Jimmy Savile#Honours

{{Short description|English DJ, media personality and suspected sex offender (1926–2011)}}

{{pp-vandalism|small=yes}}

{{Use British English|date=January 2013}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2024}}

{{Infobox person

| honorific_prefix = Sir

| name = Jimmy Savile

| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|OBE|KCSG}}

| image = Jimmy Savile 2006.jpg

| caption = Savile in 2006

| birth_name = James Wilson Vincent Savile

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1926|10|31|df=y}}

| birth_place = Burley, Leeds, England

| death_date = {{Death date and age|2011|10|29|1926|10|31|df=y}}

| death_place = Roundhay, Leeds, England

| years_active = 1958–2011

| occupation = {{hlist|Media personality|DJ}}

| awards = Knight Bachelor (1990)

}}

Sir James Wilson Vincent Savile ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|s|æ|v|ᵻ|l}}; 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, tarnishing his reputation and leading the police to conclude that he was a predatory sex offender{{Cite news |date=9 October 2012 |title=Jimmy Savile abuse claims: Police pursue 120 lines of inquiry |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19887019 |access-date=25 April 2013 |quote="At this stage it is quite clear from what women are telling us that Savile was a predatory sex offender", said Commander Peter Spindler, head of specialist crime investigations, in an interview with the BBC. |archive-date=1 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221201035955/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19887019 |url-status=live }} and possibly one of Britain's most prolific.{{Cite news |date=25 October 2012 |title=Savile BBC scandal shocks UK |work=NBC Nightly News |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/video/savile-bbc-scandal-shocks-uk-44450371942 |access-date=12 May 2021 |quote=Police believe former TV star Jimmy Savile, a national icon, may have been one of Britain's worst pedophile offenders. Some of Savile's alleged 300 victims had appeared on his TV shows. |archive-date=20 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230920134352/https://www.nbcnews.com/video/savile-bbc-scandal-shocks-uk-44450371942 |url-status=live }}{{Cite news |last=Gilbert |first=Dave |date=24 October 2012 |title=Jimmy Savile: National treasure in life, reviled 'sex abuser' in death |work=CNN |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2012/10/23/world/europe/jimmy-savile-profile/index.html |access-date=26 October 2012 |archive-date=25 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181125074230/https://edition.cnn.com/2012/10/23/world/europe/jimmy-savile-profile/index.html |url-status=live }}{{Cite news |date=19 October 2012 |title=Jimmy Savile Inquiry Now Criminal Investigation |work=Sky News |url=http://web.orange.co.uk/article/news/savile_inquiry_now_a_criminal_investigaton |url-status=dead |access-date=26 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141209162452/http://web.orange.co.uk/article/news/savile_inquiry_now_a_criminal_investigaton |archive-date=9 December 2014}} quoting the head of the NSPCC ("It's now looking possible that Jimmy Savile was one [of] the most prolific sex offenders the NSPCC has ever come across") and police ("We are dealing with alleged abuse on an unprecedented scale. The profile of this operation has empowered a staggering number of victims to come forward ... Police previously said Savile's alleged catalogue of sex abuse could have spanned six decades").{{Cite news |last=Holden |first=Michael |date=25 October 2012 |title=Police to make arrests over BBC's 'tsunami of filth' |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-bbc-savile-police-idUKBRE89O10Y20121026 |access-date=13 November 2021 |archive-date=27 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230327131310/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-bbc-savile-police-idUKBRE89O10Y20121026 |url-status=live }} 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.{{Cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/06/27/how-bbc-star-jimmy-savile-got-away-with-allegedely-abusing-500-children-and-sex-with-dead-bodies |title=How BBC star Jimmy Savile got away with allegedly abusing 500 children and sex with dead bodies |date=27 June 2014 |last1= |first1= |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=16 January 2025 |archive-date=18 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240618004425/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/06/27/how-bbc-star-jimmy-savile-got-away-with-allegedely-abusing-500-children-and-sex-with-dead-bodies |url-status=live}}

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.{{Cite news |last=Lipsett |first=Anthea |date=14 July 2009 |title=Jim Fixes it for medical students |work=The Guardian |location=London |url= https://www.theguardian.com/education/2009/jul/14/medical-research-funding-jimmy-savile |access-date=30 October 2011 |archive-date=6 October 2012 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20121006034632/http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/jul/14/medical-research-funding-jimmy-savile |url-status=live }}{{Cite book |last=Taylor |first=Paul |title=Popular Music Since 1955: A Critical Guide to the Literature |publisher=Mansell |year=1985 |isbn=978-0-7201-1727-1}} 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.{{Cite news |date=29 October 2011 |title=Obituary: Sir Jimmy Savile |work=The Daily Telegraph |location=London |url= https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/8857428/Sir-Jimmy-Savile.html |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20111031203714/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/8857428/Sir-Jimmy-Savile.html |archive-date=31 October 2011}}

In October 2012, an ITV documentary examined claims of sexual abuse by Savile.{{Cite news |last=Quinn |first=Ben |date=28 September 2012 |title=Jimmy Savile alleged to have abused girls as young as 13 |work=The Guardian |location= London |url= https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2012/sep/28/jimmy-savile-abused-girls-alleged |access-date=26 October 2012 |quote=Documentary to air claims by several women that TV presenter assaulted them when they were children ... Up to 10 women are said to have come forward to claim that they were sexually assaulted by Savile during the 1970s |archive-date=25 January 2013 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130125110157/http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/2012/sep/28/jimmy-savile-abused-girls-alleged |url-status=live }} 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.{{Cite news |date=25 October 2012 |title=Jimmy Savile: Number of victims reach 300, police say |work=BBC News |url= https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20081021 |access-date=25 October 2012 |archive-date=13 November 2022 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20221113110900/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20081021 |url-status=live }} The scandal had resulted in inquiries or reviews at the BBC, within the NHS, the Crown Prosecution Service, and the Department of Health.{{Cite news |last1=Mendick |first1=Robert |last2=Donnelly |first2=Laura |date=20 October 2012 |title=Jimmy Savile: Questions for Edwina Currie and the BBC |work=The Daily Telegraph |location=London |url= https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/jimmy-savile/9623089/Jimmy-Savile-Questions-for-Edwina-Currie-and-the-BBC.html |url-status=dead |access-date=12 May 2021 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20121023081600/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/jimmy-savile/9623089/Jimmy-Savile-Questions-for-Edwina-Currie-and-the-BBC.html |archive-date=23 October 2012}}{{Cite news |date=24 October 2012 |title=Jimmy Savile scandal: DPP to review abuse claims ('Q&A' and 'DPP to review' sections) |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19946626 |access-date=26 October 2012 |archive-date=24 April 2019 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190424223448/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19946626 |url-status=live }}{{Cite news |last=Furness |first=Hannah |date=24 October 2012 |title=Jimmy Savile: Director of Public Prosecutions to review why CPS did not prosecute |work=The Daily Telegraph |location=London |url= https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/jimmy-savile/9630550/Jimmy-Savile-What-George-Entwistle-told-MPs-about-Panorama-justthewomen-Newsnight-and-the-conversation-at-the-Hilton-Hotel.html |url-status=dead |access-date=12 May 2021 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20121029025459/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/jimmy-savile/9630550/Jimmy-Savile-What-George-Entwistle-told-MPs-about-Panorama-justthewomen-Newsnight-and-the-conversation-at-the-Hilton-Hotel.html |archive-date=29 October 2012}} 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.{{Cite news |date=26 June 2014 |title=Savile: 'Reports reveal a terrible picture' – Jeremy Hunt |work=BBC News |url= https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-28036469 |access-date=26 June 2014 |archive-date=25 September 2015 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150925212441/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-28036469 |url-status=live }} 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.{{Cite news |last=Coldrick |first=Martin |date=12 October 2012 |title=Jimmy Savile: Yorkshire rejects tainted legacy |work=BBC News |url= https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-leeds-19927719 |access-date=13 July 2021 |archive-date=27 March 2023 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20230327131330/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-leeds-19927719 |url-status=live }}{{Cite book |last=Savile |first=Jimmy |title=God'll Fix it |publisher=Mowbray |year=1979 |isbn=978-0264664576 |location=London}} 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.{{Cite news |last=Barratt |first=Nick |date=17 March 2007 |title=Family detective: Jimmy Savile |work=The Daily Telegraph |location=London |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/features/3631736/Family-detective-Jimmy-Savile.html |url-status=dead |access-date=2 January 2019 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090605090122/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/features/3631736/Family-detective-Jimmy-Savile.html |archive-date=5 June 2009}}{{cite news |title=Obituaries Jimmy Savile |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/people/jimmy-savile-1.8229 |access-date=10 October 2023 |newspaper=The Irish Times |location= Dublin |date=5 November 2011}} Savile grew up during the Great Depression, and later claimed that he "was forged in the crucible of want."{{Cite news |last=Savile |first=Jimmy |date=23 December 1989 |title=I was forged in the crucible of want and I consider myself far more privileged |work=The Times |location=London}} He described his father as "scrupulously honest but scrupulously broke."{{Cite news |last=Parkinson |first=Michael |date=14 January 1968 |title=Honest Jim |work=The Sunday Times Magazine |location=London}}

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.{{Cite news |date=11 July 2003 |title=Sir Jimmy backs saint calls |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/3060395.stm |access-date=17 November 2011 |archive-date=24 August 2003 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030824002036/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/3060395.stm |url-status=live }} 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,{{Cite news |last=Miller |first=Harland |date=20 April 2004 |title=Lord of the bling |work=The Guardian |location=London |url= https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2004/apr/20/guesteditors2 |access-date=28 July 2008 |archive-date=21 October 2013 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131021194818/http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2004/apr/20/guesteditors2 |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |last1=Brewster |first1=Bill |last2=Browghton |first2=Frank |title=DJ Awards-History |url=http://www.djawards.com/en/history.php |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080323111406/http://www.djawards.com/en/history.php |archive-date=23 March 2008 |access-date=28 July 2008 |publisher=djawards.com}} 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.{{Cite book |last=Donovan |first=Paul |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=79IaAQAAIAAJ&q=%22Savile%27s+claim+was+disputed%22 |title=The Radio Companion |publisher=HarperCollins |year=1991 |isbn=978-0-246-13648-0 |location=London |page=198 |access-date=3 July 2011}} He became a semi-professional sportsman, competing in the 1951 Tour of Britain cycle race{{Cite news |date=4 May 2007 |title=Tour of Britain's long ride for respect |work=BBC News |url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/606/A22368558 |access-date=18 December 2008 |archive-date=29 November 2010 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20101129063004/http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/606/A22368558 |url-status=live }} 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.{{Cite news |last1=Owen |first1=Jonathan |last2=Cahalan |first2=Paul |date=28 October 2012 |title=DJ's relatives tell of despair and sadness claims |work=The Independent on Sunday |location=London |url= https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/djs-relatives-tell-of-despair-and-sadness-claims-8229385.html |url-status=live |url-access=subscription |access-date=8 November 2012 |archive-url= https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220608/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/djs-relatives-tell-of-despair-and-sadness-claims-8229385.html |archive-date=8 June 2022}} 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{{Cite web |title=Jimmy Savile |url=http://www.djhistory.com/interviews/jimmy-savile |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100922053228/http://www.djhistory.com/interviews/jimmy-savile |archive-date=22 September 2010 |access-date=16 January 2011 |publisher=DJHistory.com}} 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.{{Cite news |last=Weatherup |first=Mark |date=2 November 2011 |title=Sir Jimmy Savile's tenure as Ilford dance hall manager remembered |work=Ilford Recorder |url=http://www.ilfordrecorder.co.uk/news/news/sir_jimmy_savile_s_tenure_as_ilford_dance_hall_manager_remembered_1_1114843 |access-date=20 August 2010 |archive-date=20 October 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131020132449/http://www.ilfordrecorder.co.uk/news/news/sir_jimmy_savile_s_tenure_as_ilford_dance_hall_manager_remembered_1_1114843 |url-status=dead }} It was while at Ilford that Savile was discovered by a music executive from Decca Records.{{Cite news |last=Cleave |first=Maureen |date=12 September 1964 |title=The Amazing Mr. Jimmy Savile |work=Liverpool Echo}}

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.{{Cite web |title=Radio Rewind: Jimmy Savile |url=http://www.radiorewind.co.uk/radio1/jimmy_savile_page.htm |access-date=13 September 2014 |archive-date=22 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200522163804/http://www.radiorewind.co.uk/radio1/jimmy_savile_page.htm |url-status=live }} 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.{{Cite news |last=Joseph |first=Joe |date=4 March 1995 |title=Grave concerns |work=The Times}} 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 presenter of Tyne Tees Television's music programme Young at Heart, which aired from May 1960.{{Cite book |last=Phillips |first=Geoff |title=Memories of Tyne Tees Television |publisher=G P Electronic Services |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-9522480-6-4 |location=Durham |page=25}} Although the show was broadcast in black and white, Savile dyed his hair a different colour every week.{{Cite web |title=Sixties Pop and Music Television 1960–64 |url=http://www.sixtiescity.com/PopTV/PopTV6064.shtm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121005092222/http://www.sixtiescity.com/PopTV/PopTV6064.shtm |archive-date=5 October 2012 |access-date=17 September 2007 |website=Sixties City}} 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.{{Cite news |date=17 June 2011 |title=BBC stars look back at 35 years of broadcasting in Manchester |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-13760757 |access-date=26 May 2022 |archive-date=27 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230327131528/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-13760757 |url-status=live }} 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.{{Cite news |date=31 July 2006 |title=Top of the Pops bids fond goodbye |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/5228858.stm |access-date=4 October 2012 |archive-date=27 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230327131515/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/5228858.stm |url-status=live }} 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.{{Cite news |date=20 November 2008 |title=Sir Jimmy on Top of the Pops return |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7739589.stm |access-date=20 November 2008 |archive-date=14 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230114200228/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7739589.stm |url-status=live }}

