Read Online In Plain Sight: The Life and Lies of Jimmy Savile by Dan Davies - Free Book Online
Authors: Dan Davies
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‘It’s a Menorah, a Jewish sacred object,’ he said. ‘I did the Jews a favour in London and so they got special permission from the Chief Rabbi to give me something.’ He picked it up and read the inscription: ‘Presented to Jimmy Savile Esq, in appreciation and esteem.’
When I asked him what the favour was, he barked ‘Forget that’ and moved straight to the next item. ‘This one is the Variety Club of Great Britain Show Business Personality Award, and this,’ he said, picking up what looked like a small mat, ‘is the only booby prize anyone ever won on
Mastermind
.’ I asked him what his specialist subject was: ‘Jimmy Savile – 1926–2008.’
Below the cabinets were two shelves crammed with boxes. He told me they contained his papal knighthood, ‘the Queen’s knighthood’ and his knighthood of Malta. Next to them was a Doctor of Law certificate and a picture of Savile with his mother and another man outside Buckingham Palace. ‘That’s when I got my OBE,’ he said. ‘That’s Joe, one of the porters I worked with for years at Leeds General Infirmary.’
From the table, he picked up the older of his two
This is Your Life
books. The cover was brown rather than red. Disappointingly,it was a shoddily put together album of out-of-focus pictures. ‘In those days there were no videos or anything like that so the back page is an LP of the soundtrack of the show,’ explained Savile. ‘That’s my brother Vince and that’s John. That’s the girl who used to do my hair. That’s Davy Jones out of The Monkees. That’s my sister Mary from Australia.
‘In that second one there’s a great letter at the back,’ Savile pointed out. He settled back into his chair and waited for me to read it aloud. ‘The last time Jimmy was seen going through the gates of Downing Street he was dressed for the occasion. He was dressed in running shoes and puffing away on a cigar. He has quite the most distinctive approach to fitness training, some might even say it was a little eccentric, but then so many great Britons have had a touch of eccentricity about them and Jimmy is truly a great Briton. He is a stunning example of opportunity Britain, a dynamic example of enterprise Britain and an inspiring example of responsible Britain at Leeds General Infirmary, Stoke Mandeville and Broadmoor, to name only three institutions which have benefitted from his charity compassion. Miner, wrestler, dancehall manager, disc jockey, hospital porter, fund raiser, performer of good works, Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, Knight of the Realm, Jimmy, I and millions more salute you. God bless you.’
It was signed ‘Margaret Thatcher’.
7. THEY FELT THEY WERE IN CONTROL
O ver the 10 years and more Liz MacKean worked as a general reporter on
Newsnight
, she became good friends with Meirion Jones. They had regularly collaborated on investigations and she says they enjoyed a ‘very healthy working relationship’ in which she tended to be ‘a balancing factor’: he was more bullish in his approach; she was more circumspect. In 2010 they won a Daniel Pearl Award for their investigation into Trafigura’s dumping of toxic waste in Africa.
Immediately after Savile’s death, and in a climate that saw his face adorning the pages of newspapers across Britain, Liz MacKean was Jones’s immediate choice as reporter on an investigation he planned to produce.
Newsnight
’s editor Peter Rippon had been emailed extracts from the web memoir written by Keri. He had subsequently been told by Jones, who had been following chatter on the Duncroft pages of the Friends Reunited website, that there was more than one Duncroft girl involved in Jimmy Savile’s abuse. Also significant was the rumour the police had investigated Savile when he was alive. Rippon agreed that Jones should press ahead.
On 3 November 2011, Rippon emailed MacKean to tell her that he wanted her to prioritise work on Meirion Jones’s story. Among her
When I asked him what the favour was, he barked ‘Forget that’ and moved straight to the next item. ‘This one is the Variety Club of Great Britain Show Business Personality Award, and this,’ he said, picking up what looked like a small mat, ‘is the only booby prize anyone ever won on
Mastermind
.’ I asked him what his specialist subject was: ‘Jimmy Savile – 1926–2008.’
Below the cabinets were two shelves crammed with boxes. He told me they contained his papal knighthood, ‘the Queen’s knighthood’ and his knighthood of Malta. Next to them was a Doctor of Law certificate and a picture of Savile with his mother and another man outside Buckingham Palace. ‘That’s when I got my OBE,’ he said. ‘That’s Joe, one of the porters I worked with for years at Leeds General Infirmary.’
From the table, he picked up the older of his two
This is Your Life
books. The cover was brown rather than red. Disappointingly,it was a shoddily put together album of out-of-focus pictures. ‘In those days there were no videos or anything like that so the back page is an LP of the soundtrack of the show,’ explained Savile. ‘That’s my brother Vince and that’s John. That’s the girl who used to do my hair. That’s Davy Jones out of The Monkees. That’s my sister Mary from Australia.
‘In that second one there’s a great letter at the back,’ Savile pointed out. He settled back into his chair and waited for me to read it aloud. ‘The last time Jimmy was seen going through the gates of Downing Street he was dressed for the occasion. He was dressed in running shoes and puffing away on a cigar. He has quite the most distinctive approach to fitness training, some might even say it was a little eccentric, but then so many great Britons have had a touch of eccentricity about them and Jimmy is truly a great Briton. He is a stunning example of opportunity Britain, a dynamic example of enterprise Britain and an inspiring example of responsible Britain at Leeds General Infirmary, Stoke Mandeville and Broadmoor, to name only three institutions which have benefitted from his charity compassion. Miner, wrestler, dancehall manager, disc jockey, hospital porter, fund raiser, performer of good works, Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, Knight of the Realm, Jimmy, I and millions more salute you. God bless you.’
It was signed ‘Margaret Thatcher’.
7. THEY FELT THEY WERE IN CONTROL
O ver the 10 years and more Liz MacKean worked as a general reporter on
Newsnight
, she became good friends with Meirion Jones. They had regularly collaborated on investigations and she says they enjoyed a ‘very healthy working relationship’ in which she tended to be ‘a balancing factor’: he was more bullish in his approach; she was more circumspect. In 2010 they won a Daniel Pearl Award for their investigation into Trafigura’s dumping of toxic waste in Africa.
Immediately after Savile’s death, and in a climate that saw his face adorning the pages of newspapers across Britain, Liz MacKean was Jones’s immediate choice as reporter on an investigation he planned to produce.
Newsnight
’s editor Peter Rippon had been emailed extracts from the web memoir written by Keri. He had subsequently been told by Jones, who had been following chatter on the Duncroft pages of the Friends Reunited website, that there was more than one Duncroft girl involved in Jimmy Savile’s abuse. Also significant was the rumour the police had investigated Savile when he was alive. Rippon agreed that Jones should press ahead.
On 3 November 2011, Rippon emailed MacKean to tell her that he wanted her to prioritise work on Meirion Jones’s story. Among her
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