Jimmy Savile

James Wilson Vincent Savile left school at 14 to take an office job before becoming a coal-face worker in the mines.

An accident at the colliery put paid to mining, and Jimmy decided to enter the world of showbiz.

As a disc jockey in the 1940s and 1950s, he began his career by touring local dance halls with borrowed records and a record player.

From these beginnings, he went on to become arguably the most famous DJ on British radio and a ubiquitous television personality.

Savile joined BBC Radio 1 shortly after its launch, hosting highly rated weekend slots and chart shows from 1968 until 1987.

He became a household face as the very first presenter of the BBC’s flagship music TV show Top of the Pops on New Year’s Day 1964.

He later hosted Jim’ll Fix It from 1974 to 1994, a massively popular tea-time series in which he granted wishes to children who wrote in to the show.

With his platinum-dyed hair, gaudy tracksuits, heavy gold jewellery, ubiquitous cigar, and nonsense catchphrases like “Now then, now then!” and “How’s about that, guys and gals?” he was celebrated as an eccentric national treasure, a pioneer of modern DJ culture, and a massive philanthropic fundraiser (He raised an estimated £40 million for various charities over his lifetime).

He was appointed an OBE in 1971, received a papal knighthood from the Vatican in 1982, and was officially knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1990.

Savile died of natural causes at his home in Leeds on 29 October 2011, aged 84.

Following his death, hundreds of allegations of sexual abuse were made against him, leading to a massive police investigation – codenamed Operation Yewtree – which eventually concluded that Savile had used his celebrity status to systematically abuse 400 to 500 victims over a 54-year period from 1955 to 2009.

His victims ranged in age from 5 to 75 years old, though the vast majority were vulnerable children and teenagers, including hospital patients.

He carried out his crimes across locations including BBC television dressing rooms, children’s homes, and NHS hospitals where he had been granted complete, unsupervised keys and access.

Following the revelations, Savile’s name and image were scrubbed from British pop culture history. His multi-ton headstone in Scarborough was completely removed and broken up at the request of his own family,