Jimmy Savile
Encyclopedia
Sir James Wilson Vincent Savile, OBE
, KCSG
(31 October 1926 – 29 October 2011) was an English
disc jockey, television presenter and media personality, best known for his BBC
television show Jim'll Fix It
, and for being the first and last presenter of the long-running BBC music chart
show Top of the Pops
. He was also known for his fundraising and support of various charities, particularly Stoke Mandeville Hospital
. He was widely described as a philanthropist
and was honoured for his efforts. He died in October 2011, two days short of his 85th birthday.
, the youngest of seven children (Mary, Marjory, Vincent, John, Joan, Christina and James) born to Agnes Monica (nee Kelly) and Vincent Joseph Marie Savile, a bookmaker
's clerk and insurance agent. He was a Bevin Boy, conscripted during World War II to work as a coal miner at
South Kirkby Colliery, West Yorkshire, England. He suffered serious spinal injuries in a mine explosion and spent a long period in recuperation. Having started playing records in dance halls in the early 1940s, Savile claimed to be the first ever disc jockey
. According to his autobiography, he was the first person to use two turntables and a microphone
, at the Grand Records Ball at the Guardbridge Hotel in 1947. Savile is acknowledged as one of the pioneers of twin turntables for continuous play of music, though his claim has been disputed. (Twin turntables had been illustrated in the BBC
Handbook in 1929 and were advertised for sale in Gramophone magazine in 1931.)
He became a semi-professional sportsman, competing in the 1951 Tour of Britain
cycle race
and working as a professional wrestler
. He said:
Savile later lived in Salford, and worked as manager of the Plaza Ballroom in Oxford Road, Manchester
, in the mid-fifties. He lived in Great Clowes Street in Higher Broughton, Salford, and was often seen sitting on his front door steps. He also managed the Mecca
Locarno ballroom in Leeds around the late 1950s and early 1960s. Mecca also owned the Palais, a dance hall in Ilford
, Essex, and Savile did a stint as manager there between 1955 and 1956. His Monday evening records-only dance sessions (admission one shilling) were a huge favourite with local teens.
DJ from 1958 to 1967. Among his programmes was the Teen and Twenty Disc Club (see below).
In 1968 he joined BBC Radio 1
, where he initially presented Savile's Travels and the discussion show Speakeasy. His best-remembered contribution to Radio 1, however, is the Sunday lunchtime show Jimmy Savile's Old Record Club, where entire top tens from years gone by were played. This was the first show to feature old charts. It began in 1973 as The Double Top Ten Show and ended in 1987 as The Triple Top Ten Show, at which point he left Radio 1 after 19 years, although he could be heard presenting The Vintage Chart Show on BBC World Service
between March 1987 and October 1989, playing top tens from the years 1957 to 1987.
From March 1989 to August 1997 he was heard on various stations around the UK (mostly taking the Gold
format, such as the West Midlands' Xtra AM
and the original 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 (as a joke), saying that Savile had collapsed and died, which allegedly drew threats of legal action from Savile and forced an apology from Morris.
On 25 December 2005, and 1 January 2007, Savile 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 although some were from the 1970s.
's music programme Young at Heart. Although the show was broadcast in black and white, Savile dyed his hair a different colour every week.
On New Year's Day, 1964, he presented the first edition of the BBC music chart
television programme Top of the Pops
from a television studio – a converted church (now demolished) – in Dickenson Road Rusholme
, Manchester. On 30 July 2006 he also co-hosted the final edition, ending the show with the words "It's number one, it's still Top of the Pops
", before being shown turning off the studio lights after the closing credits.
During the early 1960s he co-hosted (with Pete Murray) New Musical Express Poll Winners' Concert, annually held at Empire Pool, Wembley, with acts such as The Beatles
, Cliff Richard
and The Shadows
, Joe Brown and the Bruvvers
, The Who
, and many others. These were filmed and recorded and later broadcast on television. On 31 December 1969, Savile hosted the BBC
/ZDF
co-production Pop Go The Sixties
, shown across Western Europe, celebrating the hits of the 1960s.
Savile is also remembered for a series of Public Information Film
s promoting road safety, notably "Clunk Click Every Trip
" which was promoted the use of the car seatbelts, the clunk representing the sound of the door and the click the sound of the seatbelt fastening. This led to Savile's hosting his own Saturday night chat/variety show on BBC1 from 1973 entitled , which in 1974 featured the UK heats for the Eurovision Song Contest
featuring Olivia Newton-John
. He also 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". After two series, Clunk, Click was replaced by Jim'll Fix It
which he presented from 1975 to 1994.
