Dan Davies (2014) In Plain Sight The Life and Lies of Jimmy Savile

Posted by celticman on Mon, 18 Aug 2014

It’s worth paraphrasing George Orwell here: A man who gives a  good account of himself is possibly lying, since any life viewed from the inside is simply a sense of defeats.

Jimmy Savile never admitted defeat. The stories he told others was of his success as Bevan Boy, his tragic accident underground, prayers and miraculous recovery, stamina as cyclist and road racer, his pioneering of using turntables and records rather than bands to fill the Mecca halls he managed, in fact to be the first Disc Jockey. Jimmy Savile for having a platinum blond mop of hair and was famous for being famous, for loving his old mother, ‘The Duchess’ and for doing charity work. He admitted to having some dodgy friends, but working in the nightclub business he met all sorts. Sure he had girls. All sorts of girls. He made no secret of this. But having a partner he said would give him ‘brain damage’ and in his first meeting with Dan Davies he asked him what was different about his kitchen? Davies already knew the answer to that one. ‘No cooker.’ Savile delighted in that, saying it would give woman the wrong idea. ‘Brain damage’. There’s lots of repetition in Davies’s book, but there was lots of repetition in Savile’s life.  But who exactly was he trying to impress?

The answer was everyone and anyone. Davis recounts anecdote after anecdote of how successfully Savile was. Much of Davies’s research uses newspaper reports of the times: The Express (which he wrote a column for) The Telegraph, The Sun, The Mail. They’re all here. Reports from the BBC archives. The Polard enquiry.

Look back to 1971: ‘Jimmy Savile was chosen to present Top of the Pops leading up to the Queen’s Speech on Christmas Day and Boxing Day, two hours were put aside to all him to tell the story of his life.’  

Davies’s juxtaposes this with a quote from the Sunday Times: ‘Jimmy Savile is the BBC’s not so secret Christmas formulas, with new added RELIGION’.

Savile had been not only the face of the BBC, but also had been invited to join Lord Longford’s fifty-two strong commission of enquiry into pornography. Among clergymen, psychiatrists and the great and the good other notable public figures included Cliff Richards.

‘The king has no clothes on,’ says the small boy.

http://unbound.co.uk/books/lily-poole

Comments

Submitted by jolono on

There is so much going on here CM that I am sure the surface is only just being scratched. I'm not usually one for conspiracy theories but this time I'm starting to beleive. The links between some of the people in this is quite unbeleivable. 

 

Submitted by celticman on

well jolono, Savile had friends in high and low places. Police were his pals. They got a bit of this and that pushed their way. Savile never used pricey hotels. One he was mean and two he liked to take girls back so didn't want to be tagged. There were other DJ's named. Rolf Harris. Look at the bit above sanctimonous Cliff. Politicians. Police. MPs. The thing about Savile dying and leaving the mess behind was the public outcry meant that these others, who were not named are being brought into the light. The book is worth a look.

 

Submitted by Ray Schaufeld on

Jimmy Savile was a very happy man who loved every second of his life. And he did not care one scrap about the misery he caused to countless others.
 

Submitted by celticman on

I'd agree with the second part Elsie, but I'm not so sure about the happy bit. Perhaps, like most sociopaths, he was neither up nor down. But that's putting a lable on him. I was thinking today of the clown that comes up from the drains in Stephen King's 'It'. If Stephen King wrote Jimmy Savile's life you probably think it fantasy. But then again, Americans don't know who Jimmy Savile is.

 

Submitted by Ray Schaufeld on

I have now read the book. There is nothing at all in his childhood that would lead in an obvious way to him becoming the nightmare creature we now know more about.  His family weren't rich but there were plenty worse off than him and he grew up in the Hungry Thirties at a time when most people were working class. Dad sounds a bit weak but he had a job, Mum a common sense woman,bossy and practical rather than emotional, the strong one in the family. Was he abused, wouldn't he have said, manipulated this info to help himself? Even if he was,I know that most people who have been abused when young don't abuse as adults because of knowing it's wrong and not enjoying it.

Savile is a truly nasty puzzle and one that could happen in any 'us and them' society where some peoples actions and words matter more than others. Sadly there are many like him getting away with it every day.

Submitted by celticman on

Savile was street smart and politically asture. He made sure low level cops got what they wanted in terms of access to young women, his cast offs and West Yorkshire Police at a higher level covered his back. His driver (initially, a BBC driver) recently committed suicide after being implicated in abusing young boys. Savile's brother was sacked for molesting a workmate (and I think a mentally disturbed patient). He was pals with Princess Di and Charles our future king. Savile was caught, countless numbers of times, but never punished. The fallouts been interesting. West Yorkshire Police admitted to making a few procedural errors, they've got safeguards in place and the usual -it wasn't our fault- close that door to criticism kind of review that institutions specialise in. As a writer making a zelig like character like Savile up would border on the ridiculous. That wouldn't be allowed to happen our readers would say.