RIPs

[JOE SOAP]

I'd heard the caravan story 15 years ago but even though some claims had been previously made to the police I think there was a reluctance to pursue because of who he was. As for the elite paedo-ring claims and other nasty assortments, who'd believe them?

[vzzbux]

With all this furore over Saville, it makes you wonder if other celebs are now starting to sweat behind their piles of money.




V

[Richmond Clements]

I certainly 'knew'- in the sense that i was told by multiple people closely connected to the entertainment industry including someone who knew and worked with him personally that Jimmy Savile 'liked little kids',

Indeed. As did I.

[Frank]

With all this furore over Saville, it makes you wonder if other celebs are now starting to sweat behind their piles of money.

His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI is probably breathing a sigh of relief that the attitudes of other institutions and individuals have been shown to mirror his own. I suppose the Holy See can now argue that everyone was at it back then, and no-one was perticularly bothered.

[SmallBlueThing]

His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI is probably breathing a sigh of relief that the attitudes of other institutions and individuals have been shown to mirror his own. I suppose the Holy See can now argue that everyone was at it back then, and no-one was particularly bothered.

Sadly, I think there's more than a grain of truth in that. I'm waiting for Buck House to make a statement about his knighthood and the "special relationship" he claimed to have with them.

SBT

[Dark Jimbo]

Why is all this talk of Saville on the RIP thread?

[radiator]

I actually didn't believe the claims when I first heard them. I'd heard the jokes about Savile, but they were just that -  'jokes' as far as I was concerned.

He almost seemed like too easy a target - so obvious a candidate (basically he looks a bit creepy and always had kids sitting on his lap) that I didn't buy it at all. Peter Serafinowicz made a crack on Twitter that Savile 'got away with being a paedophile by disguising himself as a paedophile'. I also found the claims that he was some sort of imposing, well-connected underworld type figure and his accusers were too scared to speak out while he was alive faintly ridiculous.

I've watched the Louis Theroux doc many times, and always came away with the impression that Savile was probably a 'confirmed bachelor', as he is frequently seen with a male companion, who he acts very sheepishly around. Recent developments certainly put a new spin on the whole thing.

[JOE SOAP]

Why is all this talk of Saville on the RIP thread?

Rot In Pieces.

[JOE SOAP]

I also found the claims that he was some sort of imposing, well-connected underworld type figure and his accusers were too scared to speak out while he was alive faintly ridiculous.

Even when the abusers are not influential celebs, victims can be too scared to come forward. You have to put yourself in their shoes. Yes people can be wrongly accused but now that the allegations against him are running into the hundreds and countrywide - including Jersey - it would only take for one of them to be true.

[JamesC]

I'd been a bit out of the loop on this story but I've just done a bit of googling to catch up on all the allegations and all I can say is - how the fuck did he get away with it?
Have you seen the excerpt from his autobiography? Jesus.

[radiator]

I also found the claims that he was some sort of imposing, well-connected underworld type figure and his accusers were too scared to speak out while he was alive faintly ridiculous.

Even when the abusers are not influential celebs, victims can be too scared to come forward. You have to put yourself in their shoes. Yes people can be wrongly accused but now that the allegations against him are running into the hundreds and countrywide - including Jersey - it would only take for one of them to be true.

It's clear to me now that the allegations are mostly true, I just meant I found it hard to take seriously at first.

[TordelBack]

It's clear to me now that the allegations are mostly true, I just meant I found it hard to take seriously at first.

Me too, Radiator.  I started out assuming a rather cowardly post-mortem padeo-hunt of an innocent-til-proven-guilty eccentric whose TV antics I used to enjoy a lot.  Have you seen the Empire Strikes Back set visit that was the subject of one Fix-It?  That was enough to capture my 10 year old imagination for years. And I loved that chair.

Now I just feel fucking sick.

[JOE SOAP]

Unfortunately one of the impediments to much of this kind of stuff being exposed is people not wanting to believe or talk about it. Having worked on a few related programmes and knowing the background of how much hassle it can be to broadcast such material even when it's pretty open and shut, there's a definite reluctance to let it out there beyond the understandable legal concerns. It's the worst side of human nature and it causes many to respond with the most defensive reactions.

[A.Cow]

I certainly 'knew'- in the sense that i was told by multiple people closely connected to the entertainment industry including someone who knew and worked with him personally that Jimmy Savile 'liked little kids',

Indeed. As did I.

One of my friends used to be a professional paedo-catcher for a major ISP.  Because of his previous background he had Home Office clearance to all kinds of old records.

Many years ago he told me that Savile was on a list of people they knew were doing nasty stuff, but getting evidence and making it stick was the big problem (especially with Savile being on first-name terms with so many people who had the power to quash it).

He told me another big music industry celebrity name, one which wouldn't be a surprise to anybody.  Can't hint (due to libel laws) but I think it'll also all come out when he pops it, too.


The only consolation is that since the Victoria Climbie case (and Ian Huntley slipping through the CRB net), today's safeguarding culture in schools, hospitals, etc. hopefully reduces the chanes of this kind of thing happening again (by watching for patterns of behaviour rather than waiting for it to explode).

[M.I.K.]

Shouldn't this discussion be split off into a separate thread?