He was interviewed by Dr. Anthony Clare
for the radio series In the Psychiatrist's Chair, where Savile appeared to be "a man without feelings." In 1995 he was interviewed at length by Andrew Neil
for the TV series "Is This Your Life?" (made by Open Media
for Channel 4
). In April 2000, he was the subject of an in depth documentary by Louis Theroux
, in the When Louis Met…
documentary series. "When Louis Met...Jimmy" is regarded as one of Theroux's best documentaries and was voted one of the top fifty documentaries of all time in a survey by Britain's Channel Four.
Savile visited the Celebrity Big Brother house on 14 and 15 January 2006. During these visits he "fixed it" for some of the housemates to have their wishes granted; for example, Pete Burns
received a message from his significant other
and friend while Dennis Rodman
was able to trade Savile's offering for a supply of cigarettes for other housemates.
In 2007 Savile returned to television with Jim'll Fix It Strikes Again, in which he showed some of the most popular 'fixits' ever, recreating them with the same people, as well as making new dreams come true.
and his catchphrases included "how's about that, then?", "now then, now then, now then", "goodness gracious", "as it 'appens" and "guys and gals". Savile was frequently spoofed
for his distinctive appearance, which almost always consisted of a track suit or shell suit, along with gold jewellery. A range of licensed fancy dress costumes were released with his consent in 2009. Savile was also very well known as a heavy cigar smoker, and often smoked them for the public eye.
While still alive he arranged for a bench, in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, to be dedicated to his memory, with the words 'Jimmy Savile – but not just yet!' added as an inscription.
He was a member of Mensa
.
He was named as one of the Radio Times
"Top 40 most eccentric TV presenters of all time" in July 2004. A 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.
Savile was a member of the Institute of Advanced Motorists
and drove a Rolls-Royce
.
In November 2007 Savile was mugged
by a fan who made off with his glasses whilst in a Leeds hotel. According to Savile, he was walking down a corridor of the Queens Hotel at around midnight after attending a function at the hotel when he became aware of a woman walking beside him. He assumed the woman was going to hug him but she instead reached for his glasses before sprinting off down the corridor. He later said "I thought it was marvellous, it was just like old times!". Savile promised his 'assailant' a box of chocolates for giving him a "1960s thrill in 2007".
When interviewed by the BBC
on 20 November 2008 and asked about the revival of Top of The Pops
for a Christmas comeback, he commented that he would welcome a "cameo role" in the programme.
He also ran the Teen and Twenty Disc Club (TTDC), membership for life, on Radio Luxembourg. For a small fee listeners received a certificate and a small bracelet with a disc on it, inscribed with the show's name. He stated on the BBC television series Inside Out
that the title Teen and Twenty Disc Club had been rejected by the BBC in favour of Top of the Pops as too long; also that he introduced dancing to records, so that he was the originator of the discothèque.
Savile 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 as it clashed with the games.
One of the causes for which he raised money was the Stoke Mandeville Hospital
where he worked for many years as a volunteer porter
. He raised money for the Spinal Unit, NSIC (National Spinal Injuries Centre). Savile also raised money for St Francis Ward – a ward for children and teens with spinal cord Injuries.
Savile also worked as a volunteer at Leeds General Infirmary
and at Broadmoor Hospital
. In 1988 he was appointed chairman of a task force set up to advise on governing Broadmoor. Savile had his own room at both Stoke Mandeville and Broadmoor..
From 1974 - 1988 he was the honorary president of Phab (Physically Handicapped in the Able Bodied community).
He also sponsored medical students at the University of Leeds
to perform undergraduate research in the Leeds University Research Enterprise scholarship scheme (known as LURE), donating over £60,000 every year. In 2010 the scheme was extended with a commitment of £500,000 over the following five years. Following Savile's death in October 2011 it was confirmed that a bequest had been made to allow continued support for the LURE programme.
Savile was also well known for running marathons (many of them again for Phab, including their annual half marathon
around Hyde Park
). He completed the London Marathon
in 2005, at the age of 79.
, Leeds, at 12:10 pm on 29 October 2011, where they found his body. He was two days short of his 85th birthday. He had recently been treated in hospital for pneumonia
, and police said that they were not treating his death as suspicious. His closed satin gold coffin
was displayed at the Queens Hotel in Leeds
together with the last cigar he smoked and his two This Is Your Life
books. About 4,000 people visited to pay tribute. His funeral took place at Leeds Cathedral
on 9 November 2011, and he was buried on 10 November at 12:30 pm at Woodlands Cemetery in the seaside town of Scarborough. As his will had specified, his coffin was inclined at 45 degrees to fulfil his wish to "see the sea". The coffin was later encased in concrete "as a security measure".
Recordings:
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
, KCSG
Order of St. Gregory the Great
The Pontifical Equestrian Order of St. Gregory the Great , was established on September 1, 1831, by Pope Gregory XVI, seven months after his election.It is one of the five orders of knighthood of the Holy See...
