The evil blonde wiith the cold dead eyes

Did you watch Panorama last night? Phew, what a stink is coming from the corridors of the BBC right now! Seems like there are 2 stock answers from people who were around at the time: either "I didn't know", or "I did know, but no one would have believed me if I'd told them".The former group included Derek Chinnery, who even then had a powerful position as head of Radio 1. Then there was Paul Gambaccini, who knew but felt there was no point taking it further, what with the blond one's clout at the time.

GK Chesterton once said "The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there".Don't they just. So differently, in fact, that Blondy's perversions were laughed off as what we might today call "laddishness". The BBC was very good for him, and he was very good for them. The prestige of both was greatly enhanced by their relationship; so much so that the Beeb dared not kill their golden goose, whatever terrible stories of abuse may have emerged, albeit only on the rumour mill.

I know times were different back then. I was there. But as I recall, what he was doing was considered a serious crime even in the medieval days of the 70s, and paedophiles were as hated then as they are now. So don't give me any guff about it being "a different era". Very senior people could have given him a warning: the next time we hear the slightest bad thing about you, you're out of here, and then followed through, whatever the embarrassment to themselves. They would have won the moral high ground, and avoided the shitstorm they are now doing their best to shelter from.

Personally I never bought into the Savile thing. He never seemed really to buy into the pop music culture, and I thought "Jim'll Fix it" positively creepy. Now we know why he was so keen on working with young people. I tell you, it makes you want to heave...