Jimmy Saville

and the Royals

I have been solidly pro the British Monarchy since I was a teenager but there was glitch when I thought twice.

It was all tied up with Jimmy Saville who died on 29 October 2011. And there will be several documentaries over the next few months about him to mark the 10th anniversary of his passing.

I went to interview him twice for the newspaper I was working for at the time.

The first time took place at his one roomed flat near Oxford Circus. He had several such flats round the country and told me he tried to keep them all as uncluttered as possible. It resulted in them being cold and virtually empty. Nor was there any food in the kitchen cupboards.

When I arrived he took my hand, held it tight and proceeded to lick from the tip of my third finger right up my arm right to my elbow. He was strong and I had to pull away as hard as I could. I was so shocked I said nothing. I wanted to walk out but felt I couldn’t get back to the office and say I have no interview. So we talked as if nothing had happen. I was booked into his diary for an hour but about five minutes before I was due to leave the doorbell rang and a very disabled young man in a wheelchair came inside. Jimmy was grinning from ear to ear. He introduced us then turned to me and said: “He’s not had any experience of sex and wants it. I’ve told him that women journalists like you have absolutely no morals so could you go into the bedroom and give him what he wants.'“ The young man was by now both giggling and trying to catch his breath in his wheelchair.

I replied by saying I had to leave. Jimmy grabbed my arm and then decided to let it go. I walked out shaking. I told my colleagues in the office what had happened and wanted to write about his disgusting behaviour in my piece but was told I couldn’t because he was a friend of Prince Philip who invited him for lunch at Buckingham Palace about every six weeks. He was also a sort of court jester for then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and had joined her at Chequers for the last few New Year’s Eve. In addition the marathons he ran had brought in around £20million for Stoke Mandeville Hospital. This sum eventually increased to £40million before he died.

I never forgot that day and on March 3 1987 not so long afterwards saw the late Princess Diana meet up with Jimmy Savile to visit patients at Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Buckinghamshire. To my horror I saw him take her hand and begin to lick it despite all the cameramen clicking away. She was far more adept than me and pulled her arm away in what must have been a mere second.

I decided that somehow I had to show just how vile he was and went back to interview him again. This time he invited me to see his work at Stoke Mandeville. He was obviously vain enough to want more publicity. He tried the same hand trick but this time I was ready, pulled my arm away and said if he tried to lick it I would punch him in the head. He laughed knowing he was far stronger than me. He then went off to get something and a nurse rushed up to me and told me he was a monster who liked to “play” with young girls who were paralysed from the waist down and please, please could I do something about it. She dared not as she felt he might find out and kill her. Unfortunately she spotted him coming back and ran away before she could give me any contact details. I continued the interview but this time was much tougher and asked him if he was a psychopath and a paedophile. He laughed and said some people thought that. I went back to the office and told them about the nurse. It was terrible of course but where was my proof. Her comments couldn’t be passed by the paper’s lawyers, but the bit about being a psychopath and paedophile did.

I was told the paper, and it was not alone, couldn’t go to the police because of lack of proof and because of the royals, senior politicians and the hospital.