(31 October 1926 – 29 October 2011) was an English
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
disc jockey, television presenter and media personality, best known for his BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
television show Jim'll Fix It
Jim'll Fix It
Jim'll Fix It was a long-running British television show, broadcast by the BBC between 1975 and 1994. It was presented by Jimmy Savile. It was produced by Roger Ordish, who also worked on other BBC shows, including A Bit of Fry & Laurie...
, and for being the first and last presenter of the long-running BBC music chart
Record chart
A record chart is a ranking of recorded music according to popularity during a given period of time. Examples of music charts are the Hit parade, Hot 100 or Top 40....
show Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops, also known as TOTP, is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly from 1 January 1964 to 30 July 2006. After 25 December 2006 it became a radio program, now hosted by Tony Blackburn...
. He was also known for his fundraising and support of various charities, particularly Stoke Mandeville Hospital
Stoke Mandeville Hospital
Stoke Mandeville Hospital is a large National Health Service hospital within Aylesbury Urban Area to the south of the town of Aylesbury, near the village of Stoke Mandeville in Buckinghamshire...
. He was widely described as a philanthropist
Philanthropy
Philanthropy etymologically means "the love of humanity"—love in the sense of caring for, nourishing, developing, or enhancing; humanity in the sense of "what it is to be human," or "human potential." In modern practical terms, it is "private initiatives for public good, focusing on quality of...
and was honoured for his efforts. He died in October 2011, two days short of his 85th birthday.
Early life
Savile was born in LeedsLeeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
, the youngest of seven children (Mary, Marjory, Vincent, John, Joan, Christina and James) born to Agnes Monica (nee Kelly) and Vincent Joseph Marie Savile, a bookmaker
Bookmaker
A bookmaker, or bookie, is an organization or a person that takes bets on sporting and other events at agreed upon odds.- Range of events :...
's clerk and insurance agent. He was a Bevin Boy, conscripted during World War II to work as a coal miner at
South Kirkby Colliery, West Yorkshire, England. He suffered serious spinal injuries in a mine explosion and spent a long period in recuperation. Having started playing records in dance halls in the early 1940s, Savile claimed to be the first ever disc jockey
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
. According to his autobiography, he was the first person to use two turntables and a microphone
Two turntables and a microphone
"Two turntables and a microphone" is the basic concept of a DJ's equipment.This phrase describes turntables and a microphone connected to a mixer. The DJ uses the mixer's crossfader to fade between two songs playing on the turntables. Fading often includes beatmatching. Live hip hop music also...
, at the Grand Records Ball at the Guardbridge Hotel in 1947. Savile is acknowledged as one of the pioneers of twin turntables for continuous play of music, though his claim has been disputed. (Twin turntables had been illustrated in the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
Handbook in 1929 and were advertised for sale in Gramophone magazine in 1931.)
He became a semi-professional sportsman, competing in the 1951 Tour of Britain
Tour of Britain
The Tour of Britain is a cycle race, conducted over several stages, in which participants race from place to place across parts of Great Britain....
cycle race
Road bicycle racing
Road bicycle racing is a bicycle racing sport held on roads, using racing bicycles. The term "road racing" is usually applied to events where competing riders start simultaneously with the winner being the first to the line at the end of the course .Historically, the most...
and working as a professional wrestler
Professional wrestling
Professional wrestling is a mode of spectacle, combining athletics and theatrical performance.Roland Barthes, "The World of Wrestling", Mythologies, 1957 It takes the form of events, held by touring companies, which mimic a title match combat sport...
. He said:
Savile later lived in Salford, and worked as manager of the Plaza Ballroom in Oxford Road, Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
, in the mid-fifties. He lived in Great Clowes Street in Higher Broughton, Salford, and was often seen sitting on his front door steps. He also managed the Mecca
Mecca Leisure Group
Mecca Leisure Group was a British business that ran nightclubs, hotels, theme parks, bingo parlors, and Hard Rock Cafes. During the 1960s they were the centre of entertainment with numerous nightclubs throughout major UK towns and cities. Mecca ballrooms were used for the BBC TV show Come Dancing...
Locarno ballroom in Leeds around the late 1950s and early 1960s. Mecca also owned the Palais, a dance hall in Ilford
Ilford
Ilford is a large cosmopolitan town in East London, England and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Redbridge. It is located northeast of Charing Cross and is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. It forms a significant commercial and retail...
, Essex, and Savile did a stint as manager there between 1955 and 1956. His Monday evening records-only dance sessions (admission one shilling) were a huge favourite with local teens.
Radio
Savile started his radio career working as a Radio LuxembourgRadio Luxembourg (English)
Radio Luxembourg is a commercial broadcaster in many languages from the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. It is nowadays known in most non-English languages as RTL ....
DJ from 1958 to 1967. Among his programmes was the Teen and Twenty Disc Club (see below).
