Jimmy Savile - The Reckoning

I was gripped last night by the first episode of 'The Reckoning' - a drama documentary about Jimmy Savile's life and very shady career. Steve Coogan (pictured above) was brillant in the part of the DJ and TV personality who began life as a miner and a wrestler (not mentioned as far as I can tell) and went on to be a knight of the realm and an infamous paedophile. OK, there were faults in episode one (why did they invent records that didn't exist for example) but the central character of Savile, his slimy, arrogant, vicious manner underpinned by his Catholic faith, charity work and devotion to his mother, the Duchess, was superbly portrayed in all its insidiousness. It was brave of the BBC to broadcast this (made by ITV Studios by the way) as it showed the Beeb to be spineless and prepared to overlook Savile's activities despite plenty of evidence. But at least they can take comfort from the fact that he fooled plenty of others, from Margaret Thatcher to Prince Charles, and even the Pope, and won himself an MBE and later a knighthood for his charity work. Yet all the time, in plain sight (as he made no secret of it) he was seducing and assaulting young girls and young men in his camper van and at various places which he frequented, including his late mother's house in Scarborough, Leeds Infirmary, Stoke Mandeville Hospital and Broadmoor.

He fooled me too, although I always thought there was something fishy about him. When he died in 2011 I wrote on The Vinyl Word the following: 'Now then, now then. As it happens, the Vinyl Word lifts a glass to Sir Jimmy Savile, who has died at his home in Leeds at the age of 84. It's hard to exaggerate the importance of Jimmy in the world of pop music in the sixties. I was one of the earliest members of Radio Luxembourg's Teen and Twenty Disc Club (the TTDC) back in around 1961, when Jimmy was a DJ on 208. I had a membership card with a low membership number, but I've no idea what happened to it. Around that time he attempted a pop career with an unsuccessful cover of Ray Stevens' Ahab the Arab. But it was as a radio presenter and, even more so, as a TV presenter that Jimmy really shone, with his catchphrases, northern affability, dyed hair and track suits. He was, notably, the first presenter of Top of the Pops in 1964 (and also the last when it ended in 2006), a big name on Radio One from 1968 onwards and presenter of the rather naff, but very popular Jim'll Fix It. A former miner and professional wrestler, he was awarded his knighthood for services to charity, especially money raised through his long distance walks and marathons. I remember in 1972 when I was a local newspaper reporter in Lancashire I met Jimmy, who was one of a number of nutty people who took part in a non-stop walking competition around the motor racing circuit at Aintree. This mad event took places for days - perhaps even weeks - and Jimmy was one of the last to give up. I also recall that on the night Elvis died I tuned into Radio Luxembourg - and there was Jimmy on the line reminiscing about his meetings with The King. Jimmy was always a strange fish. He doted on his mother - The Duchess - and never married. With his huge cigars, white Rolls Royce and constant cheeriness he came across as somehow rather a lonely person. But he was a big personality in his day and a leading figure in the pop music of the day.'

Yet only a few months later, after his predatory nature had been revealed to the world I wrote: 'I said on the blog when he died last October, that Jimmy Savile was a strange fish. Just how strange a fish he was, neither I nor the general public knew. The revelations of sex with under age girls have been shocking, and the rubbishing of his reputation has been total, with his name being removed from a road named after him in Scarborough and his gravestone being taken away (no doubt to stop it being defaced). His charity efforts, which were considerable, have been forgotten in this avalanche of oppobrium. Of course, it's all a bit pointless, as it's far too late to have the accusations challenged in court. But it's a reminder of just how fleeting fame can be. Now he is not famous - just imfamous. How about that then Jimmy.' The 'Reckoning' for Jimmy Savile came too late for any of his victims to have any satisfaction or reparations. But he did change public attitudes to claims by victims of sexual abuse by public figures. Just ask Russell Brand, or Philip Schofield, Max Clifford, Huw Edwards or Rolf Harris. Who will be next in the firing line I wonder.