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.{{Cite news |date=29 October 2011 |title=Sir Jimmy Savile dies aged 84 |work=Music Week |location=London |url=http://www.musicweek.com/news/read/sir-jimmy-savile-dies-aged-84/047126 |access-date=12 March 2013 |archive-date=19 October 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131019131056/http://www.musicweek.com/news/read/sir-jimmy-savile-dies-aged-84/047126 |url-status=live }}

Savile presented a series of public information films promoting road safety, notably "Clunk Click Every Trip", which promoted the use of seatbelts, the clunk representing the sound of the door and the click the sound of the seatbelt fastening.{{Cite news |date=1 February 2006 |title=The message clicks |work=BBC Online |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4669540.stm |access-date=13 October 2017 |archive-date=11 January 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090111180007/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4669540.stm |url-status=live }} It led to Savile's Saturday-night chat/variety show from 1973 on BBC One titled Clunk, Click, which in 1974 featured the UK heats of the Eurovision Song Contest featuring Olivia Newton-John. After two series, Clunk, Click was replaced by Jim'll Fix It, which he presented from 1975 to 1994. Savile won an award from Mary Whitehouse's National Viewers' and Listeners' Association in 1977 for his "wholesome family entertainment".Thompson, Ben (9 November 2012). [http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/093c3726-24e1-11e2-86fb-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2Bv5X3utv "Ban this filth!"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121112141447/http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/093c3726-24e1-11e2-86fb-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2Bv5X3utv |date=12 November 2012 }}. Financial Times. London. He fronted a long-running series of advertisements in the early 1980s for British Rail's InterCity 125, in which he declared "This is the age of the train."{{Cite news |last=Faull |first=Jennifer |date=26 November 2012 |title=The ad that was axed when British Rail heard rumours Savile was a necrophiliac |work=The Drum |location=Glasgow |url=http://www.thedrum.com/news/2012/11/25/ad-was-axed-when-british-rail-heard-rumours-savile-was-necrophiliac |access-date=22 February 2013 |archive-date=3 July 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150703091049/http://www.thedrum.com/news/2012/11/25/ad-was-axed-when-british-rail-heard-rumours-savile-was-necrophiliac |url-status=live }} Savile was twice the subject of the Thames Television series This Is Your Life in January 1970 with Eamonn Andrews and again in December 1990 with Michael Aspel.{{Cite web |last=Giller |first=Norman |date=5 October 2012 |title=This Is My Strife: How I let Savile off the hook |url=http://www.sportsjournalists.co.uk/the-giller-memorandum/this-is-my-strife-how-i-let-savile-off-the-hook/ |access-date=12 May 2013 |publisher=Sports Journalists' Association |archive-date=10 January 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130110111427/http://www.sportsjournalists.co.uk/the-giller-memorandum/this-is-my-strife-how-i-let-savile-off-the-hook/ |url-status=live }}

In an interview by Anthony Clare for the radio series In the Psychiatrist's Chair in 1991, Savile appeared to be "a man without feelings."{{Cite news |date=30 October 2007 |title=Professor Anthony Clare (obituary) |work=The Daily Telegraph |location=London |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1567778/Professor-Anthony-Clare.html |url-status=dead |access-date=12 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111118042214/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1567778/Professor-Anthony-Clare.html |archive-date=18 November 2011}}{{Cite news |date=18 October 2012 |title=Jimmy Savile scandal |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-19984684 |access-date=19 October 2012 |archive-date=22 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121022005119/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-19984684 |url-status=live }} "There is something chilling about this 20th-century 'saint'", Clare concluded in 1992 in his introduction to the published transcript of this interview.{{Cite news |date=2 November 2012 |title=How Jimmy Savile revealed all in the psychiatrist's chair |work=Channel 4 News |url=http://www.channel4.com/news/how-jimmy-savile-revealed-all-in-the-psychiatrists-chair |access-date=13 September 2014 |archive-date=7 September 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140907004348/http://www.channel4.com/news/how-jimmy-savile-revealed-all-in-the-psychiatrists-chair |url-status=live }} Andrew Neil interviewed him for the TV series Is This Your Life? in 1995 where Savile "used a banana to avoid discussing his personal life".{{Cite web |title=Sir Jimmy Savile OBE |url=http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/523267 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120919004059/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/523267 |archive-date=19 September 2012 |access-date=13 September 2014 |publisher=British Film Institute}}{{Cite news |last=Payne |first=Sebastian |date=26 June 2014 |title=Five things you need to know about the NHS's Jimmy Savile report |work=The Spectator |location=London}} In 1999, he appeared as a panellist on Have I Got News for You.{{Cite web |title=Have I Got News For You Series 17, Episode 7 |url=https://www.comedy.co.uk/tv/hignfy/episodes/17/8/ |website=British Comedy Guide |access-date=6 March 2022 |archive-date=6 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220306205327/https://www.comedy.co.uk/tv/hignfy/episodes/17/8/ |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |title=Paul Merton discusses the Jimmy Savile / Have I Got News For You "transcript" (Radio 2, 03/10/12) | date=4 October 2012 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_ZwvV1quPs |via=www.youtube.com |access-date=6 March 2022 |archive-date=6 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220306201333/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_ZwvV1quPs |url-status=live }}{{cite news |title=Merton: I didn't suspect Savile, but I thought he was very strange |url=https://www.glasgowtimes.co.uk/entertainment/13601761.merton-i-didnt-suspect-savile-but-i-thought-he-was-very-strange/ |last=Miller |first=Phil |date=17 August 2015 |website=Glasgow Times |access-date=6 March 2022 |archive-date=6 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220306201335/https://www.glasgowtimes.co.uk/entertainment/13601761.merton-i-didnt-suspect-savile-but-i-thought-he-was-very-strange/ |url-status=live }}

In April 2000, he was the subject of a documentary by Louis Theroux, in the When Louis Met... series, in which Theroux accompanied British celebrities going about their daily business and interviewed them about their lives and experiences. In the documentary, Savile confided that he used to beat people up and lock them in a basement during his career as a nightclub manager.{{Cite news |last=Hattenstone |first=Simon |date=11 April 2000 |title=In bed with Jimmy |work=The Guardian |location=London |url=https://www.theguardian.com/g2/story/0,3604,178381,00.html |url-status=dead |access-date=18 December 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130819164522/https://www.theguardian.com/g2/story/0,3604,178381,00.html |archive-date=19 August 2013}} When Theroux challenged Savile about rumours of paedophilia over a decade before, Savile said: "We live in a very funny world. And it's easier for me, as a single man, to say 'I don't like children', because that puts a lot of salacious tabloid people off the hunt."{{Cite news |last=England |first=Charlotte |date=2 October 2016 |title=Jimmy Savile gropes teenager in newly released Louis Theroux footage |work=The Independent |location=London |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/jimmy-savile-gropes-teenager-in-newly-emerged-louis-theroux-footage-a7341246.html |url-status=live |url-access=subscription |access-date=22 February 2017 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220608/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/jimmy-savile-gropes-teenager-in-newly-emerged-louis-theroux-footage-a7341246.html |archive-date=8 June 2022}}{{Cite news |last=Theroux |first=Louis |date=1 October 2016 |title=Louis Theroux: Looking back on Jimmy Savile |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-37517619 |access-date=22 February 2017 |archive-date=23 February 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170223061514/http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-37517619 |url-status=live }}{{Cite news |last=Lewis |first=Tim |date=23 March 2014 |title=Louis Theroux: 'You get to inhabit quite an intimate space' |work=The Observer |location=London |url=https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2014/mar/23/louis-theroux-inhabit-intimate-space-jimmy-savile |access-date=22 February 2017 |archive-date=7 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230107182942/https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2014/mar/23/louis-theroux-inhabit-intimate-space-jimmy-savile |url-status=live }}

Savile visited the Celebrity Big Brother house on 14 and 15 January 2006 (in series 4) and "fixed it" for some housemates to have their wishes granted; Pete Burns received a message from his boyfriend, Michael, and Lynn, his ex-wife, while Dennis Rodman traded Savile's offering for a supply of cigarettes for the other housemates. In 2007, Savile returned to television with Jim'll Fix It Strikes Again showing some of the most popular fix-its, recreating them with the same people, and making new dreams come true.{{Cite news |last=Oatts |first=Joanne |date=26 October 2006 |title=UKTV brings back 'Jim'll Fix It' |work=Digital Spy |url=http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/news/a38658/uktv-brings-back-jimll-fix-it.html |access-date=26 March 2011 |archive-date=26 April 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120426165835/http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/news/a38658/uktv-brings-back-jimll-fix-it.html |url-status=live }}

Charity work

Savile is estimated to have raised £40 million for charity. One cause for which he raised money was Stoke Mandeville Hospital, where he volunteered for many years as a porter. He raised money for the Spinal Unit, NSIC (National Spinal Injuries Centre), and St Francis Ward – a ward for children and teens with spinal cord injuries, as well as Ireland's Central Remedial Clinic.{{Cite news |last=Sheehy |first=Clodagh |date=27 June 2014 |title=CRC 'appalled' by contents of Savile report |url= https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/crc-appalled-by-contents-of-savile-report/30389035.html |work=Irish Independent |location= Dublin}} Savile also volunteered at Leeds General Infirmary and Broadmoor Hospital. In August 1988, he was appointed by junior health minister Edwina Currie{{Cite news |date=21 October 2012 |title=Edwina Currie –'nothing to hide' on Savile |work=BBC News |url= https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20019993 |access-date=21 October 2012 |archive-date=17 July 2022 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220717142819/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20019993 |url-status=live }} chair of an interim task force overseeing the management of Broadmoor Hospital, after its board members had been suspended.{{Cite web |last=The Earl of Dundee |author-link=Alexander Scrymgeour, 12th Earl of Dundee |date=7 November 1988 |title=Mentally Ill Offenders: Treatment |url= https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/lords/1988/nov/07/mentally-ill-offenders-treatment-1#S5LV0501P0_19881107_HOL_188 |access-date=13 October 2012 |work=Parliamentary Debates (Hansard) |id=HL Deb 7 November 1988 vol 501 c525 |archive-date=3 October 2018 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20181003124858/https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/lords/1988/nov/07/mentally-ill-offenders-treatment-1#S5LV0501P0_19881107_HOL_188 |url-status=live }}{{Cite news |last1=Addley |first1=Esther |last2=O'Carroll |first2=Lisa |date=13 October 2012 |title=Jimmy Savile scandal: government could face civil claims |page=1 |work=The Guardian |location=London |url= https://www.theguardian.com/media/2012/oct/12/jimmy-savile-government-civil-claims |access-date=13 October 2012 |archive-date=20 October 2013 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131020120926/http://www.theguardian.com/media/2012/oct/12/jimmy-savile-government-civil-claims |url-status=live }} Savile had his own rooms at Stoke Mandeville and Broadmoor. In 1989, Savile started legal proceedings against News Group Newspapers after the News of the World published an article in January 1988 suggesting he had been in a position to secure the release of patients from Broadmoor who were considered "dangerous". Savile won on 11 July 1989; News Group paid his legal costs, and he received an apology from editors Kelvin MacKenzie and Patsy Chapman.{{Cite news |date=12 July 1989 |title=Savile wins libel action |page=7 |work=The Glasgow Herald |url= https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=RA01AAAAIBAJ&pg=5656,3131369&dq=jimmy+savile&hl=en |access-date=4 October 2012 |archive-date=25 November 2021 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20211125230525/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=RA01AAAAIBAJ&pg=5656%2C3131369&dq=jimmy+savile&hl=en |url-status=live }} In 2012, it was reported that Savile had sexually abused vulnerable patients at the hospitals.{{Cite news |last=Evans |first=Martin |date=11 October 2012 |title=Sir Jimmy Savile: fourth British TV personality accused in sex allegations |work=The Daily Telegraph |location=London |url= https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/9601922/Sir-Jimmy-Savile-fourth-British-TV-personality-accused-in-sex-allegations.html |url-status=dead |access-date=12 May 2021 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20121018160403/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/9601922/Sir-Jimmy-Savile-fourth-British-TV-personality-accused-in-sex-allegations.html |archive-date=18 October 2012}}

