Matthew Steeples shares his somewhat mixed thoughts on the allegations against Sir Jimmy Savile
When Sir Jimmy Savile’s 2002 Rolls-Royce Corniche went to auction in July with a guide price of £60,000 to £90,000, he seemed destined to be remembered as a man who would continue to do as much good in death as he appeared to have done in life. Savile (1926 – 2011) had arranged that all proceeds of the auction would go to charity and in the end the car fetched £130,000.
By September 2012, however, everything had changed. Savile, a man who had raised an estimated £40,000,000 for charity during his lifetime, now stands accused of allegations of sexual assault against numerous women and at least one male following an ITV1 documentary, Exposure: The Other Side of Jimmy Savile.
When I first heard these allegations, I was somewhat perturbed. My initial thought was: “Is it right that these allegations surface when the alleged perpetrator is not here to defend himself?” Yes, Savile and many other stars of his generation and ilk appeared eccentric and perhaps even a little sinister, but that does not mean that they were or are necessarily paedophiles and rapists. In the days that followed, I found myself questioning the motivations of those who had waited until this supposedly affable star was dead before they opted to blacken his name. The fact that many of these “victims” remain hidden behind masks of anonymity, equally, is somewhat questionable especially when their alleged abuser is not here to “threaten” them any longer either.
Having since watched the documentary, presented by former police detective Mark Williams-Thomas, and subsequently heard an incredibly creepy recording released by the BBC of Savile with a 14-year old girl, my mind changed somewhat and I now find myself appalled that this individual was allowed to get away with his perverted ways for so long.
Even in his lifetime, the bachelor Savile made some pretty sordid comments about his sex life and attitude towards women. A passage from his 1974 autobiography, As it Happens, gives an example:
“There have been trains and, with apologies to the hit parade, boats and planes (I am a member of the 40,000 foot club) and bushes and fields, corridors, doorways, floors, chairs, slag heaps, desks and probably everything except the celebrated chandelier and ironing board.”
It is also true that Savile was investigated and interviewed under caution over allegations of indecent assault in the 1970s by British police in 2007 and that the States of Jersey police had similarly looked into another assault in 2008. Neither resulted in any charges being brought but now that many of his former colleagues have come forward to state that knowledge of the Jim’ll Fix It star’s predatory ways were “well known,” one has to ask why no one shouted louder back then. After all, many of these people were in positions of power equal and in some cases senior to Savile.
Rather like with Leveson, though, the present calls for an investigation into the activities of Jimmy Savile come too late and are in my view pointless. Such an inquiry would certainly give the camera loving blabbermouths their day in court but it will not bring any closure for those who were allegedly abused. Their alleged abuser will never be punished for what he allegedly did and the only people to benefit will be the lawyers. Column inches will indeed also be filled but what else would be achieved?
Savile is buried in a coffin inclined at 45 degrees to fulfill his wish to “see the sea” at Woodlands Cemetery in Scarborough, Yorkshire. It has recently been encased in concrete “as a security measure” and given that a memorial plaque on his former home had to be removed after being defaced with graffiti, this is probably wise.
Whether Jimmy Savile is innocent or guilty of the abuses that he has been accused, his name now is forever tarnished. That now will be this strange man’s only legacy.
For more details on The Jimmy Savile Charitable Trust, go to: http://www.thejimmysavilecharitabletrust.com/
What’s Tom McLoughin’s view on this story? No doubt the misogynist will defend the indefensible rape allegations. No doubt he also had lunch with Sir Jimmy The BBC Letch at a table shared with Stelios Haji-Ioannou, Asil Nadir and Kenneth I. Chenault, CEO of American Express.
I am disgusted. You should advocate removing this bastard’s title and firing all who were out there protecting him. I thought better of you Matthew.
Hear hear! I agree, although I would go one step further and dig the man up (as they did with Cromwell) and put his head on a spike outside the BBC building. One only hopes that the sleazy culture at the BBC by middle management (& endorsed by senior management) to grope female staff will also be exposed and stamped out. Read Flora Watkins article (editor of Horse & Hound) in yesterday’s Daily Telegraph re her horrifying experience with her boss as a graduate starting a new job at the BBC). If I thought that someone was abusing their position of power and molesting one of my daughters, as well as other women in the work place, I’d have to become a vigilante and enable the perpetrator to join the long list of castrati………….
I KNEW JIMMY AND HE WAS A TRULY KIND AND CONSIDERATE MAN. YOU SHOULD REALISE THAT HE IS BEING ATTACKED BY THE LIBERALS OF THIS COUNTRY WHO HAVEN’T DONE A THING FOR IT. THEY SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF THEMSELVES. MAY OUR DEAR BROTHER JIMMY REST PEACEFULLY AND WITHOUT ANY MORE HYPERBOLE FROM THESE INFIDELS.
You obviously didn’t know Jimmy as well as you thought. Too many people have come forward with stories of his dreadful behaviour towards young girls for there to be any doubt. You may have found him a kind and considerate man but you cannot defend the indefensible. Some people thought Adolf Hitler was a pleasant enough chap.
Jimmy Savile is worse than Adolf Hitler. You mark my words.
Alan, I to knew the late Jimmy I and and with you 100%,
If you are trying to make a serious point, switch off Caps Lock.
Mounting evidence old chap…………I take it you’re not one of the victims or listening to the news.
