General Chat

Lynda , it did happen . I'm not justifying the actions of anyone who was aware of the age of the people involved .
I am just pointing out that there were times when age was not discussed and there may be some who will now be dragged into an investigation who had no idea they were breaking the law.
Sorry if this offends , I know this is a very emotive subject but I am just looking at things from a different perspective ,
Hope this is understood

and it's just dawned on me - you've changed your board name but you are the John who appeared on our "Do you live in Wales" thread and caused the first and only dissent we have ever had on there - well done you

I never saw any minders collecting screaming girls from anywhere, also drink and drugs weren't part of every scene.

There are all pockets of society, on all different levels, I chose what level I wanted to be at.

Abuse is abuse, if an adult wants to abuse a minor, then the adult must take the consequences when they are found out.

I can't hardly imagine my friends and I clamouring around JS. Although we did hang around the stage door after many pop bands had been at our local theatre.

All we got was autographs when we were let into the back stage area.

Gwynne

But then,,,did JS have adoring screaming fans ? I dont recall any.....

Johns right .. minders came to the back door and picked screaming fans to go back stage.
Drink , Drugs were all part of the scene .. so where do you draw the line between abuse and willing participation?
There has to be one as the public will be paying for this investigation

Thanks for the replies ..
I do know a few girls from those days that thought 'sleeping' with famous people was the same as collecting autographs.. A lot looked 18 .. then we have Punk , it was hard to tell girls from boys let alone how old they were
Kay I think this could become the biggest claim this country has ever seen, it could go back for decades

Lynda How many of those bands checked birth certificates? Many of them cannot even remember the decade they were famous because they were so often off their toes on booze and all types of drugs.

Even the most famous of the bands of those days will be included. Not disagreeing with you at all (daren't), but it was a very hazy period. Lazy, hazy days of summer. Mama Mia.

Neubie I was a teenager in the 60's & 70's, and grew up in London and often went to wait outside the stage door for a TV programme called Ready Steady Go, to see the "stars" The friends I went with, were all the same age as me, 15, and we looked it, even the girls who dressed up to look older, I thought looked 15 too, just more eye make up.
I'd say the "stars then were older, so a 15 year old was probably a good few years younger than them, if they knew that a girl was under age, and they took advantage of them, then they should be prosecuted. As for Bay City Rollers, one of them was prosecuted for child pornography, and there manager was jailed for 3 years for sexually abusing teenage boys

Nuebie...

The stars of 60s 70s and 80s were beseiged by adoring schoolgirl fans that sneaked into hotels,followed them with roving eyes,,,,,,,,see all the past film clips of mad hysteria of screaming girls,,,,,shouting their undying love for ever. I'm sure many in the limelight could have had fans willing to die for them......so possibly you could be right......and perhaps those same stars are now,,,,,,quaking?.

The most awful thing for a victim to hear when they are at last able to tell what's happened to them, is to hear someone say, are you sure, or why didn't you say that before now, but only the unfeeling or daft would say that.

I have to ask this and I may be shot down in flames .. but here goes
Forgetting the homes allegations , there are some being made about things that happened in the 70's backstage after TV programmes..
Lets take Top of The Pops?
I was a teenager in the 70's .. groupies were everywhere , concerts , TV .
Some girls actually had score cards about who they had slept with, some got tattoos
Bands such as The Bay City Rollers were chased by girls of 13 who looked 18.
Do you think that these girls now have a valid claim to being abused?
I do not condone abuse in any shape or form but would be interested in other peoples opinion of this, especially those who were teenagers in the 60's and 70's

Thats right Rose,

there may have been some young who,,,,JS touched them,,,,then with a group of mates ,giggled and said,,,

Oi,, watch him ***the dirty old sod brushed my breast*** or touched my legs or felt my bum****.........,,locked it away and only now see just how invasive that was and with so many more even eventful happenings coming to light realised the seriousness of it. and JS was getting a kick out it .......

You're right Rose, everyone is different, it's like a death, some like to talk about the person they have lost, others find it too difficult, then there's those who cross the road when they see a friend who has lost someone, others are first to ask if there's anything they can do.

George I expect that's why they are quick to remove his papal knighthood, they want nothing to connect JS & the church.

I don't think the catholic church should say too much, their record of child abuse is not to good especially when they tried to cover it all up.

George

People react differently to the same trauma, a truism....as an example away from sexual abuse:

There are soldiers who deal with PTSD and come through it by talking about it,; there are soldiers who deal with it by locking it into a 'compartment' which they never open again; and there are soldiers who DON'T deal with it at all and it affects them every day ( and sometimes to the extent that they commit suicide).

I remember a programme with Simon Weston, which looked at the lives ( and deaths) of several of his comrades. Some just could not talk to friends or family or 'experts'...but found that, in time, talking to someone with 'exactly' the same experience helped them.

Maybe this is similar in the sense that it is only now the victims know there are others who have experienced EXACTLY the same ( ie abused by JS) that they can 'open that compartment' and that is why so many are coming forward 'at once'?

From BBC News

Jimmy Savile: Catholic Church bid to remove papal knighthood

The papal knighthood given to Jimmy Savile "should not have been bestowed", a Vatican spokesman has told the BBC.

The Catholic Church in England and Wales confirmed it has written to the Holy See to ask if the honour can be posthumously removed.

The Archbishop of Westminster, the Most Reverend Vincent Nichols, called for an investigation, recognising the "deep distress" of Savile's alleged victims.

Julia Think it was a large family and perhaps not all that close and united.

What you heard was right. Have seen that myself.

Perhaps nephew Robert will comment about the great niece of Jimmy and her claims.

So, the 'family member' whose interview with the BBC I posted about at 8.39 yesterday morning, and who two others refered to also, must be a liar, according to Robert Foster, the nephew of JS., saying the family knew nothing about this side of the DJ.
That must make me a liar, and also, someone who mishears or misinterprets what people say in a BBC interview. for passing on what this' family member' said in her interview.
Well, I know there is the first time for everything, but being called a liar,and someone who doesn;t hear properly, well now, that is going some, for me.

Julia in Derbyshire

Yahoo: "Major stars from the 60s and 70s are terrified of being named in connection with the Jimmy Savile child abuse scandal, according to PR guru Max Clifford.

Mr Clifford told Sky News that up to 15 celebrities in Britain and beyond had been in touch with him in recent days to express their fears.

The stars are concerned because of their hedonistic lifestyles when they were at the peak of their fame, when young girls would throw themselves at them, he said."