From 1974 to 1988, Savile was the honorary president of Phab (Physically Handicapped in the Able Bodied community).{{Cite web |title=PHAB homepage |url=http://www.phab.org.uk/ |access-date=11 November 2011 |archive-date=19 November 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111119234102/http://www.phab.org.uk/ |url-status=live }} He sponsored medical students performing undergraduate research in the Leeds University Research Enterprise scholarship scheme, donating more than £60,000 every year.{{Cite press release |title=Jimmy Savile gives young medics a helping hand |date=13 December 2010 |publisher=University of Leeds |url=http://reporter.leeds.ac.uk/press_releases/current/savile_scholarships.htm |access-date=18 December 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090525043932/http://reporter.leeds.ac.uk/press_releases/current/savile_scholarships.htm |archive-date=25 May 2009}} In 2010, the scheme was given a commitment of £500,000 over the following five years.{{Cite news |date=13 December 2010 |title=Sir Jimmy's £500,000 for Leeds trainee doctors |work=Yorkshire Evening Post |location=Leeds |url=http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/Sir-Jimmys-500000-for-Leeds.6658890.jp |access-date=18 December 2010}} Following Savile's death in October 2011, it was confirmed that a bequest had been made to allow continued support for the programme.{{Cite news |date=10 November 2011 |title=Now Scarborough turns out for Jimmy Savile's final farewell |work=Yorkshire Post |location=Leeds |url=https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/video-now-scarborough-turns-out-jimmy-saviles-final-farewell-1916596 |access-date=11 November 2011 |archive-date=13 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211113001217/https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/video-now-scarborough-turns-out-jimmy-saviles-final-farewell-1916596 |url-status=live }}

File:Jimmy Savile Leeds Marathon 1982 cropped.JPG

Savile was a participant in marathons (many for Phab, including its annual half marathon around Hyde Park, London). He also cycled from Land's End to John o' Groats in 10 days for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution,{{Cite news |date=31 May 1972 |title=Pipes greet Savile at end of travels |page=5 |work=The Glasgow Herald |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=g-I9AAAAIBAJ&pg=6062,6166861&dq=jimmy+savile&hl=en |access-date=14 November 2020 |archive-date=20 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221120121945/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=g-I9AAAAIBAJ&pg=6062,6166861&dq=jimmy+savile&hl=en |url-status=live }} and ran in the Scottish People's Marathon.{{Cite news |date=19 September 1984 |title=Savile in marathon |page=7 |work=The Glasgow Herald |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ogc-AAAAIBAJ&pg=3388,3750882&dq=jimmy+savile&hl=en |access-date=14 November 2020 |archive-date=20 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221120121944/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ogc-AAAAIBAJ&pg=3388,3750882&dq=jimmy+savile&hl=en |url-status=live }} It was reported that he completed the London Marathon at the age of 79; rumours that he was driven round in a lead vehicle as an "observer" were denied by marathon officials.{{Cite news |date=26 October 2012 |title=Savile got no help cheating, says London Marathon |work=London Evening Standard |url=https://www.standard.co.uk/news/londoners-diary/jimmy-savile-got-no-help-cheating-says-london-marathon-8228394.html?origin=internalSearch |access-date=20 November 2012 |archive-date=24 January 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130124062053/http://www.standard.co.uk/news/londoners-diary/jimmy-savile-got-no-help-cheating-says-london-marathon-8228394.html?origin=internalSearch |url-status=live }}

Savile set up two charities, the Jimmy Savile Stoke Mandeville Hospital Trust in 1981, and the Leeds-based Jimmy Savile Charitable Trust in 1984.{{Cite news |last=Sherwin |first=Adam |date=23 October 2012 |title=Jimmy Savile linked charities to close amid allegations of sexual abuse by the late broadcaster |work=The Independent |location=London |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/jimmy-savile-linked-charities-to-close-amid-allegations-of-sexual-abuse-by-the-late-broadcaster-8223272.html |url-status=live |url-access=subscription |access-date=28 October 2012 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220608/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/jimmy-savile-linked-charities-to-close-amid-allegations-of-sexual-abuse-by-the-late-broadcaster-8223272.html |archive-date=8 June 2022}} During the sexual abuse scandal in October 2012 the charities announced that they would distribute their funds, of £1.7 million and £3.7 million respectively, among other charities and then close down.{{Cite news |date=23 October 2012 |title=Two Jimmy Savile charities to close |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-20038794 |access-date=28 October 2012 |archive-date=25 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121025192757/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-20038794 |url-status=live }} He also raised money for several Jewish charities.{{Cite news |last=Rayner, Gordon |date=18 October 2012 |title=Jimmy Savile confessed to reporter that he would be seen as 'crooked' after his death |work=The Daily Telegraph |location=London |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/jimmy-savile/9618674/Jimmy-Savile-confessed-to-reporter-that-he-would-be-seen-as-crooked-after-his-death.html |url-status=dead |access-date=12 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121019064602/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/jimmy-savile/9618674/Jimmy-Savile-confessed-to-reporter-that-he-would-be-seen-as-crooked-after-his-death.html |archive-date=19 October 2012}}

Public image

During his lifetime and at the time of his death, Savile was regarded as "an eccentric adornment to British public life ... a ubiquitous and distinctive face on television", who "relished being in the public eye" and was "a shrewd promoter of his own image."{{Cite news |last=Sweeting |first=Adam |date=29 October 2011 |title=Sir Jimmy Savile obituary |work=The Guardian |location=London |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/oct/29/sir-jimmy-savile?INTCMP=SRCH |access-date=4 November 2012 |archive-date=21 October 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131021194337/http://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/oct/29/sir-jimmy-savile?INTCMP=SRCH |url-status=live }} He created a "bizarre yodel",{{Cite book |last=Strachan |first=Bernadette |title=Little White Lies |publisher=Hodder |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-340-89805-5 |chapter=21}} and catchphrases which included "How's about that, then?", "Now then, now then", "Goodness gracious", "As it 'appens", and "Guys and gals". Savile was frequently spoofed for his dress sense, which usually featured a tracksuit or shellsuit and gold jewellery. A range of licensed fancy dress costumes was released with his consent in 2009. Savile was often pictured holding a cigar. He claimed to have started smoking cigars at the age of seven, saying "My dad gave me a drag on one at Christmas, thinking it would put me off them forever, but it had the opposite effect."

Savile was a member of Mensa{{Cite news |date=17 June 2005 |title=Meeting of Mensa minds in Wales |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/south_west/4101494.stm |access-date=17 September 2010 |archive-date=4 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231004013405/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/south_west/4101494.stm |url-status=live }} and the Institute of Advanced Motorists{{Cite news |date=18 August 2008 |title=Veteran Savile fixes traffic jam |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_yorkshire/7568886.stm |access-date=29 October 2011 |archive-date=22 May 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090522123938/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_yorkshire/7568886.stm |url-status=live }} and drove a Rolls-Royce.{{Cite news |date=29 October 2011 |title=Obituary: Sir Jimmy Savile |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-15053431 |access-date=29 October 2011 |archive-date=30 October 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111030155705/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-15053431 |url-status=live }} He was made a life member of the British Gypsy Council in 1975, becoming the first "outsider" to be made a member.{{Cite news |date=16 January 1975 |title=Gipsies honour Jimmy Savile |page=9 |work=Evening Times |location=Glasgow |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=0G1AAAAAIBAJ&pg=4595,2498647&dq=jimmy+savile&hl=en |access-date=14 November 2020 |archive-date=21 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211121080359/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=0G1AAAAAIBAJ&pg=4595%2C2498647&dq=jimmy+savile&hl=en |url-status=live }} In 1984, Savile was accepted as a member of the Athenaeum, a gentlemen's club in London's Pall Mall, after being proposed by Cardinal Basil Hume.{{Cite news |last=Walker |first=Tim |date=10 October 2012 |title=Sir Jimmy Savile causes anguish at the Athenaeum |work=The Daily Telegraph |location=London |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/celebritynews/9596850/Sir-Jimmy-Savile-causes-anguish-at-the-Athenaeum.html |url-status=live |url-access=subscription |access-date=30 October 2012 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/celebritynews/9596850/Sir-Jimmy-Savile-causes-anguish-at-the-Athenaeum.html |archive-date=11 January 2022}}{{cbignore}} He was chieftain of the Lochaber Highland Games for many years, and owned a house in Glen Coe; his appearance on the final edition of Top of the Pops in 2006 was pre-recorded, because it clashed with the games.{{Cite news |last=Ferguson |first=Brian |date=29 October 2011 |title=Sir Jimmy Savile: The medallion man with a heart of gold |work=The Scotsman |location=Edinburgh |url=http://www.scotsman.com/news/sir_jimmy_savile_the_medallion_man_with_a_heart_of_gold_1_1938200 |access-date=20 November 2012 |archive-date=1 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120101221316/http://www.scotsman.com/news/sir_jimmy_savile_the_medallion_man_with_a_heart_of_gold_1_1938200 |url-status=live }}

Through his support of charities, Savile became a friend of Margaret Thatcher, who in 1981 described his work as "marvellous".{{Cite web |last=Allen |first=Peter |date=31 December 2011 |title=Margaret Thatcher: Radio Interview for IRN |url=http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/104766 |access-date=13 October 2012 |publisher=Margaret Thatcher Foundation |archive-date=23 January 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130123075605/http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/104766 |url-status=live }} It has been reported that Savile spent 11 consecutive New Year's Eves at Chequers with Thatcher and her family,{{Cite news |last=Morton |first=Cole |date=30 October 2011 |title=Jimmy Savile, the big fixer |work=The Daily Telegraph |location=London |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/rockandpopmusic/8857759/Jimmy-Savile-the-big-fixer.html |url-status=dead |access-date=12 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121103142919/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/rockandpopmusic/8857759/Jimmy-Savile-the-big-fixer.html |archive-date=3 November 2012}} although this is disputed by Thatcher's daughter, Carol,{{Cite news |last=Fox |first=Margalit |date=2 November 2011 |title=Jimmy Savile, TV Personality, Dies at 84 |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/03/arts/television/jimmy-savile-tv-personality-dies-at-84.html |access-date=3 March 2014 |archive-date=4 June 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130604034351/http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/03/arts/television/jimmy-savile-tv-personality-dies-at-84.html |url-status=live }} and by Lord Bell, a close friend of the Thatcher family, who said "people make up such rubbish."{{Cite news |last=Prince |first=Rosa |date=23 December 2014 |title=Tim Bell: my 'sort of horrible' Christmases at Chequers with Margaret Thatcher |work=The Daily Telegraph |location=London |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/margaret-thatcher/11309863/Tim-Bell-my-sort-of-horrible-Christmases-at-Chequers-with-Margaret-Thatcher.html |url-status=dead |access-date=29 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190829185759/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/margaret-thatcher/11309863/Tim-Bell-my-sort-of-horrible-Christmases-at-Chequers-with-Margaret-Thatcher.html |archive-date=29 August 2019}} Letters released in December 2012 by the National Archives under the thirty-year rule confirm the "close friendship" between Savile and Thatcher. Some of the correspondence was heavily redacted before publication, using exemptions under the Freedom of Information Act.{{Cite news |last=Bowcott, Owen |date=28 December 2012 |title=Savile's extraordinary access to Thatcher detailed in secret files |work=The Guardian |location=London |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2012/dec/28/savile-access-thatcher-secret-files |access-date=28 December 2012 |archive-date=21 October 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131021192723/http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2012/dec/28/savile-access-thatcher-secret-files |url-status=live }}{{Cite news |last=Milmo, Cahal |date=28 December 2012 |title=Revealed: Jimmy Savile's close friendship with Margaret Thatcher |work=The Independent |location=London |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/revealed-jimmy-saviles-close-friendship-with-margaret-thatcher-8432351.html |url-status=live |url-access=subscription |access-date=28 December 2012 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220608/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/revealed-jimmy-saviles-close-friendship-with-margaret-thatcher-8432351.html |archive-date=8 June 2022}}

Savile met Prince Charles through mutual charity interests.{{Cite news |last=Booth, Robert |date=30 October 2012 |title=Jimmy Savile caused concern with behaviour on visits to Prince Charles |page=1 |work=The Guardian |location=London |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2012/oct/29/jimmy-savile-behaviour-prince-charles |access-date=30 October 2012 |archive-date=8 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308235836/https://www.theguardian.com/media/2012/oct/29/jimmy-savile-behaviour-prince-charles |url-status=live }} His work with Stoke Mandeville Hospital also made Savile a suitable figure to whom the Prince could turn "for advice on navigating Britain's health authorities".{{Cite web |last=Rayner |first=Gordon |date=3 February 2015 |title=Charles biography: 8 most intriguing disclosures about Prince of Wales |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/prince-charles/11385709/Prince-Charles-trusted-Jimmy-Savile-on-everything-from-marriage-guidance-to-checking-speeches-book-claims.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150207080647/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/prince-charles/11385709/Prince-Charles-trusted-Jimmy-Savile-on-everything-from-marriage-guidance-to-checking-speeches-book-claims.html |archive-date=7 February 2015 |access-date=14 March 2021 |website=The Daily Telegraph}} Charles met Savile on several occasions. In 1999, Charles visited Savile's Glen Coe home for a private meal and reportedly sent him gifts on his 80th birthday and a note reading: "Nobody will ever know what you have done for this country, Jimmy. This is to go some way in thanking you for that." Savile was also in contact with other members of the royal household and received telegrams from Diana, Princess of Wales, and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, as well as a handwritten letter from Princess Alexandra's husband Sir Angus Ogilvy and a homemade card from Sarah, Duchess of York.{{Cite web |last=Barber |first=Lynn |date=2 October 2016 |title=Jimmy Savile admitted getting knighthood was 'a relief because it got me off the hook' |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/it-was-relief-when-i-got-knighthood-because-it-got-me-hook-exclusive-interview-savile-1990-has-new-meaning-a426836.html |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220608/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/it-was-relief-when-i-got-knighthood-because-it-got-me-hook-exclusive-interview-savile-1990-has-new-meaning-a426836.html |archive-date=8 June 2022 |access-date=14 March 2021 |website=The Independent}} Savile acted as an unofficial adviser to Prince Charles, who sought his advice on a number of occasions on how the royal family ought to interact with the public and media. In 1989, Savile hand-wrote an unofficial set of guidelines to Charles on how members of the royal family and staff may respond to disasters. Charles showed the dossier to his father, Prince Philip, who passed the contents on to Queen Elizabeth II.{{Cite news |last=Rawlinson |first=Kevin |date=6 April 2022 |title=Prince Charles repeatedly sought Jimmy Savile's advice, documentary claims |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/apr/06/prince-charles-repeatedly-sought-jimmy-savile-advice-documentary-claims |access-date=21 April 2022 |archive-date=21 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220421004126/https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/apr/06/prince-charles-repeatedly-sought-jimmy-savile-advice-documentary-claims |url-status=live }}{{Cite news |last=Jones |first=Alice |date=5 April 2022 |title=Friend and adviser: how Jimmy Savile fixed it for the royals |work=The Times |url=https://www.thetimes.com/culture/tv-radio/article/friend-and-adviser-how-jimmy-savile-fixed-it-for-the-royals-sgpzqlknd |access-date=21 April 2022 |archive-date=23 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220423220042/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/friend-and-adviser-how-jimmy-savile-fixed-it-for-the-royals-sgpzqlknd |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}{{Cite news |date=6 April 2022 |title=Jimmy Savile gave Prince Charles advice on media in detailed dossier, claims filmmaker |work=The Telegraph |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/04/06/jimmy-savile-gave-prince-charles-advice-media-detailed-dossier/ |access-date=21 April 2022 |archive-date=21 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220421210152/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/04/06/jimmy-savile-gave-prince-charles-advice-media-detailed-dossier/ |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}