I met Jimmy a couple of times through work in his later life and he was an incredibly inspiring person but I think any right thinking person will have been dismayed, appalled and upset by the obviously true stories of the past few weeks. I dont see any room for doubt myself. He did some good and he did some bad and the bad was as bad as it gets.
What’s wrong with you all? Jimmy Savile didn’t abuse anybody. You’re all sick and twisted for believing otherwise.
Right. Drag the evil bugger out of his concrete pit and put a new suit on him. The Old Bailey is waiting.
Bandwagon. I’d get off before The Grim Reaper calls for you lot…. Or I do.
lmao what a joke , who cares?, give it couple of years “forgotten about” the man dead and that that.
Supposing Jimmy had been “outed” at the very beginning (impossible in those days, possible only now) – I wonder whether he would have been able to reform that part of himself and still function as an entertainer.
A strange thought struck me – what if every good-doing maverick, wit, entertainer, memorable character, always, of necessity, had a dark side. Something that balanced out what we choose to love and admire them for…. Imagine if the only people without blemish were necessarily ordinary, never likely to change anything or inspire anybody. What a strange world that would be. I certainly hope it’s not what our world is really like, but can we be sure?
I went on Jim’ll Fix It. He didn’t rub me up. What did I do wrong?
Sounds like a touch of the Rigsby’s for you; when he was advised to give a woman a lift home from the pub because she was known to “interfere with you”, so Rigsby did this but all to no avail. He said “it was a washout!”
Sorry, couldn’t resist that quip. This Savile issue is no laughing matter………..
They should exhume the paedo and feed him to the pigs.
Why now when the man is not alive to defend himself and not within the last 50 years when these allegations were supposed to have taken place? Jimmy Saville raised millions and millions and millions for charity and I remember his programme Jim’ll Fix It with fond nostalgia as he made dreams come true for children and adults, some of whom were very poorly.
Today ‘abuse’ is a loaded word. Given today’s compensation society, a friendly pat on the shoulder or the backside could be deemed ‘sexual abuse’ today, even if it was meant in jest.
He shagged children, Monima. Stop being confused about that.
As the radio presenter said, you should delete all mentions of the SIR. He’s no gent.
A very balanced commentary about this man Matthew. Clearly as mad as a lunatic on speed, I doubt very much that the allegations are not founded on truth.
It is VERY sad however that those in a position of power did nothing. Extraordinary in fact. I think it is likely this goes far deeper to a symptomatic default of abuse by celebrities/the TV world and the acceptance of the fact by the community. There is no doubt many are wowed by celebrities and to a degree those “of age” beware.
However, bearing in mind his access to children, if there were people who suspected him of pedophilia their silence is in itself a crime, in my opinion. I am frankly amazed, if these allegations are as profound as that, that nothing was ever done to nail him to the wall.
A bullet to the head should have been administered years ago. This man makes my blood boil. He’s sat in his concrete pit laughing now though. He won. Disgusting.
A bullet would have been too quick a death for him. Yes, he’s lying smug in his coffin holding a Jim’ll Fix it badge which says “My Fame and the BBC fixed it for me”.
What a mess. The man is not here to defend himself, a basic human right. PLEASE don’t think I’m excusing what he did because I am not, it is the worst od the worst and ruins lives forever. BUT most of my scorn is reserved for those who KNEW and did NOTHING – Esther Rantzen hold your head in shame! Or was it Street-Porter, or both? If Rantzen ‘Childline’ did know that is vile. “Tell someone children – and we will DO ABSOLUTELY NOTHING”. I don’t give a bugger if the man raised 400 billion for charity, it can NEVER make up for evil deeds done.
Just uncomfortable that he’s not here to ‘defend’ the indefensible, that’s all.
Sir Jimmy Savile was one of my dearest friends. I cannot understand how this nonsense has been allowed to float to the surface… Well, yes, I can. The bastards at the Beeb, bloody Esther Ransen, posionous pens in Daily Mail, etc. Britain is a cesspit and I see that on another post about Tom McLoughlin – another good man – your bloody readers are viciously attacking him. I don’t know him from Adam but looks like he’s got you lot summed up perfectly. Jimmy may be “in a pit” as you so tastelessly put it, but you lot mark my words: he is in a better place and away from all this fraudulent liars. Jimmy was a master and you lot are, as Andrew Mitchell would say, effing plebs.
Although I thought that Tom McLoughlin’s posting was offensive and unnecessarily rude, at least he was man enough to put his full name.
Unlike Howard K.
Anyone can post an insult anonymously on a blog – it is a refuge for cowards who don’t identify themselves.
Savile’s relative Caroline Robinson should be ashamed of herself. The gravy train her great uncle supplied her and her lot with is over and now she’s on the take. Disgusting woman. Jimmy should have cut the lot of them off in his lifetime.
Howard, it’s been allowed to come to surface now because people feel able to speak out now he is dead. Including one of his own relatives. These children were too petrified to speak out while he was alive.
The mounting evidence leaves me with no doubt these children are telling the truth.
And you call us all effing plebs! Rather that than what JS is now known as!
There is something wrong here. I am convinced Jimmy Savile’s phone was hacked and this is a set up. I bet Murdoch has involvement somehow.
Let’s hope there is a Heaven and Hell.
Tomorrows Panorama should be interesting……the BBC investigating the BBC.
Jimmy visited a lot of the same places as a former PM (now dead). Google David Icke and Jersey and you will learn all about it.