Sir Jimmy Savile RIP

I 'met' him once at an annual dinner being held at Stoke Mandeville. Which is to say I made a bit of an entrance, heaving at doors that looked really heavy and weren't. They swung open with alarming ease and caught him right in the back! Apologies were made by me and graciously dismissed by him! What an intro!

However, in his after dinner speech, he commented that he never went abroad for his holidays but spent his time working as a voluntary porter at the hospital. He started this in the Back Britain campaign (?year) and kept it up for years and years, totally unsung. He would help patients in all sorts of ways, sometimes bringing a whole ward of paraplegics fish and chips and beer in the evenings and if there was a distressed patient or relative, the staff would call him to sit with them which he would do, often staying with them long into the wee small hours.

He also said that when some of his show biz friends would ask him to go stay on their yacht or at their posh villa he would refuse because of this work and if they wondered to him why he didn't go away to the sun when he had time off, he would tell them that he preferred to be in "the sunshine of people".

Classy man, possessed of a very big heart. He will be a big miss to this planet.

 

I heard the news on Radio 2 yesterday. They gave him several minutes, talking about his career as a DJ, and how he presented Top of the Pops and Jim'll Fix It.

They omitted so much important stuff, which I sort of understand, younger folks wont know who he was and those that do wont need to be told what he did, but at the same time he was a great man and deserved a bit more of a tribute that mentioning a couple of points of his career.

Jim'll Fix It made him a real life Santa. Every kid of my generation watched that program and everyone I know (myself included) would routinely ponder what we could ask "Jim'll" for if only we could be bothered to write the letter. But everyone knows that bit.

Then there's all his charity work. Again, everyone knows all that too.

What gets less coverage nowadays is his relentless campaigns. Back in the early 1980s, there was 'That's Life' with Ester Ransom, who did lots to make things better for people. Then there was Jim'll, who everyone listened too. He campaigned for all sorts of things, and safety was one of his biggies. In fact when my older sister had a horrible accident on her pushbike doing extensive (but thankfully not permanent) damage to her head, I remember my dad writing a letter to Jim'll to tell him what had happened and to ask him to use his influence to try to make cycle helmets compulsory.

I also remember, it was different times back in the late 70s. Jim'll is best off out of it, because sadly these days I suspect he would not be appreciated as much as he was. Kids would sit on his lap in Jim'll Fix It, and those same kids would be engulfed in a cloud of cigar smoke, which he would smoke on telly on a kids program with no shame. He was a character.

 

Sorry I missed this thread and started another the same ............ I blame old age. he was a great man and spent many years helping others less fortunate R.I.P Jimmy....

 

You can kind of see where Sacha Baron Cohen got the idea for Ali G.




Is it because I is a bottle blonde?

 

I have a correction to make.

I said I heard the news on the radio on Friday. I'm now confused because I was sure that was the case, but it seems the news was on the saturday so I must have been wrong.

In any case, RIP Jimll.

 

This thread has been a nice tribute to a wonderful guy.
There have been a number of jokes circulating that, if funny, were not in keeping with the tenor of this tribute.
There is one however that I thought would sit well. If you don't like it I will remove it.

St. Peter went to God and said:-
"Some Gypsies tried to get in to Heaven. When I turned them away they tried to nick the Pearly gates.
I stopped them but a hinge got damaged".
"Never mind" replied God, "Jim 'll fix 'it"!:D