A lifelong bachelor, Savile lived with his mother (whom he referred to as the "Duchess") and kept her bedroom and wardrobe exactly as it was when she died. Every year he had her clothes dry cleaned. In his autobiography, he claimed he had had many sexual relations with women, and that "there have been trains and, with apologies to the hit parade, boats and planes (I am a member of the 40,000 ft club) and bushes and fields, corridors, doorways, floors, chairs, slag heaps, desks, and probably everything except the celebrated chandelier and ironing board."As It Happens, pp. 138–139

Health and death

File:Jimmy Savile's Coffin on display in the Queen's Hotel, Leeds, 8th November 2011.jpg in Leeds, 8 November 2011]]

On 9 August 1997, Savile underwent a three-hour quadruple heart-bypass operation at Killingbeck Hospital in Killingbeck, Leeds, having known he needed the surgery for at least four years after attending regular check-ups.{{Cite news |date=9 August 1997 |title=Heart surgeons fix it for Sir Jimmy Savile |work=The Independent |location=London |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/heart-surgeons-fix-it-for-sir-jimmy-savile-1244411.html |url-status=live |url-access=subscription |access-date=4 October 2012 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220608/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/heart-surgeons-fix-it-for-sir-jimmy-savile-1244411.html |archive-date=8 June 2022}} He arranged for a bench in Scarborough, North Yorkshire to be dedicated to his memory, with a plaque saying "Jimmy Savile – but not just yet!"{{Cite news |date=31 October 2011 |title=Sir Jimmy Savile statue considered for Scarborough |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-15517475 |access-date=17 November 2011 |archive-date=20 November 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111120043212/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-15517475 |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |title=Sir Jimmy Savile OBE |url=http://www.scarborough-in-pictures.co.uk/scarboroughjimmy.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100613152010/http://www.scarborough-in-pictures.co.uk/scarboroughjimmy.html |archive-date=13 June 2010 |access-date=28 July 2008 |publisher=Scarborough in Pictures }}

On 29 October 2011, Savile was found dead at his penthouse flat overlooking Roundhay Park in Leeds, two days before his 85th birthday.{{Cite news |date=29 October 2011 |title=DJ and TV presenter Jimmy Savile dies, aged 84 |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-15507374 |access-date=29 October 2011 |archive-date=27 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190427091837/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-15507374 |url-status=live }}{{Cite news |date=29 October 2011 |title=Veteran Star Sir Jimmy Savile Dies Aged 84 |work=Sky News |url=http://news.sky.com/home/uk-news/article/16099015 |access-date=29 October 2011 |archive-date=30 October 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111030051723/http://news.sky.com/home/uk-news/article/16099015 |url-status=live }}{{Cite news |date=19 October 2016 |title=Jimmy Savile's Roundhay Park penthouse flat demolished |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-37696898 |access-date=8 April 2022 |archive-date=8 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220408163539/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-37696898 |url-status=live }} He had been in hospital with pneumonia, and his death was not suspicious. His nephew, Roger Foster, said he "passed away quietly in his sleep during the night".

His closed satin gold coffin was displayed at the Queens Hotel in Leeds,{{Cite web |last=Tubb |first=Gerard |date=8 November 2011 |title=Sir Jimmy Savile's Coffin Put in Leeds Bar |url=http://uk.news.yahoo.com/sir-jimmy-saviles-coffin-put-leeds-bar-030704985.html |access-date=8 November 2011 |website=Sky News |archive-date=11 November 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111111023024/http://uk.news.yahoo.com/sir-jimmy-saviles-coffin-put-leeds-bar-030704985.html |url-status=live }}{{Cite news |date=8 November 2011 |title=Sir Jimmy Savile: More time for fans to view gold coffin |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-15632264 |access-date=8 November 2011 |archive-date=11 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201111205639/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-15632264 |url-status=live }} with the last cigar he smoked and his two This Is Your Life books.{{Cite news |date=8 November 2011 |title=Sir Jimmy Savile bid farewell by people of Leeds |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-15639145 |access-date=8 November 2011 |archive-date=8 November 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111108145548/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-15639145 |url-status=live }} Around 4,000 people visited to pay tribute. His funeral took place at the Roman Catholic Leeds Cathedral on 9 November 2011,{{Cite news |date=9 November 2011 |title=Sir Jimmy Savile's funeral takes place at Leeds Cathedral |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-15647363 |access-date=9 November 2011 |archive-date=1 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201001181936/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-15647363 |url-status=live }} and he was buried at Woodlands Cemetery in Scarborough.{{Cite news |last=Bellamy, Alison |date=2 November 2011 |title=Gold coffin among final wishes of Leeds's own Sir Jimmy Savile |work=Yorkshire Evening Post |location=Leeds |url=http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/latest-news/central-leeds/gold_coffin_among_final_wishes_of_leeds_s_own_sir_jimmy_savile_updated_1_3925176 |access-date=2 November 2011 |archive-date=4 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231004013355/https://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/latest |url-status=live }}{{Cite news |date=10 November 2011 |title=Jimmy Savile buried in Scarborough cemetery |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-15667111 |access-date=10 November 2011 |archive-date=11 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201111223717/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-15667111 |url-status=live }} As specified in his will, his coffin was inclined at 45 degrees to fulfil his wish to "see the sea".{{Cite news |date=9 November 2011 |title=How Sir Jim's wish 'to see the sea' will be granted |work=The Scarborough News |url=http://www.scarborougheveningnews.co.uk/news/local/how_sir_jim_s_wish_to_see_the_sea_will_be_granted_1_3950736 |url-status=dead |access-date=11 November 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111112055053/http://www.scarborougheveningnews.co.uk/news/local/how_sir_jim_s_wish_to_see_the_sea_will_be_granted_1_3950736 |archive-date=12 November 2011}} The coffin was encased in concrete "as a security measure".{{Cite news |date=14 November 2011 |title=Sir Jimmy Savile's coffin encased in concrete |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-15717221 |access-date=15 November 2011 |archive-date=14 November 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111114173525/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-15717221 |url-status=live }}

An auction of Savile's possessions was conducted at the Royal Armouries Museum, Leeds, on 30 July 2012, with the proceeds going to charity. His silver Rolls-Royce Corniche convertible was sold for £130,000 to an Internet bidder. The vehicle's number plate, JS 247, featured the original medium wave wavelength used by BBC Radio 1 (247 metres).{{Cite news |date=31 July 2012 |title=Sir Jimmy Savile goods auction raises £320,000 for his charities |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-19043994 |access-date=25 October 2012 |archive-date=23 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121023004532/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-19043994 |url-status=live }}

Sexual abuse by Savile

{{Main|Jimmy Savile sexual abuse scandal}}Savile often came into contact with his victims through his creative projects for the BBC and his charitable work for the NHS. A significant part of his career and public life involved working with children and young people, including visiting schools and hospital wards. He spent 20 years from 1964 presenting Top of the Pops, aimed at a teenage audience, and an overlapping 20 years presenting Jim'll Fix It, in which he helped the wishes of viewers, mainly children, come true.

=Allegations during his lifetime=

During his lifetime, two police investigations considered reports about Savile, the earliest known being in 1958, but none had led to charges; the reports had each concluded that there was insufficient evidence for any charges to be brought related to sexual offences. Sporadic allegations of child abuse were made against him dating back to 1963, but these only became widely publicised after his death.{{Cite news |date=12 March 2013 |title=The missed chances to get Jimmy Savile |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21756150 |access-date=5 May 2013 |archive-date=12 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201112022435/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21756150 |url-status=live }} His autobiography As it Happens (1974; reprinted as Love is an Uphill Thing, 1976) contains admissions of improper sexual conduct which appear to have passed unnoticed during his lifetime.{{Cite news |last1=Tweedie |first1=Neil |last2=Rowley |first2=Tom |date=26 October 2012 |title=Jimmy Savile: a strange and sordid life unravels after death |work=The Daily Telegraph |location=London |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/jimmy-savile/9636035/Jimmy-Savile-a-strange-and-sordid-life-unravels-after-death.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121031044212/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/jimmy-savile/9636035/Jimmy-Savile-a-strange-and-sordid-life-unravels-after-death.html |archive-date=31 October 2012}}

Former Sex Pistols and Public Image Ltd vocalist John Lydon alluded to sordid conduct committed by Savile, as well as suppression of widely held knowledge about such activity, in an October 1978 interview recorded for BBC Radio 1. Lydon stated: "I'd like to kill Jimmy Savile; I think he's a hypocrite. I bet he's into all kinds of seediness that we all know about, but are not allowed to talk about. I know some rumours." He added: "I bet none of this will be allowed out."Interview With John Lydon (BBC Radio 1, Rock On, 28 October 1978). Public Image: First Issue (2013 remaster). Light in the Attic Records. Disc 2, track 2. As predicted, the comment was edited out by the BBC prior to broadcasting, but the complete interview was included as a bonus track on a re-release of Public Image Ltd's 1978 debut album Public Image: First Issue in 2013, after Savile's death.{{Cite news |last=Tyler |first=Kieron |date=7 July 2013 |title=Reissue CDs Weekly: Public Image Ltd, Tom Robinson Band, Michael Chapman, Bobby Whitlock |work=The Arts Desk |url=http://www.theartsdesk.com/new-music/reissue-cds-weekly-public-image-ltd-tom-robinson-band-michael-chapman-bobby-whitlock |access-date=19 January 2014 |archive-date=1 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140201104100/http://www.theartsdesk.com/new-music/reissue-cds-weekly-public-image-ltd-tom-robinson-band-michael-chapman-bobby-whitlock |url-status=live }} In October 2014, Lydon expanded on his original quote, saying: "By killed I meant locking him up and stopping him assaulting young children... I'm disgusted at the media pretending they weren't aware."{{Cite news |date=16 October 2014 |title=John Lydon outspoken at Sheffield's Off The Shelf |work=Sheffield Telegraph |url=http://www.sheffieldtelegraph.co.uk/what-s-on/music/audio-john-lydon-outspoken-at-sheffield-s-off-the-shelf-1-6899790 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141022202145/http://www.sheffieldtelegraph.co.uk/what-s-on/music/audio-john-lydon-outspoken-at-sheffield-s-off-the-shelf-1-6899790 |archive-date=22 October 2014}} In 1987, Scottish stand-up comedian Jerry Sadowitz recorded a performance in Edinburgh in which he stated that Savile was a paedophile. The album, Gobshite, was withdrawn amid fears of legal action.{{Cite web |date=14 October 2012 |title=Savile abuse started in 1959: Outed as Child Abuser in 1987 as pressure mounts on BBC |url=https://newsnet.scot/archive/savile-abuse-started-in-1959-outed-as-child-abuser-in-1987-as-pressure-mounts-on-bbc/ |access-date=23 August 2022 |archive-date=23 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220823161019/https://newsnet.scot/archive/savile-abuse-started-in-1959-outed-as-child-abuser-in-1987-as-pressure-mounts-on-bbc/ |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |title=Jerry Sadowitz - Gobshite |date=13 August 1987 |url=https://www.discogs.com/release/2493434-Jerry-Sadowitz-Gobshite |via=www.discogs.com |access-date=23 August 2022 |archive-date=23 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220823160626/https://www.discogs.com/release/2493434-Jerry-Sadowitz-Gobshite |url-status=live }}{{Cite book |last=Basannavar |first=Nick |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5f1REAAAQBAJ&dq=sadowitz+savile+gobshite&pg=PA258 |title=Sexual Violence Against Children in Britain Since 1965: Trailing Abuse |date=23 August 2021 |publisher=Springer Nature |isbn=9783030831486 |via=Google Books |access-date=1 September 2022 |archive-date=4 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231004013355/https://books.google.com/books?id=5f1REAAAQBAJ&dq=sadowitz+savile+gobshite&pg=PA258#v=onepage&q=sadowitz%20savile%20gobshite&f=false |url-status=live }}

