Now then, now then - Obituary: Sir Jimmy Savile

RIP JIm.

Kind of scary to read how old he was... time keeps marching by.

Reading his obits was a little bit reminiscent of those for Benny Hill, who also seemed to lead a relatively solitary home life compared to the on camera persona. That was unexpected.

Chris

He'd been DJ'ing for over a decade before working in Ilford - he'd been running the Mecca Locarno, both in Leeds and Manchester before that.

I remember the stir he caused, particularly with his hair - Leeds in the 50's was pretty staid. Anything but a short back and sides was deemed either very bohemian or just plain weird.

Jimmy turned up at the Mecca in Leeds with his hair done out as a Union Jack, for a while.

I used to buy my sheet music from across the other side of the County Arcade.

He once said that he woas having to cut down his work, because he was paying 19/6 (97.5p) in the pound tax. He was also said to have bought a petrol station during one of the fuel crises in the 60's, so that he could guarantee a supply for his Rolls-Royce.

Many "comedians" made him the butt of their jokes, as did many impressionists - he was an easy target.

Had any one of them done a tenth of the charity work that Jimmy Savile did, the world would be a far better place. How many of them would give their time to be an unpaid hospital porter - not just once, but week-in-week-out, year after year.

Jimmy Savile improved the lives of many thousands of people. There is, sadly, no-one to take his place.

End of ramble............