Louis Theroux - Saville

[cibaman]

I can kind of understand the denial. If you worked for somebody that long and only ever saw good things you'd find it hard to believe, probably just an emotional defense. Just shows the only victims werent the people he abused, his friends and anyone close to him were taken for a ride also. I do think a lot of the "we had no idea" stuff is bollocks also, your average joe had heard all the rumours about him and they didnt work at the bbc but people at the bbc knew nothing....Im not having it.

What i dont understand is why the stuff about him shagging dead bodys isnt widely reported but the child abuse is? Do the media think that might be too much for the public to handle?

Paxman put forward an interesting take on it recently. He reckoned that the BBC in the 60s was run by people who regarded everything to do with pop/rock music as decadent. They didn't want any of it anywhere near the BBC. But they were told by the Home Office they had to run a pop music station and have pop on the telly. Which meant turning a blind eye to some behaviour they didn't like. The trouble was that they were then incapable of drawing a line as to what was acceptable and ended up regarding Radio 1/TOTP as a separate entity, a law unto itself, nothing to do with them.

 

[Ban-jani]

Paxman put forward an interesting take on it recently. He reckoned that the BBC in the 60s was run by people who regarded everything to do with pop/rock music as decadent. They didn't want any of it anywhere near the BBC. But they were told by the Home Office they had to run a pop music station and have pop on the telly. Which meant turning a blind eye to some behaviour they didn't like. The trouble was that they were then incapable of drawing a line as to what was acceptable and ended up regarding Radio 1/TOTP as a separate entity, a law unto itself, nothing to do with them.

Interesting point.

I think a lot turned a blind eye and ignored everything during this period.

 

[I'm With Stupid]

Paxman put forward an interesting take on it recently. He reckoned that the BBC in the 60s was run by people who regarded everything to do with pop/rock music as decadent. They didn't want any of it anywhere near the BBC. But they were told by the Home Office they had to run a pop music station and have pop on the telly. Which meant turning a blind eye to some behaviour they didn't like. The trouble was that they were then incapable of drawing a line as to what was acceptable and ended up regarding Radio 1/TOTP as a separate entity, a law unto itself, nothing to do with them.

Well you do have to consider what exactly was acceptable and unacceptable back then too. Firstly, men using their fame and celebrity to get women to have sex with them is something that is about as old as the concept of fame. So then transplant that onto a society where sex with underage girls is something that's considered a bit naughty, but nothing to worry too much about, where sexual harassment of all women is just a fact of life, and where there is no oversight of people in power, and it's not surprising to see abuses occurring. Someone like Jimmy Savile took it to extremes, of course, but I read an article just after Bowie died entitled "I lost my virginity to David Bowie" detailing how two girls aged 14 and 15 went up to his room, smoked marijuana, and had sex with him. It was almost bragging in tone about what was technically a sex crime. And he's not the only one. Read about the so-called "baby groupies" and you'll see the likes of Iggy Pop, Mick Jagger, Rod Stewart, Alice Cooper and Marc Bolan implicated in sex with underage girls as young as 11.

 

[jaiguruKun]

I found Theroux's whole "examining his conscience" line completely disingenuous. The documentary was made near the start of Theroux's career and was designed to add to the mystery and intrigue surrounding Savile. So I doubt very much that if he did suspect Savile was a paedophile he had any desire whatsoever to expose him.

 

[StrangewaysHereWeCome]

I found Theroux's whole "examining his conscience" line completely disingenuous. The documentary was made near the start of Theroux's career and was designed to add to the mystery and intrigue surrounding Savile. So I doubt very much that if he did suspect Savile was a paedophile he had any desire whatsoever to expose him.

Perhaps like many he had only heard the rumours?

 

[johnny on the spot]

I agree with others' views that despite his usually very shrewd approach and quite snide habit of playing possum, Theroux seems genuinely saddened at having a number done on him by Savile.

The stories about Savile were clearly rife, even in the early days, but he was an extremely well-connected bully who used his fundraising and friends in high places to get away with some horrendous activity. In 2000 Louis was obviously creeped out as a rookie filmmaker to find that Savile had so easily got hold of his full address and phone number with no questions asked. Someone in either the Beeb or the Civil Service had obliged Jimmy with the private info and that was arguably the creepiest moment in the first film.

 

[Fat Chance]

Swords sparked him in the piccadilly, his heavy paul sykes come to M/c and did'nt do well.

 

[Pell]

Weird how he kept all her clothes and had them washed and ironed once a year

This may give you an idea.



Very interesting indeed.

 

[bluethrunthru]

I agree with others' views that despite his usually very shrewd approach and quite snide habit of playing possum, Theroux seems genuinely saddened at having a number done on him by Savile.

The stories about Savile were clearly rife, even in the early days, but he was an extremely well-connected bully who used his fundraising and friends in high places to get away with some horrendous activity. In 2000 Louis was obviously creeped out as a rookie filmmaker to find that Savile had so easily got hold of his full address and phone number with no questions asked. Someone in either the Beeb or the Civil Service had obliged Jimmy with the private info and that was arguably the creepiest moment in the first film.

Go on You Tube for the full HIGNFY episode when Saville was on - Hislop and Merton fucking lay into him - they knew the stories that were doing the rounds - I think the BEEB suppressed a lot of it from going to air.

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

Paxman put forward an interesting take on it recently. He reckoned that the BBC in the 60s was run by people who regarded everything to do with pop/rock music as decadent. They didn't want any of it anywhere near the BBC. But they were told by the Home Office they had to run a pop music station and have pop on the telly. Which meant turning a blind eye to some behaviour they didn't like. The trouble was that they were then incapable of drawing a line as to what was acceptable and ended up regarding Radio 1/TOTP as a separate entity, a law unto itself, nothing to do with them.

Interesting. It's utterly mad the social change in this country since Churchill died.