In a 1990 interview for The Independent on Sunday, Lynn Barber asked Savile about rumours that he liked "little girls." Savile's reply was that, as he worked in the pop music business, "the young girls in question don't gather round me because of me – it's because I know the people they love, the stars... I am of no interest to them."{{Cite news |last=Barber |first=Lynn |date=2 October 2012 |title=Lynn Barber: I was nervous when I told Jimmy Savile, 'People say you like little girls' |work=The Independent on Sunday |location=London |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/features/lynn-barber-i-was-nervous-when-i-told-jimmy-savile-people-say-you-like-little-girls-8193169.html |url-status=live |url-access=subscription |access-date=5 November 2012 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220608/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/features/lynn-barber-i-was-nervous-when-i-told-jimmy-savile-people-say-you-like-little-girls-8193169.html |archive-date=8 June 2022}} In April 2000, in a documentary by Louis Theroux, When Louis Met... Jimmy, Savile acknowledged "salacious tabloid people" had raised rumours about whether he was a paedophile, and said, "I know I'm not."{{Cite news |last=Hern |first=Alex |date=3 October 2012 |title=When Louis asked Jimmy about being a paedophile |work=New Statesman |location=London |url=http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/culture/2012/10/when-louis-asked-jimmy-about-being-paedophile |access-date=17 October 2012 |archive-date=18 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230118060351/https://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/culture/2012/10/when-louis-asked-jimmy-about-being-paedophile |url-status=live }} A follow-up documentary, Louis Theroux: Savile,{{Cite news |last=Rees |first=Jasper |date=3 October 2016 |title=Louis Theroux: Savile – how the broadcaster duped the documentary maker: review |work=The Daily Telegraph |location=London |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/2016/10/02/louis-theroux-savile--how-the-broadcaster-duped-the-documentary/ |url-status=dead |access-date=12 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161007194108/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/2016/10/02/louis-theroux-savile--how-the-broadcaster-duped-the-documentary/b |archive-date=7 October 2016}}{{cite web |last=Birchenough |first=Tom |date=3 October 2016 |title=Louis Theroux: Savile, BBC Two |url=http://www.theartsdesk.com/tv/louis-theroux-savile-bbc-two |access-date=5 April 2017 |website=The Arts Desk |archive-date=23 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230223070943/https://www.theartsdesk.com/tv/louis-theroux-savile-bbc-two |url-status=live }}{{Cite news |last=Cadwalladr |first=Carole |date=2 October 2016 |title=Louis Theroux: 'I have a slight fear of intimacy' |work=The Guardian |location=London |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/oct/02/louis-theroux-i-have-a-slight-fear-of-intimacy |access-date=6 April 2017 |archive-date=18 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230118060352/https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/oct/02/louis-theroux-i-have-a-slight-fear-of-intimacy |url-status=live }}{{Cite news |last=Arboleda |first=Lawrence |date=2 October 2016 |title=Jimmy Savile Caught Groping A Girl In Front Of Her Mother In New Louis Theroux Footage |work=Inquisitr |url=http://www.inquisitr.com/3557423/shocking-footage-of-jimmy-savile-groping-a-girl-in-front-of-her-mother-caught-for-bbc-documentary/ |access-date=6 April 2017 |archive-date=23 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230223071129/https://www.inquisitr.com/3557423/shocking-footage-of-jimmy-savile-groping-a-girl-in-front-of-her-mother-caught-for-bbc-documentary/ |url-status=live }} about Savile and Theroux's inability to dig more deeply,{{Cite news |date=3 November 2015 |title=Louis Theroux to make new Jimmy Savile film |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-34709583 |url-status=live |access-date=12 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180730053528/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-34709583.stm |archive-date=30 July 2018}} aired on BBC Two in 2016.{{Cite news |last=Mahoney |first=Dan |date=14 October 2016 |title=Louis Theroux on Savile |work=The Oxford Student |url=http://oxfordstudent.com/2016/10/14/louis-theroux-savile/ |access-date=13 October 2017 |archive-date=28 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170828092333/http://oxfordstudent.com/2016/10/14/louis-theroux-savile/ |url-status=live }}

In 2007, Savile was interviewed under caution by police investigating an allegation of indecent assault in the 1970s at the now-closed Duncroft Approved School for Girls near Staines, Surrey, where he was a regular visitor. In October 2009, the Crown Prosecution Service advised there was insufficient evidence to take any further action and no charges were brought.{{Cite news |date=11 January 2013 |title=Jimmy Savile scandal: Chances to prosecute 'were missed' |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-20992789 |access-date=1 February 2022 |archive-date=1 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220201152037/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-20992789 |url-status=live }}{{Cite news |last1=Marsden |first1=Sam |last2=Alleyne |first2=Richard |date=1 October 2012 |title=Jimmy Savile interviewed under caution over indecent assault allegation |work=The Daily Telegraph |location=London |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/9578870/Jimmy-Savile-interviewed-under-caution-over-indecent-assault-allegation.html |url-status=dead |access-date=12 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121001132541/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/9578870/Jimmy-Savile-interviewed-under-caution-over-indecent-assault-allegation.html |archive-date=1 October 2012}} In March 2008, Savile started legal proceedings against The Sun, which had linked him in several articles to child abuse at the Jersey children's home Haut de la Garenne.{{Cite news |last=Goswami |first=Nina |date=17 March 2008 |title=Jimmy Savile turns to Fox Hayes for action against The Sun |work=The Lawyer |location=London |url=https://www.thelawyer.com/issues/17-march-2008/jimmy-savile-turns-to-fox-hayes-for-action-against-the-sun/ |url-status=dead |access-date=5 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100209090116/http://www.thelawyer.com/jimmy-savile-turns-to-fox-hayes-for-action-against-the-sun/131780.article |archive-date=9 February 2010}} At first, he denied visiting Haut de la Garenne, but later admitted he had done so following the publication of a photograph showing him at the home surrounded by children.{{Cite news |last=Alleyne |first=Richard |date=3 October 2012 |title=Sir Jimmy Savile: He raped me as a teenager claims woman |work=The Daily Telegraph |location=London |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/9583373/Sir-Jimmy-Savile-He-raped-me-as-a-teenager-claims-woman.html |url-status=dead |access-date=12 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121005002430/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/9583373/Sir-Jimmy-Savile-He-raped-me-as-a-teenager-claims-woman.html |archive-date=5 October 2012}} The States of Jersey Police said that in 2008 an allegation of an indecent assault by Savile at the home in the 1970s had been investigated, but there had been insufficient evidence to proceed.{{Cite news |date=2 October 2012 |title=Jimmy Savile named in Jersey children's home abuse inquiry |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-jersey-19802630 |access-date=2 October 2012 |archive-date=18 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230118060352/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-jersey-19802630 |url-status=live }}

In a 2009 interview with his biographer, Savile defended viewers of child pornography, including pop star and convicted sex offender Gary Glitter. He argued that viewers "didn't do anything wrong but they are then demonised", and described Glitter as a celebrity being unfairly vilified for watching "dodgy films" in the privacy of his home: "Gary... has not tried to sell 'em, not tried to show them in public or anything like that. It were for his own gratification. Whether it was right or wrong is, of course, it's up to him as a person." The interview was not published at the time, and the recording was not released until after Savile's death.{{Cite news |last=Alleyne |first=Richard |date=1 October 2012 |title=Jimmy Savile claimed paedophile Gary Glitter 'did nothing wrong' |work=The Daily Telegraph |location=London |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/9578230/Jimmy-Savile-claimed-paedophile-Gary-Glitter-did-nothing-wrong.html |url-status=dead |access-date=12 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121003231951/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/9578230/Jimmy-Savile-claimed-paedophile-Gary-Glitter-did-nothing-wrong.html |archive-date=3 October 2012}}

In 2012, Sir Roger Jones, a former BBC governor for Wales and chairman of BBC charity Children in Need, disclosed that more than a decade before Savile's death he had banned the "very strange" and "creepy" Savile from involvement in the charity.{{Cite news |date=29 October 2012 |title=Jimmy Savile was banned from Children in Need, says Sir Roger Jones |work=Wales Online |url=http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2012/10/29/jimmy-savile-was-banned-from-children-in-need-says-sir-roger-jones-91466-32124571/ |access-date=29 October 2012 |archive-date=4 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231004013359/https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/jimmy-savile-banned-children-need-2023090 |url-status=live }} Former royal family press secretary Dickie Arbiter said Savile's behaviour had raised "concern and suspicion" when Savile acted as an informal marriage counsellor between Prince Charles and Princess Diana in the late 1980s, although no reports had been made. Arbiter added that during his regular visits to Charles's office at St James's Palace, Savile would "do the rounds of the young ladies taking their hands and rubbing his lips all the way up their arms."

=After his death=

Immediately after Savile's death, the BBC's Newsnight programme began an investigation into reports that he was a sexual abuser. Meirion Jones and Liz MacKean interviewed one alleged victim on camera and others agreed to have their stories told. The interviewees alleged abuse at Duncroft Approved School for Girls in Staines, Stoke Mandeville Hospital and the BBC. Newsnight also discovered that Surrey Police had investigated allegations of abuse against Savile. The item was scheduled for broadcast in Newsnight on 7 December 2011, but was withdrawn before broadcast; over Christmas 2011, the BBC broadcast two tributes to Savile.{{Cite web |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/jimmy-savile-abuse-report-finds-culture-of-reverence-and-fear-towards-celebrities-at-bbc-still-exists-today-live-updates-a6895001.html |title=Jimmy Savile abuse report finds 'culture of reverence and fear' towards celebrities at BBC still exists today |date=25 February 2016 |last1= |first1= |work=The Independent |access-date=16 January 2025 |archive-date=8 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220808110235/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/jimmy-savile-abuse-report-finds-culture-of-reverence-and-fear-towards-celebrities-at-bbc-still-exists-today-live-updates-a6895001.html |url-status=live}}{{Cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2012/dec/19/jimmy-savile-scandal-bbc-branded-incapable |title=Jimmy Savile scandal: BBC branded 'incapable' of dealing with allegations |date=19 December 2012 |last1= |first1= |work=The Guardian |access-date=16 January 2025 |archive-date=14 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240214072940/https://www.theguardian.com/media/2012/dec/19/jimmy-savile-scandal-bbc-branded-incapable |url-status=live}}{{Cite news |last=Halliday |first=Josh |date=22 October 2012 |title=Jimmy Savile scandal: Newsnight emails timeline |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2012/oct/22/jimmy-savile-bbc |access-date=11 December 2016 |archive-date=4 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304134734/http://www.theguardian.com/media/2012/oct/22/jimmy-savile-bbc |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2013/feb/23/bbc-knew-jimmy-savile-tribute |title=BBC 'knew Jimmy Savile tribute would be controversial' |date=23 Feb 2013 |work=The Guardian |access-date=17 January 2025 |archive-date=2 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240402141257/https://www.theguardian.com/media/2013/feb/23/bbc-knew-jimmy-savile-tribute |url-status=live}}

In December 2012, a review led by Nick Pollard of the BBC's handling of the issue described the decision not to broadcast the Newsnight investigation as "flawed." The review said that Jones and MacKean had found "cogent evidence" that Savile was an abuser. George Entwistle – at that time the Director of BBC Vision – who had been told about the plan to broadcast the Newsnight item, was described by the review as "unnecessarily cautious, and an opportunity was lost."{{Cite news |last=Plunkett |first=John |date=19 December 2012 |title=Newsnight's Jimmy Savile story: key points from the Pollard report |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2012/dec/19/pollard-report-newsnight-jimmy-savile |access-date=11 December 2016 |archive-date=20 February 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170220094839/https://www.theguardian.com/media/2012/dec/19/pollard-report-newsnight-jimmy-savile |url-status=live }}{{Cite news |date=19 December 2012 |title=BBC criticised for Newsnight axed Jimmy Savile report |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20778261 |access-date=13 March 2014 |archive-date=29 June 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140629053528/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20778261 |url-status=live }} There was no public mention of the Newsnight investigation into Savile in December 2011 but in early 2012 several newspapers reported that the BBC had investigated but not broadcast (its report of) allegations of sexual abuse immediately after his death. The Oldie alleged there had been a cover-up by the BBC.{{Cite news |last=Singh, Anita |date=10 February 2012 |title=BBC 'buried Savile sex abuse claims to save its reputation' |work=The Daily Telegraph |location=London |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/bbc/9073142/BBC-buried-Savile-sex-abuse-claims-to-save-its-reputation.html |url-status=dead |access-date=12 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120211160918/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/bbc/9073142/BBC-buried-Savile-sex-abuse-claims-to-save-its-reputation.html |archive-date=11 February 2012}}

On 28 September 2012, almost a year after his death, ITV said it would broadcast a documentary as part of its Exposure series, The Other Side of Jimmy Savile. The documentary, presented by Mark Williams-Thomas, a consultant on the original Newsnight investigation, revealed claims by up to 10 women, including one aged under 14 at the time, that they had been molested or raped by Savile during the 1960s and 1970s.{{Cite news |last=Adams, Stephen |date=30 September 2012 |title='Sir Jimmy Savile abused us at the BBC', claim women |work=The Sunday Telegraph |location=London |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/9576863/Sir-Jimmy-Savile-abused-us-at-the-BBC-claim-women.html |url-status=dead |access-date=12 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120930122010/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/9576863/Sir-Jimmy-Savile-abused-us-at-the-BBC-claim-women.html |archive-date=30 September 2012}} The announcement attracted national attention, and more reports and claims of abuse against him accumulated. The documentary was broadcast on 3 October. The next day, the Metropolitan Police said the Child Abuse Investigation Command would assess the allegations.{{Cite news |date=4 October 2012 |title=Met Police to assess Jimmy Savile claims |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19837906 |access-date=4 October 2012 |archive-date=18 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230118060401/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19837906 |url-status=live }}

The developing scandal led to inquiries into practices at the BBC and the National Health Service. It was alleged that rumours of Savile's activities had circulated at the BBC in the 1960s and 1970s, but no action had been taken. The Director-General of the BBC, George Entwistle, apologised for what had happened, and on 16 October 2012 appointed former High Court judge Dame Janet Smith to review the culture and practices of the BBC during the time Savile worked there;{{Cite news |last=Mason |first=Rowena |date=16 October 2012 |title=BBC's Jimmy Savile probe to be led by Harold Shipman inquiry judge |work=The Daily Telegraph |location=London |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9613014/BBCs-Jimmy-Savile-probe-to-be-led-by-Harold-Shipman-inquiry-judge.html |url-status=dead |access-date=12 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121017060855/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9613014/BBCs-Jimmy-Savile-probe-to-be-led-by-Harold-Shipman-inquiry-judge.html |archive-date=17 October 2012}} and Nick Pollard, a former Sky News executive, was appointed to look at why the Newsnight investigation into Savile's activities was dropped shortly before transmission in December 2011.

