As the Savile saga trundles on, the stories that are emerging are becoming worse and worse.
The BBC's 'exposé' that was eventually broadcast was bad enough with the revelations of Karin Ward followed by the realisation that she told the BBC of her experiences almost a year ago. Given these allegations, whether or not they were then considered to be wholly proven, that the corporation still continued with its laudatory programmes about Savile is incomprehensible. That the exposé went on to reveal that others in the employ of the BBC, such as Paul Gambaccini, not only knew of the rampant rumours but simply accepted Savile's behaviour as part of the local culture says more about them than about Savile; it seems clear that this kind of abuse was probably the norm in a world in which randy pop presenters were surrounded by large numbers of nubile teenage girls
Since the BBC's programme was broadcast, others have made statements to the effect that not only was Savile's behaviour at least strongly suspected; Bill Oddie apparently knew and he joins Bob Langley and Martin Young who both appeared in the programme. None of them did anything about it. Today it's reported that a former governor of the BBC, Sir Roger Jones, heard of rumours more than 10 years ago and was so concerned that, in his role as Chairman of 'Children in Need', he ensured that Savile was kept very far away from any involvement in the charity. Despite what must have been very serious concerns, Jones apparently made no effort to bring them to the attention of the BBC's management because, it's said, 'he did not have evidence Savile abused children while a BBC employee'. What utter tosh is this ? The man was so worried that he wouldn't allow Savile anywhere near his charity but saw no reason to tell anyone else; am I the only person who finds this story ludicrous ?
With the number of possible victims of this appalling man now in the region of 300, many questions arise. Why is it that this army of victims has been so silent until now, or were they simply ignored ? It is very hard to believe that the BBC, Leeds General Hospital, Broadmoor and Stoke Mandeville Hospital all received complaints and all ignored them, or is it ? Given Savile's stratospheric public profile and fund raising activities, perhaps they all did shy away from the difficult publicity that might have resulted from taking action over any allegations.
The appearance of the new Director General of the BBC before a House of Commons select committee last week was another surreal moment. To say that George Entwistle's performance was pathetic is not to do him justice; it was far worse than that. The story reported on air of a 10 second conversation between him and Helen Boden before last Christmas simply fails the test of credibility; on being told that his entire Christmas schedule may need to be revised Entwistle failed to ask any questions or to follow up on the matter. Is this credible ?
The story now has so many facets that it's difficult to know what will be revealed next. Abuse associated with various BBC programmes - ToTP, Clunk Click, Jim'll Fix It, Savile's Travels and so on; the involvement of others with Gary Glitter high on the list and now arrested; public comments and statements made by Savile himself in his autobiography and on air; previous police investigations which failed to uncover his criminality; Fleet Street investigations that also led nowhere. Possibly worst of all, the BBC's 'pulling' of last year's Newsnight programme for reasons that appear entirely fatuous.
This is a story that will clearly run for some time. That the BBC, as well as the other implicated organisations, failed to notice that anything was wrong over so many years is a crime in itself. There can be little doubt that the culture at the BBC was such that Savile's behaviour, if not the norm' was at least not that unusual; others must have been involved and culpability has to go to the very top. Entwistle will no doubt claim that he was not in charge during the years of Savile's crimes but his failures over the last 12 months demonstrate that he has no business being Director General of the corporation. He has to go and he ought to be joined in the dole queue by several others; we can but hope that the other perpetrators of these egregious crimes are caught and find themselves serving very long terms in prison. We can but hope.
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