In 1968 he joined BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation which also broadcasts internationally, specialising in current popular music and chart hits throughout the day. Radio 1 provides alternative genres after 7:00pm including electronic dance, hip hop, rock...
, where he initially presented Savile's Travels and the discussion show Speakeasy. His best-remembered contribution to Radio 1, however, is the Sunday lunchtime show Jimmy Savile's Old Record Club, where entire top tens from years gone by were played. This was the first show to feature old charts. It began in 1973 as The Double Top Ten Show and ended in 1987 as The Triple Top Ten Show, at which point he left Radio 1 after 19 years, although he could be heard presenting The Vintage Chart Show on BBC World Service
BBC World Service
The BBC World Service is the world's largest international broadcaster, broadcasting in 27 languages to many parts of the world via analogue and digital shortwave, internet streaming and podcasting, satellite, FM and MW relays...
between March 1987 and October 1989, playing top tens from the years 1957 to 1987.
From March 1989 to August 1997 he was heard on various stations around the UK (mostly taking the Gold
Oldies
Oldies is a term commonly used to describe a radio format that concentrates on music from a period of about 15 to 55 years before the present day....
format, such as the West Midlands' Xtra AM
Xtra AM
Xtra AM was a United Kingdom radio station which was on the air between 1989 and 1998. It was broadcast to much of Birmingham, Coventry and Warwickshire and was the 'oldies' station which took over the mediumwave frequencies of both BRMB and Mercia FM...
and the original Classic Gold
Classic Gold
Classic Gold was a network of three "Gold" music formatted stations which broadcast on AM in Bradford, Hull and Sheffield. They were the Pennine Radio, Viking Radio and Radio Hallam's medium wave franchises...
network in Yorkshire) where he revived his Radio 1 shows.
In 1994, satirist Chris Morris
Chris Morris (satirist)
Christopher Morris is an English satirist, writer, director and actor. A former radio DJ, he is best known for anchoring the spoof news and current affairs television programmes The Day Today and Brass Eye, as well as his frequent engagement with controversial subject matter.In 2010 Morris...
gave a fake obituary on BBC Radio 1 (as a joke), saying that Savile had collapsed and died, which allegedly drew threats of legal action from Savile and forced an apology from Morris.
On 25 December 2005, and 1 January 2007, Savile presented shows on the Real Radio
Real Radio
Real Radio is a network of adult contemporary independent local radio stations in England, Scotland and Wales and is operated by . Each station broadcasts local breakfast through to drive time shows and network programming in the evening and through the night...
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
Century FM
Century Radio was the brand name of a group of independent local radio stations in England. The brand was developed with the launch of 100-102 Century Radio in North East England in 1994, with John Myers as managing director and John Simons as programme director...
following its acquisition by GMG
GMG Radio
GMG Radio is the radio division of the Guardian Media Group. The group is based in Laser House, Salford Quays in Greater Manchester. The advertising division is in Old Trafford, Manchester. John Myers was the Chief Executive Officer, his deputy replaced him in April 2009...
) featured Savile recounting anecdotes from his past and playing associated records, mostly from the 1960s although some were from the 1970s.
Television
In 1960 he presented Tyne Tees TelevisionTyne Tees Television
Tyne Tees Television is the ITV television franchise for North East England and parts of North Yorkshire. As of 2009, it forms part of a non-franchise ITV Tyne Tees & Border region, shared with the ITV Border region...
's music programme Young at Heart. Although the show was broadcast in black and white, Savile dyed his hair a different colour every week.
On New Year's Day, 1964, he presented the first edition of the BBC music chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
television programme Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops, also known as TOTP, is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly from 1 January 1964 to 30 July 2006. After 25 December 2006 it became a radio program, now hosted by Tony Blackburn...
from a television studio – a converted church (now demolished) – in Dickenson Road Rusholme
Rusholme
-Etymology:Rusholme, unlike other areas of Manchester which have '-holme' in the place name is not a true '-holme'. Its name came from ryscum, which is the dative plural of Old English rysc "rush": "[at the] rushes"...
, Manchester. On 30 July 2006 he also co-hosted the final edition, ending the show with the words "It's number one, it's still Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops, also known as TOTP, is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly from 1 January 1964 to 30 July 2006. After 25 December 2006 it became a radio program, now hosted by Tony Blackburn...
", before being shown turning off the studio lights after the closing credits.
During the early 1960s he co-hosted (with Pete Murray) New Musical Express Poll Winners' Concert, annually held at Empire Pool, Wembley, with acts such as The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
, Cliff Richard
Cliff Richard
Sir Cliff Richard, OBE is a British pop singer, musician, performer, actor, and philanthropist who has sold over an estimated 250 million records worldwide....
and The Shadows
The Shadows
The Shadows are a British pop group with a total of 69 UK hit-charted singles: 35 as 'The Shadows' and 34 as 'Cliff Richard and the Shadows', from the 1950s to the 2000s. Cliff Richard in casual conversation with the British rock press frequently refers to the Shadows by their nickname: 'The Shads'...