By 19 October 2012, police were pursuing 400 lines of inquiry based on testimony from 200 witnesses via 14 police forces across the UK. They described the alleged abuse as "on an unprecedented scale", and the number of potential victims as "staggering."{{Cite news |last=Rayner, Gordon |date=19 October 2012 |title=Jimmy Savile: police launch criminal investigation after victims claim some abusers are still alive |work=The Daily Telegraph |location=London |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/jimmy-savile/9620149/Jimmy-Savile-police-launch-criminal-investigation-after-victims-claim-some-abusers-are-still-alive.html |url-status=dead |access-date=12 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121020092816/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/jimmy-savile/9620149/Jimmy-Savile-police-launch-criminal-investigation-after-victims-claim-some-abusers-are-still-alive.html |archive-date=20 October 2012}} Investigations codenamed Operation Yewtree were opened to identify criminal conduct related to Savile's activities by the Metropolitan Police, and to review the 2009 decision by the Crown Prosecution Service to drop a prosecution as "unlikely to succeed." By 25 October, police reported the number of possible victims was approaching 300.

On 22 October 2012, the BBC programme Panorama broadcast an investigation into Newsnight and found evidence suggesting "senior manager" pressure;{{Cite news |last1=Hope |first1=Christopher |last2=Rayner |first2=Gordon |date=21 October 2012 |title=Jimmy Savile: BBC scrapped investigation after Newsnight came 'under pressure' from senior managers |work=The Sunday Telegraph |location=London |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/jimmy-savile/9624583/Jimmy-Savile-BBC-scrapped-investigation-after-Newsnight-came-under-pressure-from-senior-managers.html |url-status=dead |access-date=12 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121022000213/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/jimmy-savile/9624583/Jimmy-Savile-BBC-scrapped-investigation-after-Newsnight-came-under-pressure-from-senior-managers.html |archive-date=22 October 2012}} on the same day Newsnight editor Peter Rippon "stepped down" with immediate effect.{{Cite news |last=Burrell |first=Ian |date=24 October 2012 |title=Entwistle prepares for starring role in his own BBC drama as he faces MPs over Savile affair |work=The Independent |location=London |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/entwistle-prepares-starring-role-his-own-bbc-drama-he-faces-mps-over-savile-affair-8220491.html |url-status=live |access-date=12 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121024183219/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/entwistle-prepares-for-starring-role-in-his-own-bbc-drama-as-he-faces-mps-over-savile-affair-8220491.html |archive-date=24 October 2012}}{{Cite news |date=22 October 2012 |title=BBC Newsnight editor steps aside over Jimmy Savile claims |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-20024904 |access-date=22 October 2012 |archive-date=13 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221113111946/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-20024904 |url-status=live }} The Department of Health appointed former barrister Kate Lampard to chair and oversee its investigations into Savile's activities at Stoke Mandeville Hospital, Leeds General Infirmary, Broadmoor Hospital, and other hospitals and facilities in England.{{Cite news |date=17 October 2012 |title=Jimmy Savile scandal: Kate Lampard to lead NHS investigation |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19980979 |access-date=17 October 2012 |archive-date=17 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121017193520/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19980979 |url-status=live }}

On 12 November 2012, the Metropolitan Police announced the scale of sexual allegations reported against Savile was "unprecedented" in Britain: a total of 450 alleged victims had contacted the police in the ten weeks since the investigation was launched. Officers recorded 199 crimes in 17 police force areas in which Savile was a suspect, among them 31 allegations of rape in seven force areas.{{Cite news |last=Marsden, Sam |date=12 December 2012 |title=Jimmy Savile's victims accuse him of 200 crimes, including 31 rapes |work=The Daily Telegraph |location=London |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/jimmy-savile/9740435/Jimmy-Saviles-victims-accuse-him-of-200-crimes-including-31-rapes.html |url-status=dead |access-date=12 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121215022533/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/jimmy-savile/9740435/Jimmy-Saviles-victims-accuse-him-of-200-crimes-including-31-rapes.html |archive-date=15 December 2012 |url-access=subscription}} Analysis of the report showed 82% of those who came forward to report abuse were female and 80% were children or young people at the time of the incidents.{{Cite news |date=12 December 2012 |title=Jimmy Savile abuse: Number of alleged victims reaches 450 |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20697738 |access-date=12 December 2012 |archive-date=23 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230223071647/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20697738 |url-status=live }} According to one former Broadmoor nurse, Savile said he engaged in necrophiliac acts with corpses in the Leeds General Infirmary mortuary. Savile was said to be friends with the chief mortician, who gave him near-unrestricted access.{{Cite news |last=Halliday, Josh |date=26 June 2014 |title=Savile told hospital staff he performed sex acts on corpses in Leeds mortuary |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/jun/26/savile-bodies-sex-acts-corpses-glass-eyes-mortuary |access-date=8 February 2016 |archive-date=8 February 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160208025627/http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/jun/26/savile-bodies-sex-acts-corpses-glass-eyes-mortuary |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |url=https://news.sky.com/story/savile-abused-dead-bodies-at-nhs-hospital-10399141 |title=Savile abused dead bodies at NHS hospital |date=26 June 2014 |publisher=Sky News |access-date=17 January 2025 |archive-date=17 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240517061614/https://news.sky.com/story/savile-abused-dead-bodies-at-nhs-hospital-10399141 |url-status=live}}

Exposure Update: The Jimmy Savile Investigation was shown on ITV on 21 November 2012.{{Cite news |last=Midgley, Neil |date=22 November 2012 |title=The Jimmy Savile Investigation: Exposure Update, ITV1, review |work=The Daily Telegraph |location=London |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/jimmy-savile/9694258/The-Jimmy-Savile-Investigation-Exposure-Update-ITV1-review.html |url-status=dead |access-date=12 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121127210824/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/jimmy-savile/9694258/The-Jimmy-Savile-Investigation-Exposure-Update-ITV1-review.html |archive-date=27 November 2012}} In March 2013, Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary reported that 214 of the complaints that had been made against Savile after his death would have been criminal offences if they had been reported at the time. Sixteen victims reported being raped by Savile when they were under 16 (the age of heterosexual consent in England) and four of those had been under the age of 10. Thirteen others reported serious sexual assaults by Savile, including four who had been under 10 years old. Another 10 victims reported being raped by Savile after the age of 16.{{Cite web |title="Mistakes were made." HMIC's review into allegations and intelligence material concerning Jimmy Savile between 1964 and 2012 |url=http://www.hmic.gov.uk/media/review-into-allegations-and-intelligence-material-concerning-jimmy-savile.pdf |access-date=13 October 2017 |archive-date=18 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230118060355/https://www.hmic.gov.uk/media/review-into-allegations-and-intelligence-material-concerning-jimmy-savile.pdf |url-status=live }}

In January 2013, a joint report by the NSPCC and Metropolitan Police, Giving Victims a Voice, stated that 450 people had made complaints against Savile, the period of alleged abuse stretching from 1955 to 2009 and the ages of the complainants at the times of the assaults ranging from 8 to 47.{{Cite report |url=http://www.nspcc.org.uk/news-and-views/our-news/child-protection-news/13-01-11-yewtree-report/yewtree-report-pdf_wdf93652.pdf |title=Giving Victims a Voice – Joint report into sexual allegations against Jimmy Savile |date=January 2013 |publisher=NSPCC |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927154845/http://www.nspcc.org.uk/news-and-views/our-news/child-protection-news/13-01-11-yewtree-report/yewtree-report-pdf_wdf93652.pdf |archive-date=27 September 2013}}{{Cite news |date=11 January 2013 |title=Jimmy Savile scandal: Report reveals decades of abuse |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20981611 |access-date=11 January 2013 |archive-date=23 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230223071837/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-20981611 |url-status=live }} The suspected victims included 28 children aged under 10, including 10 boys aged eight. A further 63 were girls aged between 13 and 16, and nearly three-quarters of his alleged victims were under 18. Some 214 criminal offences were recorded, 34 rapes having been reported across 28 police forces.{{Cite news |date=20 February 2013 |title=Jimmy Savile: Ex-Policeman 'Acted For Star' |work=Sky News |url=http://news.sky.com/story/1054579/jimmy-savile-ex-policeman-acted-for-star |access-date=16 June 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170831174221/http://news.sky.com/story/jimmy-savile-ex-policeman-acted-for-star-10454018 |archive-date=31 August 2017}}

Former professional wrestler Adrian Street described in a November 2013 interview how "Savile used to go on and on about the young girls who'd wait in line for him outside his dressing room ... He'd pick the ones he wanted and say to the rest, 'Unlucky, come back again tomorrow night'." Savile, who cultivated a "tough guy" image promoted by his entourage, was hit with real blows during a 1971 bout with Street, who commented that had he "known then the full extent of what I know about [Savile] now, I'd have given him an even bigger hiding – were that physically possible."{{Cite news |last=Bevan |first=Nathan |date=3 November 2013 |title=I beat Jimmy Savile black and blue |work=WalesOnline |url=http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/i-beat-jimmy-savile-black-6265408 |access-date=27 December 2014 |archive-date=27 December 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141227035433/http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/i-beat-jimmy-savile-black-6265408 |url-status=live }}

During the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse in March 2019, it was reported that Robert Armstrong, the head of the Honours Committee, had resisted attempts by Margaret Thatcher to award Savile a knighthood in the 1980s, due to concerns about his private life. An anonymous letter received by the committee in 1998 said that "reports of a paedophilia nature" could emerge about Savile.{{Cite news |date=14 March 2019 |title=Savile: Knighthood committee 'told about abuse in 1998' |work=BBC News |location=London |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-47576543 |access-date=14 March 2019 |archive-date=14 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190314200201/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-47576543 |url-status=live }} In 2022, former BBC presenter Mark Lawson wrote about his encounters with Savile, and hearing from many BBC personnel – not at the top level – about his abuse and rumoured necrophilia. Lawson ended:

{{Blockquote|text=the true story is his victims, and how the BBC, Department of Health, Conservative party, Catholic church, police forces, local councils and libel law let them down. ... a monster for whom the British establishment – political, royal, broadcasting, ecclesiastical, medical, charitable – provided a dazzling shield.{{Cite news |last=Lawson |first=Mark |author-link=Mark Lawson |date=1 April 2022 |title=The day I thwarted Jimmy Savile: Mark Lawson on trying to stop Britain's worst sex offender |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2022/apr/01/the-day-i-thwarted-jimmy-savile-mark-lawson-on-trying-to-stop-britains-worst-sex-offender |access-date=1 April 2022 |archive-date=1 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220401132533/https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2022/apr/01/the-day-i-thwarted-jimmy-savile-mark-lawson-on-trying-to-stop-britains-worst-sex-offender |url-status=live }}}}

=Aftermath=

An authorised biography, How's About That Then?, by Alison Bellamy, was published in June 2012. After the claims made against him were published, the author said that, in the light of the allegations, she felt "let down and betrayed" by Savile.{{Cite news |last=Bellamy |first=Alison |date=29 October 2012 |title=Betrayed by my good friend Jimmy Savile |work=Yorkshire Evening Post |location=Leeds |url=http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/latest-news/top-stories/betrayed-by-my-good-friend-jimmy-savile-1-5072056 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131020131132/http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/latest-news/top-stories/betrayed-by-my-good-friend-jimmy-savile-1-5072056 |archive-date=20 October 2013}} Within a month of the child abuse scandal emerging, many places and organisations named after or connected to Savile were renamed or had his name removed.{{Cite news |last=Rohrer |first=Finlo |date=1 November 2012 |title=Jimmy Savile: Erasing the memory |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20165466 |access-date=20 June 2018 |archive-date=3 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181003124821/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20165466 |url-status=live }} A memorial plaque on the wall of Savile's former home in Scarborough was removed in early October 2012 after it was defaced with graffiti.{{Cite news |date=4 October 2012 |title=Sir Jimmy Savile Scarborough plaque defaced and removed |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-19822384 |access-date=5 October 2012 |archive-date=5 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121005045719/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-19822384 |url-status=live }} A wooden statue of Savile at Scotstoun Leisure Centre in Glasgow was also removed around the same time.{{Cite news |date=3 October 2012 |title=Sir Jimmy Savile statue removed from Scotstoun Leisure Centre |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-19822296 |access-date=5 October 2012 |archive-date=17 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210117224241/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-19822296 |url-status=live }} Signs on a footpath in Scarborough named "Savile's View" were removed.{{Cite news |date=8 October 2012 |title=Sir Jimmy Savile Scarborough footpath sign removed |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-19867893 |access-date=8 October 2012 |archive-date=11 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121011021344/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-19867893 |url-status=live }}{{Cite news |date=8 October 2012 |title='Savile's View' Road Signs Removed in Scarborough |work=Yorkshire Coast Radio |url=https://www.yorkshirecoastradio.com/news/local-news/784701/saviles-view-road-signs-removed-in-scarborough/ |access-date=16 January 2020 |archive-date=5 March 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200305221719/https://www.yorkshirecoastradio.com/news/local-news/784701/saviles-view-road-signs-removed-in-scarborough/ |url-status=live }} Savile's Hall, the conference centre at the Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds, was renamed New Dock Hall.{{Cite news |date=23 October 2012 |title=Savile's Hall set to rebrand as New Dock Hall following Jimmy Savile scandal |work=The Drum |location=Glasgow |url=http://www.thedrum.com/news/2012/10/23/saviles-hall-set-rebrand-new-dock-hall-following-jimmy-savile-scandal |access-date=25 October 2012 |archive-date=23 January 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130123083501/http://www.thedrum.com/news/2012/10/23/saviles-hall-set-rebrand-new-dock-hall-following-jimmy-savile-scandal |url-status=live }} The Jimmy Savile Charitable Trust and the Jimmy Savile Stoke Mandeville Hospital Trust, two registered charities founded in his name to fight "poverty and sickness and other charitable purposes" announced they were too closely tied to his name to be sustainable and would close and distribute their funds to other charities, so as to avoid harm to beneficiaries from future media attention.

On 9 October 2012, relatives said the headstone of Savile's grave would be removed, destroyed, and sent to landfill.{{Cite news |date=9 October 2012 |title=Jimmy Savile's £4,000 gravestone to be dismantled following allegations |work=The Daily Telegraph |location=London |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/9596698/Jimmy-Saviles-4000-gravestone-to-be-dismantled-following-allegations.html |url-status=dead |access-date=12 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130111171404/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/9596698/Jimmy-Saviles-4000-gravestone-to-be-dismantled-following-allegations.html |archive-date=11 January 2013}}{{Cite news |date=10 October 2012 |title=Jimmy Savile's headstone removed from Scarborough cemetery |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-19893373 |access-date=10 October 2012 |archive-date=18 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230118060407/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-19893373 |url-status=live }}{{Cite news |date=10 October 2012 |title=Inscription on Savile's headstone to be ground off |work=ITV News |url=http://www.itv.com/news/update/2012-10-10/inscription-on-saviles-headstone-to-be-ground-off |access-date=29 October 2012 |archive-date=12 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121012064937/http://www.itv.com/news/update/2012-10-10/inscription-on-saviles-headstone-to-be-ground-off/ |url-status=live }} The Savile family expressed their sorrow for the "anguish" of the victims and "respect [for] public opinion."{{Cite news |last=Barrett |first=David |date=27 October 2012 |title=Jimmy Savile: relatives speak of sympathy for victims and 'anguish' at child sex allegations |work=The Daily Telegraph |location=London |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/jimmy-savile/9637711/Jimmy-Savile-relatives-speak-of-sympathy-for-victims-and-anguish-at-child-sex-allegations.html |url-status=dead |access-date=12 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121102033254/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/jimmy-savile/9637711/Jimmy-Savile-relatives-speak-of-sympathy-for-victims-and-anguish-at-child-sex-allegations.html |archive-date=2 November 2012}} Savile's body is interred in the cemetery in Scarborough, although it has been proposed that it be exhumed and cremated.{{Cite news |date=7 November 2012 |title=Jimmy Savile's nephew Guy Marsden in exhumation call |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-20243847 |access-date=19 January 2015 |archive-date=25 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150925215654/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-20243847 |url-status=live }} On 28 October, it was reported that Savile's cottage in Glen Coe had been vandalised with spray-paint and the door damaged.{{Cite news |last=Booth |first=Robert |date=29 October 2012 |title=Gary Glitter arrested by police on Jimmy Savile case |page=4 |work=The Guardian |location=London |url=https://www.theguardian.com/global/2012/oct/28/gary-glitter-arrest-jimmy-savile |access-date=29 October 2012 |archive-date=8 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220908203917/https://www.theguardian.com/global/2012/oct/28/gary-glitter-arrest-jimmy-savile |url-status=live }}{{Cite news |date=28 October 2012 |title=Savile's Glencoe home vandalised |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-20116281 |access-date=29 October 2012 |archive-date=26 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220326115258/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-20116281 |url-status=live }} The cottage was sold in May 2013.{{Cite news |last=Smith |first=Steve |date=16 May 2013 |title=Jimmy Savile's Glencoe home on sale for £310k |work=The Scotsman |location=Edinburgh |url=http://www.scotsman.com/news/scottish-news/top-stories/jimmy-savile-s-glencoe-home-on-sale-for-310k-1-2932120 |access-date=16 May 2013}}{{Cite news |date=30 May 2013 |title=Jimmy Savile cottage in Glencoe sells for £212,000 |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-22713282 |access-date=31 May 2013 |archive-date=26 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220326115252/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-22713282 |url-status=live }}

In 2012, Richard Harrison, a long-serving psychiatric nurse at Broadmoor Hospital, said that Savile had long been regarded by staff as "a man with a severe personality disorder and a liking for children." Another nurse, Bob Allen, considered Savile to be a psychopath, stating: "A lot of the staff said he should be behind bars." Allen also said that he had once reported Savile to his supervisor for apparent improper conduct with a juvenile, but no action was taken.{{Cite news |last1=Alleyne |first1=Richard |last2=Swinford |first2=Steven |date=1 November 2012 |title=Broadmoor staff said Jimmy Savile was a 'psychopath' with a 'liking for children' |work=The Daily Telegraph |location=London |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/jimmy-savile/9647718/Broadmoor-staff-said-Jimmy-Savile-was-a-psychopath-with-a-liking-for-children.html |url-status=dead |access-date=26 September 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121102035446/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/jimmy-savile/9647718/Broadmoor-staff-said-Jimmy-Savile-was-a-psychopath-with-a-liking-for-children.html |archive-date=2 November 2012}} Psychologists in The Guardian and The Herald argued that Savile exhibited the dark triad of personality traits: narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy.{{Cite news |last=James |first=Oliver |author-link=Oliver James (psychologist) |date=26 June 2014 |title=Inside the mind of Jimmy Savile |work=The Guardian |location=London |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jun/26/inside-the-mind-of-jimmy-savile |access-date=11 February 2021 |archive-date=14 December 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161214172206/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jun/26/inside-the-mind-of-jimmy-savile |url-status=live }}{{Cite news |last=Burns |first=Val |date=17 April 2016 |title=Why you shouldn't ignore your creepiness alert |work=The Herald |location=Glasgow |url=http://www.heraldscotland.com/opinion/14432749.Why_you_shouldn_t_ignore_your_creepiness_alert/ |access-date=11 February 2021 |archive-date=20 December 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220231355/http://www.heraldscotland.com/opinion/14432749.Why_you_shouldn_t_ignore_your_creepiness_alert/ |url-status=live }}

Savile's estate, believed to be worth about £4–4.3 million, was frozen by its executors, NatWest bank, in view of the possibility that those alleging that they had been assaulted by Savile could make claims for damages.{{Cite news |date=1 November 2012 |title=Jimmy Savile estate frozen after abuse claims |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20162980 |access-date=1 November 2012 |archive-date=1 November 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121101033756/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20162980 |url-status=live }}Rozenberg, Joshua (26 February 2015). [https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/feb/26/jimmy-savile-and-the-complex-question-of-victim-compensation "Jimmy Savile and the complex question of victim compensation"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201108094118/https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/feb/26/jimmy-savile-and-the-complex-question-of-victim-compensation |date=8 November 2020 }}. The Guardian. London. Retrieved 18 November 2015. After "a range of expenses" were charged to the estate, a remainder of about £3.3 million was available to compensate victims, those victims not having a claim against another entity (such as the BBC or the National Health Service) being given priority, and all victims limited to a maximum claim of £60,000 against all entities combined. The compensation scheme was approved in late 2014 by the courts.{{Cite news |date=1 May 2014 |title=All of Jimmy Savile's estate to be used to settle abuse claims |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-27236420 |access-date=26 February 2015 |archive-date=23 April 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150423131855/http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-27236420 |url-status=live }}{{Cite news |date=16 December 2014 |title=Jimmy Savile: Victims' compensation scheme approved |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-30494996 |access-date=26 February 2015 |archive-date=1 March 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150301125504/http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-30494996 |url-status=live }} Most of Savile's honours were rescinded following the sexual abuse claims. As a knighthood expires when the holder dies, it cannot be posthumously revoked. The Cabinet Office stated in September 2021, with reference to his OBE and knighthood, that "The Forfeiture Committee can confirm that had James Wilson Vincent Savile been convicted of the crimes of which he is accused, forfeiture proceedings would have commenced."{{cite web |url=https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/individuals-whose-honours-have-been-revoked-by-the-sovereign/list-of-individuals-who-have-forfeited-their-honour-since-august-2023 |title=List of individuals who have forfeited their honour (since August 2023)|website=www.gov.uk |access-date=23 February 2024}} Episodes of Top of the Pops hosted by him are not repeated.{{Cite news |last=Revoir |first=Paul |date=27 November 2015 |title=Top of the Pops will continue on BBC4 – but without Jimmy Savile and Dave Lee Travis episodes |work=Radio Times |url=http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2015-11-27/bbc-to-cut-a-third-of-top-of-the-pops-episodes-to-remove-jimmy-savile-and-dave-lee-travis |access-date=24 June 2016 |archive-date=14 June 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160614012259/http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2015-11-27/bbc-to-cut-a-third-of-top-of-the-pops-episodes-to-remove-jimmy-savile-and-dave-lee-travis |url-status=live }}

On 26 June 2014, UK Secretary of State for Health Jeremy Hunt delivered a public apology in the House of Commons to the patients of the National Health Service abused by Savile. He confirmed that complaints had been raised before 2012 but were ignored by the bureaucratic system:{{blockquote|"Savile was a callous, opportunistic, wicked predator who abused and raped individuals, many of them patients and young people, who expected and had a right to expect to be safe. His actions span five decades – from the 1960s to 2010. ... As a nation at that time we held Savile in our affection as a somewhat eccentric national treasure with a strong commitment to charitable causes. Today's reports show that in reality he was a sickening and prolific sexual abuser who repeatedly exploited the trust of a nation for his own vile purposes."{{Cite news |last=Smith-Spark |first=Laura |date=26 June 2014 |title=Rapes, abuse, possible necrophilia: DJ Jimmy Savile's hospital horrors detailed |work=CNN |url=http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/26/world/europe/uk-jimmy-savile-abuse-report/ |access-date=26 June 2014 |archive-date=28 June 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140628183758/http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/26/world/europe/uk-jimmy-savile-abuse-report |url-status=live }}}}

In April 2022, Netflix released a two-part documentary, Jimmy Savile: A British Horror Story, commissioned from 72 Films. It covered the life and career of Savile, his history of committing sexual abuse, and the scandal that occurred after his death in 2011, when numerous complaints were raised about his behaviour.

