This blog is dedicated to the memory of Sir Jimmy Savile who passed away peacefully at the age of 84 on the 29th October 2011.
I suppose I first found out about Jimmy Savile the same way as most DJ’s and people around my age (40) when I used to watch Jim’ll Fix It on BBC1 on a Saturday afternoon after Tom Baker had foiled an alien plot in Dr Who.
To me Jimmy was the man with the big jewellery and cigar who gave children their dreams and you got a medal afterwards. I never wrote in but friends of mine did, they never heard back to get on the show but every week we used to watch to see what magic he would bring to kids’ wishes.
If he wasn’t on TV on a Saturday or a Thursday on TOTP, then every Sunday while we had lunch it would be ‘Jimmy Savile’s Old Record Show’ on Radio 1 with Jimmy there (or not, as he used to always announce his taped shows as being “he is not here today as he is out somewhere”) playing music from days gone by which my mum used to sing along to.
Then as I started to get more into my music I learnt of the importance of Jimmy to the DJ world. Behind the ‘jingle jangle’ and the “now then, now then guys & gals” was the man who really was the first DJ to play at gigs using two turntables and a microphone whilst plying his trade at clubs in Manchester. He may have got a break when he was caught on a TV camera but if Jimmy hadn’t started using 2 decks then we probably wouldn’t have a job nowadays.
The first host of a new hip TV show based around the charts on the BBC, Top Of The Pops really brought Jimmy to national fame along with his Radio 1 show following his stint on Radio Luxembourg. Jimmy always seemed to stay the same to me, always the white hair, always the big chains and rings and always the same connection with an audience be it old or young.
You can’t deny his contributions to charity with his marathon running or other events but he never stayed in the public eye when not performing. He was one man you never read about in the papers courting controversy or scandal. Reports say he was a very private man that just had a big heart.
His contribution to the broadcasting world will never be forgotten and I don’t think that in this media driven world there will ever be another like Sir Jimmy. So on behalf of all DJ’s who have ever used a twin pair of turntables or its modern equivalent I’d like to say thank you Sir Jimmy Savile, may your memory last forever and enjoy sitting in your big chair in the sky with a big cigar.
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