, Joe Brown and the Bruvvers
Joe Brown (singer)
Joe Brown, MBE is an English entertainer.He has worked as a rock and roll singer and guitarist for more than five decades. He was a stage and television performer in the late 1950s and a UK recording star in the early 1960s...
, The Who
The Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...
, and many others. These were filmed and recorded and later broadcast on television. On 31 December 1969, Savile hosted the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
/ZDF
ZDF
Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen , ZDF, is a public-service German television broadcaster based in Mainz . It is run as an independent non-profit institution, which was founded by the German federal states . The ZDF is financed by television licence fees called GEZ and advertising revenues...
co-production Pop Go The Sixties
Pop Go The Sixties
Pop Go The Sixties! was a one-off, seventy five-minute TV special originally broadcast in colour on 31 December 1969, to celebrate the major pop hits of the 1960s. The show was a co-production between the United Kingdom's BBC and Germany's ZDF broadcasters...
, shown across Western Europe, celebrating the hits of the 1960s.
Savile is also remembered for a series of Public Information Film
Public information film
Public Information Films are a series of government commissioned short films, shown during television advertising breaks in the UK. The US equivalent is the Public Service Announcement .-Subjects:...
s promoting road safety, notably "Clunk Click Every Trip
Clunk Click Every Trip
"Clunk Click Every Trip" was the slogan of a series of British public information films sponsored by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents , commencing in January 1971 and starring Jimmy Savile. The slogan was introduced during the previous campaign, fronted by Shaw Taylor and...
" which was promoted the use of the car seatbelts, the clunk representing the sound of the door and the click the sound of the seatbelt fastening. This led to Savile's hosting his own Saturday night chat/variety show on BBC1 from 1973 entitled , which in 1974 featured the UK heats for the Eurovision Song Contest
Eurovision Song Contest
The Eurovision Song Contest is an annual competition held among active member countries of the European Broadcasting Union .Each member country submits a song to be performed on live television and then casts votes for the other countries' songs to determine the most popular song in the competition...
featuring Olivia Newton-John
Olivia Newton-John
Olivia Newton-John AO, OBE is a singer and actress. She is a four-time Grammy award winner who has amassed five No. 1 and ten other Top Ten Billboard Hot 100 singles and two No. 1 Billboard 200 solo albums. Eleven of her singles and 14 of her albums have been certified gold by the RIAA...
. He also fronted a long-running series of advertisements in the early 1980s for British Rail
British Rail
British Railways , which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was the operator of most of the rail transport in Great Britain between 1948 and 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the "Big Four" British railway companies and lasted until the gradual privatisation of British Rail, in stages...
's InterCity 125
High Speed Train
There are three types of trains in Britain that have been traditionally viewed as high speed trains:* Advanced Passenger Train - Tilting trains which never entered into regular revenue-earning service....
, in which he declared "This is the age of the train". After two series, Clunk, Click was replaced by Jim'll Fix It
Jim'll Fix It
Jim'll Fix It was a long-running British television show, broadcast by the BBC between 1975 and 1994. It was presented by Jimmy Savile. It was produced by Roger Ordish, who also worked on other BBC shows, including A Bit of Fry & Laurie...
which he presented from 1975 to 1994.
He was interviewed by Dr. Anthony Clare
Anthony Clare
Anthony Ward Clare was an Irish psychiatrist well known in the UK and Ireland as a presenter of radio and TV programmes.-Career:...
for the radio series In the Psychiatrist's Chair, where Savile appeared to be "a man without feelings." In 1995 he was interviewed at length by Andrew Neil
Andrew Neil
Andrew Ferguson Neil is a Scottish journalist and broadcaster.He currently works for the BBC, presenting the live political programmes The Daily Politics and This Week...
for the TV series "Is This Your Life?" (made by Open Media
Open Media
Open Media is a British television production company, best known for the discussion series After Dark, described by The Daily Mail as "the most intelligent, thought-provoking and interesting programme ever to have been on television"....
for Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
). In April 2000, he was the subject of an in depth documentary by Louis Theroux
Louis Theroux
Louis Sebastian Theroux is an English broadcaster best known for his Gonzo style journalism on the television series Louis Theroux's Weird Weekends and When Louis Met.... His career started off in journalism and bears influences of notable writers in his family such as his father, Paul Theroux and...
, in the When Louis Met…
When Louis Met…
When Louis Met... is a series of documentary films made by BAFTA award-winning film-maker Louis Theroux. The series was originally aired on BBC2 from 2000 to 2002....
documentary series. "When Louis Met...Jimmy" is regarded as one of Theroux's best documentaries and was voted one of the top fifty documentaries of all time in a survey by Britain's Channel Four.
