Researching Jimmy Savile

As a teenager during the Second World War, Savile worked in coal mines as a Bevin Boy, and reportedly sustained spinal injuries. He began a career playing records in, and later managing, dance halls, and was said to have been the first disc jockey to use twin turntables to keep music in constant play. In his twenties, he was a professional wrestler, and he continued running marathons until his late seventies. His media career started as a disc jockey at Radio Luxembourg in 1958 and on Tyne Tees Television in 1960, and he developed a reputation for eccentricity and flamboyance. At the BBC, he presented the first edition of Top of the Pops in 1964 and broadcast on Radio 1 from 1968. From 1975 until 1994, he presented Jim'll Fix It, an early Saturday evening television programme in which he arranged for the wishes of viewers, mainly children, to come true.

During his lifetime, he was known for fund-raising and supporting charities and hospitals, in particular Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Aylesbury, Leeds General Infirmary and Broadmoor Hospital in Berkshire. In 2009, he was described by The Guardian as a "prodigious philanthropist" and was honoured for his charity work. He was awarded the OBE in 1971 and was knighted in 1990. In 2006, he introduced the last edition of Top of the Pops.

In October 2012, almost a year after his death, an ITV documentary examined claims of sexual abuse by Savile. This led to extensive media coverage and a substantial and rapidly growing body of witness statements and sexual abuse claims, including accusations against public bodies for covering up or failure of duty. Scotland Yard launched a criminal investigation into allegations of child sex abuse by Savile spanning six decades, describing him as a "predatory sex offender", and later stated that they were pursuing more than 400 lines of inquiry based on the testimony of 300 potential victims via 14 police forces across the UK. By late October 2012, the scandal had resulted in inquiries or reviews at the BBC, within the National Health Service, the Crown Prosecution Service, and the Department of Health. In June 2014, investigations into Savile's activities in 28 NHS hospitals, including Leeds General Infirmary and Broadmoor psychiatric hospital, concluded that he had sexually assaulted staff and patients aged between 5 and 75 over several decades.