Book Review: Savile The Beast by John McShane

When Sir Jimmy Savile died in October 2011, he was celebrated as a prolific charity fundraiser who dedicated his time to worthy causes. But on October 3rd, 2012, ITV broadcast an investigation into Savile's behavior called Exposure: The Other Side of Jimmy Savile. In it they revealed the true, predatory, and evil man behind the popular TV persona. In the documentary, several women alleged he sexually abused them when they were underage. This sparked a flurry of allegations in the following days and weeks from other alleged victims. So far police have been called to investigate reports of abuse on young children from as long ago as 1959 and anticipate the number of victims to be in the region of 300. 

But how Savile was allowed to get away with such monstrous crimes for so long has been the subject of immense debate and has led to the investigations of several British institutions. The BBC has been criticized and is hosting an internal investigation into how Savile's behavior was never called into question and how abuse allegations during his long career at the corporation failed to be flagged. An investigation is also underway into the canceling of a Newsnight program in 2011. The Department of Health has also said it will investigate its own conduct in appointing Savile to lead a "taskforce" overseeing the management of high security psychiatric hospital Broadmoor in 1998. Abuse is also alleged to have taken place at Stoke Mandeville Hospital and Leeds General Infirmary, where Savile volunteered. This is a well researched and informative look at how a predatory pedophile was allowed to go unnoticed for so long and to breach a nation's trust is such a cruel and evil way. 

My Review:

I was a child of the late 70's and early 80's so I grew up with Top of the Pops and Jim'll Fix It. I well remember Jimmy Savile never being off the tv and all the marathons he ran for charity. I always found him a bit creepy to look at but figured he must be a good guy because of all the charity work he did. Oh how wrong I was. Ironically my late mum had him pegged for what he was from the first moment she saw him on tv. 'That guy is a slimy paedo.' she'd say, and banned me from ever writing into Jim'll Fix It like most of my friends were doing. I'm eternally grateful that I was never unlucky enough to meet the creep in real life.

This book follows the story of Savile-his early life, his various careers in the entertainment industry, right through to the height of his fame as radio DJ and TV presenter. I watched the TOTP episodes where he was cuddling and groping teenage girls between records playing but at the time I never batted an eyelid, thinking he was just tickling them for a laugh. Jeez how fooled we all were. I watched him talking and interacting with tons of innocent kids on all his shows without knowing about the abuse he was dealing out to some of them. It says a lot about the thinking of the time that nobody really said anything about men cuddling and kissing women they worked with or pinching their bums, though now it is taken more seriously.

The book looks at how Savile, under the guide of charity work, was given access to vulnerable kids in reform institutions and childrens homes, often with kids deemed disruptive. Oh how kind of Jimmy to highlight these places and give these kids treats, we thought, when in fact he picked them out because he knew nobody would believe them if they reported his abuse because they were 'troubled'. Those brave enough to report him were punished for being wicked to poor Jimmy. Sickening. He was also abusing sick and dying kids in the hospitals he worked in and also perving on staff too scared to report him. It beggars belief that he was given his own quarters in these places, given keys to allow him to roam at will during the night...it makes my skin crawl.

There are reports from some of his victims who talk about the abuse in his car, on days out and in tv studio dressing rooms, as well as in these homes and hospitals. It covers the constant allegations about him that were never investigated, the rumours about his liking for young kids and teenagers and his warped deviant behaviour. There was no justice for them as police investigations were never followed up and the money he raised for charity led to some who knew about him turning a blind eye for fear of their funding drying up.

There was no justice for them while this monster was alive and when he died, mourners at his public funeral remembered him like a saint, with celebrities and normal people singing his praises. The BBC, who KNEW about his behaviour even pulled a programme about his dreadful crimes being investigated and instead put out a tribute show, a final insult to the brave victims who had come forward to out him for the beast he was. But the tv shows did finally expose him and his image became tarnished. Victims had a voice and came forward in their droves, leading to police investigations into other celebrity monsters who did not evade justice.

It was a failure of society and those in high places that allowed the beast to prosper for all those years and never face justice for his crimes. There was others who also got away with it and some who were jailed. It is not something that British justice can be proud of and I hope that lessons really were learned so that such a scandal never happens again. This was a good factual book covering the main aspects of the Savile story.  

Read December 2020

4 stars.