Savile visited the Celebrity Big Brother house on 14 and 15 January 2006. During these visits he "fixed it" for some of the housemates to have their wishes granted; for example, Pete Burns
Pete Burns
Pete Burns is an English singer-songwriter, author and television personality who founded the band Dead or Alive in 1980, for which he acted as the vocalist and songwriter, and which rose to mainstream success with their 1985 single "You Spin Me Round "...
received a message from his significant other
Significant other
Significant other is colloquially used as a gender-blind term for a person's partner in an intimate relationship without disclosing or presuming anything about marital status, relationship status, or sexual orientation, as it is vague enough to avoid offense by using a term that an individual...
and friend while Dennis Rodman
Dennis Rodman
Dennis Keith Rodman is a retired American Hall of Fame professional basketball player of the National Basketball Association's Detroit Pistons, San Antonio Spurs, Chicago Bulls, Los Angeles Lakers and Dallas Mavericks. Born in Trenton, New Jersey, he was nicknamed "Dennis the Menace" and "The...
was able to trade Savile's offering for a supply of cigarettes for other housemates.
In 2007 Savile returned to television with Jim'll Fix It Strikes Again, in which he showed some of the most popular 'fixits' ever, recreating them with the same people, as well as making new dreams come true.
Career and personal life
Savile was famous for his yodelYodeling
Yodeling is a form of singing that involves singing an extended note which rapidly and repeatedly changes in pitch from the vocal or chest register to the falsetto/head register; making a high-low-high-low sound.The English word yodel is derived from a German word jodeln meaning "to...
and his catchphrases included "how's about that, then?", "now then, now then, now then", "goodness gracious", "as it 'appens" and "guys and gals". Savile was frequently spoofed
Parody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
for his distinctive appearance, which almost always consisted of a track suit or shell suit, along with gold jewellery. A range of licensed fancy dress costumes were released with his consent in 2009. Savile was also very well known as a heavy cigar smoker, and often smoked them for the public eye.
While still alive he arranged for a bench, in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, to be dedicated to his memory, with the words 'Jimmy Savile – but not just yet!' added as an inscription.
He was a member of Mensa
Mensa International
Mensa is the largest and oldest high-IQ society in the world. It is a non-profit organization open to people who score at the 98th percentile or higher on a standardised, supervised IQ or other approved intelligence test...
.
He was named as one of the Radio Times
Radio Times
Radio Times is a UK weekly television and radio programme listings magazine, owned by the BBC. It has been published since 1923 by BBC Magazines, which also provides an on-line listings service under the same title...
"Top 40 most eccentric TV presenters of all time" in July 2004. A 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.
Savile was a member of the Institute of Advanced Motorists
Institute of Advanced Motorists
The Institute of Advanced Motorists is a charity based in the United Kingdom and serving nine countries, whose objective is to improve car driving and motorcycle riding standards, and so enhance road safety, through the proper use of a system of car and motorcycle control based on Roadcraft...
and drove a Rolls-Royce
Rolls-Royce (car)
This a list of Rolls-Royce motor cars and includes vehicles produced by:*Rolls-Royce Limited *Rolls-Royce Motors , which was owned by Vickers between 1980 and 1998, and after that by Volkswagen...
.
In November 2007 Savile was mugged
Robbery
Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take something of value by force or threat of force or by putting the victim in fear. At common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the person of that property, by means of force or fear....
by a fan who made off with his glasses whilst in a Leeds hotel. According to Savile, he was walking down a corridor of the Queens Hotel at around midnight after attending a function at the hotel when he became aware of a woman walking beside him. He assumed the woman was going to hug him but she instead reached for his glasses before sprinting off down the corridor. He later said "I thought it was marvellous, it was just like old times!". Savile promised his 'assailant' a box of chocolates for giving him a "1960s thrill in 2007".
When interviewed by the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
on 20 November 2008 and asked about the revival of Top of The Pops
Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops, also known as TOTP, is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly from 1 January 1964 to 30 July 2006. After 25 December 2006 it became a radio program, now hosted by Tony Blackburn...
for a Christmas comeback, he commented that he would welcome a "cameo role" in the programme.
He also ran the Teen and Twenty Disc Club (TTDC), membership for life, on Radio Luxembourg. For a small fee listeners received a certificate and a small bracelet with a disc on it, inscribed with the show's name. He stated on the BBC television series Inside Out
Inside Out (BBC TV series)
Inside Out is the brand name for a number of regional television programmes in England broadcast on BBC One. Each series, made by a BBC region, focuses on stories from the local area...
that the title Teen and Twenty Disc Club had been rejected by the BBC in favour of Top of the Pops as too long; also that he introduced dancing to records, so that he was the originator of the discothèque.
