Jimmy Savile (1926-2011)
Jimmy Savile, born in Leeds in 1926, was a famous dj and television personality.
He was a Bevin Boy, drafted in the 1940s to work as a coal miner. He later worked as manager of the Plaza Ballroom on Oxford Road, Manchester in the mid fifties and also managed the Mecca Locarno ballroom in Leeds around the late 1950s and early 1960s, prior to achieving national fame.
Savile started his radio career working as a Radio Luxembourg DJ from 1958 to 1967. In 1968 he joined BBC Radio 1, where he initially presented Savile's Travels and the discussion show Speakeasy. His best-remembered contribution to Radio 1, however, is the Sunday lunchtime show Jimmy Savile's Old Record Club from 1973 to 1987.
On New Year's Day, 1964, he presented the first edition of the TV programme Top of the Pops. (On July 30 2006, he also co-hosted the final edition, ending the show with the words “It’s still number one, it's Top of the Pops”. He presented the television programme Jim'll Fix It from 1975 to 1994.
In 1971 he was awarded the OBE, which he always subsequently appended to his signature. In 1990 he received a knighthood in the Queen's Birthday Honours List. The same year he was honoured with a papal knighthood from the Vatican making him a Knight Commander of Saint Gregory the Great (KCSG). He also held an honorary doctorate of law (LLD) from Leeds University.
Jimmy Savile died on 29 October 2011, two days before his 85th birthday. He had recently been treated in hospital for pneumonia. His closed satin gold coffin was displayed at the Queens Hotel in Leeds, together with the last cigar he smoked and his two This Is Your Life books. About 4,000 people visited to pay tribute. His funeral took place at Leeds Cathedral on 9 November 2011 and he was buried on 10 November at 12:30 pm at Woodlands Cemetery in Scarborough. As his will had specified, his coffin was inclined at 45 degrees so that he could "see the sea".
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