1960. From 1964 to 1988, Savile was a regular presenter on the BBC music show Top of the Pops, also co-presenting the last edition in 2006. In 1968, he began hosting his own radio shows for Radio 1, broadcasting until 1987. From 1975 to 1994, he presented Jim'll Fix It, an early Saturday evening television programme which arranged for the wishes of viewers, mainly children, to come true.

Savile was known for fundraising and supporting various charities and hospitals, in particular Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Aylesbury, Leeds General Infirmary, and Broadmoor Hospital in Berkshire. In 2009, he was described by The Guardian as a "prodigious philanthropist" and was honoured for his charity work. He was awarded the OBE in 1971 and was knighted in 1990. Following his death in 2011 at the age of 84, Savile was praised in obituaries for his personal qualities and his work raising an estimated £40 million for charities.

In October 2012, an ITV documentary examined claims of sexual abuse by Savile. This led to extensive media coverage and a substantial and rapidly growing body of witness statements and sexual abuse claims, including accusations against public bodies for covering up or failure of duty. Scotland Yard launched a criminal investigation into allegations of child sex abuse by Savile spanning six decades, describing him as a "predatory sex offender," and later stated that they were pursuing more than 400 lines of inquiry based on the testimony of 300 potential victims via 14 police forces. The scandal had resulted in inquiries or reviews at the BBC, within the NHS, the Crown Prosecution Service, and the Department of Health. In June 2014, investigations into Savile's activities at 28 NHS hospitals concluded that he had sexually assaulted staff and patients aged between 5 and 75 over several decades. As a result of the scandal, some of the honours that Savile was awarded during his career were posthumously revoked and his television appearances are no longer shown.

Early life

Savile, born in Consort Terrace, in the Burley area of Leeds, West Riding of Yorkshire, was the youngest of seven children (his elder siblings were Mary, Marjory, Vincent, John, Joan, and Christina) in a Roman Catholic family. His parents were Vincent Joseph Savile (1886–1953), a bookmaker's clerk and insurance agent, and his wife, Agnes Monica Kelly (1886–1972). His paternal grandmother was Scottish, whilst his mother was of Irish descent. Savile grew up during the Great Depression, and later claimed that he "was forged in the crucible of want." He described his father as "scrupulously honest but scrupulously broke."

Savile's mother believed he owed his life to the intercession of Margaret Sinclair, a Scottish nun, after he recovered quickly from illness, possibly pneumonia, at the age of two when his mother prayed at Leeds Cathedral after picking up a pamphlet about Sinclair. Savile went to St Anne's Roman Catholic School in Leeds. After leaving school at the age of 14 he worked in an office. At the age of 18 during the Second World War he was conscripted to work as a Bevin Boy and worked in coal mines, where he reportedly suffered spinal injuries from a shot-firer's explosion and he spent a long period recuperating, wearing a steel corset and for three years walking with the aid of sticks. Following his colliery work, Savile became a scrap metal dealer. Savile started playing records in dance halls in the early 1940s, and claimed to be the first DJ. According to his autobiography, he was the first to use two turntables and a microphone at the Grand Records Ball at the Guardbridge Hotel in 1947, although his claim to have been the first is untrue; twin turntables were illustrated in the BBC Handbook in 1929 and advertised for sale in Gramophone magazine in 1931. He became a semi-professional sportsman, competing in the 1951 Tour of Britain cycle race and working as a professional wrestler.

Savile lived in Salford from the mid-1950s to the mid-1960s, the later period with Ray Teret, who became his support DJ, assistant, and chauffeur. Savile managed the Plaza Ballroom on Oxford Street, in Manchester city centre, in the mid-1950s. When he lived in Great Clowes Street in Higher Broughton, Salford, he was often seen sitting on his front door steps. He managed the Mecca Locarno ballroom in Leeds in the late 1950s and early 1960s as well as the Mecca-owned Palais dance hall in Ilford, Essex, between 1955 and 1956. His Monday evening records-only dance sessions (admission one shilling) were popular with local teens. It was while at Ilford that Savile was discovered by a music executive from Decca Records.

Career

Radio

Savile's radio career began as a DJ at Radio Luxembourg from 1958 to 1968. By 1968 he presented six programmes a week, and his Saturday show reached six million listeners. In terms of recognition, he was one of the leading DJs in Britain by the early 1960s. In 1968, he joined Radio 1, where he presented Savile's Travels, a weekly programme broadcast on Sundays in which he travelled around the UK talking to members of the public. From 1969 to 1973 he fronted Speakeasy, a discussion programme for teenagers. On Radio 1 he presented the Sunday lunchtime show Jimmy Savile's Old Record Club, playing chart Top 10s from years gone by. It was the first show to feature old charts and Savile used a "points system" in an imaginary quiz with the audience to guess the names of the song and artist. It began in 1973 as The Double Top Ten Show, and ended in 1987 as The Triple Top Ten Show when he left Radio 1 after 19 years. He presented The Vintage Chart Show, playing top tens from 1957 to 1987, on the BBC World Service from March 1987 until October 1989.

From March 1989 to August 1997, he broadcast on various stations around the UK (mostly taking the Gold format, such as the West Midlands' Xtra AM and the Classic Gold network in Yorkshire) where he revived his Radio 1 shows. In 1994, satirist Chris Morris gave a fake obituary on BBC Radio 1 saying that Savile had collapsed and died, which allegedly drew threats of legal action from Savile and forced an apology from Morris. On 25 December 2005 and 1 January 2007, he presented shows on the Real Radio network. The Christmas 2005 show counted down the festive Top 10s of 10, 20, and 30 years previously, while the New Year 2007 show (also taken by Century Radio following its acquisition by GMG) featured Savile recounting anecdotes from his past and playing associated records, mostly from the 1960s and some from the 1970s.

Television

Savile's first television role was as a co-presenter, with Valerie Masters, of Tyne Tees Television's music programme Young at Heart, which aired for eight weeks from May 1960. Although the show was broadcast in black and white, Savile dyed his hair a different colour every week as part of a long-running joke. On New Year's Day 1964, he presented the first edition of the BBC music chart television programme Top of the Pops from Dickenson Road Studios, a television studio in a converted church in Rusholme, Manchester. On 30 July 2006, he co-hosted the final weekly edition, ending it with the words "It's number one, it's still Top of the Pops", before turning off the studio lights after the closing credits. When interviewed by the BBC on 20 November 2008 and asked about the revival of Top of the Pops for a Christmas comeback, he said he would welcome a "cameo role" in the programme.

In the early 1960s, Savile co-hosted (with Pete Murray) the televised New Musical Express Poll Winners' Concert, held annually at the Empire Pool in Wembley, with acts such as the Beatles, Cliff Richard and the Shadows, Joe Brown and the Bruvvers, the Who, and many others. On 31 December 1969, he hosted the BBC/ZDF co-production Pop Go the Sixties, shown across Western Europe, celebrating the hits of the decade.