Savile was chieftain of the Lochaber
Lochaber
District of Lochaber 1975 to 1996Highland council area shown as one of the council areas of ScotlandLochaber is one of the 16 ward management areas of the Highland Council of Scotland and one of eight former local government districts of the two-tier Highland region...
Highland Games
Highland games
Highland games are events held throughout the &Highland games are events held throughout the &Highland games are events held throughout the &(-è_çà in Scotland and other countries as a way of celebrating Scottish and Celtic culture and heritage, especially that of the Scottish Highlands. Certain...
for many years, and owned a house in Glen Coe
Glen Coe
Glen Coe is a glen in the Highlands of Scotland. It lies in the southern part of the Lochaber committee area of Highland Council, and was formerly part of the county of Argyll. It is often considered one of the most spectacular and beautiful places in Scotland, and is a part of the designated...
. His appearance on the final edition of Top of the Pops in 2006 was pre-recorded as it clashed with the games.
Charitable works
Aside from his TV and radio work, Savile carried out a considerable amount of charity work and is estimated to have raised some £40 million for charity.One of the causes for which he raised money was the Stoke Mandeville Hospital
Stoke Mandeville Hospital
Stoke Mandeville Hospital is a large National Health Service hospital within Aylesbury Urban Area to the south of the town of Aylesbury, near the village of Stoke Mandeville in Buckinghamshire...
where he worked for many years as a volunteer porter
Porter (carrier)
A porter, also called a bearer, is a person who shifts objects for others.-Historical meaning:Human adaptability and flexibility early led to the use of humans for shifting gear...
. He raised money for the Spinal Unit, NSIC (National Spinal Injuries Centre). Savile also raised money for St Francis Ward – a ward for children and teens with spinal cord Injuries.
Savile also worked as a volunteer at Leeds General Infirmary
Leeds General Infirmary
Leeds General Infirmary, also known as the LGI or, more correctly, The General Infirmary at Leeds, is a large teaching hospital based in the centre of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England and is part of the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust....
and at Broadmoor Hospital
Broadmoor Hospital
Broadmoor Hospital is a high-security psychiatric hospital at Crowthorne in the Borough of Bracknell Forest in Berkshire, England. It is the best known of the three high-security psychiatric hospitals in England, the other two being Ashworth and Rampton...
. In 1988 he was appointed chairman of a task force set up to advise on governing Broadmoor. Savile had his own room at both Stoke Mandeville and Broadmoor..
From 1974 - 1988 he was the honorary president of Phab (Physically Handicapped in the Able Bodied community).
He also sponsored medical students at the University of Leeds
University of Leeds
The University of Leeds is a British Redbrick university located in the city of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England...
to perform undergraduate research in the Leeds University Research Enterprise scholarship scheme (known as LURE), donating over £60,000 every year. In 2010 the scheme was extended with a commitment of £500,000 over the following five years. Following Savile's death in October 2011 it was confirmed that a bequest had been made to allow continued support for the LURE programme.
Savile was also well known for running marathons (many of them again for Phab, including their annual half marathon
Half marathon
A half marathon is a road running event of . It is half the distance of a marathon and usually run on roads. Participation in half marathons has grown steadily recently. One of the main reasons for this is that it is a challenging distance, but does not require the same level of training that a...
around Hyde Park
Hyde Park, London
Hyde Park is one of the largest parks in central London, United Kingdom, and one of the Royal Parks of London, famous for its Speakers' Corner.The park is divided in two by the Serpentine...
). He completed the London Marathon
London Marathon
The London Marathon is one of the biggest running events in the world, and one of the five top world marathons that make up the World Marathon Majors competition, which has a $1 million prize purse. It has been held each spring in London since 1981. The race is currently sponsored by Virgin Money,...
in 2005, at the age of 79.
Honours
- In 1971 he was awarded the OBEOrder of the British EmpireThe Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
, which he always subsequently appended to his signature. - Awarded honorary Commando Green Beret by the Royal MarinesRoyal MarinesThe Corps of Her Majesty's Royal Marines, commonly just referred to as the Royal Marines , are the marine corps and amphibious infantry of the United Kingdom and, along with the Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary, form the Naval Service...
in the 1970s for being one of only three civilians to date to complete the Royal Marine Commando speed march, 30 miles across Dartmoor carrying 30 lb of kit. The other civilians were former Blue PeterBlue PeterBlue Peter is the world's longest-running children's television show, having first aired in 1958. It is shown on CBBC, both in its BBC One programming block and on the CBBC channel. During its history there have been many presenters, often consisting of two women and two men at a time...
presenter Gethin JonesGethin JonesGethin Clifford Jones is a Welsh television presenter who has co-presented the BBC children's programme Blue Peter....
and film maker Chris TerrillChris TerrillChris Terrill is an anthropologist, adventurer, author and filmmaker born in Brighton in 1952. He attended Brighton College 1965–1970, and then went to Durham University where he gained a joint-honours degree in Geography and Anthropology...
