Jimmy Savile

[crublue1]

Yeah characters, just groping, peeping tom and up skirting stuff.

Yeah, like I said, very much of its time, and best forgotten. I wasn't condoning it, or him.
We've moved on thankfully.

 

[Trevor Morley's Tache]

Yeah characters, just groping, peeping tom and up skirting stuff.

I read somewhere that the scantily clad ladies in a lot of his sketches were real sex workers who were paid handsomely for their time.

 

[mackenzie]

Good grief.
Are you serious?

You're right. I worded that badly. They must have heard the rumours but I don't think they ever thought there was much truth in them. He often referred to "young ladies/girls" so maybe they (and many others) assumed the rumours were around because he liked women much younger than himself....although not as young as to be under age, obviously.
So, a "dirty old man" rather than a nonce.

I think they would have run a mile otherwise.

 

[crublue1]

I read somewhere that the scantily clad ladies in a lot of his sketches were real sex workers who were paid handsomely for their time.

I'd not heard that.
But like corky pointed out, it was all a bit unsavoury, and a little sordid.
But that was then, it was deemed acceptable.
I never found him funny if I'm honest, but I've never heard a bad word said about him regarding his personal life, so for that reason I cut him some slack.

 

[crublue1]

You're right. I worded that badly. They must have heard the rumours but I don't think they ever thought there was much truth in them. He often referred to "young ladies/girls" so maybe they (and many others) assumed the rumours were around because he liked women much younger than himself....although not as young as to be under age, obviously.
So, a "dirty old man" rather than a nonce.

I think they would have run a mile otherwise.

Fair play macker.

 

[DrBlueBob]

Benny was a comic playing characters. Outdated now, but at the time he was very popular. His show was sexist by todays standards, but I don't recall any elements of peodophillia in it, or even any suggestion of it. I may be wrong though and I'm happy to be corrected.
Very much of its time, and thankfully we have moved on.

Some of his stuff would stand up to scrutiny today, a lot wouldn't though, despite IMHO it being very funny.

Edit. Obviously not the upskirt gropey stuff. He always (from memory) seemed to get his comeuppance in the sketches.

 

[mackenzie]

Fair play macker.

To be honest I watched Jim'll Fix It when it first came out (I was about 11).
What struck me was how bad he was at communicating and presenting, even then, in my young eyes. I couldn't understand how this man was on the tele, in a prime time show. He was "unsettling" but I didn't know why.
I think now I understand what my young mind was telling me. What we were watching was not a "normal" person, and he couldn't communicate in the accepted and expected way in a setting like that because he was constrained (thank God!!).
It's almost as if he "played" at being a person. It was a facade, but I think a lot of people sensed that without really understanding it.
So Thatcher labelled him a great "British Eccentric." which I think is a term people use for not understanding what the hell is really going on.

 

[crublue1]

Some of his stuff would stand up to scrutiny today, a lot wouldn't though, despite IMHO it being very funny.

I've always struggled a bit with knockabout visual comedy. It can be brilliant if done well, but it falls on its arse if not. (No pun intended)
I've watched quite a lot of laurel and Hardy, and while I realise they were groundbreaking comics, it just left me a bit underwhelmed

 

[crublue1]

To be honest I watched Jim'll Fix It when it first came out (I was about 11).
What struck me was how bad he was at communicating and presenting, even then, in my young eyes. I couldn't understand how this man was on the tele, in a prime time show. He was "unsettling" but I didn't know why.
I think now I understand what my young mind was telling me. What we were watching was not a "normal" person, and he couldn't communicate in the accepted and expected way in a setting like that because he was constrained (thank God!!).
It's almost as if he "played" at being a person. It was a facade, but I think a lot of people sensed that without really understanding it.
So Thatcher labelled him a great "British Eccentric." which I think is a term people use for not understanding what the hell is really going on.

That's a great observation, and eloquently put. I know exactly what you mean.
Like others have said, he was hiding in plain sight. Easy to see now, but back then he wove such a web of deceit it was hard to get at him, let alone act on it.

 

[DrBlueBob]

Yeah characters, just groping, peeping tom and up skirting stuff.

I've always struggled a bit with knockabout visual comedy. It can be brilliant if done well, but it falls on its arse if not. (No pun intended)
I've watched quite a lot of laurel and Hardy, and while I realise they were groundbreaking comics, it just left me a bit underwhelmed

Heathen. :-)

Incidentally I think that David Schwimmer, he of Friends fame, is a very good physical comedian.