=Dramatisation=

In October 2020 the BBC announced a television mini-series with the working title The Reckoning, intended to recount Savile's rise to fame and the sexual abuse scandal that emerged after his death. The drama was originally planned to appear in the BBC's autumn 2022 schedule, but after a delay for re-editing, it was broadcast in October 2023. A source said, "The four-part drama is being edited in such a meticulous and careful way, so as not to create more pain and suffering for Savile's victims."{{cite news |title=Controversial BBC Jimmy Savile Drama Delayed To 2024 Due To 'Sensitivities' |work=The New York Daily Paper |url= https://nydailypaper.com/controversial-bbc-jimmy-savile-drama-delayed-to-2024-due-to-sensitivities/ |date=10 November 2022 |archive-date=11 November 2022 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20221111000908/https://nydailypaper.com/controversial-bbc-jimmy-savile-drama-delayed-to-2024-due-to-sensitivities/ |url-status=dead }}{{cite news |last1=Mzimba |first1=Lizo |author-link=Lizo Mzimba |date=26 December 2021 |title=TV lookahead: 22 highlights to look out for in 2022 |work=BBC News |url= https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-59731002 |access-date=30 December 2021 |archive-date=30 December 2021 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20211230171710/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-59731002 |url-status=live }}{{Cite news |last=Waterson |first=Jim |last2= |first2= |date=28 February 2023 |title=BBC Jimmy Savile drama to air this year despite concerns |work=The Guardian |location= London |url= https://www.theguardian.com/media/2023/feb/28/bbc-jimmy-savile-drama-to-air-this-year-despite-concerns-over-reaction |access-date=1 March 2023 |archive-date=2 October 2023 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20231002195116/https://www.theguardian.com/media/2023/feb/28/bbc-jimmy-savile-drama-to-air-this-year-despite-concerns-over-reaction |url-status=live }} It was based in part on the book In Plain Sight: the Life and Lies of Jimmy Savile by Dan Davies.{{cite book |last1=Davies |author-link=Dan Davies (writer)|first1=Dan |title=In Plain Sight: The Life and Lies of Jimmy Savile |date=2014 |publisher=Quercus |isbn=978-1782067436}}The closing credits include the statement "Based on extensive research, interviews and based in part on the book 'In Plain Sight: The Life and Lies of Jimmy Savile' by Dan Davies" (56:14 on [https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p0g4tv4k/the-reckoning-series-1-episode-2|BBC iPlayer]){{cite news |last1=Davies |first1=Dan |title='Why was I so obsessed with him?': my seven years in search of Jimmy Savile's secrets |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/oct/09/why-was-i-so-obsessed-with-him-my-seven-years-in-search-of-jimmy-saviles-secrets |access-date=19 October 2023 |work=The Guardian |location= London |date=9 October 2023}}

Writer Neil McKay and producer Jeff Pope had previously worked together on dramatisations on the murders of Fred West, the disappearance of Shannon Matthews, and the murders of Stephen Port.{{Cite news |last=Morris |first=Lauren |date=14 October 2020 |title=BBC announces drama mini-series The Reckoning about life of Jimmy Savile |work=Radio Times |location=London |url= https://www.radiotimes.com/news/tv/2020-10-14/jimmy-savile-bbc-miniseries-the-reckoning/ |access-date=15 October 2020 |archive-date=25 November 2020 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20201125090618/https://www.radiotimes.com/news/tv/2020-10-14/jimmy-savile-bbc-miniseries-the-reckoning/ |url-status=live }} In September 2021 Steve Coogan was cast as Savile; he said he did not take the decision lightly, and that it was a "horrific story which – however harrowing – needs to be told."{{Cite press release |title=Steve Coogan cast as lead in BBC Drama The Reckoning |date=25 September 2021 |publisher=BBC Media Centre |url= https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/2021/the-reckoning-casting |access-date=26 September 2021 |archive-date=27 September 2021 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210927110629/https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/2021/the-reckoning-casting |url-status=live }}

Honours and awards

  • In the 1972 New Year Honours, Savile was appointed an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) for personal services to hospitals and to charities.{{London Gazette |issue=45554 |date=31 December 1971 |page=12 |supp=y }}
  • In the 1990 Queen's Birthday Honours, Savile was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for charitable services.{{London Gazette |issue=52173 |date=15 June 1990 |page=2 }} Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher had made four attempts to have him knighted before succeeding in her final year in office.{{Cite news |last=Brown |first=Jonathon |date=17 July 2013 |title=Margaret Thatcher made repeated attempts to get Jimmy Savile knighted – despite pleas from concerned aides |work=The Independent |location=London |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/margaret-thatcher-made-repeated-attempts-to-get-jimmy-savile-knighted--despite-pleas-from-concerned-aides-8713407.html |url-status=live |url-access=subscription |access-date=17 July 2013 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220608/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/margaret-thatcher-made-repeated-attempts-to-get-jimmy-savile-knighted--despite-pleas-from-concerned-aides-8713407.html |archive-date=8 June 2022}} Following the allegations of sexual abuse, British Prime Minister David Cameron suggested in October 2012 that it would be possible for Savile's honours to be rescinded by the Honours Forfeiture Committee. A Cabinet Office spokesman said that there was no procedure to posthumously revoke an OBE or knighthood, as these honours automatically expire when a person dies, but that the committee might consider introducing a process to do so in the light of Savile's case.{{Cite news |date=9 October 2012 |title=Could Jimmy Savile lose knighthood over abuse claims? |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19884359 |access-date=8 October 2012 |archive-date=11 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201111234426/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19884359 |url-status=live }} On 30 September 2021, the Forfeiture Committee published a statement in The London Gazette stating that "the Director for Public Prosecutions has stated that criminal prosecutions should have occurred during his lifetime, based on the evidence" and confirmed that "had James Wilson Vincent Savile been convicted of the crimes of which he is accused, forfeiture proceedings would have commenced."{{Cite news|title=Honours and Awards JAMES WILSON VINCENT SAVILE|url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/notice/3893387|access-date=13 October 2022}}
  • Savile was honoured with a Papal knighthood by being made a Knight Commander of the Pontifical Equestrian Order of Saint Gregory the Great (KCSG) by Pope John Paul II in 1990.{{Cite news |last=Tubb |first=Gerard |date=9 November 2011 |title=Fans flock to cathedral service for Sir Jimmy Savile |work=Sky News |url=http://news.sky.com/home/showbiz-news/article/16106367 |access-date=10 November 2011 |archive-date=19 December 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111219202344/http://news.sky.com/home/showbiz-news/article/16106367 |url-status=live }} After the scandal broke, the Catholic Church in England and Wales asked the Holy See to consider stripping Savile of the honour. In October 2012, Father Federico Lombardi told BBC News "The Holy See firmly condemns the horrible crimes of sexual abuse of minors, [and the honour] in the light of recent information should certainly not have been bestowed ... As there does not exist any permanent official list of persons who have received papal honours in the past, it is not possible to strike anyone off a list that does not exist. The names of recipients of papal honours do not appear in the Pontifical Year Book and the honour expires with the death of the individual".{{Cite news |date=26 October 2012 |title=Jimmy Savile: Catholic Church bid to remove papal knighthood |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20108980 |access-date=26 October 2012 |archive-date=5 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201205124921/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20108980 |url-status=live }}
  • In 1996, Savile was awarded an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Radiologists (Hon FRCR).{{Cite news |last=McVeigh |first=Tracy |date=30 October 2011 |title=Jimmy Savile, eccentric king of children's TV, dies aged 84 |work=The Observer |location=London |url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2011/oct/30/jimmy-savile-top-of-pops-dead |access-date=3 November 2011 |archive-date=21 October 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131021194248/http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2011/oct/30/jimmy-savile-top-of-pops-dead |url-status=live }}[https://data.parliament.uk/DepositedPapers/Files/DEP2014-0919/02_Leeds_-_Lib_Doc_-_Report.pdf The report of the investigation into matters relating to Savile at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust] - website of the UK Parliament
  • Savile was awarded the Cross pro Merito Melitensi by the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.Appendix, list of recipients of the {{lang|la|Order pro merito Melitensi}} of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta published in the Annual Report of the British Association, Sovereign Military Order of Malta, 2010.

=Withdrawn honours=

Many honours are considered to cease on the death of the holder; some of Savile's honours were considered no longer applicable, and did not need to be rescinded. In other cases honours were withdrawn, or removed from lists:

  • In the 1970s, Savile was awarded an honorary green beret by the Royal Marines for completing the Royal Marine Commando speed march, {{convert|30|mi|km}} across Dartmoor carrying {{convert|30|lb|kg}} of kit.{{Cite news |date=13 July 2009 |title=Runners for Charlotte take on 30-mile Marine challenge |work=Guernsey Press |location=St Peter Port |url=https://guernseypress.com/news/2009/07/13/runners-for-charlotte-take-on-30-mile-marine-challenge/ |access-date=11 June 2010 |archive-date=13 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211113001219/https://guernseypress.com/news/2009/07/13/runners-for-charlotte-take-on-30-mile-marine-challenge/ |url-status=live }} Following the allegations of child abuse, his beret award was not revoked, as that honour expires upon death of the marine. However, the Royal Marines ordered that any certification granted to Savile or mention of Savile's name in their records be expunged immediately.{{Cite news |last=Gliddon |first=Becca |date=19 October 2012 |title=Royal Marines 'erase' the memory of Jimmy Savile |work=Exmouth Journal |url=http://www.exmouthjournal.co.uk/news/royal_marines_erase_the_memory_of_jimmy_savile_1_1662912 |access-date=27 October 2012 |archive-date=15 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170315183608/http://www.exmouthjournal.co.uk/news/royal_marines_erase_the_memory_of_jimmy_savile_1_1662912 |url-status=dead }}
  • Savile was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws (LLD) by the University of Leeds in 1986,{{Cite news |last=Bruges |first=Max |date=12 October 2012 |title=University of Leeds using shamed Savile's cash |work=Leeds Student |url=http://www.leedsstudent.org/2012-10-12/ls1/ls1-news/uni-using-cash-from-shamed-savile |url-status=dead |access-date=14 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121014165253/http://www.leedsstudent.org/2012-10-12/ls1/ls1-news/uni-using-cash-from-shamed-savile |archive-date=14 October 2012}}[https://www.leeds.ac.uk/honorary-graduates/doc/honorary-graduates-1904-to-present/page/3 Honorary graduates: 1904 to present] - website of the University of Leeds which was posthumously revoked in 2012.{{Cite web |title=Honorary graduates 2014 |url=http://www.leeds.ac.uk/downloads/file/1401/honorary_graduates_2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150404090330/http://www.leeds.ac.uk/downloads/file/1401/honorary_graduates_2014 |archive-date=4 April 2015 |publisher=University of Leeds}}
  • In 2009, Savile was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Arts (Hon DA) by the University of Bedfordshire in recognition of his work for the National Spinal Injuries Centre at Stoke Mandeville Hospital,{{Cite news |title=Sir Jimmy given honorary degree |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/beds/bucks/herts/8358473.stm |work=BBC News |date=13 November 2009 |access-date= 23 March 2025}} which was posthumously rescinded in October 2012.{{Cite news |last=Walker |first=Tim |date=13 October 2012 |title=Sir Jimmy Savile is stripped of his honorary doctorate |work=The Daily Telegraph |location=London |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/9605293/Sir-Jimmy-Savile-is-stripped-of-his-honorary-doctorate.html |url-status=dead |access-date=12 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121015160445/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/9605293/Sir-Jimmy-Savile-is-stripped-of-his-honorary-doctorate.html |archive-date=15 October 2012}}
  • Savile was made a Freeman of the Borough of Scarborough in 2005.{{Cite web |title=Honorary Freemen and Honorary Aldermen |url=http://www.scarborough.gov.uk/default.aspx?page=8172 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111014103743/http://www.scarborough.gov.uk/default.aspx?page=8172 |archive-date=14 October 2011 |access-date=12 August 2014 |publisher=Scarborough Borough Council}} Savile is not in the current list, although it lists other deceased Freemen. This honour was removed in November 2012.{{Cite news |date=5 November 2012 |title=Jimmy Savile removed from Scarborough's Freemen of the Borough list |work=Yorkshire Evening Post |location=Leeds |url=http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/latest-news/top-stories/jimmy-savile-removed-from-scarborough-s-freemen-of-the-borough-list-updated-1-5093683 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121107001204/http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/latest-news/top-stories/jimmy-savile-removed-from-scarborough-s-freemen-of-the-borough-list-updated-1-5093683 |archive-date=7 November 2012}}

Filmography

class="wikitable"

|+

!Year

!TItle

!Role

!Notes

1959–1979

|Juke Box Jury

|Panelist

|22 episodes

1960

|Young at Heart

|Presenter

|Alongside Valerie Masters

1961–1964

|Thank Your Lucky Stars

|Guest DJ

|11 episodes

1964

|Big Beat '64

| rowspan="3" |Presenter

|TV Special

1964–1984, 1988, 2001, 2003, 2006

|Top of the Pops

|

1966

|New Musical Express Poll Winners' Concert

|TV Special

rowspan="2" |1969

|Songs of Praise

|Guest Presenter

|1 episode

Pop Go The Sixties

|Co-presenter

|TV special; alongside Elfi von Kalckreuth

1973–1974

|Clunk, Click

| rowspan="3" |Presenter

|

1975–1994

|Jim'll Fix It

|

1978

|Network

|1 Episode; "Jimmy Savile's Yorkshire Speakeasy"

1979–2009

|This Is Your Life

|Guest

|8 episodes

1999

|Have I Got News For You

|Panelist

|1 episode

rowspan="3" |2000

|When Louis Met Jimmy

|Himself

|

Meet Ricky Gervais

|Guest

|1 episode

I Love 1970's

| rowspan="2" |Presenter

| 1 episode

2001

|Top of the Pops: The True Story

|Show 1

2004

|Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway

|Guest

|1 episode

2006

|Celebrity Big Brother

|Guest Housemate

|2 episodes

2007

|Jim'll Fix It Strikes Again

|Presenter

|

Other work

; Books:

  • Savile, Jimmy. As it Happens, {{ISBN|0-214-20056-6}}, Barrie & Jenkins 1974 (autobiography)
  • Savile, Jimmy. Love is an Uphill Thing, {{ISBN|0-340-19925-3}}, Coronet 1976 (paperback edition of As it Happens)
  • Savile, Jimmy. God'll Fix It, {{ISBN|0-264-66457-4}}, Mowbray, Oxford 1979

; Recordings:

  • 1962, "Ahab the Arab" with Brian Poole and the Tremeloes. Decca, F11493 (single){{Cite web |title=Sounds of the 60s |url=http://www.soundsofthe60s.com/html/artistes/poolebrian.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120208095027/http://www.soundsofthe60s.com/html/artistes/poolebrian.htm |archive-date=8 February 2012 |access-date=28 July 2008 |publisher=soundsofthe60s.com}}

References

{{Reflist|30em}}