. - In 1990 he was knightedKnight BachelorThe rank of Knight Bachelor is a part of the British honours system. It is the most basic rank of a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not as a member of one of the organised Orders of Chivalry...
for his services in the Queen's Birthday Honours List. The same year he was honoured with a Papal knighthood making him a Knight Commander of Saint Gregory the GreatOrder of St. Gregory the GreatThe Pontifical Equestrian Order of St. Gregory the Great , was established on September 1, 1831, by Pope Gregory XVI, seven months after his election.It is one of the five orders of knighthood of the Holy See...
(KCSG). - He held an honorary doctorate of law (LLD) from the University of LeedsUniversity of LeedsThe University of Leeds is a British Redbrick university located in the city of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England...
. - He was an honorary fellow of the Royal College of RadiologistsRoyal College of RadiologistsThe Royal College of Radiologists is the professional body responsible for the specialty of clinical oncology and clinical radiology throughout the United Kingdom. Its role is to advance the science and practice of radiology and oncology, further public education and set appropriate professional...
(FRCR). - He was a Knight of MaltaKnights HospitallerThe Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta , also known as the Sovereign Military Order of Malta , Order of Malta or Knights of Malta, is a Roman Catholic lay religious order, traditionally of military, chivalrous, noble nature. It is the world's...
. - He was a Freeman of the Borough of ScarboroughScarborough (borough)Scarborough is a non-metropolitan district and borough of North Yorkshire, England. In addition to the town of Scarborough, it covers a large stretch of the coast of Yorkshire, including Whitby and Filey....
Death
Police and paramedics were called to Savile's house at RoundhayRoundhay
Roundhay is a large suburb and City Council ward of north-east Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, largely within the LS8 postcode. The ward boundary is the A6120 ring road on the north and the A58 Wetherby Road on the south and east. The boundary follows Gledhow Valley Road to the west before heading...
, Leeds, at 12:10 pm on 29 October 2011, where they found his body. He was two days short of his 85th birthday. He had recently been treated in hospital for pneumonia
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
, and police said that they were not treating his death as suspicious. His closed satin gold coffin
Coffin
A coffin is a funerary box used in the display and containment of dead people – either for burial or cremation.Contemporary North American English makes a distinction between "coffin", which is generally understood to denote a funerary box having six sides in plan view, and "casket", which...
was displayed at the Queens Hotel in Leeds
Queens Hotel (Leeds)
Queens Hotel is a hotel owned by Quintessential Hotels, located on Leeds City Square in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England.It is an elegant Art Deco Grade II listed building. It was constructed in 1937 by architects W.Curtis Green and W.H. Hamlyn for the London, Midland and Scottish Railway...
together with the last cigar he smoked and his two This Is Your Life
This Is Your Life (UK TV series)
This Is Your Life is a British biographical television documentary, based on the 1952 American show of the same name. It was hosted by Eamonn Andrews from 1955 until 1964, and then from 1969 until his death in 1987 aged 64...
books. About 4,000 people visited to pay tribute. His funeral took place at Leeds Cathedral
Leeds Cathedral
Leeds Cathedral, formally The Cathedral Church of St Anne, commonly known as Saint Anne's Cathedral, is the Roman Catholic Cathedral of the Diocese of Leeds, and is the seat of the Bishop of Leeds. It is in the city of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England...
on 9 November 2011, and he was buried on 10 November at 12:30 pm at Woodlands Cemetery in the seaside town of Scarborough. As his will had specified, his coffin was inclined at 45 degrees to fulfil his wish to "see the sea". The coffin was later encased in concrete "as a security measure".
Works
Books:- Jimmy Savile, As it happens, ISBN 0-214-20056-6, Barrie & Jenkins 1974 (autobiography)
- Jimmy Savile, Love is an Uphill Thing, ISBN 0-340-19925-3, Coronet 1976 (softback edition of As it Happens)
- Jimmy Savile, God'll Fix It, ISBN 0-264-66457-4, Mowbray, Oxford 1979
Recordings:
- 1962, "Ahab the ArabAhab The Arab"Ahab the Arab" is a novelty song recorded by Ray Stevens in 1962. In the song, Arab is pronounced "Ay-rab" to rhyme with Ahab.- Lyrics :The song portrays a "sheik of the burning sands" named Ahab. He is highly decorated with jewelry, and every night he hops on Clyde, his camel, on his way to see...
" with Brian Poole and the TremeloesThe TremeloesThe Tremeloes are an English beat group founded in 1958 in Dagenham, Essex, and still active today.-Career:They formed as Brian Poole and the Tremoloes influenced by Buddy Holly and The Crickets...
. Decca, F11493 (single)