Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.
Sir Jimmy Savile was asked about rumours over his private life by a former Radio 1 controller
One of Sir Jimmy Savile's former bosses at Radio 1 has said he questioned the DJ about rumours over his private life more than 20 years ago.
Derek Chinnery, Radio 1 controller from 1976-85, said he asked the entertainer about "these rumours we hear".
"And he said that's all nonsense," Mr Chinnery told BBC Radio 4's Broadcasting House, adding "there was no reason to disbelieve" the late DJ.
Police believe Savile may have sexually abused 60 people dating back to 1959.
Scotland Yard, which is co-ordinating the investigation, says it is following up 340 lines of inquiry and has been in contact with 14 other police forces.
Savile, who presented Top of The Pops and Jim'll Fix It in the 1970s and 80s, died in October 2011, aged 84.
He worked at Radio 1 from 1969 to 1989. During Mr Chinnery's era in charge, Savile was presenting a weekly show broadcasting charts from previous decades.
In an interview with BBC reporter Sima Kotecha for Radio 4's Broadcasting House show, broadcast on Sunday, Mr Chinnery said he approached the star directly when he heard rumours relating to his private life.
"I asked what's all this, these rumours we hear about you Jimmy?" he said.
'Rumours circulating'Asked about accepting a denial by the former presenter, Mr Chinnery said: "It's easy now to say how could you just believe him just like that but there was no reason to disbelieve him.
"He was the sort of man that attracted rumours, after all, because he was single, he was always on the move, he was always going around the country."
End Quote Tony Blackburn Former Radio 1 DJIt will be to the eternal regret of me and, I'm sure, so many of my BBC colleagues that he was allowed to get away with these monstrous acts"
The BBC's Kotecha said another Radio 1 senior executive of that time told her they also recalled the same meeting, having been asked by Mr Chinnery to be there as a witness.
The unnamed senior executive said Savile was given notice of the meeting and was told to report to the controller at a specific time on a specific day where the DJ insisted he had done nothing wrong.
When asked by the programme to respond to Mr Chinnery's comments, the BBC said the issues raised would be covered in its reviews but it would be inappropriate to comment before the reviews were complete.
Tony Blackburn, who presented shows on Radio 1 during Savile's time at the station, said: "There were always rumours circulating about him, the problem at the time was that rumour was always hard to translate in to fact".
"Jimmy Savile was a master manipulator of the press and would do what he could to keep his image held high in the public conscience.
"It will be to the eternal regret of me and, I'm sure, so many of my BBC colleagues that he was allowed to get away with these monstrous acts.
"All of us who worked at the BBC during the time of these heinous crimes owe it to the victims to speak to the police and the BBC investigations unit and help them in any way we can."
A fortnight ago, former Radio 1 press officer Rodney Collins told BBC News that, in 1973, he had been asked by a previous controller of the station to check whether newspapers were planning to print allegations of Savile having inappropriate liaisons with underage girls.
Mr Collins said Douglas Muggeridge, station controller from 1968 to 1976, had told him "there were allegations about a programme called Savile's Travels that went round the country from Radio 1 - Jimmy and a caravan".
Mr Collins added: "There were allegations that there were girls, underage girls involved, maybe, in the caravan."
He said he reported back that the papers had "heard these allegations" but were unwilling to print them "whether they were true or not" because Savile did a lot for charity and was "perceived as a very popular man".
'Reconciliation commission'Jane Root, controller of BBC2 from 1999-2004, told the Observer there needed to be a "truth and reconciliation commission" into Savile along with perceived sexism in the corporation, and "throughout television" in the 1980s and early 1990s.
"It was this sexist atmosphere, although a totally different thing, that assisted a very dedicated paedophile such as Savile to operate in the middle of it all," she told the newspaper.
Meanwhile, victims' groups have said that they have seen a rise in the number of people contacting them about abuse.
The National Association for People Abused in Childhood told the Observer its hotline had received 1,400 calls in the past 10 days - seven times the usual amount.
The NSPCC, which is working with police to probe the Savile allegations as part of Operation Yewtree, said it had referred 95 Savile-related calls to police. It said another 19 unrelated calls had also been passed to Scotland Yard.
In other developments:
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
Boss 'asked Savile about rumours'
Dengan url
http://sarapanoatmeal.blogspot.com/2012/10/boss-asked-savile-about-rumours.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
Boss 'asked Savile about rumours'
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
Boss 'asked Savile about rumours'
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar